Which is best/most future proof

paradisiac

paradisiac

paradisiac

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Of those ones, the extreme 4 looks like a really nice board which is packed full of features (including SLI/CF, PCIE x8x8).

Bear in mind that to make use of the PCIE gen3 speeds you need an Ivy Bridge CPU.

As for longevity of LGA1155 - I believe the mainstream ivy bridge CPUs will be the last wave of CPUs using this socket. As haswell will use the new LGA1150 socket.
 
cmndr_andi said:
Of those ones, the extreme 4 looks like a really nice board which is packed full of features (including SLI/CF, PCIE x8x8).

Bear in mind that to make use of the PCIE gen3 speeds you need an Ivy Bridge CPU.

As for longevity of LGA1155 - I believe the mainstream ivy bridge CPUs will be the last wave of CPUs using this socket. As haswell will use the new LGA1150 socket.
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thing is, and I am sorry I have started several threads, but I have been given credit for £165 with a supplier, and am at a loss what to get. my thoughts were, replace my Z68-Extreme4 motherboard, and then possibly donate it to dad with my 2500k when I upgrade to IB. I know the gains will be minimal, but like I said, I have £165 to spend and this seems like a possible avenue.

would you take the Extreme 4 over a Extreme 6?
 
If you can afford the extreme 6 then you may as well.

Though would you be able to spend it on two boards? £165 should buy you a decent LGA1155 board and a nice HTPC board (H61 or Llano) too.
 
cmndr_andi said:
If you can afford the extreme 6 then you may as well.

Though would you be able to spend it on two boards? £165 should buy you a decent LGA1155 board and a nice HTPC board (H61 or Llano) too.
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sorry, this is me and my starting too many threads again.

here is my original thread

paradisiac said:
ok, after my thread earlier about upgrading my htpc to a llano system, I think I have come to the conclusion all I need is a cheap graphics card.
now I have £150 I can spend (unfortunately im store restricted as I have finally been given credit for my faulty GTX460), so I kinda need to buy something.
these are my current systems :

Gaming PC :
i5 2500k
Z68-EXTREME4
8GB Team Elite RAM
GTX560 2GB
Thermalright Silver Arrow
Coolmaster HAF 912 Plus
LG BH10LS38 BD-RE
2x 1TB WD Black
42" TV

HTPC :
Pentium G620
H61M-US3
4GB Zepplin RAM
LG BH10LS38
60GB SSD
OcUK Opera Media Case
42" TV

Media Server/Internet PC :
Celeron E3400
Gigabyte G41MT-S2PT
4GB RAM
1x 500GB Samsung F3
2x 1TB Western Digital Black

any suggestions welcome.
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so I have my HTPC already :)
 
cmndr_andi said:
Ah, fair enough.

Then go for the extreme 6 - it should be a very nice board.
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kool :) is in the basket, will be here Friday. I can only get my 2500k to 4.6GHz stable, is this more down to the chip than the mobo, or do you think I might be able to get a better (if not higher clock, maybe lower vcore) with the different motherboard?
 
ok looking at it, although the fatality pro is like £35 more expensive, it says it have more sata 3, usb 3 etc. would I be better spending the extra £35 or do the extreme range perform better?
 
Personally, I wouldn't pay the extra (especially as you will be spending your own money). Usually I would just say "go for the extreme4 and be happy", but since upgrading to the extreme6 is essentially "free" then you may as well.

The extra USB3 and SATA3 ports on the pro aren't native, so you can't expect the performance to be as good as the intel ports (see here for the same asmedia chip driving the sata3 and usb3 on the z68 board) - the performance isn't bad, but you would certainly want to go for the Intel ports first.

The other benefit of the Pro board is that it works with three graphics cards. If you see yourself using three cards in the future, then you may as well go for it. If not, then the Extreme6 looks like a very nice board and doesn't require you to spend your own money.
 
cmndr_andi said:
Personally, I wouldn't pay the extra (especially as you will be spending your own money). Usually I would just say "go for the extreme4 and be happy", but since upgrading to the extreme6 is essentially "free" then you may as well.

The extra USB3 and SATA3 ports on the pro aren't native, so you can't expect the performance to be as good as the intel ports (see here for the same asmedia chip driving the sata3 and usb3 on the z68 board) - the performance isn't bad, but you would certainly want to go for the Intel ports first.

The other benefit of the Pro board is that it works with three graphics cards. If you see yourself using three cards in the future, then you may as well go for it. If not, then the Extreme6 looks like a very nice board and doesn't require you to spend your own money.
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thanks for the advice. looking at it, for the price of the fatality, I could get the extreme6 and a cheap Celeron and let dad have the mobo now, rather than in 2-4months time, then I can get his windows all installed, and when the time comes just stick the 2500k in and job done.
 
Virtu Universal MVP - Uncompromised Game Response Performance

1. HyperFormance™ :
A new technology which combines integrated and discrete graphics for uncompromised performance and improves gaming frame rates 30-70%.
It’s also supported with both ATI™ and NVIDIA® graphics cards.

2. Virtual Vsync :
A technology designed to solve the ever lasting debate between quality and performance. Bring GPU performance from 60 FPS Vsync limit back to its maximum while keeping Vsync image quality and no tearing.

3. Switchable Graphics :
Dynamically assigns tasks to the best graphics resource regardless of physical cable connections.
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number 2 is confusing me :( is Virtu MVP the same that is used on the Z68 series?

Intel® Smart Connect Technology

Intel® Smart Connect Technology keeps content continuously updated while the PC is asleep! It will periodically wake up the PC while in a sleep state and check updates for things like email, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
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im guessing this is something I can disable? don't like the idea of my pc turning itself on when it feels like it.

- Supports Intel® HD Graphics Built-in Visuals : Intel® Quick Sync Video 2.0, Intel® InTru™ 3D, Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, Intel® Insider™, Intel® HD Graphics 2500/4000
- Pixel Shader 5.0, DirectX 11 with Intel® 22nm CPU. Pixel Shader 4.1, DirectX 10.1 with Intel® Sandy Bridge CPU.
- Max. shared memory 1760MB
- Multi VGA Output options: D-Sub, DVI-D, HDMI and DisplayPort
- Supports HDMI 1.4a Technology with max. resolution up to 1920x1200 @ 60Hz
- Supports DVI with max. resolution up to 1920x1200 @ 60Hz
- Supports D-Sub with max. resolution up to 2048x1536 @ 75Hz
- Supports DisplayPort with max. resolution up to 2560x1600 @ 60Hz
- Supports Auto Lip Sync, Deep Color (12bpc), xvYCC and HBR (High Bit Rate Audio) with HDMI (Compliant HDMI monitor is required)
- Supports HDCP function with DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort ports
- Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) / HD-DVD playback with DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort ports
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does this mean I can multi-monitor using the OBV?

UEFI System Browser

UEFI system browser is a useful tool included in graphical UEFI. It can detect the devices and configurations that users are currently using in their PC. With the UEFI system browser, you can easily examine the current system configuration in UEFI setup.
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is this a new feature or is it one that was implemented on some of the Z68 boards?

Z77 Extreme6

CPU Support List

This model has no CPU support list now.
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should I be worried :p
 
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I think Virtu MVP is the new version specifically for Ivy bridge boards - it sounds pretty cool and there is an interesting video on it here.

As for Intel Smart Connect, I reckon it will be easily disabled (or disabled by default). It sounds very much like one of those "nice ideas" that no-one will use in practice.

Supposedly, Ivy Bridge's onboard graphics will support up to three displays, which is nice but you will need an Ivy Bridge CPU for this to happen.

The UEFI system browser seems like a new feature, which graphically shows you what the BIOS detects you have connected to the board, which sounds like it could be useful and mean you don't need to take off the case side as much to check stuff.

The CPU support list shouldn't worry you - we know these boards supports "Supports 3rd and 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 in LGA1155 Package".
 
ok thanks, what about the 2nd statement for lucid MVP? currently I have to have vsync on as I get really bad screen tearing, the statement reads to me, like I wont have to be capped at 60FPS as it will work its magic and stop the tearing at higher FPS?
 
Yea, it's the same price structure as SB, since it is a direct replacement.

For example the wholesale launch price of the i5 2500K was $216 and the launch price of the i5 3570K (the comparable IB CPU) is expected to be $225. You should most likely put that difference of $9 down to inflation.
 
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