X79 or Z87

DaleTheWhale · 29 Aug 2013 at 00:42

Which chipset to go for based on these options:

£300 for a very good x79 motherboard & 3820 cpu? Used.

Or £400+ for a Gigabyte/ASUS board with a 4770k? New.

It will be only for gaming & light Photoshop work, but as the x79 is cheaper and can make use of those PCI-E lanes better (I'm wanting a multi-card) setup, what would you choose?

I'm favoring the x79 right now.

E: I'll be grabbing 2 680's I imagine or 2 770's (3D) to go with this setup, so generally for all round good gaming, which one?

stulid · 29 Aug 2013 at 00:45

X79, bios updates allow for IB-E (depending on support).

The £100 saving helps buy the quad channel ram kit too.

Doomedspeed · 29 Aug 2013 at 06:58

AS stulid said, says that the way i'd go..

If you weren't wanting SLI/Xfire that may of swayed the decison but X79 seems perfect for you and cheaper.

DaleTheWhale · 29 Aug 2013 at 08:13

Thought you 2 may of posted!

I was always set on upgrading down the Z87 path, and then I remembered x79, was worried that as it's been around a while I'll be buying into a soon to be dead-end setup, however the price definitely helps justify that + IB-E, when/has that been released?

I can get either:

MSI Big Bang Motherboard + 3820 or,
Gigabyte X79 UD3 + 3820

Both come in around £300, MSI seems a better clocker than the Gigabyte?