Hi Guys, I've started a new topic because I feel that with the rate at which technology moves, old posts I've been reading may be out of date by now, and the information I'm reading might be misleading. At the moment I'm looking to build a new PC that will last me a good 5 years. I was once up on motherboards but with the rate that they're changing, I'm fast out of date. So, I was wondering if you experts could assist me in finding a motherboard (and to an extent, RAM) that will suit me. I'm pretty set on buying an i7 2600k, so that component will need to be compatible with the motherboard. I don't know if the i5 version of the same processor has significantly less performance but I'm reading up on that now. I'm looking to get a decent overclock out of the processor, and I'd like a motherboard that has 'intelligent' overclocking if possible. I have a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3P at the moment and it has a tweaker where you set the desired clock speed and it automatically sets the best RAM timings. I have seen this kind of thing becoming more popular on newer boards but I don't know how standard it is nowadays. I already have an Agility 3 120GB SSD and a separate 1.5TB data drive. I have one ATI HD 6950 and am planning to get a second for Crossfire, so the board needs to be crossfire compatible. From my limited understanding of motherboards, it's the chipset that defines it's power and scalability. Is this right? Therefore manufacturers mightn't matter because they all probably have their own configuration using the same chipset. I'm leaning towards MSI or GIGABYTE as from what I have read they are good overclockable boards - correct me if I'm wrong or there's a better brand for this. I hope there's enough information here for you to help me select the right motherboard. Thanks for your help in advance! sabrehagen
Dont get an i5, u'll never be able to upgrade to the better i7 with your motherboard. go i7 second gen, the best you can afford. they Are an amazing and the hyper-threading helps a lot. i'm sorry but not im not up to date with intel motherboards though. their motherboards arnt interchangeable with the other socket types and there are too many different ones, less upgradeable and Im on a budget sorta but ill have more money in a few months. so I'm going with an AM3+ mobo fot my current build and can't wait to upgrade to the upcoming AM3+ bulldozer searies processors when they come out 8 cores 3.6Ghz nice video card and ssd btw, I'm probably going with OCZ too. and I would agree those are the brands you are looking for, good chipsets and manufacturing. maybe asus or evga, just make sure they have the best chipsets.
Asus can be a pricier option, but they typically produce very solid boards. We should start on what sort of budget you have in mind as well. Several motherboards based on the Intel Z68 chipset have the ability to run SLI or Crossfire, so that would be ideal to look into one of those.
