Which motherboard to go for?

[Omzhar]

If you can get the 212 evo at a decent price I would go with that. The cooler you get with the  mb has a 92mm fan and they are louder than the 120 mm 212 fan and do not cool as well. I speak from experience as I had a cooler master tx3 with the 92 mm fan and moved up to the 212 evo and found  a big difference in temps. Also you may be able to sell the other cooler when you get back home.

The lowest I'm getting them around is for 22-25 pounds here in the UK. I take it that's a decent price? for a cooler?

 

 If it weren't for the logistical problems of the OP buying in one country and assembling in another I might still be tempted to take a chance on the UD3H.

 

But I'd feel awful guilty recommending the UD3H without reservation and then there be issues once the OP got all the gear back to Pakistan.  Even thought the OP won't be buying from Newegg, they are still a semi-valuable resource for researching buyer feedback;

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128592

 

I appreciate the thought mate. The motherboard's being a really big headache to me. Most of the motherboards that are available back home are for the 3rd gen Core i5s. The newer models have either yet to be released or are really expensive. So I'm still alternating between the MSI and Asus models linked earlier. Concerning the point about newegg, I actually use that site and pcpartpickers as a reference guide concerning which parts are worth picking up. Problem is that I don't have the option of returning them that easily if they turn out faulty- hence my reluctance.

 

If it helps, this is a tentative build of what I hope to make. The motherboard is still tentative. The SSD I've purchased. The RAM, HDD, Casing, PSU I plan to purchase from back home. Other than that I plan to buy the Cooler from here as well the GTX 760. Any suggestions on which one to go for? The MSI one seems to be the more popular one though the EVGA brand does have the warranty and quality aspect associated with it that would make me feel comfortable if I was to take it back with me home. To be fair though, I've bought an MSI card in Pak before and I was quite content with it.

 

 

For an SSD how is power in Pakistan? Crucial M500 SSDs have capacitors to save data at sudden power loss. That might be a factor worth consideration.

I'm afraid I don't comprehend by what you mean by "power in Pakistan". Could you please elaborate?

 

Edit: Anyone have any experience with Intel mbs? They seem to be pretty common in my country but I have yet to see anyone else mention it on the forums I've come across concerning gaming rigs.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Omzhar

[Omzhar]

Alternatively, do you folks think it would be better to go for a 3rd gen Core i5 like the 3570K and pair it with a reliable motherboard that would be a more safer bet? Not to mention it would be cheaper and I could invest the funds saved here towards more RAM.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Omzhar

[SpikeSoprano]

The True Spirit is a fine cooler, you can check reviews or comparisons. Usually the CM 212 EVO costs less for about the same performance, is all.

For an SSD how is power in Pakistan? Crucial M500 SSDs have capacitors to save data at sudden power loss. That might be a factor worth consideration.

I think you are mixing up the true spirit 140mm or the 120mm with the one the op will be getting which is the 92mm version. The 212 is a much better cooler than that one.

[maverick198444]

Some thoughts for consideration are you going to be doing SLI? IF not then why not just go for the MSI Z87-G43 gaming it has all the features from the G45 and GD65 barring the cooling pipe and decent overcolcking features with the OC genie 4  plus you'll save atleast 10 pounds more.This board has all the USB ports you'll ever need .I don't understand why people go crazy over no. of usb ports!! Chck it out and do a comparison http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z87-G43-GAMING.html#overview

[Omzhar]

Not planning on going down the SLI route at the moment though I wouldn't rule it out but thanks for the suggestion. As far as the USB ports are concerned, I'm quite content with having 3-4 of them

[wevsspot]

Alternatively, do you folks think it would be better to go for a 3rd gen Core i5 like the 3570K and pair it with a reliable motherboard that would be a more safer bet? Not to mention it would be cheaper and I could invest the funds saved here towards more RAM.

 

I wouldn't have any problems going this route if it were me.  There will be a lot of argument from folks saying "hey you're building a new rig, why not invest in the very latest technology?"  But there isn't a huge performance difference between Ivy and Haswell and going Z77 will really open up your motherboard choices.  Plus you mention that pricing is better on Z77....... so for me this would be a slam dunk.  I'd go Z77 / IB and call it a day.

 

If you go that route give serious consideration to the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H board.  It's a dandy.  Pair that board up with a 3570K and you'll never regret it.

[Omzhar]

 

I wouldn't have any problems going this route if it were me.  There will be a lot of argument from folks saying "hey you're building a new rig, why not invest in the very latest technology?"  But there isn't a huge performance difference between Ivy and Haswell and going Z77 will really open up your motherboard choices.  Plus you mention that pricing is better on Z77....... so for me this would be a slam dunk.  I'd go Z77 / IB and call it a day.

 

If you go that route give serious consideration to the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H board.  It's a dandy.  Pair that board up with a 3570K and you'll never regret it.

 

 

 

If I do go down that route then I also have the added advantage of buying it marginally cheaper in my home country and not having to worry about the components turning out faulty as I'll be easily able  to deal with them accordingly. Honestly this is so frustrating. Just graduated so am a bit low on funds while I job hunt. If I was working then going for the 4th Gen would have been a no brainer. As it is, I'm busy debating the pros and cons (for far too long in my friend's opinion) and getting annoyed now. Should just flip a coin to decide.

Edited January 21, 2014 by Omzhar

[wevsspot]

If I do go down that route then I also have the added advantage of buying it marginally cheaper in my home country and not having to worry about the components turning out faulty as I'll be easily able  to deal with them accordingly. Honestly this is so frustrating. Just graduated so am a bit low on funds while I job hunt. If I was working then going for the 4th Gen would have been a no brainer. As it is, I'm busy debating the pros and cons (for far too long in my friend's opinion) and getting annoyed now. Should just flip a coin to decide.

 

 

Let me be clear; the choice to buy cheaper in your home country with better retailer or manufacturer support should there be any problems, outweighs any perceived performance improvement between IB and Haswell by 100%.  Simply put, Haswell doesn't change the playing field enough to justify the purchase over Ivy Bridge.

 

In fact, when people ask about "upgrading" from Ivy to Haswell (or even SB to Haswell) I regularly tell them that unless the Z87 chipset brings something to the table that you've just got to have there isn't any reason to upgrade.  Some of the common arguments and my rebuttals;

 

1. What about native Intel 6Gb/s support?  This only comes into play if you have SSD(s) and like to benchmark your drive performance

2. What about native USB 3.0 support?  Will become relevant when more devices are USB 3.0 capable, until then any decent motherboard has a 3rd party USB 3.0 chip that usually works fine

3. Haswell is more energy efficient.....  Ok, a good selling point if you're using it in a portable device but for most folks won't make a hill of beans in a high performance desktop system

4. Clock for clock Haswell performs better than Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge..... Can't argue that when you're looking at benchmarks, but we don't spend all of our PC time running benchmarks do we?

5. What about Intel Smart Response Technology?  SSD Caching is cool technology and works great, but SSD prices continue to drop, so why not just install an affordable SSD for the OS and your most used / most speed sensitive apps and use a traditional HDD for everything else?

[maverick198444]

i agree with wevsspot. The only components that will matter  most are a good graphics card and ram and you've already made a good choice with the 760 and 8 gb gskill. its best to have local support for cpu and motherboard .

[Omzhar]

 

Let me be clear; the choice to buy cheaper in your home country with better retailer or manufacturer support should there be any problems, outweighs any perceived performance improvement between IB and Haswell by 100%.  Simply put, Haswell doesn't change the playing field enough to justify the purchase over Ivy Bridge.

 

In fact, when people ask about "upgrading" from Ivy to Haswell (or even SB to Haswell) I regularly tell them that unless the Z87 chipset brings something to the table that you've just got to have there isn't any reason to upgrade.  Some of the common arguments and my rebuttals;

 

1. What about native Intel 6Gb/s support?  This only comes into play if you have SSD(s) and like to benchmark your drive performance

2. What about native USB 3.0 support?  Will become relevant when more devices are USB 3.0 capable, until then any decent motherboard has a 3rd party USB 3.0 chip that usually works fine

3. Haswell is more energy efficient.....  Ok, a good selling point if you're using it in a portable device but for most folks won't make a hill of beans in a high performance desktop system

4. Clock for clock Haswell performs better than Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge..... Can't argue that when you're looking at benchmarks, but we don't spend all of our PC time running benchmarks do we?

5. What about Intel Smart Response Technology?  SSD Caching is cool technology and works great, but SSD prices continue to drop, so why not just install an affordable SSD for the OS and your most used / most speed sensitive apps and use a traditional HDD for everything else?

 

Ah, thank you for that clarification. I'm not really bothered about getting the latest gaming rig. I just want something that should ideally last me 2-3 years. Whether that's fulfilled by the 3rd Gen or the 4th Gen processors, I'm not really that fussy.

 

1) I'm afraid I'm not aware of what exactly this is but I have already bought an SSD though I don't to plan benchmark my drive performance

2) USB 3.0 is not really a priority for me.

3) Energy efficient sounds nice though I'm more concerned about which is more stable if you factor in power outages (the joys of living in the third world) and sometimes have to rely upon UPS to power the gaming rig.

4) Agreed. I don't plan to run benchmark either. My priority is to have a good gaming rig which can run most games on high settings. Don't really care about the Ultra aspect.

5) This is the first time I've purchased an SSD so I'm still getting used to what this technology actually is. This point about SRT just went over my head to be honest.

 

All in all, a very thorough bit of advice that you've given and I'm quite grateful for this. Thanks mate

 

i agree with wevsspot. The only components that will matter  most are a good graphics card and ram and you've already made a good choice with the 760 and 8 gb gskill. its best to have local support for cpu and motherboard .

Agreed. I've bought the gfx card online which I should be getting soon but haven't bought the RAM yet. Gskill seems to be a really popular brand here in the UK and from what I seem to have gathered from Newegg. It's not available in my home country though so I'm considering going for Corsair Vengeance option. From what people seem to be suggesting here, the brand really isn't that much of an issue thankfully

Edited January 21, 2014 by Omzhar

[wevsspot]

I think the case is closed  

 

Pick up a good Z77 board locally, pair it with a 3570K and the memory / gpu that you've already purchased and call it good.  Whatever you do, don't skimp on the power supply.  In fact, if budget becomes an issue, spend the money on a great power supply and you can always add the SSD later.

[cchalogamer]

Just so you can hear it from another person, wevsspot has it right, the Gigabyte Z87 boards do have some issues (even my UD5H is known to have USB 3.0 issues).

 

While Z87 is nice over Z77 you aren't giving up much at all in the real world, one piece of advice though, use the 3Gbps intel SATA ports before any add in ones such as the Marvell ones many boards have even though they are 6Gbps ports they are usually not as fast as the intel 3Gbps ones plus intel's drivers are VERY good for storage vs most anyone outside of dedicated RAID cards.

 

ESPECIALLY if you plan to overclock I would go Ivy Bridge over Haswell due to haswell's on chip voltage regulation causing some odd occurrences and over voltages that serve to kick up CPU temps. As mentioned the performance difference is VERY small clock for clock and OCing my 3570K is considerably easier than my 4670K without getting deeper in settings/trying to combat more heat.

 

I would certainly up the ram to DDR3 1600, cost should be similar and some apps will get a nice boost from the higher ram speed.