Windows 7: Building new machine

Hello everyone!
After opening a lot of threads to different forums and after researcing my bsod problems i think it is time to start searching for a new machine. I am thinking of keeping all my parts and replace only my processor and my m/b.
I mainly want to play games, especially BF3, and some other moder titles that are comming out. Other than that my pc is used for internet surfing and everyday normal use.
I am thinking either i7 2600k or i7 3770k.
Which motherboard do you suggest for each?
I am open to suggestions.
Thank you.

Do you intend to reuse the RAM shown in your system specifications?

Do you have overclocking intentions?

What is your budget for the CPU and motherboard combined?

Can you post a link to the suppliers you will likely use?

In what country will you be purchasing?


The i7 860 shown in your current specs is a fairly stout processor. Have you rejected the idea of keeping it and just upgrading your video card for gaming purposes?

Yes I intend to use my ram. I just bought it.
I live in Greece and I am willing to buy the parts from abroad eg newegg.
My budget is around € 400.
Up to now I wasn't overclocking my pc and I intend to do minimal overclocking ( but this subject to change!)
I reached this decision to buy new m/b and processor due to problems I had the past year and I cannot solve.
I am pretty satisfied with the performance of my card and recently I installed a custom cooler and I am astonished by the drop of temperature!

That's an extremely broad question with no real answer. Motherboards are mainly up to opinion. Just pick a quality brand, and one that has support for the hardware, ports, features, etc you need. There are hundreds on the market, so you can limit yourself quickly by brand, budget, and socket....so you can make a better choice.

This is very true. Because of the vast variety I wanted to get some opinions that would help me narrow my search.
For example when it comes to brand I have always used gigabyte but now I have the feeling that Asus is better.
Also it would be great if a motherboard did not have a Realtek chip on it.
And the only parts I want to change are the motherboard and the processor.

I consider Gigabyte, Asus, and Intel as the "Big Three". I prefer Gigabyte over Asus, but that's personal preference. Intel boards are great, stable, and easy to set up, but you won't be doing any overclocking with them. All three will be top quality.

I am definitely biased with gigabyte by the problems I faced although I know this is not totally correct.
Furthermore a change would be nice.

If you're wanting to avoid Asus, then I'd say you are left with a choice of Asus (if you want tuning, overclocking, etc) or Intel (if you just want fast and stable). Either way, you'll get a quality board.

What is your opinion about asrock and evga?

Asrock has a better reputation than it did 5 years ago. I rarely hear anything at all about EVGA, but I don't think most would put it in the top tier.

If you are biased against Gigabyte and plan to overclock, I'd say go with Asus.

You need to hope you never have to deal with the RMA process.

Your budget is about $500 at the current exchange rate

The 3770K is $340 US, which would leave $160 for a motherboard.

The 2600K is $290 US, which would leave $210 for the motherboard.

Passmark CPU benchmarks: 3770K: 10372; 2600K: 9079.

Asus board possibilities, all socket 1155:

Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z77-V LE LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$155; Z77 chipset

Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$190; Z77 chipset

Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z77-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$210; Z77 chipset

Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
$190; Z68 chipset

I'd do a comparison of those 4 boards, looking for particular features I thought I might need.

All are full ATX.

I don't know that you would notice the difference in the approximate 1300 point difference in the Passmark score on those processors.

Personally, I'd probably go with the 3700K and the cheaper motherboard, unless I needed certain features on the more expensive boards or unless I put a lot of emphasis on overclocking and had very specific reasons to believe that one of the more expensive boards could reach some overclocking level that the cheaper board could not reach.