i7 Wanted: New motherboard?

Chips · 23 Apr 2012

Does the graphics card I can buy depend on the motherboard's socket?

ignatzatsonic · 23 Apr 2012

There is no direct correlation between the CPU socket and the graphics card.

The graphics card has to be able to use one of the available slots on the motherboard.

In your case, that is a PCI Express x16 slot.

Chips · 23 Apr 2012

Ahh, great! At least that's one thing I'm not restricted to because of motherboard technical changes! Thanks! :)

James7679 · 23 Apr 2012

What's the case size? That may be a limiting factor...

Chips · 23 Apr 2012

From what the link says it's a mid-size case.

One more question's come to mind. What about the HD. Does that depend on the socket type, or is it simply a straight swap over to the new board?

ignatzatsonic · 23 Apr 2012

The board has 4 SATA ports. Any SATA hard drive will work on those ports.

Your case may be relatively narrow. I'm not sure if ALL video cards would fit--some may be too tall?

Chips · 24 Apr 2012

Okay, first thing's first. How would you rate these motherboards?

LINK 1

LINK 2

Are there any other 2011s that you would rate highly from around the same price range or cheaper?

ignatzatsonic · 24 Apr 2012

I'd make a check list of the features on each of those. Much of it is hard to evaluate due to the marketing lingo. Ultimately, choose a brand with a good rep, get the features you want, at the price you want. Then hope you don't have bad luck and get a poor example due to poor quality control.

Are you planning on a new case? Those are ATX boards and won't fit in that HP micro-ATX case.

Asrock used to have a mediocre reputation, but seems to be more highly thought of in the last year or two. I'm not sure if they are still owned by Asus.

I'd at least check out Gigabyte motherboards.

Are you restricted to Amazon.uk as a source?

Even if you can't buy from Newegg, you might get some hints from the board reviews there, although many of the reviewers are either fanboys or dim bulbs.

bobkn · 24 Apr 2012

Chips said:

Okay, first thing's first. How would you rate these motherboards?

LINK 1

LINK 2

Are there any other 2011s that you would rate highly from around the same price range or cheaper?

I have the Asus board. It has been good for me, so far. (Not very long.) I like the UEFI. I will probably never install their AI control/overclocking software.

The Asrock may be good. I try to avoid boards with chipset cooler fans, though. Pure prejudice on my part.

Chips · 25 Apr 2012

ignatzatsonic said:

I'd make a check list of the features on each of those. Much of it is hard to evaluate due to the marketing lingo. Ultimately, choose a brand with a good rep, get the features you want, at the price you want. Then hope you don't have bad luck and get a poor example due to poor quality control.

Are you planning on a new case? Those are ATX boards and won't fit in that HP micro-ATX case.

Asrock used to have a mediocre reputation, but seems to be more highly thought of in the last year or two. I'm not sure if they are still owned by Asus.

I'd at least check out Gigabyte motherboards.

Are you restricted to Amazon.uk as a source?

Even if you can't buy from Newegg, you might get some hints from the board reviews there, although many of the reviewers are either fanboys or dim bulbs.

Yes, I was hoping to use my original case, but the way things are going it looks like I might as well get a whole new computer!

You say Gigabyte is a good make of motherboard? Any other makes any good? Also, some links to some good motherboards would be excellent. If anyone does any links could you tell me if they'll fit my present case or if they'll need a totally new case. Remember, I'm looking at 2011 motherboards. Thanks in advance! :)

Nope, I'm not restricted to Amazon. I was just using them as a rough guide on prices and what's available, although they are an option.

Is the Gigabyte X79-UD5 LGA 2011 good for high end graphics gaming? And will it accept AMD as well as Intel CPUs?