Solved i7 Wanted: New motherboard?

[Chips]

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

 

[ignatzatsonic]

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]

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

 

[James7679]

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

 

[Chips]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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?

 

[James7679]

Chips, it would be most useful if you gave us a bit of information.
What is your budget?
What will the PC be used for?
What do you want to "reuse"? Probably only going to be able to salvage the HDD and Optical from your current system.
What is your display setup?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

There aren't many micro ATX socket 2011 boards.

Here is a link to 2 of them available at Newegg. You'd have to find your own source in the UK.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%20600238945%20600009017&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&CompareItemList=280|13-157-283^13-157-283-TS%2C13-131-805^13-131-805-TS

Sometimes PC manufacturers like HP have proprietary features in their cases that make the case incompatible with industry-standard motherboards. I have no idea if that is true for your particular case.

The brands I would consider are Asus, Asrock, Gigabyte, and Intel, but you still need to research the specific model you are considering. Intel brand motherboards are typically very stable, but not the best choice if you intend to overclock.

This last link is to ALL socket 2011 ATX motherboards at Newegg (excludes micro-ATX):

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Motherboards, Intel Motherboards, LGA 2011, ATX

 

[bobkn]

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

There have been no AMD CPUs that are socket-compatible with Intel for quite a while. The last I recall was Socket 7, from the Pentium I days.

My first DIY system was a Pentium II, using the early version of Slot 1. It was built in 1997.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

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

That motherboard has an Extended ATX form factor---rare, but sometimes used in workstations or servers.

It's larger than ATX and may require a full tower case?

I'd probably avoid it for that reason unless it has some particular features that you need and cannot find elsewhere.

No, it won't accept AMD processors.

 

[Chips]

Is it the same situation with modern CPUs as it was with Pentiums vs Athlons? If I remember right the Athlons were cheaper and faster? Is that still the same, that you're getting a better deal all round with AMD?

What is your budget?
What will the PC be used for?
What do you want to "reuse"? Probably only going to be able to salvage the HDD and Optical from your current system.
What is your display setup?

Around the region of £800-£900 for a full computer.
From the info it looks like I'll be keeping the old one for basic use and the new one for gaming.
If you mean what's my screen res it's 1920 x 1080.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Is it the same situation with modern CPUs as it was with Pentiums vs Athlons? If I remember right the Athlons were cheaper and faster? Is that still the same, that you're getting a better deal all round with AMD?

No, it isn't the same situation.

AMD is reasonably competitive at lower price points.

At your budget level, Intel has the edge in performance and power consumption. If you are contemplating socket 2011 level performance, there isn't much point in AMD, fanboys to the contrary notwithstanding.

 

[bobkn]

Is it the same situation with modern CPUs as it was with Pentiums vs Athlons? If I remember right the Athlons were cheaper and faster? Is that still the same, that you're getting a better deal all round with AMD?

Not at the moment. That was true back in the day of Sockets 754 and 939 (2004), with the original Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 X2. The dominance ended a few years later with the Intel Core 2 CPUs.

The "bulldozer" line (top end is the FX-8150, 8 nominal cores) was generally disappointing, even compared to the Phenom II X6 CPUs. For gaming, the Phenom II X6 chips didn't necessarily do better than the Phenom II X4 chips. Things are different with applications that efficently use multithreading, but those seem to be rare.

 

[Chips]

Okay, looks like I'll be going for the Gigabyte SKT-2011 X79-UD5 mother board, that is unless the UD7 has something really mega that makes it the preferred option? If it's only a marginal difference then I'll be getting the UD5. Also, am I right that the UD5 has had some overheating problems?


CPUs: I was thinking about the: Intel Core i7 3820 Quad Core CPU (3.60GHz, 10MB Cache, Socket 2011, 130W, Sandy Bridge)

Is this good for what I want? Is it right that it's the bottom of the range of 2011 CPUs?

 

[James7679]

My suggestions for a 2011 build

MoBo Newegg.com - BIOSTAR TPOWER X79 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
CPU Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73820
RAM Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBRL
PSU Newegg.com - SeaSonic M12II 750 SS-750AM 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Semi-modular Power Supply
Case Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
SSD Newegg.com - Kingston HyperX 3K SH103S3/90G 2.5" 90GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (Stand-Alone Drive)
GPU Newegg.com - EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1573-KR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

So, just slightly over budget, but definitely a nice rig.

 

[Chips]

My suggestions for a 2011 build

SSD Newegg.com - Kingston HyperX 3K SH103S3/90G 2.5" 90GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (Stand-Alone Drive)
GPU Newegg.com - EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1573-KR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

So, just slightly over budget, but definitely a nice rig.

Is THIS the graphics card in question?

The SSD. I'm guessing that's the hard drive? If so isn't 90GB a tad small by today's standards when most computers are running on 1TB?