• Selecting a Graphics/MoBo combo
    9 replies, posted
I just discovered the Australian Government is giving me a $1050 for being a uni student so I thought I should get myself a new computer. I've unfortunately been using a laptop for many years so I'll be starting from scratch. I've been keeping up with most components so I know what to get mostly but the biggest hurdle I've had has been motherboards. Simply put will I really gain anything between a $100 MoBo and a $300 MoBo? How much or a performance difference will I see between 1600 and 2100+ DDR3 RAM? How much performance gain will I get between a high range i5 (4670K) and a low end i7 (4770)? So can anyone suggest motherboards suitable for these processors?
The i5 will actually give you better performance for games, plus you can overclock it. I would suggest the MSI Z87-G45 for an extremely good board, or the MSI Z87-G41 is a solid overclocking board on a budget (it's what I have). And the RAM speed truly will not effect everything. Usually the 1600 will be cheaper.
I have an MSI Z87-GD65 motherboard. It is similar to the MSI Z87-G41 that Levelog mentioned, but has more SATA ports and an overclock button instead of software. Go for either one really. As for RAM, get 4x2 for gaming only or 8x2 for rendering software if you do that. I recommend 1600MHz clock speed, higher doesn't deliver better performance for games. Any brand of RAM is mostly good, but make sure there is heat dissipaters on them (they look like wings on the end of them.
Expensive mobo's are so not worth it these days. You'll likely need a new board every time you upgrade as it looks like Intel will be releasing chips on new sockets seemingly every year or so hereon out. Depending on your needs, you might want to opt for micro-ATX. I personally can't go back to a giant, hulking case anymore (my desktop's a mac mini).
[QUOTE=ThreePennyJim;44043298]Expensive mobo's are so not worth it these days. You'll likely need a new board every time you upgrade as it looks like Intel will be releasing chips on new sockets seemingly every year or so hereon out. Depending on your needs, you might want to opt for micro-ATX. I personally can't go back to a giant, hulking case anymore (my desktop's a mac mini).[/QUOTE] Expensive boards are worth it if you want a heavy overclock. My biggest limiting factor for overclocking my chip is my motherboard.
Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm sure I wrote CPU/MoBo in the title; not graphics
What do you intend to do with the PC? I can recommend the best for the money for what you intend to do. As for me, I don't game but lightly and mostly browsing, videos and puzzles so I got a B75 (business) motherboard and an Intel Core i5-3570 with 8 gigs of memory. I built this system for durability which included an enterprise hard drive and a good HD7770 video card for better graphics.
[QUOTE=TeaBird;44050528]What do you intend to do with the PC? I can recommend the best for the money for what you intend to do. As for me, I don't game but lightly and mostly browsing, videos and puzzles so I got a B75 (business) motherboard and an Intel Core i5-3570 with 8 gigs of memory. I built this system for durability which included an enterprise hard drive and a good HD7770 video card for better graphics.[/QUOTE] I don't need recommendations besides motherboard and CPU
If it allows you to fit in an SSD or go up a videocard, get the G41. If it doesn't, go with the G45
[QUOTE=download;44050813]I don't need recommendations besides motherboard and CPU[/QUOTE] Check your title? i7's dont benefit gaming over i5's and there is no low end i7 that can match the current gaming sweetspot CPU that is the i5-4670K
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