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Lucky Tiger13 
LSU Fan
Baton Rouge
Member since May 2012
201 posts
| Looking for a great motherboard (Posted on 1/28/13 at 10:02 am)
To compliment this build.
So far items purchased are as follows:
LIAN LI CASE $99.99
Seasonic 850W modular PSU $109.99
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm HD $79.99
Intel i5-3570k Ivy Bridge 3.8GHz Turbo $229.99
Zalman CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink $31.99
And last night I made an impulse buy on the GPU. I had already decided to get the standard 7970 at 399.99 but was able to find the GHz version at the same price. (about $70 off in rebates)
XFX Double D Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB $399.99
So all that's left is the Mobo, RAM, and SSD. My brother did his first tax return ever and will be getting quite a big return so he upped budget to $1500 total for the tower. So i guess the remaining budget is about $550. I'd like to keep him under though just in case we have to purchase an OS.
The build is going to be for gaming/media and it's gonna be his induction into the master race. It will start off as a single monitor setup, with the ability to support more if he chooses. I assume with crossfire, this build should give him 3-4 years of high-max settings.
I need info on the remaining parts with consideration of the budget. My instinct says to get a quality mobo over anything else, but I don't want to spend unnecessary cash.
TIA
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LSU Coyote
Member since Sep 2007
9315 posts
| re: Looking for a great motherboard (Posted on 1/28/13 at 10:08 am to Lucky Tiger13)
MSI MPower
I have ran through 6 MOBOs this year before settling on the MPower in the Z77 chipset range.
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jcole4lsu 
Virginia Fan
The Kwisatz Haderach
Member since Nov 2007
21809 posts
| re: Looking for a great motherboard (Posted on 1/28/13 at 10:10 am to Lucky Tiger13)
kingston hyper x RAM and SSD
(corsair and samsung also both make excellent products of both)
as for an 1155 board, make sure its a Z77 chipset from gigabyte, asus, asrock, or msi. a quality board can be found at $200, $175, or even $130 just depends on budget.
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LSU Coyote
Member since Sep 2007
9315 posts
| re: Looking for a great motherboard (Posted on 1/28/13 at 10:10 am to Lucky Tiger13)
Also 1150 is right around the corner. I have been seeing after market coolers with "1150 Compatible" on the front box.
It might be closer than we know. Supposed to be May/June but still thinking that it will be April like the last 2 refresh cycles.
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jcole4lsu
Virginia Fan
The Kwisatz Haderach
Member since Nov 2007
21809 posts
| re: Looking for a great motherboard (Posted on 1/28/13 at 10:13 am to jcole4lsu)
This one from ASRock is $140 and tom's hardware approved.
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Lucky Tiger13
LSU Fan
Baton Rouge
Member since May 2012
201 posts
| re: Looking for a great motherboard (Posted on 1/28/13 at 10:17 am to LSU Coyote)
quote:
Also 1150 is right around the corner
Wouldn't it be problem that the CPU has already been purchased?
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jcole4lsu
Virginia Fan
The Kwisatz Haderach
Member since Nov 2007
21809 posts
| re: Looking for a great motherboard (Posted on 1/28/13 at 10:24 am to Lucky Tiger13)
nah we can just remove a couple pins no problem 
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LSU Coyote
Member since Sep 2007
9315 posts
| re: Looking for a great motherboard (Posted on 1/28/13 at 11:17 am to jcole4lsu)
quote:
This one from ASRock is $140 and tom's hardware approved.
I used an Extreme6 for about 2 months this Summer. Great MOBO. The Extreme 4 and 6 are the same except for a few capacitors and phases for OCing, maybe some SATA ports? I don't remember exactly. No need to worry about that.
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ILikeLSUToo
LSU Fan
Central, LA
Member since Jan 2008
5295 posts
| re: Looking for a great motherboard (Posted on 1/28/13 at 11:23 am to Lucky Tiger13)
quote:
Wouldn't it be problem that the CPU has already been purchased?
Yeah, you'll be fine for a while. New technology is always around the corner. The CPUs and motherboards will be at a premium for a few months, and depending on what you plan to do with your computer, it may not be a worthwhile upgrade in real-world performance.
I second everyone's recommendations for sub-$200 motherboards. There are enthusiast-level boards, and many with tons of features packed in, like thunderbolt, more true 16x PCIe ports for triple and quad crossfire/SLI, extra USB 3.0, esata and extra 6gbps sata, overclocking potential (i.e. extra capacitors and whatnot), etc. I think the ASUS sabertooths or rampages even have a waterblock on the northbridge. I think Thunderbolt tends to drive the price up. Just all depends on what you think you need and what you're willing to pay. For me, a stable motherboard with reasonable overclocking options, True SLI/Xfire support (i.e., no shared lanes), and a few USB 3.0 ports is all I really need.
This post was edited on 1/28 at 11:24 am
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