re: PC Discussion - Gaming, Performance and Enthusiasts

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I'm having the hardest time deciding on fittings for my loop

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I like the simple design of the black XSPC compression fittings. Conveniently, they're also one of the cheapest compression fitting choices. I don't like any of the fittings that have the company logo slapped on it, like enzotech, swiftech, or some of the angled fittings by bitspower.

The only differences in the two seem to be that the ASUS has a slightly newer onboard audio chipset (better specs on paper. I have no idea if the sound quality difference is actually noticeable), and the ASUS also has onboard dual-band Wireless N and bluetooth, while the Gigabyte has neither. Actually not a terrible value to pay ~$18 more (after rebate) for bluetooth and wireless (and possibly improved onboard audio), IF you intend to use those features.

What's your criteria for the motherboard as far as features? The MSI Mpower is technically superior to the ASUS in terms of features (and it also has wifi and bluetooth), and it would be a couple of dollars cheaper. LINK

However, the "better" features could be superfluous to you, and it might conflict with a color scheme you're going for (honestly, can't companies just stick with neutral tones for their higher-end hardware?).

Let me know what your priorities are for mobo capabilities.

That doesn't give me much to go on. If you don't need wifi/bluetooth, don't pay extra for a motherboard with wifi/bluetooth unless the rest of the features align with what you need. If you aren't going to be overclocking that 4670k on water or high-end air cooling, don't pay extra for a motherboard with 10+ power phases.

ASRock being "lower quality" is a bit of a myth. They are one of many companies that compete in a variety of price ranges, from low-end $50 boards to the $500 extreme/enthusiast market. Obviously, the choice of components are going to scale in quality relative to the price range and target market. A lot of people don't know that ASRock was actually a spin-off from ASUS. ASUStek broke itself up into ASUS and Pegatron. ASRock became Pegatron's brand, but Pegatron allows ASRock to compete with ASUS in multiple market segments. You'd be surprised how incestuous things are when it comes to sourcing components for motherboards and the like.

The biggest difference between many of these boards, especially in the mid-range/gamer category is usually just a matter of pricing strategy, or "trimming the edges" such as using the third x16 PCIe slot as an x4 2.0 slot instead of a slot that can use the 3.0 lanes for triple crossfire, or leaving it out altogether, or using only native SATA 6gbps, or leaving out mSATA/eSATA, etc. It's the low-end sub-$100 boards that need the most careful research for quality/reliability.

I frequently recommend ASRock boards for builds that call for a motherboard in the $100-150 range. They can seldom be beat in that market segment. Upper end usually has better competition, though, with companies that have been in the high-end game for much longer.

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The current plan is to stick an CM evo on the CPU and eventually play with some slight OC. I'd like OC in the future (And throw in a second GPU) as more demanding games come out.

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I recently kinda went through a similar situation as you. I built my system two years ago and didn't really mess with OC, but I recently OC'd my ram, cpu, and gpu. I have the i5-2500k which it EASY to oc, it's an older chip though. My sweet spot ended up being 4.4. My 2nd GPU will be here on wednesday.

Both of mine arrived today in separate boxes.

Didnt have time to break down my loop and try them in my main rig (and likely wont until wednesday).

But, to make sure they worked, I did test them in my mining rig with the shitty AMD A4-4000.

I ran 3dmark11 with just 1 card:


The CPU and PCIe bandwidth bottleneck is already obvious

Then in crossfire:

Damn power supply went out the other day. Anyone have one they would like to sell?

Took the coolers off both of mine. One has Elpida memory, and other has Hynix.

I know that feel, bro. I love getting new stuff.

This is fricking beautiful. LINK

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