Questions about i5 motherboards

I've been lurking on these boards for a while now mainly cause I haven't felt I had a system worthy of talking about. Well, I'll be finishing up my new i5 system soon and so I need some help. Here is what I have so far:

Processor: Intel i5-750
HSF: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
Mobo: ???
RAM: ???
GPU: HIS Radeon HD4850 512 mb
HDD: 2x 500gb Samsung F3 Spinpoint
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 650w

As you can tell I'm missing the Mobo and RAM.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with a pair of 2gb G.Skill RipJaw but I'm not sure what type would be the best to get. For overclocking do I want the highest speed or the lowest latency?

My other problem is I'm not sure what mobo to get. I would really like to be able to overclock the i5 to about 3.8. What are some things I need to have on the motherboard to help make that possible?

Here are the mobos I've been considering.

Asus P7P55D
MSI P55-GD65
Asrock P55 Extreme

I really like the Asrock Extreme cause it comes with some nice features such as 8+2 phase, Quad SLI or Xfire, EuP 2.0, Debug LED, on board Reset and Power buttons, and I/O Cmos Reset Switch. If I could get some people's opinions, that would be great.

Any of those Mother board choices will get the job done. The AsRock looks interesting. +1 on the G.Skill RipJaws made for P55. I'd go with 4870 or 4890 for GPU or even Nvidia 260 in stead of the 4850.

We'll, I've already got the 4850. I got it when the 4770 came out for about $80. I'm waiting til the 5000 series comes out and then I'm going to try to grab a 4870x2.

my vote for the asus but what is wrong with the GA-P55-UD4P?

I've read good reviews on the Asrock P55 boards, namely the P55 Deluxe which is their top of the line board. I'm probably going to go with that one for a Core i5 build here in the next week or so. The fact that you can use Socket 775 coolers on the Asrock boards saves me $40 right there which gives me more $ to spend on the motherboard.

Evilsizer said:

my vote for the asus but what is wrong with the GA-P55-UD4P?

Click to expand...

I've looked at it but its $10 to $20 more than the other motherboards. I'm not convinced its worth the extra $.

In my opinion, go with an evga motherboard and videocard. Also go with the ripjaw i5 ram.
motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188055
videocard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...475&cm_re=evga_gtx_275-_-14-130-475-_-Product
ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...31277&cm_re=ripjaws_i5-_-20-231-277-_-Product

Ok, well I'll be ordering a mobo + RAM tonight. I've narrowed my choices down to three boards.

ASUS P7P55D EVO
Phases - 12+2
Memory Slots - 4
Highest Memory Standard - DDR3 2200
PCI-E 2.0 Slots - 3 (16 or 8/8 or 8/8/4)
SLI or XFire - Both
Onboard SATA - 8
NIC - Dual
IO USB - 8
Mobo Power/Reset - Yes
IO CMOS Reset - Yes

GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P
Phases - 8+2 ???
Memory Slots - 4
Highest Memory Standard - DDR3 2200
PCI-E 2.0 Slots - 2 (16 or 8/8)
SLI or XFire - Both
Onboard SATA - 8
NIC - 2
IO USB - 10
Mobo Power/Reset - none
IO CMOS Reset - none

ASROCK P55 Extreme
Phases - 8+2
Memory Slots - 4
Highest Memory Standard - DDR3 2600
PCI-E 2.0 Slots - 3 (16 or 8/8 or 8/8/4)
SLI or XFire - Both
Onboard SATA - 6
NIC - Single
IO USB - 7
Mobo Power/Reset - Yes
IO CMOS Reset - Yes

The ASUS seems to be more expensive but thanks to the RAM combos on newegg it comes out to about $10 more than the ASROCK. Same for the Gigabyte which gets some RAM combo love too. I want xfire and SLI options which is present on all three. I'm having a hard time choosing between the three so any advice or would be helpful. I don't really want to spend over $160 for a mobo so these are my choices.

evo or the reg one is nice... dont c a difference of the evo... and it looks nice xD

Yeah, I'm leaning towards the EVO myself. Its everything that the P7P55D is but with extra.

I ended up getting the Asrock Extreme and G.Skill DDR3 2000 ram. The combo with the Asus p7p55d evo ended before I could buy the mobo. I might do some benchmarking on here to see how the Asrock work out.