I'm going to get a desktop really soon. I'm waiting for the new nvidia graphics cards to come out, as well as ivy bridge. So, in the meantime, I want to build a clutch system. Its going to be running a 2500k and a crossfirex compatible motherboard, the ECS P67H2-A3. I currently have an m11x with a gtx335m, but the core 2 duo is inhibiting it. So, should I get a low price graphics card, such as a gtx450, get multiple cards such as 5770s, or stick with my laptop and wait until the 600 series graphics cards come out? Or something else entirely?
-
Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!
clutch system
- Thread starter skaterat
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
- Location
- Manassas, VA
Why that motherboard? There are plenty out that will fully support Ivy Bridge, the ones that will support Ivy Bridge WHILE maintaining SLI/CFX compatibility are labeled GEN3. Might as well just build on that, then you can just drop in an Ivy Bridge CPU when it comes out.
In terms of video cards, see if you can pick up a used GTX460 1GB, it will serve you well.
In terms of video cards, see if you can pick up a used GTX460 1GB, it will serve you well.
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
- Location
- Manassas, VA
I'd stick to the vanilla P8Z68-V Gen3, or the ASRock Extreme3/4 Gen3. Overclocking barely stresses the motherboard in this arch, and I believe Ivy Bridge is nearly identical, just a die shrink. IMO there's no real reason to spend more then $180 on a motherboard, unless you need NF200 augmentation or some other feature.
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
- Location
- Manassas, VA
Almost all Z68 boards do. The thing is not all the board will support SLI when you drop in an Ivy Bridge processor (the upgrade to Sandy Bridge). When you drop an IB in, on some boards it converts the PCIe 2.0 lanes into PCIe 3.0. Some boards take and dump 32 2.0 lanes to make a single x16 3.0 slot, except you lose functionality.
All the boards I suggested support SLI WITH Ivy Bridge processors. No need to go expensive, the $125 ASRock Extreme3 Gen3 will do it.
All the boards I suggested support SLI WITH Ivy Bridge processors. No need to go expensive, the $125 ASRock Extreme3 Gen3 will do it.
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
- Location
- Manassas, VA
Look at the features and decide. You get iGPU support with Z68, it's a backup in case you have a dead video card, and it makes converting videos MUCH faster. You also get SSD cache, which takes a solid state, analyzes what you do, and automatically moves that stuff to the SSD. If you don't care about either of those, go with P67.
