New motherboard options.

I want some opinions from you guys. I'm stuck between picking from these 3 motherboards. I will take cheaper options, and only slightly more expensive options. I'm not willing to spend anymore than $175. Whichever board I order, I will order a i7-2700k with. I'm looking for a nice bios, good overclocking capabilities of the board (I know other factors play a large role, but I just want to get a nice start with a good mobo) Lastly, I want at least 2 PCI-E x16 slots.

Hopefully some of you guys have some experience with some of these motherboards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128498

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157265

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188097

Just curious why the 2700K when the 2500K with a 6MB L3 Cache opposed to 8MB on the 2600K/2700K is TONS cheaper and will OC about the same (4.5-4.7GHz on 2500K is fairly standard - and they are only $179 @ Microcenter ). I don't even use Hyper-Threading on my i7 Rigs - so I don't find that to be any real benefit (i7 w/HT over i5 w/o HT) for my useage...

I personally went with this MoBo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131792
ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3

I'm thrilled with it from top to bottom...

It's only $4 above your $175 "ceiling" - and if you get the 2500K from microcenter, you will end up saving $154 over a 2700k system!!! (well, minus Tax on the CPU from Microcenter).

Randyman... said:

Just curious why the 2700K when the 2500K with a 6MB L3 Cache opposed to 8MB on the 2600K/2700K is TONS cheaper and will OC about the same (4.5-4.7GHz on 2500K is fairly standard - and they are only $179 @ Microcenter ). I don't even use Hyper-Threading on my i7 Rigs - so I don't find that to be any real benefit (i7 w/HT over i5 w/o HT) for my useage...

I personally went with this MoBo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131792
ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3

I'm thrilled with it from top to bottom...

It's only $4 above your $175 "ceiling" - and if you get the 2500K from microcenter, you will end up saving $154 over a 2700k system!!! (well, minus Tax on the CPU from Microcenter).

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I'll keep that motherboard in mind.

If your wondering about the 2700K. I'm obsessed with benchmarking that's one reason I'm getting it. Secondly, just because I want it.

If you really want to benchmark:

1. I've heard some stuff about the 2700K not OCing further than the 2600K, but you might want to check with the benching guys first.

2. You might want a more expensive motherboard.

Straight OCing, I'd go with the EVGA there.

Knufire said:

If you really want to benchmark:

1. I've heard some stuff about the 2700K not OCing further than the 2600K, but you might want to check with the benching guys first.

2. You might want a more expensive motherboard.

Straight OCing, I'd go with the EVGA there.

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I've did a little poking around and the only difference I've seen so far is the 100MHz difference (totally negligible). Albeit, people are saying the 2700K's are more consistent with their overclocks. They say they are higher binned.

I can still ask around though.

As far as a more expensive motherboard goes, I probably should. But I feel like I won't anything better than these 3 until the $250+ range, everything in between just maybe has extra flashy features I won't use. Plus, I also only have a $900 budget for CPU, Motherboard, another case, CPU block, new coolant, and reservoir (I'll re-use the rest of my current CPU loop). I was starting to lean towards the EVGA Z68 board after seeing a bios video. Insane amount of control!

If all you want is an impressive bench, it sounds like extreme cooling might be the way to go. I've personally never been one to care about benchmarks enough to pay for them (cost and reliability/complexity aspects) just for their glory alone.

I'd agree that cash is more well-spent on a killer MoBo that will overclock like mad, but $250 for a Z68 1155 MoBo seems excessive (even to me!). The ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 is a killer $179 board IMO, and the 2500K for under $200 is a no-brainer seeing as you'll only get marginal "benchmark" increases and negligible "real-world" benefits from spending more on a $250 MoBo and a $340 CPU.

The price-to-performance benefits of the much cheaper setup make complete sense IMO.

If you were going to spend so much cash on a dual-channel 1155 setup, I'd say spend just a little more and go for the LGA2011! That's what I did for my main Audio-Production DAW (PC#2 in my sig) - this is where the Quad-Channel memory controller, fat DMI bus, superb overclockability, and extra L3 Cache really do make a "real-world" difference with regard to the overall DSP Horsepower that is available at extremely low ASIO latencies. However, I don't think these LGA2011 advantages have the same profound effect on gaming (an improvement, sure - but not quite the same as extremely-low-latency "native" audio production IMO).

If you want to dump cash into this system for impressive numbers and mad PCIe bandwidth for Triple SLI, go LGA2011 IMNSHO...

Randyman... said:

If all you want is an impressive bench, it sounds like extreme cooling might be the way to go. I've personally never been one to care about benchmarks enough to pay for them (cost and reliability/complexity aspects) just for their glory alone.

I'd agree that cash is more well-spent on a killer MoBo that will overclock like mad, but $250 for a Z68 1155 MoBo seems excessive (even to me!). The ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 is a killer $179 board IMO, and the 2500K for under $200 is a no-brainer seeing as you'll only get marginal "benchmark" increases and negligible "real-world" benefits from spending more on a $250 MoBo and a $340 CPU.

The price-to-performance benefits of the much cheaper setup make complete sense IMO.

If you were going to spend so much cash on a dual-channel 1155 setup, I'd say spend just a little more and go for the LGA2011! That's what I did for my main Audio-Production DAW (PC#2 in my sig) - this is where the Quad-Channel memory controller, fat DMI bus, superb overclockability, and extra L3 Cache really do make a "real-world" difference with regard to the overall DSP Horsepower that is available at extremely low ASIO latencies. However, I don't think these LGA2011 advantages have the same profound effect on gaming (an improvement, sure - but not quite the same as extremely-low-latency "native" audio production IMO).

If you want to dump cash into this system for impressive numbers and mad PCIe bandwidth for Triple SLI, go LGA2011 IMNSHO...

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I did think long and hard about a 2011 setup. I mean a really long while... Although, after I spent some fat cash on a 2011 board, the only CPU I would be able to afford is the 3820. Which only scores a little above the 2600-2700k.

As far as the quad-channel goes, I just deem it too much for what I use my rig for. There are plenty of guys out there that need all the bandwidth, and capacity though.

I don't need 40 PCI lanes either. I plan to pick up either a 7970 or GTX 680 in a couple weeks. (Hopefully the 680's will stay in stock around then) After I get one, I probably won't ever crossfire/SLI either of those leviathans, and I would like to get a PCI-E SSD, but that may be a while down the road.

Understood. My point was if you are going to spend $340 on an 1155 Dual-Channel CPU (that won't come close to destroying a 2500K) and $200 or so on a MoBo, then LGA2011 isn't too far away. Otherwise, go with a MUCH cheaper 2500K/Z68 setup that will come pretty close for about 1/2 as much cash

The >$300 2600K/2700K just aren't CPU's I'd consider with the 2500K running under $200. From my seats, it's either 2500K/Z68 for "price to performance" domination, or LGA2011 for the ultimate "no holds barred" pwn IMO. You are certainly welcome to your own opinion on the matter - it is your hard-earned cash after all

All I can say from experience is all 3 of my 2500K setups SCREAM for not-a-lot-of-cash, and my LGA2011 Sabertooth X79 / i7-3820 setup easily walks away from them while running cooler in the process (but left a good dent in my wallet! )

Randyman... said:

Understood. My point was if you are going to spend $340 on an 1155 Dual-Channel CPU (that won't come close to destroying a 2500K) and $200 or so on a MoBo, then LGA2011 isn't too far away. Otherwise, go with a MUCH cheaper 2500K/Z68 setup that will come pretty close for about 1/2 as much cash

The >$300 2600K/2700K just aren't CPU's I'd consider with the 2500K running under $200. From my seats, it's either 2500K/Z68 for "price to performance" domination, or LGA2011 for the ultimate "no holds barred" pwn IMO. You are certainly welcome to your own opinion on the matter - it is your hard-earned cash after all

All I can say from experience is all 3 of my 2500K setups SCREAM for not-a-lot-of-cash, and my LGA2011 Sabertooth X79 / i7-3820 setup easily walks away from them while running cooler in the process (but left a good dent in my wallet! )

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I'm not instigating or trying to keep the cauldron stirred because I don't like lengthy discussions, but I just wanted to add how I like to look at price to performance.

While I do agree with the 2500k's being pretty darn quick, and it's probably the best bang for your buck. I will say that after the $200 Mobo, and $220 2500k you will be at a price to performance ceiling; similar to what you said. ANYTHING you buy after that will be a lot steeper climb for performance. Here is some figurative language I like to use for how I like to think about it. (It's not scientifically accurate, but it's how I like to think about it.) After the $xxx mark, you won't be paying $1 for every benchmarking point anymore, instead you will be paying $3 per point after a predetermined cash ceiling.

The "Performance-per-dollar sweet-spot" is how I like to visualize it.

Once you get beyond the 2500K's insane "sweet spot", you are indeed paying more for every ounce of performance beyond that "sweet spot". The higher-end 1155's will bump into this pretty quickly IMO. The 2011's are in a slightly higher price bracket, but have a higher "performance ceiling" than the 1155's.

For the sake of an accurate price baseline to configure the equation correctly, the 2500K is generally available for less than $200 (not $220). The 2600K/2700K seem to trade places (like Neptune and Uranis) for seemingly unknown pricing variables, while the 2500K remains a good $110 less than either for practically identical performance if you use a good MoBo.

The 2600K/2700K's i7 Hyper-Threading and 2MB extra L3 Cache is a point of contention based off your software's multi-threading capabilities and need for L3 Cache. If your primary applications are video encoding or any "heavily-threaded" type programs, then they can benefit from 8 threads sharing 4-Cores (effectively cutting your "per thread" CPU speed in half).

If your primary applications will perform at their best with 4-Cores worth of "full speed" threads (not "shared cores" like HT), then the 2500K's cost benefits will be the way to go IMO. My own primary "horsepower needs" deal with realtime low-latency audio production, and HT has yet to show me a single benefit (HT has been a detriment for low-latency audio performance since I've been attempting to use it effectively for 8 or so years now).

In addition, I could actually care less about LGA2011's 40 lanes of PCIe (as I only use 25 lanes max, and could comfortably get by with 13 lanes) - it's the latency and raw bandwidth that make it the platform of choice for my "low latency" Audio Production needs.

It really boils down to the specific implementation of the system in question. For my Audio Production DAW-PC, the extra RAM Bandwidth and bclck overclocking of the LGA2011 really does make a "real world" performance increase (but the performance advantages are not "linear" with regard to cost as you point out).

In other words, if the extra performance of the LGA2011 platform is not worth the "non-linear" monetary outlay, then stick with the insane price-to-performance aspects of 2500K/Z68 IMNSHO.

There are ALWAYS exceptions, but these basic observations drive my hard-earned purchasing dollars every time.

Anyone have any insight into what will happen to SB and SB-E prices when Ivy is released?

I agree with that you said for the most part, Randyman. Except, it would be Neptune and Pluto that have an overlap in their orbits. If you count Pluto as a planet rather than a dwarf planet.

Also, when you said "non-linear" the word you were looking for was exponential.

I don't mean to nit-pick I'm just an Astronomy buff.

That P8Z68-V/GEN3 is on sale for 169 ATM. Great board. . solid as far as its OC and VERY VERY stable. Im having a blast with it


Z

Zuzzz said:

That P8Z68-V/GEN3 is on sale for 169 ATM. Great board. . solid as far as its OC and VERY VERY stable. Im having a blast with it


Z

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I ordered an Intel DP67BGB3 Sunday night for $159. From what I see there is some controversy over the board. I just wanted to check it out for myself. If I don't like it, I'll buy something else.

Thanks for posting the sale on that ASUS board though. A lot of people wouldn't even bother!

to go back to your first post, 2 cards running @Pcie 16x is not possible with a 1155 CPU. Nevermind the mobo, it will be 2x8X at best.

Cojac92 said:

I ordered an Intel DP67BGB3 Sunday night for $159. From what I see there is some controversy over the board. I just wanted to check it out for myself. If I don't like it, I'll buy something else.

Thanks for posting the sale on that ASUS board though. A lot of people wouldn't even bother!

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Of all motherboards...

moocow said:

Of all motherboards...

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I learned the hard way... As normal.

This motherboard has a lot of nice features that I wish other motherboards had

ALTHOUGH, it is physically impossible to overclock on this board.

I'm going to buy an ASUS Z68 sometime this weekend, once it gets here I'll swap them out, and send this Intel P67 back for a freakin refund.

I ordered the ASUS Z68-V Pro3 today it is normally $179 but I got it for $149. $10 off coupon and a $20 promotional gift card.

Once the ASUS board gets here, I'm going to pack up the Intel DP67BGB3 and ship it back for a refund, and buy some better RAM with the refund cash.