Buying advise needed: i5-3570k: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 or other?: $100-150 budget

[m715]

Ok, I was going to wait till black friday to pick up my CPU and motherboard for my new build but I got an i5-3570k for $160 from tigerdirect and its now sitting on my desk so needless to say I'm looking for motherboards now

Budget is $100-150
Use: Mild overclocking, Guild Wars 2, ESRI ArcGIS
Other parts I have:
- Kingston HyperX 3k 120GB SSD
- OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular PSU
- Hyper 212+
- NZXT Source 210 white case
(I want the Corsair 600T case, hoping for a deal on black friday)
- 7870 or 7950 GPU, to be bought on black friday

I was looking at the ASROCK Extreme4 or ASUS P8Z77-V LK, both currently come with GeIL 8GB RAM, I don't know anything about GeIL? For overclocking it seems the ASRock is the one people choose...

ASROCK Extreme4 - $134.98 free SH for me
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293
ASUS P8Z77-V LK - $129.99 AR free SH
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837

Also this board hits the top of my budget at $149.99 AR
But not sure how it compares, its micro ATX, the full ATX vr. looks nice but is out of the budget...
GIGABYTE G1.Sniper M3 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128551

RAM: GeIL EVO Veloce Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model GEV38GB1600C9DC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144614
- DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
- Timing 9-9-9-28
- Cas Latency 9
- Voltage 1.5V

 

[Deaks2]

If you buy the CPU and board together at Micro Center you get the CPU for $185 and the Asrock Z77 Extreme4 for $90.

 

[m715]

If you buy the CPU and board together at Micro Center you get the CPU for $185 and the Asrock Z77 Extreme4 for $90.

Yep, I'm painfully aware of their prices, so they are the one to beat...
I did get the Combo deal shipped once, but that won't happen again as it was a mistake on their part...

The closest one for me is a 400 mile round trip so its not an option, they always seem to have the best CPU/motherboard deals, also no Fry's
I have Staples, which actually with ink rewards can be good for some parts

Microcenter would be $297 ($185+$90+$22 tax)
I spent $160 on the CPU, so that leaves a $137 for the motherboard, hence my $100-150 budget to stay within the deal level of microcenter...

 

[Operant]

I would go for the ASRock board over that ASUS one personally. The whole VRM section has heatsinks over it whereas the ASUS only has half (just a nice cooling boost there). Also, the ASRock as 2 more SATA ports compared to the ASUS. The ASUS does have one more PCIe slot though. Still, I have to vote for the Extreme4.

 

[txus.palacios]

I'd go ASRock. Bare MOSFETs are a big turn off for me.

 

[Woomack]

+1 for ASRock too , many reasons that are also in other threads

 

[rogbur22]

+1 for ASrock

 

[m715]

Thanks for the replies, reinforces what I have read here and elsewhere. I'm still not sure on the GeIL RAM, but I also want to build a home server for school files, backup, print server and maybe media so I could also put the RAM in that if I don't like it, would be overkill but hey...

Looks like my system will be up and running before black friday:
There was a PRICE DROP this morning, needless to say ASRock is on the way
It's now $114.99 w/free SH and the RAM is still included
With various cash back will bring it down to $106.25
So a total investment of $266.93 for my i5, ASRock Extreme4 and 8GB of RAM...

 

[EarthDog]

Look in the Cyber deals. They are offering 2x4GB of ram free with the Z77 Extreme 4...

 

[dejo]

I have the asrock z77 extreme6 and it is a very solid board. Not the fastest for benching but very nice for the price and all the features you could want in this generation of board. Not much difference in the ex6 and ex4, nice choice

 

[txus.palacios]

For RAM, if you're not benchmarking, these days you can put almost everything and it won't complain, as long as it's DDR3 1.5v (recommended 1600MHz CL9).

 

[EarthDog]

.....as long as it's DDR3 1.5v

1.65v or less works just fine as well. I dont own a set o 1.5v ram on either my SB or IB rigs.

 

[m715]

Look in the Cyber deals. They are offering 2x4GB of ram free with the Z77 Extreme 4...

That was actually me, I thought I would share the deal as its the best I've seen in awhile...

For RAM, if you're not benchmarking, these days you can put almost everything and it won't complain, as long as it's DDR3 1.5v (recommended 1600MHz CL9).

1.65v or less works just fine as well. I dont own a set o 1.5v ram on either my SB or IB rigs.

Thanks, sounds like the RAM should work fine for what I want to do
I'm trying to stay under $1000 for a complete system so this will help, i've been slowing picking up parts as I see good deals...

 

[txus.palacios]

1.65v or less works just fine as well. I dont own a set o 1.5v ram on either my SB or IB rigs.

If you're grabbing new RAM, and it's not for benching, you might as well aim for a lower voltage. If you have 1.65V, it's fine, but, if you don't, why should you pick 1.65v over 1.5v?

 

[EarthDog]

You shouldnt... you are spot on (nor was I suggesting 1.65v). Just noting that it doesnt NEED to be 1.5v. I read the excerpt "as long as it's DDR3 1.5v" as only DDR3 @ 1.5v would work.

 

[txus.palacios]

You shouldnt... you are spot on (nor was I suggesting 1.65v). Just noting that it doesnt NEED to be 1.5v. I read the excerpt "as long as it's DDR3 1.5v" as only DDR3 @ 1.5v would work.

Yes. I think our posts made it pretty clear to the OP. We succeeded here.

 

[m715]

Yes. I think our posts made it pretty clear to the OP. We succeeded here.

Yep, success
I've got enough parts now I'll have some fun putting it together this weekend, then picking up a video card and maybe a Corsair 600T case over black friday. I'm sure with newegg's speed it will be at my door tomorrow and with all the school work I have I won't be able to put it together until friday...

 

[txus.palacios]

Aim for AMD's latest bundle. It seems Far Cry 3 will be a pretty nice game.

 

[Maglin]

It figures that 2 days after I pull the trigger on the Z77 Extreme4 it goes on sale. Oh well. I'm sure you will be pleased with it's performance. It seems with IB the MB isn't really your hurdle but the heat output from the chip once you get past 4.6ghz due to the extra voltage required and it's leaky transistors.

 

[rogbur22]

Aim for AMD's latest bundle. It seems Far Cry 3 will be a pretty nice game.

I like that also, sweet bundle trying to justify getting a new GPU just for the bundle Oh well, hehe