Affordable CPU/Mobo combination.

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janderson91z

Junior Member
Jun 28, 2012
4
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Recently I killed my old Q6600 and P35 mobo by spilling water down the top fan of my case. I know, I'm an idiot. I wasn't ready to upgrade yet because of being low on funds but now I have to and I figured I could spend 300 bucks max on a CPU and mobo. I'm going to continue to use my working 4850 for a couple more months until buying a new GPU and I have a decent 500w PSU to get me by.

My problem is that I'm not sure if I should get the 2500k or the ivy bridge 3450. From my limited understanding the 3450 and 2500k will be perform similarly stock but that the 2500k will be a much better overclocker. I don't need to OC as either CPU stock will be plenty fast for me so I'm assuming what it comes down to is the fact that with the ivy bridge CPU I will get PCI-E 3.0. Should I go with the 3450 so I will have PCI-E 3.0 or is that not really important right now? I'll probably get a new GPU in a few months so my real question is that a few months down the road will I be kicking myself if I go with the 2500k and be lacking the PCI-E 3.0.

In this budget I'll need a mobo for around 90-100 bucks shipped. I was curious if this mobo will be solid. It seemed like the best option for a z77 chipset board in that price range.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138352

So what should I go with? Is the ivy bridge cpu with PCI-E 3.0 support the best option or is PCI-E 3.0 irrelevant right now?

I appreciate any advice. Thank you.
 
Magic Carpet

Magic Carpet

Diamond Member
Oct 2, 2011
3,477
234
106
You sure, the chip is dead, though?

I'd try to re-use it in another board. They're going for less than fifty bucks. Most likely, the chip has survived your negligence :)
 
J

janderson91z

Junior Member
Jun 28, 2012
4
0
0
It's probably just the motherboard but I'd rather just make the move to ivy bridge (or sandy) instead of spending 50 bucks on a motherboard that might not fix the problem. It seems for 350 bucks I can get a cpu that's going to be a lot faster than the 5 year old q6600, a basic but functioning motherboard and 8gbs of ram.

I just didn't know if I should go with the 2500k or 3450 and get PCI-E 3.0 and if that motherboard is ok.

Thanks.
 
K

Kenmitch

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
8,505
2,250
136
janderson91z said:
It's probably just the motherboard but I'd rather just make the move to ivy bridge (or sandy) instead of spending 50 bucks on a motherboard that might not fix the problem. It seems for 350 bucks I can get a cpu that's going to be a lot faster than the 5 year old q6600, a basic but functioning motherboard and 8gbs of ram.

I just didn't know if I should go with the 2500k or 3450 and get PCI-E 3.0 and if that motherboard is ok.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

If it was me I'd just take the plunge also.

Are you one of the lucky ones that lives close to a microcenter?

If you got the 2500k would you run it at stock speeds or would you overclock it?

PCI-E 3.0 I doubt would be an issue unless you plan on running a pair of GTX 690's in the near future. If just one single card I wouldn't worry about the xtra bandwidth available that you won't be using anyways.
 
J

janderson91z

Junior Member
Jun 28, 2012
4
0
0
No, I live in NC. We used to have CompUSA, Circuit City, and Best Buy. The CompUSA closed and CC as a whole went out of business so now the only local place I have is Best Buy which doesn't carry CPUs or Mobos. Not that it matters because they would be ridiculously over priced anyway as is all their stuff.

Ok, so PCI-E 3.0 is useless because I'll just plan on buying a single ~250-300 dollar card down the road. Thank you, that answers my question on that.

I like having the option to OC I guess. When I first got my Q6600 I didn't feel the need to do it but later on I bought a cooler and overclocked and got a lot more out of it.
 
J

janderson91z

Junior Member
Jun 28, 2012
4
0
0
Wow, I didn't see the promo code on that 3570k. That puts it right in my price range and is the best of both worlds, Ivy bridge and a good overclocker. That is great.

Thank you for the help. I'm going to buy it before the promo runs out for sure.

Thanks a ton.
 
B

borisvodofsky

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2010
3,606
0
0
MustangSVT said:
how much do you guys think 3570 can be overclocked with oem cooler it comes with?
Click to expand...

4.3Ghz is as high as you want to go for "SAFE" thermal headroom.

However, the chip itself can clock up to 4.5ghz no problem. It's just that if you run tests like IBT with the stock cooler at 4.5, it will throttle. :(
 
lehtv

lehtv

Elite Member
Dec 8, 2010
11,897
74
91
It's not recommended to OC with the stock cooler, it'll just be hot and unbearably noisy. If you want to OC buy a cheapo 120mm cooler for it like Hyper 212 at minimum.

OC upgrade:
3570K $215
Hyper 212 Evo $30
Asrock Z77 Pro3 $95
2x4GB DDR3 $40

= $380. $350 without HSF if you want to only OC later on. If you forget about OC altogether you can get a B75 board for about $20. Or if you want SLI/Crossfire compatibility you can spend $20 more e.g. Asrock Z77 Extreme4
 
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