AsRock or Asus

[fng01]

I have started to buy some stuff for my second build that I'll be able to start using with my current old rig. But I am way past due to upgrade still using an E8500 CPU and a old P5N32-E SLI plus board.

I prefere Asus and like the Z77 chipset cards thay have. I understand the the P8Z77 family has some great standard features accross the line for all levels of this product including a really easy Over Clocking Gui that even I can play with right from the Windows7 envirionment without going into the Bios to do it. The lowest level P8Z77-V maybe enough for me, but I beleive their are two levels above that maybe more than I need to spend.

I don't know much about AS Rock but have noted they seem to have a good following. They have a Z77 chipset board that is also priced well but haven't done my homework on them yet.

I plan to use an I5-3570K CPU. I am running SLI in my current rig but the cards are low end GTS 450's. I will probly look at the 660 when I purchase the Mombo. The SLI helps my current rig but not sure if its nessasary to run SLI if I have a much better single card in todays newer boards and CPU's.

Recommendations and advise welcomed. I don't use this PC for work with any kind of heavy mltithreading computations. Its just my entertainment and banking rig. I am into FPS games like BC2 COD but don't have the power to run Battlefield 3. That is my target to be able to play the newest games with good Frame Rates and upper graphic settings.

Thanks

 

[Insert_Nickname]

If you just need a cheap no-frills motherboard you could take a look at the ASUS P8B75-M. Of course you loose some of the more advanced functions of the Z77 like SRT, a SATA3 port and you cant overclock your processor, but its up to you if you really need those functions. If you just run at stock anyway it will do the job fine...

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8B75M/

 

[kleinkinstein]

3570K + Gigabyte UD5H = $320 @ MicroCenter. Impossible to beat!

 

[birthdaymonkey]

After reading about ASRock's increasing popularity in the most recent generations, I went Z77 Extreme4 for my most recent motherboard upgrade--and regretted it. The price was right for the features, but build quality was lacking. I had coil whine from the CPU voltage circuitry (constant and noticeable in my near-silent setup), so I exchanged the board only to find the same thing in the replacement unit. I was also not impressed with the offset overclocking capabilities of the Extreme4. Clock and vcore that had been stable on my old P8P67 mATX board no longer worked (with the same CPU), and I had to switch to manual voltage OC, which meant I was wasting power when idling.

I ended up returning the ASRock for a P8Z77V-Pro. An extra $40 and two RMAs later, I'm extremely pleased. The board is much heavier and more solidly built than the ASRock, no coil whine, and stable offset OC. I will not be buying ASRock again.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

After reading about ASRock's increasing popularity in the most recent generations, I went Z77 Extreme4 for my most recent motherboard upgrade--and regretted it. The price was right for the features, but build quality was lacking. I had coil whine from the CPU voltage circuitry (constant and noticeable in my near-silent setup), so I exchanged the board only to find the same thing in the replacement unit. I was also not impressed with the offset overclocking capabilities of the Extreme4. Clock and vcore that had been stable on my old P8P67 mATX board no longer worked (with the same CPU), and I had to switch to manual voltage OC, which meant I was wasting power when idling.

I ended up returning the ASRock for a P8Z77V-Pro. An extra $40 and two RMAs later, I'm extremely pleased. The board is much heavier and more solidly built than the ASRock, no coil whine, and stable offset OC. I will not be buying ASRock again.

Thats the usual problem with ASRock-boards, both the features and specifications look good on paper, but the workmanship and components are cheap...

 

[fng01]

Thanks that's enough for me. Pro V looks like a great board for me. Maybe a little more than I need but I will enjoy a bunch of the features. That setup with a I5 or I7 should carry me for a long time.