Bewildered by Motherboard Choices

[Resh]

Need to purchase a new motherboard and I'm completely bewildered by range of choices and completely opaque product names, so I'm hoping you guys can help me out based on the needs below:

Use: my primary desktop for office work, photoshop, ripping blu-rays and encoding with handbrake, gaming (F1 sims primarily). It lives in my living room, so quiet would be great.

Hardware choices/needs:
- leaning towards i7 3770k or i7 3770, but not likely to overclock until 3 years out and it feels slow
- quality build and components is important for me... need it to last like my old AX6BC Pro Gold did.
- want to run and SSD for OS drive and two SATA drives in RAID or individually
- no need for PS2, or serial ports
- ideally, would like to have to PCIe graphics cards -- one ATI for gaming connected to a 24" LCD and an nVidia for photo editing connected to a 30" LCD
- can take 16GB of RAM
- dual gigabit LAN that can be linked provide 2 gigabit connection would be nice, but if they can't be linked, it's not worthwhile
- bluetooth would be nice, but don't need wifi
- have a PCI soundblaster X-Fi that I'd like to continue using, but not critical
- smaller than ATX would be great so that I can move to a smaller case in the future. At present, I'd be using an original Antec P160 with the 430W modular PSU that came with or a Seasonic S12

Any help is appreciated.

 

[VirtualLarry]

- dual gigabit LAN that can be linked provide 2 gigabit connection would be nice, but if they can't be linked, it's not worthwhile

I have my doubts that you even understand what is involved there. It's not a simple case of 1+1=2.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

There are zillions of boards out there, and most of the higher end ones will do what you want. It's mostly a matter of picking a brand you trust and poking around the specs. I've always been partial to Asus, but that's just me.

Dual Ethernet ganging is supported by some high end boards, but as Larry said, you need to look carefully into what's required by all the components before you buy.

 

[Prey2big]

ASrock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157299
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty Z77 Performance/?cat=Specifications

Does not have bluetooth though.
I think you will have trouble finding a mobo with a smaller form factor than ATX that have old PCI-ports.

 

[Sleepingforest]

I'm not sure you need the extra threads for ripping Bluerays or Handbrake, so save yourself $100 by going with a i5-3570K instead. Multithreading isn't likely to become popular within 3 years simply because it is very difficult, so if you're on a medium paced purchase cycle, you should be fine.

For m-ATX, the cheapest option with both a PCI slot and 4 RAM slots on Newegg was this Gigabyte board. Bluetooth isn't a big deal--you can buy a USB dongle online for less than $5. As for the video cards--your probably best off with a single Nvidia card. It's just too expensive to have one for each, and Nvidia isn't at all bad at gaming (just expensive compared to AMD).

 

[Resh]

Thanks for the helpful posts, Charles, Prey2big, and Sleepingforest.

I've been poking around and have been narrowing things down:
- agreed that BT isn't worth it... too much stuff not needed comes along with it
- 3570K does sound like a good trade-off

As for the video cards, I have them both already and would like to use 'em. The AMD is quicker than the older 7800GTX (maybe it's a 7600GTX), so it's it for gaming. The nvidia card works better with monitor calibration software, so I'd like to put it in the mix for photo editing. Will I have problems having both in the system?

What are views on the Maximum Gene V?

 

[cafayzieg]

Different people have different needs.
Depend on your needs.

 

[StrangerGuy]

The very reason of having a zillion models out there is to confuse the shit out of you so you think the expensive ones are worth more than the cheapies beyond what the spec sheets say.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Step 1: Look at features listed here and decide what chipset you want.

Step 2: Decide what size (ITX, mATX, ATX, E-ATX) you want. (This is dictated by your choice of case as well as certain required features. So, want to Crossfire/SLI? No ITX for you.)

Step 3: Go to Newegg's motherboard browser.

Step 4: Select size (form factor) and chipset (northbridge) type.

Step 5: Click Search

Step 6: Sort by price.

Step 7: Buy the first board you see manufactured by a reputable maker. (We could have a long thread about which second-choice manufacturers do and/or don't suck, but ASUS, Gigabyte, and Intel are all top notch.)

 

[jiffylube1024]

Go to Newegg.com and read up reviews on the specific motherboard you are interested in.

-I always go with a top-tier brand (Asus, Gigabyte, maybe Asrock, etc.). Check out the model that interests you. You certainly don't need to spend over $200 on a motherboard and can often find good ones for $100-150, but don't cheap out either.

-Bluetooth can be added by a USB 2.0 dongle for under $20. Don't compromise your motherboard choice just to get one with Bluetooth.

-Cases are all about personal preference, how you're going to use it, what you're going to put in it (multiple video cards, large coolers or watercooling, tons of hard drives, etc.). For me, a hot-swap SATA bay is essential, so that limits my choices a lot. I also feel that front-panel USB 3.0 is a necessity, although a combination of USB 2.0 and 3.0 is ideal for me. Some people prefer smaller cases with uATX motherboards (micro ATX) because they are smaller, sleeker, and lighter. That can be a factor if you move your case around a lot, or even a detractor if it's an office PC and you want it to stay put!!
>a modern computer case in my opinion *should* have room to route the cables in the back of the case, so it's less cluttered and easy to work with in case you need to change anything in the future.

I used to be a big fan of Antec cases but lately I've been much more impressed with Corsair. I went with the Corsair 650D because it's a well built case that makes assembling the PC pretty easy. It's got 2x front USB 2.0 and 2x front USB 3.0 as well as a front headphone jack, the three types of connectors I use all the time. I also use the top SATA hot swap bay all the time. The 650D doesn't have the best cooling performance, so if I overclocked a lot or ran dual GPU's I may have had to look elsewhere, but I just run a middle of the line GPU and a dual or quad core CPU, a SSD, and 2-3 HDD's in there, so the cooling is more than adequate for me. And it's pretty quiet too.

For a case, I recommend you browse Newegg.com's cases sections and read the reviews, and check the pictures for what features you want. For me, a top-mounted power supply (as opposed to bottom mounted), no front USB 3.0, or noisy fans are a dealbreaker. Figure out what's important to you.

The Corsair 600T is a very popular and well-reviewed case.

When I build PC's for other people, a cheap price is usually the #1 concern, so I use Coolermaster Elite cases (like the Elite 370).

 

[Carson Dyle]

Of the requirements in the OP, pretty much all of them are easily achieved by most socket 1155 motherboards in microATX and ATX form factors.

As noted above, the dual Gbit LAN ports may not be a worthwhile addition, both for the premium that you'll pay and for how much it will narrow your board selection.

The thing that I see being most unlikely is being able to reuse the PCI sound card, as most newer chipset boards do no have PCI slots. I'd recommend either just going with integrated sound or else finding a PCIe sound card to replace the PCI one.