Cheap SB motherboard.

[CU]

I am looking at getting a 2500K from Microcenter these weekend. It seems they are still doing the $40 dollars off if you buy the cpu and MB. Making the Biostar TP67B+ $60 and it seems to offer every thing I need. Does it overclock as good as the Biostar TZ68A+. It won the round up at Tom's hardware for cheap Z68 boards. Also "The second slot’s four-lane connection through the Z68 Express PCH (rather than splitting the processor's 16 available lanes) introduces latency" is from the same article. I assume this is the case with the TP67B+ also. How much performance impact does this have? I don't use crossfire now, more of a curiosity questions.

The GA-P67A-UD3-B3 is also only $10 more. Any thoughts on it? It still used the old BIOS correct. How does it handle the second PCI-Express slot, is it like the Biostar TZ68A+ I mentioned above?

Why does a board support crossfire and not sli, what do they not implement to support it?

Any other cheap SB motherboard suggestions are welcomed.

 

[dma0991]

Why not try the ASRock Z68 PRO3 instead? Most Intel boards will support Crossfire and SLI. I would recommend paying a little bit more for something like the ASRock P67 EXTREME4 which has an even split x8x8 for Crossfire/SLI and a very good board.

 

[CU]

Why not try the ASRock Z68 PRO3 instead? Most Intel boards will support Crossfire and SLI. I would recommend paying a little bit more for something like the ASRock P67 EXTREME4 which has an even split x8x8 for Crossfire/SLI and a very good board.

The ASRock Z68 PRO3 is $119.99.
The ASRock P67 EXTREME4 is $159.99

The Biostar TP67B+ is only $60 with the $40 off at Microcenter and rebate. Will I really see $60 or $100 improvement? That would pay for a nice cpu heatsink or a small SSD.

 

[dma0991]

The ASRock Z68 PRO3 is $119.99.
The ASRock P67 EXTREME4 is $159.99

The Biostar TP67B+ is only $60 with the $40 off at Microcenter and rebate. Will I really see $60 or $100 improvement? That would pay for a nice cpu heatsink or a small SSD.

If the Biostar TP67B+ has a $40 rebate, wouldn't the ASRock boards be $40 cheaper? That would put the Extreme4 at $120, a good value board just got that much cheaper.

It depends on your past experience with Biostar and I'm a little bit skeptical about Biostar because I don't see them very often in recommendations especially when overclocking is the main criteria. As for the Extreme4, it has x8x8 which IMHO is slightly better although it is proven that x16x4 works just fine with minimal performance loss. Although slightly more expensive, the Extreme4 is actually a budget board for overclockers and on par if not better than ROG, Sabertooth and UD7 boards in terms of features.

 

[CU]

The ASROCK boards are not at Microcenter, so I can not get the $40 off. The prices I listed for them are from Newegg.

I have never had a Biostar before, but after reading the article at Tom's where the Biostar Z68 board overclocked the highest I figured it must be good, just lacking on rear ports. I assume the changes between Biostar's Z68 and P67 board are minimal. I can get the Biostar Z68 at Newegg for $100, but I don't really need the Z68 features.

 

[Kenmitch]

Why does a board support crossfire and not sli, what do they not implement to support it?

Crossfire requires 2 available pci-e slots

SLI requires the same plus a nvidia fee paid by the MB manufacturer

Any other cheap SB motherboard suggestions are welcomed.

Most likely you could get by with the biostar if you think it'll meet your needs....If your considering spending more then the following looks to be the best bang for buck Z68 board. Not a whole lot more after rebate and may be worth the peace of mind concerns you have with biostar.

The Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Z68 at microcenter looks interesting at it's price point. $95 after $15 MIR and $40 bundle discount....Of course you'd have to check it's availability at your microcenter. http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0364085

Side note: Microcenters stock looks to vary alot from store to store although it could just be the amount of geeks that live around them. Stating which store you'll be shopping at will help alot when asking for which board to buy at microcenter

 

[CU]

The purchase would be made at the Microcenter in GA Greater Atlanta/Duluth this Friday.

That Gigabyte board does look nice, but it is out of stock for me. Z68 doesn't really add anything I need over P67 either. Also the MB doesn't have to come from Microcenter, it is just with the $40 discount I don't think anywhere else can bet them.

The more I look at the Biostar TP67B+'s price the more I like it. Seems strange they don't have the Z68 version though. I need to find some review of the TP67B+.

 

[Kenmitch]

Google search didn't show much more than people questioning if it was a decent board.

Here's a mini-review tho. The guy only has a 2400 but they are a little bit overclockable(4bins) at least it'll let you see some photos and give you some input on the the boards features. Didn't keep scrolling down to see if anybody else tried it out with a K chip.

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=3172801

The price your paying after the combo discount is gonna be very hard to beat

 

[CU]

Thanks for that link. It seems several got 2500k up to 4.5ghz.

 

[bliq00]

just a thought, with amazon having free shipping and no tax for most states, it can sometimes be the cheapest option. in fact it is often the cheapest option for me in CA.

I don't know much about these newer 1155 boards but here's a gigabyte Z68 at $120 free shipping and no tax

http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Z68A-...0671559&sr=1-3