• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Ivy Bridge motherboard recommendation

N

naimcohen

Senior member
Hi,

I need to build a few office computers and thought I may aswell put the latest CPU in there, even though it is very unlikely they will be stressed out. Usual office work, no gaming/rendering/cad etc.

So firstly instead of making a new thread, should I just go for a sandy bridge CPU and forget about Ivy bridge?

and secondly shall I go for a H61 chipset motherboard. It seems to be the most basic motherboard (which I have used for sandy bridge builds before) which should be fine as I don't plan to overclock or do anything fancy, or shall I spend the extra on a Z77 chipset motherboard?

Thanks
 
Z77 is definitely unnecessary for your goals. If an H61 has all the features you need at a price you're comfortable with, go for it. As far as I know, you can get one with USB 3.0 and PCI-E 3.0 support.

I would recommend going with an Ivy Bridge i3 though, for the HD4000 graphics and lower power consumption.
 
Unless you're doing some super-intensive Excel work, the i3 will be plenty powerful.

If there is money leftover in the budget, grab a small SSD. That will give you the most improvement per dollar/pound.
 
Hi,

New possible option. I could give my current i7 LGA 1366 2.67GHZ (6GB ram) system to the accountant and I could take the Ivy bridge system. But would that be a worthwhile swap on my behalf? If so what motherboard would you recommend? One would some bells and whistles

Thanks again!
 
The only thing I would caution you about is the lack of legacy support on Ivy Bridge mobos. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing, but I was surprised when I upgraded my own system and found I could no longer plug in one of my older 100 GB IDE drives since there are no IDE headers on the motherboard. I also couldn't plug in my floppy drive (same reason), although I can't remember the last time I had actually used a floppy. And finally, my old 1394 (firewire) video camera now can no longer transfer digital video to the new comp for lack of a 1394 header.

Obviously, a bit more planning on my part would have been beneficial. But if you are building from scratch, I just paired a Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H mobo with an i5 3570K at 3.4GHz. That combo gave me the most bang for my buck. The Gigabyte comes with easy to use overclocking tools if you want to jack it up some more.

BM.
 
Most of the legacy ports omitted from newer motherboards can be fixed by USB-to-xxx adapters and/or PCI/PCIe adapters. Granted, not as elegant as on-the-mobo, but still functional.

I now have a USB floppy drive, USB DVD burner and USB card reader. Rarely do they even get taken out of their storage drawer.

Strangely enough, my Gigabyte H77 motherboard still has parallel and serial port slots on the motherboard. I really can't recall the last time I used a parallel or serial device.
 
WiseUp216 said:
Z77 is definitely unnecessary for your goals. If an H61 has all the features you need at a price you're comfortable with, go for it. As far as I know, you can get one with USB 3.0 and PCI-E 3.0 support.

I would recommend going with an Ivy Bridge i3 though, for the HD4000 graphics and lower power consumption.
Click to expand...


Did you say you do autocad and render. If so i3 wont be fast enough.

If you do Premiere or autocad indeed, then I would consider a FX-8350 8 physical cores.

It would be the cheapest route and best bang for buck. With a 120 dollar mobo 200 for cpu thats 320 dollars.

Anyhow not to go off topic,,, If your gonna go budget and buy a H61, but as gurus said, make sure it has usb 3.0 and sata 3.0 and pcie 3.0

H61 mobo 120 dollars
Sandy 2600k 260 to 280 dollars. thats 400 dollars...

With 8 threads it will kick butt whatever you throw at it. Renders really fast. gl

:whiste:
 
tweakboy said:
Did you say you do autocad and render. If so i3 wont be fast enough.

If you do Premiere or autocad indeed, then I would consider a FX-8350 8 physical cores.

It would be the cheapest route and best bang for buck. With a 120 dollar mobo 200 for cpu thats 320 dollars.

Anyhow not to go off topic,,, If your gonna go budget and buy a H61, but as gurus said, make sure it has usb 3.0 and sata 3.0 and pcie 3.0

H61 mobo 120 dollars
Sandy 2600k 260 to 280 dollars. thats 400 dollars...

With 8 threads it will kick butt whatever you throw at it. Renders really fast. gl

:whiste:
Click to expand...


Do you even read the posts that you reply to?

His original question was in regards to "Usual office work, no gaming/rendering/cad etc. "
 
All helpful information! I think I'm just going to keep my i7 1366 and get the accountant the i5 ivy bridge with a budget motherboard and a SSD, that will keep her quiet lol

Thanks again guys!
 
WiseUp216 said:
Do you even read the posts that you reply to?

His original question was in regards to "Usual office work, no gaming/rendering/cad etc. "
Click to expand...


No I guess what its about and what the person is going thru, of course I read them all sir. Sorry for trouble. gl 🙄
 
In the end I want for the Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H Socket 1155 VGA DVI HDMI 7.1 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard with a i5 3570 cpu and a samsung 830 128gb ssd.

Overkill I know but the boss said get the fastest thing you can and for the sake of £100 go with the i5 rather than i3 or less.

Any special install tips for the ssd or just put in windows 7 and go? Will be a fresh install.

Thanks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top