Ivy bridge or haswell if buying new motherboard

ZeeTech

Member
Sep 13, 2014
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I am planning to build a pc and the first thing I like to start with
is motherboard, so can you bros help me out?
 

Burpo

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2013
4,223
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126
Depends on what you're using it for, but in general Haswell is the latest CPU.
 

mistersprinkles

Senior member
May 24, 2014
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Haswell refresh or Devil's Canyon is what you'd be looking at. Nobody in their right mind is buying Ivybridge. No M.2, no SATA Express, 2 SATA 6gbps ports from the PCH instead of 6. Why would anybody want Ivybridge?

If you want to overclock, get a Z97 motherboard and a CPU ending in K, or, if this is a low end system and you want to overclock, look at a high end H97 board and a Pentium G3258.

If not overclocking, look at any H97 board that fits your needs and grab a non-K CPU.

Keep in mind that while Haswell CPUs have 16 PCIE lanes coming off them, not all boards will support multiple GPUs properly. For example, on Z97 boards, you get a 16X link for 1 card and an 8X/8X link for 2 cards. On H97 you get a 16X link for one card or 8X/4X with 2 cards. So, if you want 2 GPUs, even if you aren't overclocking, Z97 is for you.

In any case, Haswell is what you want. If you are after a high end system (heavy encoding, video editing, CAD, 3D work) you want an X99 motherboard and a Haswell-E CPU.

Glad you're not even considering AMD. They're not worth the Silicon wafer they're printed on.
 

evident

Lifer
Apr 5, 2005
11,904
508
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Haswell refresh or Devil's Canyon is what you'd be looking at. Nobody in their right mind is buying Ivybridge. No M.2, no SATA Express, 2 SATA 6gbps ports from the PCH instead of 6. Why would anybody want Ivybridge?

If you want to overclock, get a Z97 motherboard and a CPU ending in K, or, if this is a low end system and you want to overclock, look at a high end H97 board and a Pentium G3258.

If not overclocking, look at any H97 board that fits your needs and grab a non-K CPU.

Keep in mind that while Haswell CPUs have 16 PCIE lanes coming off them, not all boards will support multiple GPUs properly. For example, on Z97 boards, you get a 16X link for 1 card and an 8X/8X link for 2 cards. On H97 you get a 16X link for one card or 8X/4X with 2 cards. So, if you want 2 GPUs, even if you aren't overclocking, Z97 is for you.

In any case, Haswell is what you want. If you are after a high end system (heavy encoding, video editing, CAD, 3D work) you want an X99 motherboard and a Haswell-E CPU.

Glad you're not even considering AMD. They're not worth the Silicon wafer they're printed on.

ivy bridge is only worth it if you have parts lying around for already (either a MB or CPU.) not worth it if you're building from scratch. prices are ridiculously inflated for that platform still. with that said, i've been running sandy/ivy and have no intention to upgrade unless something craps out.

so stick with haswell platform motherboards and you'll be fine. you can get a decent motherboard for 100 bucks. you most likely wont need all of the bells and whisltles of a $2-300 motherboard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128727 there's a good start. overclockable too if you want to go the kchip route.
 
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Joepublic2

Golden Member
Jan 22, 2005
1,114
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I'd get this board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-771-_-Product

for 30$ more than the other linked board you get:

M.2 slot (biggest deal in any new platform PC wise in years, AMD or Intel imo; NVMe kicks ass)

optical and co-ax SPDIF out and a better audio chip

8 phase heatsinked (much cooler running) VRM vs. 4 phase with bare MOSFETs

a lot more pcie slots

I usually spend <=$100 bucks on boards but I got a 140$ gigabyte this time with some more features because I feel like it's going to be a LONNNGGGGG time before I upgrade this platform now that Intel is completely focused on the mobile market at the expense of single threaded performance and how much harder it is to achieve smaller processes these days (and AMD can't seem to make a competitive product wrt single threaded performance which most desktop software still is).
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
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BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
15,725
1,455
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I wouldn't recommend going back to IB and Z77 for someone looking to build a new "special" PC. But I did buy a Z77-A board early this year, together within an IB i3 processor.

I was rebuilding my server, which I deem to be a necessity. Right now, it's running on an old Q6600/680i hardware combination. The "fixes" I put into it -- to squeeze some more life out of old hardware -- were "touch and go" for a while. I reasoned that I would need to replace my old Mom's PC this year -- or soon. So I purchased the processor and board with both the contingency (of the server) and the PC replacement in mind.

Get a Z97 board and a Haswell refresh processor for the kind of PC I think you want. You could even incline toward an i3 Haswell to meet your needs -- whatever they are -- in which case, Z87 or lesser Haswell-compatible board and whatever floats your boat. But I wouldn't "build any new machines" based on Ivy Bridge. Unless, of course, I needed to replace my old server. Or Mom's machine.
 

Batmeat

Senior member
Feb 1, 2011
803
45
91
What are you building pc to do?

^___This.

You're build is going to based upon your need/use.

Tell us what you plan on doing with the computer and then we can give you some recommendations.

Your build should be based upon Haswell architecture to start with.