LGA 1155 Motherboard help

[sanityvoid]

Hello all!

So I've decided to update my rig. I've been looking at mobo's on different sites and reviews on those same sites. I've come down to the fact I don't need a super built out mobo.

I've done some research and based on my needs. I think the following are good choices.

I just wanted some advice on what you all think.

Needs:

• Less than $150 for mobo
• 1 GPU, I will never do SLI or Crossfire
• I will be buying either the i7-3770K or the i5-3570K
• GPU will be the 670, not sure which yet, looking for a good cooling one (probably either MSI, Gigabyte Wind or Asus DCII)

List I've been looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%2050001314%20600315497%20600176034%20600008960&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-138-356^13-138-356-TS%2C13-157-304^13-157-304-TS%2C13-157-293^13-157-293-TS%2C13-128-543^13-128-543-TS

I'm not a fan of the Gigabyte's board and its off kilter LAN and Audio solutions, more the LAN as it is Atheros GbE LAN chip, VIA makes good audio I think.

I will OC a bit, getting to 4.6ghz would be nice, but I don't plan on pushing it to the hilt. Seems the CPU will be plenty fast coming from a q9550 & ati5850.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Rok125]

Given the list you have selected I would go with either of the ASRocks. The extreme 4 has more room if you want to upgrade later. Nevertheless the Pro 3 seems to also do what you need. As for sound the Realtek ALC892 seems to get some good reviews. Check the references below and see for yourself.

You said you were considering OCing your IB CPU to about 4.6ghz. Make sure that you have proper cooling. A common thing with IB & OCing them is that they have a tendency to heat up. If you want to take it to 4.6ghz, I would advise liquid cooling.

Finally, you may want to consider the ASUS or the Gigabyte Gtx 670. They seem to be the best that have come out according to benchmarks. The Asus has more power, but the Gigabyte is more economical. IMHO Asus has superior cooling capability here, but both of these are good choices. Benchmarks are below as well.

If you've got some time. Check out my build and feel free to give me feedback on it too. This is my profile page http://www.uthinkpc.com/build.html?buildId=244885

References:
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=706244
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1582465
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-670-test-review,3217-16.html