Motherboard & PSU for i7 2700k and HD 7870?

[Lifted]

I think I'm going to grab the i7 2700k that MC has on sale and a 7870 to go along with it. No idea about motherboards these days. I'd like something that can overclock, but my main concerns are reliability/quality and stability while overclocked. I'd like to keep the MB under $150 and PSU under $75.

1st - Build quality - not many reports of DOA and boards needing RMA.
2nd - Stability while overclocked.

I'm not interested in pushing the sytem to it's knees to get an extra 2% out of it, but something around 4.5GHz seems like a conservative OC on these chips.

MC recommends these boards:

ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Z77 ATX Intel Motherboard $134.99 was $154.99
ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Z77 ATX Intel Motherboard $144.99 was $149.99

PSU - again, no idea what the more reliable brands are out there, but that's what I want, reliability. I figure 600-750W range PSU would be more than enough for the above (w/ CPU overclocked) with 1 or 2 HDD's and an SSD, but I don't know what specific brands I should be looking at or avoiding. Would $75 get me a decent unit?

 

[Ken g6]

Assuming you're interested in gaming, why an i7? Why not an i5-3570k and a 7950 instead?

The Extreme4 is a very good board, and one of the cheapest to allow SLI/Crossfire. You can frequently bundle a Z77 board with an i5-3570k to get extra money off at Micro Center.

This PC Power & Cooling 600W PSU is $65 AR AP.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

I second 7950 plus 3570k

 

[lehtv]

Agree with the above, 3570K + 7950 is a better combo than 2700K + 7870.

With a motherboard budget of $150, you could go as high as P8Z77-V $190 (-$40 in combo with 3570K), but that's probably not necessary. The Z77 Extreme4 is a great board an costs only $95 combined with 3570K which is $170.

PSU for sli/crossfire: Antec HCG-750 $66 AR (bronze, nonmodular)
PSU for single GPU: Seasonic G550 $75 (gold, modular)

If you're gaming on 1080p, an overclocked 7950 is all you need for a long while, in which case the G550 is a better buy.

 

[Lifted]

I'm probably going with a 7850. I don't want to spend ~$300 on a video card (7950) and newer GPU's are around the corner.

Does anyone know if MC still has the $40 3750k + motherboard discount? I can't find anything about it on their site, and only mention on Google is that it expired 11/11. If I can get a $40 discount I'd probably grab that (free RAM ) but otherwise I'd spend the $30 more on the 2700k for easier/higher overclocking + HT.

 

[lehtv]

Yeah, MC still has that deal. You can always check by putting the stuff into the shopping cart

What else do you use your PC for than gaming? Would you even benefit from an i7?

 

[Lifted]

Oh well, 3750k is out of stock. Showed 1, added to cart, showed out of stock. Called store and they confirmed.

Looks like it'll be the 2700k then.

Will RAM make a huge difference in overclocking the 2700k? I thought it wouldn't matter since it's unlocked. I'm looking to grab 2x8GB, and this is what they have at the moment. The $70 kits look fine to me if I don't need to oc the RAM, but I'm not sure if I may need to in order to get a stable oc on the CPU. At first glance it seems the Ballistix Tactical 16GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL8 would be the best option as it's CL8, but there's probably more to it than that.

lehtv, i often have several VM's running for various purposes, so I don't mind spending a bit more on CPU to keep things moving.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

This is a mental block with noobs that spending money on a gpu is a waste. CPUs have far more diminishing returns. And a 7950 will last longer, as compared to your CPU which would become hugely obsolete with haswell (although may remain tolerable) for another year after that.

 

[lehtv]

This is a mental block with noobs that spending money on a gpu is a waste. CPUs have far more diminishing returns. And a 7950 will last longer, as compared to your CPU which would become hugely obsolete with haswell (although may remain tolerable) for another year after that.

It doesn't work like that. CPU's don't become obsolete until they can no longer drive a graphics card upgrade properly, unless requirements for CPU power in applications has increased. With any current overclocked i5 or i7, 7850 doesn't come close to bottlenecking which means you'll be able to benefit properly from a graphics card upgrade without having to upgrade the CPU.

Lifted, I would get the 3770K for the lower power consumption and PCIe Gen 3.0 support. While 3.0 is not relevant for current graphics cards in single GPU configuration, it will probably become relevant in the next generation or the generation after that, especially if you ever upgrade to SLI/Crossfire. It's just $30 more than 2700K at Microcenter, and the same price as 3570K elsewhere.

RAM will make no difference, overclocking the CPU is completely independent of RAM speed since it is based on adjusting the multiplier, not the base clock. I would get the cheapest standard profile 2x8GB 1600 1.5V kit. The Crucial Ballistix for $55 looks great, it costs $85 on newegg.

 

[Lifted]

Lifted, I would get the 3770K for the lower power consumption and PCIe Gen 3.0 support.

I would, but out of stock in all 3 stores in the NYC area. In stock everywhere else though. Maybe they'll find a 3570k or 3770k once I get to the store.

RAM will make no difference, overclocking the CPU is completely independent of RAM speed since it is based on adjusting the multiplier, not the base clock. I would get the cheapest standard profile 2x8GB 1600 1.5V kit. The Crucial Ballistix for $55 looks great, it costs $85 on newegg.

Thanks, was hoping that would be the case with the k series CPU's.

 

[mfenn]

I'm willing to bet that they'll get more CPUs in stock on Tuesday. They probably sold through a lot of their stock due to BF.