Recommened overclocking motherboard for G3258

[ganons]

Hi I'm trying to build an emulation PC and been recommended the following:

Silverstone Sugo Mini ITX - £27.66
German wellknown brand "be quiet"300W 80 plus SFX form factor　- £43.56
Gigabyte Radeon R7 360 OC - £90.43
i7 4790k in disguise "Pentium G3258 Anniversary Edition " - £50.78
Thermal Paste Arctic MX-4 - £5.28
Asrock Z97E with Japanese Platinum "Nichicon" Caps and top of the line onboard audio - £115.16
Corsair Memory Vengeance Blue 2x4GB DDR3 1600Mhz - £40.56
WD Red 1TB 2.5" NAS drive 7200rpm - £56.75
Total Cost : £430

Is there a better Motherboard that is overclockable around 4.5ghz but £100 or lower? Apparently the Asrock has bad sound quality and not good as other brands?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

That motherboard is probably worth it.

ALC 1150 is as good as it gets for onboard. If you actually care about sound quality that much (most people won't be able to tell the difference) you'll run digital output to an outboard DSP/DAC/Thingy. For Atari-era beeps and boops, it doesn't matter a bit.

I'd also question how necessary the GPU is. It just depends on what kinda stuff and what emulation software you're emulating, if you even need one.

I understand that emulation is one of those specific (and rare) tasks where High Clockspeeds > Everything Else, but calling a G3258 an "4790k in disguise" is a bit... enthusiastic.

That hard drive is okay, but if it's primary storage for the system, this one is faster and cheaper, and HGST is as good a brand as WD, by reputation.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-...000-25-sata-6gb-s-7200rpm-32mb-cache-13ms-oem

 

[ganons]

Thanks for the reply, what if you're using a HDMI to a TV, can you tell the difference in sound quality?

Also was thinking of a 64gb ssd for the OS and apps.

Btw is there anything special about WD blue drive 2.5" which is 5400rpm over other drives but are 7200rpm?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Thanks for the reply, what if you're using a HDMI to a TV, can you tell the difference in sound quality?

HDMI is just a digital signal. Quality there will be determined by the TV and how good its DAC and speakers are.

I have two TVs. They were both around $200. One is kinda meh and makes everything sound sort of bass-heavy and muddy. The other is actually pretty nice. Assuming you've already got the TV, try playing some quiet music CDs (classical stuff, light pop ballads, jazz) so you can tell if you can hear all the fiddly bits.

Also was thinking of a 64gb ssd for the OS and apps.

*hiss*

Get at least a 128. Yeah, you can cram it onto a 32 if you really have to, but the price difference isn't worth skimping.

Btw is there anything special about WD blue drive 2.5" which is 5400rpm over other drives but are 7200rpm?

It's... probably a tad slower. :|

Everything else being equal (platter density, cache size, interface speed) 5400 rpm drives, in general, will be a tad quieter and use a smidge less power. Some people prefer them for this reason if performance doesn't matter.

 

[ganons]

So the people who complained about the sound are sound enthusiasts? Well I'm not an audiophile so I guess that shouldn't bother me as the PC will be hooked upto a TV with HDMI.

Yea I'll watch out for the price difference of the ssd. Can I get any disk that is ssd or some differ in their ports?

What do you mean performance? The 1tb 2.5" disk will be for data so is it worth going for 7200rpm drives?

Also how would you rate these mobos in order, in general as being better than the other?
Asrock, MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, other?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

So the people who complained about the sound are sound enthusiasts? Well I'm not an audiophile so I guess that shouldn't bother me as the PC will be hooked upto a TV with HDMI.

Basically - your TV is the limiting factor there, so if you're not interested in replacing it, then it's better not to worry about it.

Yea I'll watch out for the price difference of the ssd. Can I get any disk that is ssd or some differ in their ports?

Some do. SATA SSDs are pretty universal - they plug into SATA ports just like hard drives do. There are mini-PCI-E, m.2, and mSATA SSDs out there as well, which plug into a slot on the motherboard. As long as (onlyi if) the motherboard has a compatible slot, they'll work fine too.

What do you mean performance? The 1tb 2.5" disk will be for data so is it worth going for 7200rpm drives?

Again, all else being equal; a 7200 rpm drive should have about 33% better awesomeness (latency is generally determined by rpms, and transfer rate is a function of rpm and platter density) than a 5400 rpm drive. But for video playback and gamemulation? Even a slow HDD is going to plenty fast enough but I'd prefer a 7200rpm if the price is a wash (which it is.)

Also how would you rate these mobos in order, in general as being better than the other?
Asrock, MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, other?

I would call Gigabyte and Asus about equal at the top end - stuff that makes computer enthusiasts excited and is often priced accordingly.

Asrock and MSI are both solid upper-midrange brands that I wouldn't get excited about, but would totally put in my grandma's computer.

 

[ganons]

Whats the best ocable mobo with ac wifi?