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What's a good chipset for a 3770K and MB with CrossFireX that's inexpensive.

StitchExperimen

StitchExperimen

Senior member
I'm tired and could use some help on locating an inexpensive board that will overclock and do CrossFireX to do GPU crunching with two HD 7950s. Thermal heat is 77 watt on the cpu so a suggestion on a cooler and a power supply would be helpful. 220 watts on the 7950s.

Thanks
Stitch
 
Define inexpensive?

I'll +1 the ASRock Z77 Ext4, but if you can go higher (sub-200 still) I would also suggest that, ie: Gigabyte ... maybe ASUS.

If you're not over-clocking, then your cooler really doesn't matter (unless your case completely sucks, or your house is always 30C+)
 
I wouldn't run dual graphic cards on an mATX board.

These are the cheapest ATX models from each manufacturer that offer x8/x8 pci-e slots:

Asrock Z77 Extreme 4
Asus P8Z77-V LK
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H
Intel DZ77BH-55K
MSI Z77A-G45
Biostar TZ77XE3
 
There's also:
EVGA 131-IB-E695-KR (wouldn't recommend)

Best bang for buck is the Z77 Ext4 if all you are going for is features.

MSI is probably a better board (going by history, and an assumption based on the components), but fewer features hardware-wise.

However, if you add ~$25 dollars to those "best low-end" you can get much better boards by MSI and Gigabyte (with ASRock you get more features, but same quality)
 
Vectronic said:
There's also:
EVGA 131-IB-E695-KR (wouldn't recommend)

Best bang for buck is the Z77 Ext4 if all you are going for is features.

MSI is probably a better board (going by history, and an assumption based on the components), but fewer features hardware-wise.

However, if you add ~$25 dollars to those "best low-end" you can get much better boards by MSI and Gigabyte (with ASRock you get more features, but same quality)
Click to expand...

Thanks, forgot them but like you say, they don't seem to have their act together on the Z77 front. There's also ECS and Foxconn ofcourse, but I wouldn't really recommended those either.

It's a tough choice between those boards, the MSI is the cheapest but also has the least phases, less controllable fanheaders and no cpu voltage offset option. One thing I don't like about the Asrock and Asus is that they are smaller than regular ATX. The Gigabyte is full size, the Biostar too and also has most cpu phases.
 
More phases is great, but it depends on the quality of the phases, Z77 Ext4 has "8+4", but I would be willing to bet that a 4+1 board by MSI or Gigabyte would have equal "power quality".

vrm.jpg
 
Yes, it's not that simple that more is better. Considering equal quality more phases is only useful for heavier overclocking but also uses more power. I just meant to say there is quite some price difference between the cheapest and most expensive board, but you do get something in return. If you need what that extra money buys you is another question.

That list is interesting though, thanks for posting. Looking at the ratings:

Asrock Z77 extreme 4:
2,5/1/3/3, analog

MSI Z77A-G43 (G45 has 1 phase more):
2,5/1/2/3, analog

GA-Z77X-UD3H
3/3/3/3, digital

Asus P8Z77V-LX (LK has heatsink on vrm's):
2,5/3/3/3, digital

So judging from that it seems the Gigabyte is indeed worth a little more. The MSI G43 is also one of the few boards on that list that isn't recommended for overclocking. If I remember correctly it's actually limited on the amount of vcore you can add, 0,06V max or so. I think the same goes for the G45. It should still do something like 4.2GHz but if you want something like 4.6Ghz I'd get another board.
 
ASRock: decent power, features, looks, decent quality, decent price.

MSI: good enough power because: poor overclocking, decent features, good looks, good price.

Gigabyte: good quality, BIOS, features, "meh" looks, decent price.

ASUS: good BIOS, good power... nothing else going for it.

If the Gigabyte was "prettier" I would have gotten it... but since I wasn't planning on OCing much, the ASRock won, especially since it came bundled with the 3570K which made cheap even cheaper.

Can still get 4.5GHz easily stable and with decent temps, so really, I'm missing out on about 200MHz (with my cooler) with a board I like the layout, looks, and features of more than the rest.
 
Do you think the Gigabyte will have a chance to reach 4.6 GHz?

I got a seasonic 850 watt gold PS

Any suggestions on cooling the CPU the thermal is 77 watt, possibly a closed loop water radiator system? and if so which one? I'm partial to Corsair.
 
Last edited:
oh yeah, it'll reach 4.6... so will the Ext4, the ASUS probably would too... reaching 4.6 is easy *IF* you have a decent cooler, mine isn't very good and I can get 4.6 and still be in high but safe temps.

That's assuming you don't get a completely s**t 3770K.
 
StitchExperimen said:
Do you think the Gigabyte will have a chance to reach 4.6 GHz?

I got a seasonic 850 watt gold PS

Any suggestions on cooling the CPU the thermal is 77 watt, possibly a closed loop water radiator system? and if so which one? I'm partial to Corsair.
Click to expand...

It all depends on how much cooling you have, but it'll handle it fine.

Since you'll be going Ivy Bridge I recommend you get the H80i. You could also get the H60,but its cooling performance is significantly lower.

There doesn't seem to be any significant difference in temps between the H80i and H100i in LGA1155, so don't waste more money on that.
 
For memory just go with DDR 3 1600. While you can spend more money and get faster memory the performance increase just isnt worth it.
 
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