Which motherboard woudl you pick?

[TylerS]

All things being equal, which of these boards is the best value? These three boards are on sale and I am considering buying one of the three.

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 - $80
MSI Z77A-G45 - $110
GA-Z77-D3H - $105

I will be pairing them with a 2500K or 3570K and 8GB Ram.

Is seems feature wize there isn't much difference. Being Z68 the Asrock doesn't come with LucidMVP, but neither does the MSI.

Would I be making any sacrifices by buying the Z68 board?

 

[Saffron]

Correct me if I am wrong but don't you need a Z77 in order to use the 3570K(IB)?

I would personally choose the ASRock or the Gigabyte, just my preference considering features are virtually the same.

 

[DSF]

All things being equal, the best value is the board that costs the least assuming it has all the features and ports you need.

I agree about the Z68 board though, it's probably not worth bothering with unless you have a Sandy Bridge CPU available to use to flash the BIOS before inserting the Ivy Bridge CPU. Even then, I'd probably not want to bother.

Where are you buying from? Is there an AsRock Z77 choice?

 

[Insomniator]

Given that 1155 is dead after IB anyway, I'd get the cheapest board that supports it. If that Z68 has a bios upgrade available that supports Ivybridge then you are golden.

 

[TylerS]

Where are you buying from? Is there an AsRock Z77 choice?

Yeah - but the cheapest is a Pro 3 at $120.

Is there really a signifcant difference in performance between a z68/2500K and z77/3570K?

 

[DSF]

Sorry, I didn't read your post carefully enough.

What's the difference in price for you between the 2500K and the 3570K? There's not a huge difference in performance and the 2500K may stay cooler while overclocking if that appeals to you.

At this point though, we're kind of getting into the territory where it helps to know what you're using the computer for, what other components they're being paired with, and how much you're planning to spend. You probably may as well fill out the sticky at the top of the forum to maximize the quantity and relevance of the responses you get.

 

[DaveSimmons]

If not overclocking, the 2500 non-K might also be cheaper than the K version,

 

[Sleepingforest]

If not overclocking, the 2500 non-K might also be cheaper than the K version,

Well, if he's not overclocking, then he might as well get an H77 board for $80.

His choices should look like this:
i5-2500k -> Asrock Z68
i5-3570K -> Asrock Z77 Pro3 ($85 on Amazon)
non-K CPU -> Still the Pro3 only because H77 doesn't save you money (assuming you want 4 RAM slots)

 

[mfenn]

Sorry, I didn't read your post carefully enough.

What's the difference in price for you between the 2500K and the 3570K? There's not a huge difference in performance and the 2500K may stay cooler while overclocking if that appeals to you.

At this point though, we're kind of getting into the territory where it helps to know what you're using the computer for, what other components they're being paired with, and how much you're planning to spend. You probably may as well fill out the sticky at the top of the forum to maximize the quantity and relevance of the responses you get.

I agree. If you want to get a nuanced answer, you have to describe an nuanced scenario.

OP, the MSI is the best board of those 3 assuming you don't need any conventional PCI slots. Is it worth $5 more than the Gigabyte? Probably not.

I would not touch the Z68 board with an i5 3570K. Whether or not the i5 2500K + Z68 board is worth it or not depends on the price of the 2500K relative to the 3570K.