$1200 budget build help

[palmboy5]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, Photoshop, some video editing (1080p), web browsing, virtual machines

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1200 after tax and shipping

3) Where do you live?
Fremont, CA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Sandy Bridge CPU, more than 8GB RAM, mid-high to high end video card, fast SSD for OS drive, some sound card like a Xonar (but can use existing X-Fi), BD-ROM drive

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
The following are just optionally to be reused
Antec P182
Nexus VALUE 430 430W, I specifically chose this one because its fan does not become audible even at 90% load, if the system at full load will still use less than 430W, I am staying with this PSU. My current system in my signature only uses 300W max so I know there is quite a bit of room to grow still.
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer
Intel EXPI9301CTBLK Gigabit NIC
Multiple Scythe SY1225SL12M

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes to a mild/moderate amount, nothing crazy.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Will use two 22" 1080p LCDs I already have.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This summer, next few weeks.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
CF/SLI would be nice for expandability purposes but are optional, USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s
Power & reset buttons on the board would be nice too.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 64bit

My highest priority is silence, but since true silence is a bit too difficult I will settle for as quiet as possible. For my current system, I had already abandoned an OCZ GameXStream 700W and then a Corsair CMPSU-450VX because both were too noisy.
If there are any cases that can help me accomplish noise dampening more than the P182, feel free to mention them! I am also open to water cooling solutions because the fans are currently the loudest components by far.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dangman]

3) Where do you live?
Fremont, CA

If you aren't already doing so, try to get as much of your parts from Amazon.com as possible since they do not charge CA residents tax.

Nexus VALUE 430 430W, I specifically chose this one because its fan does not become audible even at 90% load, if the system at full load will still use less than 430W, I am staying with this PSU. My current system in my signature only uses 300W max so I know there is quite a bit of room to grow still.

Yeah the problem is that many current generation mid to high range video cards use more power than that HD 4850 video card. That leftover 96W on the +12V rail isn't enough to cover the rest of the parts of a new PC. And the quality of that PSU is a bit questionable.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This summer, next few weeks.

Can you narrow down this time period any further? Or be more specific? "Next few weeks" can mean different things to different people.

If there are any cases that can help me accomplish noise dampening more than the P182, feel free to mention them!

For a quiet and well cooled gaming system, these two cases are significantly better than the P182 in virtually every way:
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case

As a P180 owner myself and after seeing the above two cases in action, I can attest to their lower level of noise and better cooling than the P180.

I am also open to water cooling solutions because the fans are currently the loudest components by far.

Actually not totally true: A lot of the pumps used in those all-in-one water cooling solutions are actually rather loud or annoying to sound enthusiasts.

 

[palmboy5]

If you aren't already doing so, try to get as much of your parts from Amazon.com as possible since they do not charge CA residents tax.

Certainly, and my free Amazon Prime membership expires in December.

Yeah the problem is that many current generation mid to high range video cards use more power than that HD 4850 video card. That leftover 96W on the +12V rail isn't enough to cover the rest of the parts of a new PC. And the quality of that PSU is a bit questionable.

I understand I'll probably need another PSU, but I'm still hopeful. As silentpcreview determined, the Nexus VALUE 430's fan noise at full load is still quieter than my former Corsair is at idle, and is the quietest fanned PSU they've reviewed. The Corsair was also considered a "quiet" model, if that gives any indication for how awesome the Nexus is in the silence department.

Can you narrow down this time period any further? Or be more specific? "Next few weeks" can mean different things to different people.

Well it won't be this coming week, but after that (06/13 onwards) it can be whenever as soon as my choice of parts is finalized. BUT, I said a few weeks because I don't mind waiting around and seeing if there are any particular sales popping up.

For a quiet and well cooled gaming system, these two cases are significantly better than the P182 in virtually every way:
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case

As a P180 owner myself and after seeing the above two cases in action, I can attest to their lower level of noise and better cooling than the P180.

I will look into them now, thanks!

Actually not totally true: A lot of the pumps used in those all-in-one water cooling solutions are actually rather loud or annoying to sound enthusiasts.

Sure, and the fans at the radiator probably aren't the quietest things either. It's just a consideration.


About VT-d, have they gotten that feature working on P67 based boards yet? It also sucks that the k versions don't have VT-d while the non-k versions do. :\

 

[Dangman]

I understand I'll probably need another PSU, but I'm still hopeful. As silentpcreview determined, the Nexus VALUE 430's fan noise at full load is still quieter than my former Corsair is at idle, and is the quietest fanned PSU they've reviewed. The Corsair was also considered a "quiet" model, if that gives any indication for how awesome the Nexus is in the silence department.

While SPCR is a great resource for noise testing, they're not a good source for PSU quality reviews since their PSU review methodology is flawed.

About VT-d, have they gotten that feature working on P67 based boards yet? It also sucks that the k versions don't have VT-d while the non-k versions do. :\

It's a feature on some mobos apparently but I haven't seen multiple 3rd party confirmations of those supposed motherboards.

 

[palmboy5]

First of all, I was totally sold on the RV02B-1 case after looking at reviews, thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Here is my draft #1 list of parts:
$159.99 - 20 Rebate SILVERSTONE RV02B-W
$189.99 Corsair CMPSU-850AX
$129.99 + 8.25% tax GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
$224.37 Intel Core i5 2500K
ALREADY HAVE COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
$64.99 + 8.25% tax G.SKILL Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL
$229.99 + 8.25% tax - 30 Rebate ZOTAC ZT-50301-10M GTX 560 Ti 1GB
$154.85 Kingston SSDNow SVP100S2B/96GR
Total = $1139.23 AR + tax (shipping not yet considered)

First issue is the PSU, which is overpowered but the quietest I could find (at the 400W/500W load criteria). It was simply chosen from SPCR's Editor's Choice list as the only PSU of its class that is still being sold (the other two > 650W seem discontinued!). Perhaps someone knows of an alternative, namely to cut down on that $189.99 price tag but still be as quiet as possible. EDIT: I want the price dropped in order to increase either the GPU or SSD.

I chose a Z68 board just 'cause, but should I get it over a P67 board?

I'm guessing the video card fan is going to be noisy under load... :\

Lastly, I have no idea about SSDs if someone could help point me in the right direction lol.

Thanks!

EDIT: Fixed price calculation.

 

[Dangman]

GPU wise, ditch that Zotac GPU and go with this significantly longer warrantied, better supported, and cheaper eVGA GTX 560 Ti:
$235 - eVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB 1GB PCI-E Video Card

PSU wise, what's quiet to me may not be quiet to you. I thought the 450VX was a very quiet PSU but apparently it was too loud for you. So you're gonna be on your own there since you have far far more stringent noise sensitivities than I do. With that said, on SPCR's review list, the Seasonic X-650 is well recommended. It'll be enough for that setup and would shave off $30 (once tax and shipping is factored in from Newegg).

SSD wise, I don't recommend that Kingston SSD at all since it's slow and not from Amazon.com proper. I recommend this significantly faster SSD instead:
$135 - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1CCA 2.5" 64GB SSD

Motherboard wise, I recommend either of thse two motherboards:
$132 - Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Intel Z68 mATX Motherboard
$124 - MSI P67A-G43 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard

If you want all of the features of the Intel Z68 motherboards and are fine with the mATX form factor, than go with the Gigabyte. If you don't need the Intel Z68 features and want a ATX form factor, then go with the MSI.

 

[Sixthsense]

In addition to Danny's Bui's advice if you have your heart set on the Raven case. I suggest you get the RV02B-EW which has the side mounted hard drive bay. IIRC earlier revisions of the RV02B did not have the coveted AP181 fans.

This is from Amazon's RV02B that you linked

Pictured at the bottom, from Amazon as well RV02B-EW

Notice the light blue sticker on the fans, those are AP181's


Silverstone RV02-EW

It costs considerably more, so it's really up to you

 

[palmboy5]

Thank you, yes the RV02B-EW would be preferred (well, windowless would be nice but the plain E version doesn't show up on Amazon). Just as a note, I'd say to notice the Vornado type of grill on the AP181 fans over noticing the sticker color. I bet the older fans still have light blue stickers if you could see them lol.

Danny, I kind of avoided SSDs like the one you recommended because they have slow write speeds but I guess a faster read speed would be more important.

I just remembered Micro Center which in the past sold whatever the most popular enthusiast CPU would be for well under the typical online price. They currently sell the 2500K for $179.99.

Draft #2 list, prices are after taxes and rebates, if any.
$178.00 [ame="http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Steel-Computer-Window-RV02B-EW/dp/B004BDOGSO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307701012&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: SilverStone 0.8 mm Steel SSI CEB / ATX Full Tower Computer Case with Side Window RV02B-EW (Matte Black): Electronics@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31horE-q02L.@@AMEPARAM@@31horE-q02L[/ame]
$189.99 [ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003PJ6QW4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER"]Amazon.com: Corsair Professional Series Gold High Performance 850-Watt Power Supply CMPSU-850AX: Electronics@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511BOyIsTtL.@@AMEPARAM@@511BOyIsTtL[/ame]
$124.99 [ame="http://www.amazon.com/MSI-LGA1155-B3-Motherboard-P67A-G43/dp/B004QOAIA8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1307697838&sr=8-2"]Amazon.com: MSI LGA1155/Intel P67 B3/DDR3/SATA3&USB3.0/A&GbE/ATX Motherboard P67A-G43 (B3): Electronics@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AU37pPPGL.@@AMEPARAM@@51AU37pPPGL[/ame]
$196.64 Intel Core i5 2500K
ALREADY HAVE COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
$142.65 2x G.SKILL Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL
$214.99 [ame="http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-GDDR5-PCI-Express-Graphics/dp/B004K1EUWO/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1307696936&sr=1-3"]Amazon.com: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB 1024 MB GDDR5 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card - Lifetime Warranty 01G-P3-1561-AR: Electronics@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51iXpVi6b6L.@@AMEPARAM@@51iXpVi6b6L[/ame]
$148.15 Crucial 64GB CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1CCA
Total = $1195.41 AR + tax (shipping not yet considered)

How do you turn off the automatic Amazon product picture per Amazon link crap?

I'm thinking of ordering the PSU after everything else so I can first see how the Nexus VALUE 430 handles the new parts and see if a new PSU is actually needed. The Seasonic X-650 is 31 dBA at 400W while the Nexus VALUE 430 is 19 dBA, making the Seasonic not an option, at all. If I have to get a PSU that goes beyond 430W, I would still choose the Corsair CMPSU-850AX's 26 dBA @ 400W despite the cost just because it isn't as loud as the Seasonic. A better option would be the Enermax Modu87+ 500W which is 20 dBA @ 400W and 23 dBA @ 500W but apparently it isn't sold in USA... eBay has it though for $139.

 

[palmboy5]

Having Virtu to use Quick Sync sounds like something I want so I'm reconsidering the Z68 Micro ATX board, but I have an albeit outdated notion that Micro ATX boards are not good for overclocking the CPU. I don't know, maybe the board is fine, but its starting with a negative first impression for me. Anyway, it appears that the Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 has a 6 phase CPU power, is that enough for say... a 2500K at 4.5GHz?
I can't seem to find any good data (like those threads that have a database of overclocks/cooling/batch# for a CPU) on the 2500K OC but have seen "4.5GHz" mentioned a lot. Is 4.5GHz an OC "any" 2500K can do on air cooling like my Hyper 212 Plus?

Thanks!

 

[Sixthsense]

Any particular reason why you're choosing a P67 board over a Z68 other then price? Have you considered an Asrock Z68 Extreme4? I could be a bit bias though since I'm using this board Although the Asrock replaced an Asus P67 I had which unfortunately gave me a host of issues ranging from double posting to S3 to wake.

Argh FML this board is on sale at Amazon, kinda wish I didn't buy it at Superbiiz. I bought this board for $180ish 2 weeks ago

Edit:

NM I was looking at the P67 Extreme4 phew.

 

[palmboy5]

Like stated in my previous post, Quick Sync using Virtu pretty much sold me on getting a Z68 board and I'm in the process of choosing one now. The ASRock Z68 Extreme4 costs quite a bit but I will keep it in mind.

Sixthsense, what CPU are you using and are you overclocking?

 

[Sixthsense]

2600k @ 4.6GHZ

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1862743

I think you can get the Asrock Z68 Pro for 120 at the Egg. That should take you to 4.4 with out any effort. Obviously your temps will be lower without HT since you have a 2500k. The Extreme4 comes with a 5.25 USB3.0 bay and the Clear CMOS button located on board and on the rear for the I/O panel is very convienent. Either way I think you should get a Z68 board regardless what brand is out there. My experience is limited to Asus for P67 and Asrock Z68.
If you go with a MATX board you may have clearance issues with that heatspreader on the Ripjaws X. IIRC the distance to the socket and the first DIMM is alot closer compared to a normal sized ATX board. Especially since you seem to be using all 4 DIMMS.

GSkill Sniper? or any other RAM with the smaller heatspreader should be fine

 

[palmboy5]

Draft list #3, not linked so to avoid that automated crap from my previous list post.
$178.00 SILVERSTONE RV02B-EW - Amazon
$189.99 Corsair CMPSU-850AX - Amazon
$139.02 ASRock Z68 PRO3 - Newegg
$196.64 Intel Core i5 2500K - Micro Center
ALREADY HAVE COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
$142.65 2x G.SKILL Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL - Newegg
$214.99 eVGA GTX 560 Ti 1GB 01G-P3-1561-AR - Amazon
$148.15 Crucial 64GB CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1CCA - Newegg
Total = $1209.44 after tax, rebates, and shipping costs

lol @ the lack of user reviews for these Z68 boards, looks like the same issue I ran into for my current system with the P45 boards that came out maybe a month before I built it. I can't really be sure about any common issues with this few reviews. Oh well I guess.

I'll also get around to dealing with the GPU cooler noise after purchase.

Anyway, does anyone see any issues with this build?

Thanks!

 

[palmboy5]

With Newegg's current Shell Shocker being G.SKILL Ripjaws 8GB F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL for $59.99, I went ahead and ordered two. Also the order brought to my attention that the tax rate was 8.25% rather than the 9.75% for my county... So yay, kind of.

Recalculated with new tax and:
$178.00 SILVERSTONE RV02B-EW - Amazon
$189.99 Corsair CMPSU-850AX - Amazon
$137.22 ASRock Z68 PRO3 - Newegg
$196.64 Intel Core i5 2500K - Micro Center
ALREADY HAVE COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - Newegg
BOUGHT - $129.88 2x G.SKILL Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL - Newegg
$214.99 eVGA GTX 560 Ti 1GB 01G-P3-1561-AR - Amazon
$146.13 Crucial 64GB CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1CCA - Newegg
Total = $1192.84 after tax, rebates, and shipping costs

Who here uses 4 sticks of RAM in their system? How has that impacted your OC? I know that more sticks result in a lower OC potential, but what does that potential become?

 

[E4g1e]

With Newegg's current Shell Shocker being G.SKILL Ripjaws 8GB F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL for $59.99, I went ahead and ordered two. Also the order brought to my attention that the tax rate was 8.25% rather than the 9.75% for my county... So yay, kind of.

Recalculated with new tax and:
$178.00 SILVERSTONE RV02B-EW - Amazon
$189.99 Corsair CMPSU-850AX - Amazon
$137.22 ASRock Z68 PRO3 - Newegg
$196.64 Intel Core i5 2500K - Micro Center
ALREADY HAVE COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - Newegg
BOUGHT - $129.88 2x G.SKILL Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL - Newegg
$214.99 eVGA GTX 560 Ti 1GB 01G-P3-1561-AR - Amazon
$146.13 Crucial 64GB CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1CCA - Newegg
Total = $1192.84 after tax, rebates, and shipping costs

Who here uses 4 sticks of RAM in their system? How has that impacted your OC? I know that more sticks result in a lower OC potential, but what does that potential become?

Guess what? Newegg charges CA residents only the state sales tax rate; it is not obligated to charge individual counties' residents their own local sales tax rates on top of CA's sales tax rate.

By the way, loading all four DIMM slots with double-ranked DIMMs does not affect CPU overclockability per se. It's just that the overclockability of systems that must have their bus speeds (such as the FSB on LGA 775 systems, HTT on AMD systems or BCLK on most recent Intel systems) raised just to even overclock at all that is affected by the overloading on the memory controller. Sandy Bridge systems do not like their BCLK raised by more than about 4 to 5 MHz above their stock 100 MHz - and with the K series CPUs, you do not touch the BCLK or memory speed at all when you overclock.

 

[palmboy5]

That's comforting news, thanks!

So seeing as how the eVGA GTX 560 Ti I had selected no longer has its rebate, is this an acceptable substitute?
$209.99 - [ame="http://www.amazon.com/PNY-nVidia-GeForce-PCI-Express-VCGGTX560TXPB/dp/B004INH10C"]Amazon.com: PNY nVidia GeForce GTX560 Ti 1GB DDR5 2DVI/Mini HDMI PCI-Express Video Card VCGGTX560TXPB: Electronics@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41UZDy0UnlL.@@AMEPARAM@@41UZDy0UnlL[/ame]

 

[tiraides]

The PNY GTX 560 Ti is a suitable alternative.

 

[palmboy5]

So I've ordered the Crucial 64GB CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 as a Shell Shocker for $89.99 + tax. Its almost the same model as the one in my parts list but I can't actually tell whats different about it other than the one I ordered has 5 eggs and more reviews.

$178.00 SILVERSTONE RV02B-EW - Amazon
$189.99 Corsair CMPSU-850AX - Amazon
$137.22 ASRock Z68 PRO3 - Newegg
$196.64 Intel Core i5 2500K - Micro Center
ALREADY HAVE COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - Newegg
BOUGHT - $129.88 2x G.SKILL Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL - Newegg
$209.99 PNY GTX 560 Ti 1GB VCGGTX560TXPB - Amazon
BOUGHT $97.41 Crucial 64GB CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 - Newegg
Total = $1139.13 after tax, rebates, and shipping costs

 

[Dangman]

Do note that AsRock mobo is only an ok choice until the 30th. After that it's a total waste of money.

Honestly, I'd wait for that eVGA card to come back in stock since the warranty and customer service difference between PNY and eVGA is pretty high.

 

[Bbq]

I would not get a PNY video card. Their customer support, warranty, etc are not even close to evga.

 

[palmboy5]

lol, replies over a day later... eek..

So I ordered all but the CPU about an hour before your post, Danny. The motherboard was changed though. I figured that if I end up using my current PSU then I way underblew my target budget, so I'm going with the ASRock Z68 Extreme4 and the 2600K for $1125 and will then go over the $1200 budget due to a new PSU, if necessary.

BOUGHT $178.00 SILVERSTONE RV02B-EW - Amazon
$189.99 Corsair CMPSU-850AX - Amazon
BOUGHT $214.16 ASRock Z68 Extreme4 - Newegg
$305.89 Intel Core i7 2600K - Micro Center
ALREADY HAVE COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - Newegg
BOUGHT - $129.88 2x G.SKILL Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL - Newegg
BOUGHT $199.99 PNY GTX 560 Ti 1GB VCGGTX560TXPB - Amazon
BOUGHT $97.41 Crucial 64GB CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 - Newegg
Total = $1315.32 after tax, rebates, and shipping costs

 

[Dangman]

lol, replies over a day later... eek..

What? I was away on a trip for the last three days

BOUGHT $214.16 ASRock Z68 Extreme4 - Newegg

This was an extremely bad buy. That AsRock mobo only has a one year warranty. Cancel the mobo order ASAP. Unless you really love the color scheme, there are longer warrantied and equally featured Asus, MSI, and even Gigabyte Z68 mobos for around that price range. There's really no rational or logical reason to get that particular AsRock mobo unless you live in Europe.

 

[palmboy5]

The Gigabytes have no onboard monitor out ports, no mention of support for Quick Sync through Virtu in the specs on their site or Newegg, and have equally lacking information in the user reviews regarding the sole feature that even made me want a Z68 board.

The MSI somehow managed to get itself 3 of 5 eggs.

The ASUS looks like a fine competing product but costs $20 more, and I have never considered warranty/support as a factor. Perhaps you can call me "warranty noob" or something because I've gone through maybe a dozen mobos/cards/HDDs/etc each and have only needed to have one RMA done for a WD 2TB drive last year that suffered an infant death. At that point the only reason I even RMAed with WD was because Newegg's 15% restocking fee would have cost more overall. I have no support horror stories to make me care about warranties.

 

[Jon55]

The ASUS looks like a fine competing product but costs $20 more, and I have never considered warranty/support as a factor. Perhaps you can call me "warranty noob" or something because I've gone through maybe a dozen mobos/cards/HDDs/etc each and have only needed to have one RMA done for a WD 2TB drive last year that suffered an infant death. At that point the only reason I even RMAed with WD was because Newegg's 15% restocking fee would have cost more overall. I have no support horror stories to make me care about warranties.

The extra $20 is well worth it. Between the better build quality, product support (drivers, etc.), and better warranty, $20 is a very small price to pay.

 

[Dangman]

The Gigabytes have no onboard monitor out ports, no mention of support for Quick Sync through Virtu in the specs on their site or Newegg, and have equally lacking information in the user reviews regarding the sole feature that even made me want a Z68 board.

No onboard monitor out ports? Then what are these Gigabytes then?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...SpeTabStoreType=&AdvancedSearch=1&srchInDesc=

Yes HDMI counts as onboard monitor out ports and can be used with Virtu last I checked. Intel Quick Sync Video and Virtu were both mentioned as featurse on the above Gigabyte Z68 mobos' webpages.

The MSI somehow managed to get itself 3 of 5 eggs.

Ok fair enough. However the mATX MSI has fairly decent Newegg reviews.

The ASUS looks like a fine competing product but costs $20 more, and I have never considered warranty/support as a factor. Perhaps you can call me "warranty noob" or something because I've gone through maybe a dozen mobos/cards/HDDs/etc each and have only needed to have one RMA done for a WD 2TB drive last year that suffered an infant death. At that point the only reason I even RMAed with WD was because Newegg's 15% restocking fee would have cost more overall. I have no support horror stories to make me care about warranties.

Well I guess you're lucky then with not having to RMA many parts. I still stand by my statement that AsRock is a bad buy. Maybe not for you since apparently you've got the mostly golden touch with hardware reliability but for 99% of others out there, I don't recommend it at all. Though there is a lot of truth to Jon55's statements about Asus.

 

[palmboy5]

Ah, since I filtered as any Z68 board and sorted by Most Reviews (and mentally ignored mATX results, 'cause I'm too lazy to do further filters), I would have to go down the list pretty far to see either of the possible $170 and $210 Gigabyte boards... On the other hand, I sorted by Most Reviews for a reason.

While I most likely would have went with the $210 ASUS after what was said (even though I don't really buy the reasoning, more on that later), the thing has shipped and with the 15% restocking fee to return the Asrock to Newegg, it would now cost ~$30 + shipping + the $20 more for the ASUS to change boards. Oh well, too late.

Regarding build quality, I'm wondering how one even gauges that? How much of a difference does that make considering both boards probably work for as long as I will even be using it? Are you going to say the Asrock is going to fail stress tests? After a week? month? year? Or is it going to snap in half if i put my finger on it? Seems to me that "better build quality" is more of a peace of mind factor than an anything real, ESPECIALLY when considering any minute differences there are between two high end boards. Compare a $60 board from ECS with one of these boards and then I'll understand the concern about build quality differences.

Regarding support, "drivers, etc": With drivers, those aren't even written by them. Not the chipset, network, audio, nothing. Drivers are all written by their respective companies and are available on their sites.
etc1, BIOS: If there are problems with their BIOS I would see what they are in the user reviews, that's why I favor products with more reviews. The other factor I would see is that they stop releasing BIOS updates. Well, that would depend on how long they continue to release them but my ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe (cream crop of the socket 939's! $230 BEFORE boards started costing that much!) didn't have any particularly long BIOS updating lifetime. After 2006 (same year Asrock stopped releasing updates for their 939Dual-SATA2 as comparison), they released one "Latest Beta BIOS" with no further details or anything, and then one more to fix a problem with XP SP3. The "Beta BIOS" I will safely say is irrelevant while the other one might not have needed to be released if the BIOS was good to go to begin with.
etc2, tech support: Same deal as warranty, not much of a factor to me and if the board was really better build quality, why do I need this?

 

[palmboy5]

Good news guys, I ordered the ASUS P8Z68-V PRO and will be leaving a note on my door to say to reject the Asrock delivery of which a friend just confirmed for me that Newegg gives 100% refund (including the shipping cost) that way.

 

[Dangman]

Cool.

 

[Jon55]

Good news guys, I ordered the ASUS P8Z68-V PRO and will be leaving a note on my door to say to reject the Asrock delivery of which a friend just confirmed for me that Newegg gives 100% refund (including the shipping cost) that way.

Wow, is this for real? I had no idea you could do this.

Nice board choice too by the way. I must admit, I'm jealous.

 

[palmboy5]

Disappointed at PNY's packing design.
http://www.mylilsite.net/images/sandybridge-1/t2graphicsPacking2.jpg
http://www.mylilsite.net/images/sandybridge-1/t2graphicsCard2.jpg

Bent the plate back with pliers and it works in my Q6600 system for now.

I also did not expect the CPU box's lines between the text to be what they are (look closely).
http://www.mylilsite.net/images/sandybridge-1/t2cpuBox2.jpg

ASUS board coming in on Wednesday. :[

The Asrock shipment was successfully rejected using my note (according to my tracking info).