Best "budget" LGA 1155 MoBo for overclocking

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I'm finally ordering parts for my new build. My last gaming system, which I haven't bothered to boot in over a year, was a single core opteron and X1900. :eek:

I've settled on an i5-2500k and GTX-560 or 570. I don't need SLI. I just want a basic board that has the chipset to allow overclocking sandy bridge processors. I'd prefer to stay away from the cheap brands like ECS etc.

Do I need a Z68 or is a P67 ok ? The wiki article says Z68 can oc the GPU too. That's referring to the built in gpu on the cpu die right ? The one I will never use ? Does the Z68 offer anything else compelling ? I'm looking for a no frills board but I am not a fan of micro atx.

What's the minimum I need to spend ? Bonus points for Newegg links. Thank guys. :D
 
Motherboard is a much smaller determining factor for overclocking of Sandy Bridge - so really whichever board has the features you want from a manufacturer you trust would be fine. Something from MSI, Asus, or ASRock are good - they all have UEFI BIOS which Gigabyte doesn't right now. Unless you need the Z68 features (really just onboard GPU use) then you can skip it and go with a P67 board.
 
Z68 mobos are more bug free, and they got alot more BIOS/firmware updates comparing the P67 ones, this is the main advantage, and quite big if you run into issues with your mobo.

Also as for best budget mobo, my choice, would be this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271&Tpk=Z68 Extreme3 Gen3

it has PCI-E 3.0 support....decent cooling, good layout, many connections, great I/O, and looks great! also offeres input for onboard video. All of this for 124$ its steal...you cant beat this mobo for the price.....no chance.
 
QuiteSufficient said:
Had good results with the P8P67 Vanilla and LE in builds including several 4.5-5.0ghz rigs for family and clients.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131706
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I've had good experiences with Asus in the past. It seems like a safe choice and it's got bold colors.

Forceman said:
Motherboard is a much smaller determining factor for overclocking of Sandy Bridge - so really whichever board has the features you want from a manufacturer you trust would be fine. Something from MSI, Asus, or ASRock are good - they all have UEFI BIOS which Gigabyte doesn't right now. Unless you need the Z68 features (really just onboard GPU use) then you can skip it and go with a P67 board.
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I was reading about that. Apparently the new cpus have only one adjustment in the bios besides voltage, no fsb and separate multipliers. I see you mentioned ASRock as well. I remember them. Never ran one of their boards, but seem to recall them offering a lot of features for the buck. UEFI - I haven't been following motherboard technology for several years so this will be fun to learn.



psyside said:
Z68 mobos are more bug free, and they got alot more BIOS/firmware updates comparing the P67 ones, this is the main advantage, and quite big if you run into issues with your mobo.

Also as for best budget mobo, my choice, would be this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271&Tpk=Z68 Extreme3 Gen3

it has PCI-E 3.0 support....decent cooling, good layout, many connections, great I/O, and looks great! also offeres input for onboard video. All of this for 124$ its steal...you cant beat this mobo for the price.....no chance.
Click to expand...

Is PCI-E 3.0 a big deal ? I have no idea. Are the latest cards getting close to maxing it out and we'll need a new standard ? How soon do you think until 3.0 videocards are standard ?

The main reason I decided to go with an oc-able i5 over an i3-2100 was because I thought it would last long enough to make use of a videocard upgrade in a couple years. I figured the stock i3 would be pretty good for now, but in a few years when the next generation consoles launch, and the 560 or 570 is slipping, I'd need to replace the whole system again, so it's false economy. So is 3.0 a big deal ?

Stability is important. But I don't typically have a lot of conflicts and problems with my computers. I don't use many devices. Are the P67s known to be buggy ? Why do the Z68 boards get more updates ? I'm curious. That board does look like a great deal.
I noticed it has an HDMI port. Is that for using the sandy bridge gpu ?

Thanks for all the help everyone. The ASRock is looking good.
 
So is 3.0 a big deal ?
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From: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/279953-33-tomshardware

PCIe 2.0 delivers 5 GT/s, but employs an 8b/10b encoding scheme which results in a 20 percent ((10-8)/10) overhead on the raw bit rate. PCIe 3.0 removes the requirement for 8b/10b encoding and instead uses a technique called "scrambling" in which "a known binary polynomial is applied to a data stream in a feedback topology. Because the scrambling polynomial is known, the data can be recovered by running it through a feedback topology using the inverse polynomial and also uses a 128b/130b ((130-128)/130)encoding scheme, reducing the overhead to approximately 1.5%, as opposed to the 20% overhead of 8b/10b encoding used by PCIe 2.0. PCIe 3.0's 8 GT/s bit rate effectively delivers double PCIe 2.0 bandwidth
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This is a year old but I doubt it has changed much since then.

From: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/08/23/gtx_480_sli_pcie_bandwidth_perf_x16x16_vs_x8x8/3

When all is said and done, PCIe bandwidth isn’t as big of a concern as some people would like to make it.
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Somthing else to notice is this:

From: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...17075X740592X376a3280a520acda9409e264a6da348e

PCI Express 3.0 with Intel Ivy Bridge CPU, PCI Express 2.0 with Intel Sandy Bridge CPU
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and this:

From: http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainbo...ms_PCIe_3_0_Support_for_LGA1155_Platform.html

At present it is only possible to implement PCI Express 3.0 using a third-party PCIe switch, which will enable transfers at PCIe 3.0 speeds (which double those of PCIe 2.0) between PCI Express devices, but not between add-in cards and microprocessor. Asrock claims that it used PLX PEX8608, which is not PCIe 3.0 compliant and only features one PCIe 2.0 8x lane. Only PLX PEX8700-series switches support PCI Express 3.0. Still, the forthcoming code-named Ivy Bridge microprocessors in LGA1155 will fully support PCIe 3.0 and the new mainboard will naturally gain appropriate support once the chips become available along with PCIe 3.0-supporting graphics cards, Asrock guarantees that on this particular platform they will work in PCIe 3.0 mode. It should be noted that with proper routing and BIOS support any LGA1155 mainboard should gain PCIe 3.0.
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and this

From: http://techreport.com/discussions.x/21613

Third-generation PCI Express connectivity is built into the Sandy Bridge E CPU, where it will fuel expansion slots in addition to underpinning the DMI interconnect linking the processor to its accompanying X79 chipset. Problems with the associated PHY could not only slow communications with graphics cards, but also cap the bandwidth between the CPU and the chipset. Neither is a particularly appealing prospect for a new flagship platform targeted at servers, workstations, and multi-GPU enthusiasts.

SemiAccurate says the PHY needs to be respun, and the new revision won't be ready until next year. We could still see Sandy Bridge E debut before then, but it may not do so with its PCIe 3.0 connectivity intact.
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And that would explain a lot, wouldn't it?

I think the short answer is, not yet.
 
MSI are far from Asrock regarding SB platforms,also that mobo has no vrm cooling at all....
 
Another thing you might consider about Z68 is Smart Response Technology. You can setup an SSD as a cache for a hard drive or a raid config.

On my old P45 motherboard I had the OS installed on my 80GB Intel X25-M G2 and that barely left enough room for maybe 2 games after that. It was always a compromise on what I could have on the SSD at any given time and I ended up installing tons of "less important" apps/games directly onto mechanical drives instead because I really had no choice.

Now with Intel SRT I use my SSD as a 64GB (max) cache for two 500gb drives in Raid-0. I have an entire Terabyte to work with and I get 95% the responsiveness of running on the SSD directly in most situations. Before, I was considering getting a 2nd SSD for more room, but that would have cost me more than my new motherboard did and I would have still ended up with only 160GB to work with. The 64GB cache left me with 11gb or so free on the SSD, which I used for the pagefile.

It's really an amazing tech. You might decide that the OS is worth it to put on your SSD but that still includes tons of random windows files that don't really need to be there. You might decide that you want one of your favorite games on your SSD, but that doesn't necessarily mean you really want every single map on the SSD or the entire single-player campaign loaded on the SSD, etc. Not to mention the hassle of having to use symbolic links to move individual steam games away from the main steam folder. With Intel's block-level caching only what you use gets cached, so even within individual apps, games, etc it's only caching what you use and not the entire app/game. With your OS it's only caching the parts that you use and not touching other crap like help files or Spider Solitaire, etc.
 
I want to get an SSD eventually, maybe in RAID, so the future capability is nice.

The ASRock board is in my cart.

Can't wait to try Deus Ex:HR. :cool:
Thanks again for the help people.
 
I recently bought the ASRock Z68M/USB3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157270

I just wanted the cheapest z68 board i could get. I am impressed. I could be called a Gigabyte fan but i have to admit this thing works just fine and even overclocks right from the desktop. I do not intend on doing any serious overclocking with this board, but i have had it up to 4.7 ghz just cause i could... and it only took 2 minutes to do it. This was bought as a temporary solution while i wait out Bulldozer for my 990FXA-UD7.

I think you have to decide what you want to set as a ceiling, if your goal is 4-4.5ghz, i would think any P67 or Z68 would work just fine.

If you want more than that as an everyday overclock, then look at boards that offer better power circuitry and excellent build quality. Like the UD4/UD5/UD7...
 
Forceman said:
Motherboard is a much smaller determining factor for overclocking of Sandy Bridge - so really whichever board has the features you want from a manufacturer you trust would be fine. Something from MSI, Asus, or ASRock are good - they all have UEFI BIOS which Gigabyte doesn't right now. Unless you need the Z68 features (really just onboard GPU use) then you can skip it and go with a P67 board.
Click to expand...

I don't recommend ASRock due to it's 1 year warranty in the U.S. However, ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte are all solid with 3 year warranties and competitive prices.
 
I had the asrock extreme 3 gen 3. it wouldnt oc at all. I sent it back, got the asus p8p67 and oc went well.
 
I am not blaming all asrock mobo. Just this one. It was also my first, and now I believe last asrock. wasnt a good first impression for me. The asrock tech support was laughable, by the way.....I prob should not have even bothered emailing them....I think I forgot more than that dude knew.
 
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