Best mother board for I7 980

[Artire]

I am choosing components for a home build and intend buying the I7 980 processor. I am looking at buying the Rampage lll Extreme but I am wondering if it would be a waste. This mother board seems to be geared primarily to overclocking and as I don't believe the I7 980 can be overclocked would I be paying for a lot of redundant features??

Is there a better board more suited to my needs? Using a HAF X case, I intend running 2 GTX 570 graphic boards in SLI and would like a board which supports this configuration and which will be as future proofed as possible with SATA 3 for an SSD drive, USB 3, and enough expansion slots left over after the graphics card to add at least a PCI-E sound card and a network card. I will also be adding at least 3 more internal drives and a couple of optical drives and so require as many SATA ports as possible. This is a first build for me and so I would very much appreciate any help/advise.

 

[rolli59]

Welcome. Why buy a dead end platform (although the 980 is a beast) For most uses the LGA1155 for lot less money is preferred today and not far behind in capability.

 

[Artire]

Welcome. Why buy a dead end platform (although the 980 is a beast) For most uses the LGA1155 for lot less money is preferred today and not far behind in capability.

Thanks, you make a good point. If I went with the I7 2600K (which seems to be the most powerful processor for this socket type??) what would be the best LGA1155 motherboard to meet my previously listed requirements?

 

[zooted]

How to ask for build advice

 

[Artire]

How to ask for build advice

I thought I was pretty specific on the advise I required. Did I leave something out?? Apologies if so.

Is there a better board more suited to my needs? Using a HAF X case, I intend running 2 GTX 570 graphic boards in SLI and would like a board which supports this configuration and which will be as future proofed as possible with SATA 3 for an SSD drive, USB 3, and enough expansion slots left over after the graphics card to add at least a PCI-E sound card and a network card. I will also be adding at least 3 more internal drives and a couple of optical drives and so require as many SATA ports as possible. This is a first build for me and so I would very much appreciate any help/advise.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

There are a number of very good P67 or Z68 series boards out there that you can look at. Personally I would focus on Asus, Gigabyte and MSI.

Since you haven't what you are doing with this system, if you are building this for gaming I would advice that you step down to the Intel® Core­™ i5-2500K as it ends up being almost as fast as the Intel Core i7-2600K for games and cost $100 less. Also when you select the memory make sure that you get memory that is rated at 1.5v or lower.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

 

[Artire]

There are a number of very good P67 or Z68 series boards out there that you can look at. Personally I would focus on Asus, Gigabyte and MSI.

Since you haven't what you are doing with this system, if you are building this for gaming I would advice that you step down to the Intel® Core­™ i5-2500K as it ends up being almost as fast as the Intel Core i7-2600K for games and cost $100 less. Also when you select the memory make sure that you get memory that is rated at 1.5v or lower.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

Thanks Christian, I am building it as a medium - high end, jack of all trades. Gaming, video editing and work related applications. Basically I want it to be able to do whatever I decide to throw at it on any particular day. I am not overly bothered about the cost though I wouldn't be interested in paying the high premiums for xtreme edition processors. That is why I initially looked at the I7 980 until rolli59 pointed out the LGA1366 was a dead end route with no future upgrade path.

 

[mjmjpfaff]

Thanks Christian, I am building it as a medium - high end, jack of all trades. Gaming, video editing and work related applications. Basically I want it to be able to do whatever I decide to throw at it on any particular day. I am not overly bothered about the cost though I wouldn't be interested in paying the high premiums for xtreme edition processors. That is why I initially looked at the I7 980 until rolli59 pointed out the LGA1366 was a dead end route with no future upgrade path.

get an i7 2600k the 1136 platform is dead. pair it with an asrock z68 gen3 motherboard and you are ready for ivy bridge when it comes out which will put the 1136 socket into extinction.

 

[Artire]

get an i7 2600k the 1136 platform is dead. pair it with an asrock z68 gen3 motherboard and you are ready for ivy bridge when it comes out which will put the 1136 socket into extinction.

In your opinion Is the ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 a better buy than the ASUS Maximus lV extreme-Z??

 

[mjmjpfaff]

In your opinion Is the ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 a better buy than the ASUS Maximus lV extreme-Z??

yes because it is cheaper and has pcie 3.0.