Cheap motherboard for i5 2500K (Canada)

[RichterFry]

Hello I'm about to order an i5 2500K to replace my Phenom II X4, and I'm looking to spend as little money as possible on a motherboard. First off, I'm not too familiar with the socket for Intel at all, so, what sockets are compatible with the i5 2500K? It says that the i5 is compatible with the LGA 1155 socket, but is that the only one it is compatible with?

What I'm looking for is a motherboard that will allow me to OC my processor fairly easily. I'm not looking to OC the thing too much, I'll be picking up an after market heatsink and fan some time, and I'll be limiting my OC to the capabilities of that. Also, I'm looking for at least 1 16x/8x PCI slot, however, 2 would be better as I may have more than one card in my build at a time (I have a 560 (non ti) version right now). However, if the price is right, I am definitely willing to sacrifice the possibility to have another card on this mobo.

The places from where I'm looking for a mobo are the sites as follows:

newegg.ca
tigerdirect.ca
directcanada.com

Oh, and I don't think I want a micro or a mini motherboard, I'd rather have something full size as I've heard that they are much better (unless I'm wrong, in which case I can be easily persuaded)

For example, I'm looking for something like this:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813153218

Is that a solid motherboard for what I'm looking for, and are there any other cheaper alternatives?

 

[jaquith]

First off, you do not want any H61, H67 or anything but P67 or Z68 IF you ever[strike]y[/strike] want to OC any SB 'K' CPU; only P67 or Z68 as of today can OC.

Cheap, depends on what OC you want now or in the future.

Q - What OC are you looking for? ; example if it's >4.5GHz then you need a 12 Phase MOBO.

Cheapest 4.5GHz+ MOBO is the ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.1) - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131771

Cheapest <4.5GHz MOBO is the ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

First of all with the Intel® Core™ i5-2500K you want to make sure that you are using a P67 or a Z68 chipset based board or you will find that you are unable to really overclock it. H61, H67, and Q67 chipset don't support overclocking of the core clock speed of the "K" processors.

With what you are looking to do in the future I would have to say that the ASRock Z68 Extreme3 would be the board of choice for you. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

Also the Asus P8Z68-M Pro is a nice board but it is a micro-ATX board but it is loaded with features for the price. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131786

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

 

[jaquith]

Stereo

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

HAHA yea tell me about it but you beat me to it.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

 

[jaquith]

One day, I'll actually have a post without a typo. My fingers are faster than my brain.

FYI the ASUS P8Z68-M PRO is a non-SLI MOBO and a poor CF x4 PCIe slot.

 

[RichterFry]

How about this?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186220

I know I can't crossfire nor SLI, but for the price, that's quite alright.

 

[jaquith]

IMO - No Biostar, or Foxconn...the one you posted??!! I'd be afraid that I'd break it OC.

A decent OC, non SLI MSI P67A-G43 (B3) http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130583

Another place to shop -> http://ncix.com/products/index.php?minorcatid=107&subminorcatid=1301 look for open box discounts but assume items like I/O Shields, cables, etc might be missing -- they (NewEgg or NCIX) 'might' look at the box.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

Honestly especially for just as far as gaming is concerned an i5 CPU is overkill and any decent Debeb x4 CPU is perfectly fine for average people. http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7970-cpu-scaling-performance-review/3

 

[RichterFry]

I'd say the i7 is overkill for gaming, unless you've got the money for an awesome GPU. It's hard to say anything is overkill if you've got other things to bottleneck, ie weak graphics card, resolution, etc

 

[RichterFry]

IMO - No Biostar, or Foxconn...the one you posted??!! I'd be afraid that I'd break it OC.

Could you elaborate a bit?

 

[jaquith]

Biostar, or Foxconn... are built on cheaper and therefore less reliable parts; ditto can be said about any low-end MOBO. Further, MOBO's with less than 12 Phases to the CPU (LGA 1155) typically render a higher vCore. Higher vCore = Lower OC = Higher Temps. If you think of Phases like 'steps' to the same level the least requires more energy (vCore) to get the the same level as opposed to more 'steps'; as in the analogy, the higher peaks/drops translates into a Higher vCore to keep stability.

Here's a good chart with several different MOBO's, the MOBO's with the lowest vCore (CPU Voltage) corresponds to those with 12 or more Phases. See -> https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AoXai57oo6AGdDdmR19OYXg0UmIyZ0o0MU9aX05sRUE&w=195&h=1425 with corresponding specs, I did note a few errors last time I looked but for the most part it's very useful -> https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AoXai57oo6AGdHJNSXNXVUNqbHZoTlZjblV2cVJUTlE&w=291&h=2175

I realize you want a $60 MOBO to work the same as a $200 and so would I, but reality is what it is. If you choose a non-K SB or really don't plan on OC too much then sure look at cheaper MOBO's, but IMO ones with 8 Phase at minimum.

 

[RichterFry]

I'm not looking to get the thing over 4.5 GHz, I'm looking to find a solid OC at which I can run the CPU, without needing to worry about over heating.

 

[RichterFry]

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131773

This motherboard seems to be the sweet spot between budget and what I need, and it also has UEFI BIOS which is something I have right now, and love.

Now, under the discription, it says it has 2 PCI slots at 16x, but it describes them as (16x, 4x). This is somewhat irrelevant because I'm going to get this motherboard either way (probably), but does that leave the option for 2 graphics cards?

 

[jaquith]

Then the ASRock that both Chris and I posted above, we came to the same conclusions simultaneously. Something's got to said about that, no coincidence.

 

[jaquith]

Both the ASUS P8Z68-V LE and LX are 4 Phases...higher vCore.

 

[RichterFry]

I ended up ordering this one:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131773

 

[jaquith]

The ASUS P8Z68-V LE is a decent MOBO, it'll OC to 4.0GHz~4.4GHz with an acceptable vCore. In any case of OC'ing you need a good HSF, the issue is the higher the vCore the more expensive the HSF to cool -- so it was a pay now or pay later or pay somehow.

Good Luck!