LGA 1155 Motherboard

[destram25]

Im upgrading my rig w/ the core i5 2500k and i was wondering which motherboard i should buy?
I plan on overclocking this cpu

Im interested in the ASrock Extreme4 p67, but im confused on which to buy. out of these 2 which is the latest/best?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157229

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157265

whats the difference???

And are they xfire/sli ready?

Anyone recommend I buy a different board? Can I get a better motherboard for about the same price??

 

[JayBob]

If it is out of the original 2 boards, I would get the Gen3.

If you are willing to pay $45 extra(as per Newegg) then get the board suggested by Jaquith, especially if you plan on OCing.

 

[Lex_Sinistre]

My goal is to stablely overclock the 2500k to 4.5ghz and my budget is around $150ish

Then get an Asrock and big Air

Jaquith has been talking about vcore and heat; he is right that the higher the vcore voltage required to maintain a stable overclock the more heat you produce. And the more heat you produce the less efficient ur CPU becomes so it can be a pain.


I can not disagree with Jaquiths figures on differences between MOBO efficiency in respect of vcore requirements, but note that he is using averages over 10 boards.

I can tell you that my board and CPU set up on air achieved the following on AIR but it was running at an average of 80C over the 4 cores and too close to TJ for my comfort: [Click the banner below]



To be honest 4.3Ghz 24/7 solution would be tops for my set up on anything but top end aircooling solution... Thats why I went to AntecKuhlerH20920.Once I got that then heat problems reduced and it took less vcore to maintain stability at any given Ghz rating. So heat and vcore kind of wrap around each other like snakes.. it seems the hotter it gets the less efficient the CPU is and therefore the more voltage that you require to maintain a stable overclock. Conversely the cooler you can keep the CPU the more efficient it seems to be and the less voltage you need to maintain the same speed overclock.



regards
Lex

 

[jaquith]

I recently had a l-o-n-g post OC'ing a ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution equipped with an 18 Phase VRM, cheap HSF Xigmatek Gaia SD1283, and it was a mother to get a 4.5GHz in the 70's on air. Further, the OP required a 24-hour Prime95 + Blend to be considered stable for the OP purposes. What was learned was to ignore the complex OC'ing Guides {VRM/LLC}, at least for ~mid 4GHz's, and focus on manually setting the vCore with as little other changes as possible; KISS method. The reason I mention this is because those other settings also added additional heat.

One of the best OC Guides is Clunk's -> http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overclocking/39184-p67-sandy-bridge-overclocking-guide-beginners.html

Now if you want higher OC then be prepared to look at water if you want hours of game play or whatever long term 'load' to the CPU.

ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution i5-2500K @ 4.5GHz
AI Overclock Tuner: Manual
By All Cores: 45
BCLK/PEG Frequency:100
EPU Power Saving: Disabled
CPU Manual Voltage: 1.36
/Updated BIOS - Phase Control: Standard ; BIOS Default Extreme
/Manually setting RAM: Frequency, CAS Timings, DRAM Voltage

Choosing averages to me seemed to be the most honest approach rather than looking at vCore highs or lows.

Again, the above is (1) one case, and the next ASUS WS might be completely different. The major reason I don't post in the OC'ing section is because there's no one size fits all.

I also mentioned the ASUS P8P67 PRO ~$175.

 

[Lex_Sinistre]

I recently had a l-o-n-g post OC'ing a ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution equipped with an 18 Phase VRM, cheap HSF Xigmatek Gaia SD1283, and it was a mother to get a 4.5GHz in the 70's on air. Further, the OP required a 24-hour Prime95 + Blend to be considered stable for the OP purposes. What was learned was to ignore the complex OC'ing Guides {VRM/LLC}, at least for ~mid 4GHz's, and focus on manually setting the vCore with as little other changes as possible; KISS method. The reason I mention this is because those other settings also added additional heat.

One of the best OC Guides is Clunk's -> http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overclocking/39184-p67-sandy-bridge-overclocking-guide-beginners.html

Now if you want higher OC then be prepared to look at water if you want hours of game play or whatever long term 'load' to the CPU.

ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution i5-2500K @ 4.5GHz
AI Overclock Tuner: Manual
By All Cores: 45
BCLK/PEG Frequency:100
EPU Power Saving: Disabled
CPU Manual Voltage: 1.36
/Updated BIOS - Phase Control: Standard ; BIOS Default Extreme
/Manually setting RAM: Frequency, CAS Timings, DRAM Voltage

Choosing averages to me seemed to be the most honest approach rather than looking at vCore highs or lows.

Again, the above is (1) one case, and the next ASUS WS might be completely different. The major reason I don't post in the OC'ing section is because there's no one size fits all.

I also mentioned the ASUS P8P67 PRO ~$175.

I agree with jaquith -OC'ing by its very nature can not be nailed down to a one size fits all solution - performance variables between actual CPU's of the same ilk - differences in the efficiencies of cooling solutions - geographical climate differences (are trying to OC in an outhouse in alaska in the middle of winter.. or is your site located in the middle of the sahara desert) all contribute to how your particular machine will operate.

In fact my purpose here is to share my experience (and I state right here that this build was my first ever attempt at either a build or an OC experiment); It is not my purpose to disagree with jaquith or score points.. I note on re reading my posts it may seem that I have been taking jaquith on, that was not my intent, but in the event that I have created such an impression.. I honestly apologise.


I did read the OC guide written by Clunk; if i remember correctly it was based on an Asus or Gigabyte board. 4Ryan6 wrote a guide in this forums advising on the same fixed voltage (set vcore to a fixed sum manually through bios) method of OC'ing and I tried this initially. Eventually I switched to using a method that required the manipulation of the offset voltage level and the max turbo volt setting. I did this because when the machine is at idle (1600Mhz) i do not have my CPU bombarded with 1.34v charges, but instead only use charges of between 0.980v and 1.08v. I believe this lets my CPU run cooler during non strenuous tasks and hope to extend the chips life.

I agree that most other things can be left alone... but advise that on the ASrock board, there was an advantage to manipulating the vdroop controller to ensure that the system did not automatically over volt the CPU when trying to compensate for vdroop when entering turbo mode.

Regards
Lex

 

[jaquith]

@Lex - no I didn't feel we had anything but the same intentions We seem to be totally on the same page.

I agree that different guides are driven by MOBO's. The 4.5GHz+~5.0GHz is where all hell breaks loose and you're needing to turn-on everything power related and in a 'Forum' it's nearly impossible to advise people. You run into Thermal Limits, vDroop, Phase Control, VRM/LLC, not to mention the CPU itself one better than another.

The ASUS P8P67 PRO and P8Z68-V PRO both have Phase and LLC {Load-Line Calibration}. Sometimes it's like a dog chasing its' tail LLC <-> vCore which became a problem at least for 4.5GHz.

The reality of the situation and something to think about is 'how often are 'we' at 100% load' and so what settings are better for 'your real environment.'

This is why I avoid the OC section like the plague. I'd have a very flat head 😉

 

[Lex_Sinistre]

Cheers Friend . You are right about real world use - For me 1600Mhz most of the time LOL - I use my com for business during week - in the weekend i might do some gaming for fun - probably could have built something with an intel 2300 locked multiplier cpu that would have done the job for me;but I am a bit of an experimenter and wanted to see what I could do.