Looking for best mATX build

Kalarah

Reputable
Mar 28, 2014
7
0
4,510
Currently, I am at a dilemma. I cant decide what to get for my next build so I thought perhaps others can give some insight.

Heres my 2 choices in CPU's:

Intel Core i7 3770K

OR



I have always been an AMD fan, not going to lie. But the ONE problem I am having is finding the motherboard I want. I thought about the [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130722]MSI 760GMA-P34(FX)
as it has what Im looking for. Sata 3, mATX, can OC. But I have read that the 8350 technically wont work as the 8350 pulls upwards of 140 watt at load.

It does not matter which CPU I go with, I must have mATX, Sata 3, 1600mhz + memory support AND USB3 header. See, I have the AeroCool DS-Cube case and I am in love with this case.

Heres what I do.

I do ALOT of music production - Live 9, Reason, Acid

I am not a huge gamer. Me and my wife play WoW only. But I want to play with vsync on at 60 FPS, which I currently do with my AMD 965BE, but its a tired computer and I really want to upgrade.

I want to utilize the new Sata 3 with an SSD boot drive and only 1 Sata 3 1 TB hard-drive. My other HDD's are SATA 2.

So, can anyone help? As I said, Im a huge AMD fan, but I am willing to move to Intel if its necessary. If Intel, which MB would you recommend? I would assume a Z77.

Thanks
 
Solution
[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3hUGC) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3hUGC/by_merchant/) / [Benchmarks](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3hUGC/benchmarks/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80637i73770k) | $324.98 @ SuperBiiz
**Motherboard** | [Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz77md3h) | $79.99 @ Newegg
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f314900cl9d8gbxl) | $84.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State...
My budget is around $700. Take into mind I already have the case and I have a Radeon 6850 video card. I would consider upgrading the video card to perhaps a 7850, but not any of the rebranded cards like the 270x or the like as they are just too expensive because of the use for mining.
 
[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3hUGC) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3hUGC/by_merchant/) / [Benchmarks](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3hUGC/benchmarks/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80637i73770k) | $324.98 @ SuperBiiz
**Motherboard** | [Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz77md3h) | $79.99 @ Newegg
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f314900cl9d8gbxl) | $84.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7pd128bw) | $114.99 @ Best Buy
**Storage** | [Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex) | $59.55 @ Amazon
**Power Supply** | [Silverstone Strider Plus 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/silverstone-power-supply-st50fp) | $75.98 @ Newegg
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $740.48
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-28 10:18 EDT-0400 |
 
Solution
I have the ASrock FM2A75m-pro4+. USB 3.0, and SATA 3. The thing I really like is that it has 2 PCIe 16x slots, so you can do dual gpu. It is also an FM2+ socket, so you can use one of the new Kaveri APU's (keep in mind you have to flash the bios to do so). I am guessing that AMD isn't done with that socket either, so I would expect you to be able to upgrade CPU later. Obviously you wont be using the integrated gpu. Just a thought.