Motherboard Questions!!

[swiftghost]

Hello,

I'm very new to this PC building thing, so please excuse me when I ask very dumb questions!

I have recently been buying PC parts in hopes to build a gaming PC for myself. I'm not exactly the richest person in the world, so I'm trying to get the best prices around, as we all are. I have currently purchased:

1. 4 x 4gb Corsair XMS3 DDR3 RAM (plan to use 2 sticks of the 4)
2. i7 2600k sandy bridge
3. 80GB Intel SSD
4. WD 2TB HD
5. 650W PS
6. Some sort of fan (recommended by my friend)

I now need a good Motherboard to support all that and a pretty good graphics card. I'm looking to play Diablo3 and possibly future games, so I'm thinking Radeon 6850+ or GeForce 460+

I know nothing about Motherboards so I read a bunch of forums and have narrowed down to these choices

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128487

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130583

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138296

Budget for Graphics card I'm looking under 150 if possible (have seen a few floating around). and for motherboard 100 and Under (could be flexible).

Please advise! If there's a better mobo available that you would like to recommend, please do so!!

Thanks so much!!

 

[inzone]

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $124.99 and a $10 rebate for $114.99.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

Your video card budget puts you in the range of this card;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625

However I would not be recomending this card or any of the 550Ti cards because I don't think they are very good and two of the more important components of a computer build are the video card and the motherboard. I am ok with the MB I listed but would be much more comfortable if your budget for the video card could get you this card;

EVGA 01G-P3-1561-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$239.99 and a $10 rebate for $229.99.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130623

It is too bad that you already have the 2600k because you could have gotten the 2500k and have virtually the same performance for $100 less which you could have put towards a good video card like the one I listed.

 

[swiftghost]

I must say that the ASRock Motherboard stands out much more than the motherboards I was looking at. I was just chatting up with my friend as to what makes a good motherboard, and it seems like the ASRock has hit most of them.

As for the Graphics Card you recommended, I took a look at the Graphics card benchmark and it seems like it is playing midfield on the high performance section. I would like to get a video card around 6850 if not higher. I suppose I have to be more flexible around that then.

It is a shame that I bought the processor already...but I did buy it open boxed with no heatsink. It was 250$, so I don't think it was TOO bad of a deal on my side, putting aside the fact that 2600 vs 2500 are virtually the same.

I'll think about trading off my Processor and getting a 2500...but most likely I won't be able to do it too easily. Now leaves the Motherboard.... what are the most important aspects to a motherboard I should be looking at?

Thank you so much for your speedy reply!

I have put your Mobo into my list, thanks!!

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been moved from the section CPU & Components to section Systems by Mousemonkey

 

[cutebeans]

+1 on the asrock. It has everything you need and more.

 

[naqqash]

Who made you think of buying i7-2600k. If it's specially for gaming then bad decision.
Why are you compromising on the GPU (which is damn necessary).

Get rid of it asap and sell your two RAMs combine the cost and purchase at least an ATI 6870 or GTX 560 Ti.

 

[leandrodafontoura]

Woah, you always choose your mobo first, then what goes in it

 

[swiftghost]

Well, this will be my first PC that I'm building, so I don't know much about it. I saw the deal of 250 on the 2600k, so I just jumped on it. Is it a good idea to sell it and purchase a 2500k for about 190?

The Radeon 6870 graphics card may be pushing my budget, but I get your point in that GPU's are more important now. It's a little late that I found out this late, though it may sound like common knowledge, but I'm trying to make up for it. It's good that I haven't bought it yet, nor the mother board.

Do you guys think that things will get cheaper around Christmas or should I buy all the necessary parts now?

thank you guys for your guidance!

 

[cutebeans]

Nahh. The i7-2600k has the same performance with the i5-2500k. For 250, it's still pretty good buy.

It will get cheaper by the holidays. It's always like that.