Stable overclock for i5 2500k for 4.5Ghz - MSI/Asus/Gigabyte/AsRock

[HyperRainbow]

Hi,

I'm looking for a motherboard that could handle overclocking at 4.5GHZ or maybe 5Ghz with the least damage to the board. I'm currently leaning towards the MSI Z68A GD65 since it had an excellent review from Hard OCPhttp://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/09/22/msi_z68agd65_g3_lga_1155_motherboard_review/ but I'm not sure if this motherboard would suit my other needs.

Other boards I've considered were the:

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3

ASUS P8Z68V-Pro Gen3

I haven't done too much research on the Gigabyte models so if there is one that you'd recommend please let me know.

I am also planning to overclock my video cards.

I have water cooling: Corsair H100. Please let me know which would be the best buy.

 

[nordlead]

This thread might help you choose a board. http://www.overclock.net/t/916189/official-intel-p67-z68-motherboard-comparison-list-oc-results

The ASUS P8P67 (or the P8Z68 which is the same thing only a Z chipset) seems to be a popular choice.

EDIT: considering overclocking is such a crap shoot, who knows if you'll be able to hit 5GHz. Either board should hit 4.5GHz. I will say, that I've seen 1-2 ASRock Extreme3 Gen3 over 4.5GHz, but it doesn't seem like a lot of people can get much above 4.5GHz. Now, a lot of CPUs will never get over 4.5GHz regardless of motherboard so I don't know if the Extreme3 really is bad for over 4.5GHz, or if not enough people are giving it a chance.

I had to RMA mine so I don't really have any overclocking experience with the Extreme3 Gen3. In the link I provided, there were no attempts to overclock the Extreme3 Gen3, but a few for the Extreme4. Sometimes I wonder if a lot of overclockers follow the "if it is more expensive it must be better" line of thinking, or if there really is a difference. I know for my purpose I didn't mind so long as I got good voltages at close to 4.5GHz.

 

[HyperRainbow]

This thread might help you choose a board. http://www.overclock.net/t/916189/official-intel-p67-z68-motherboard-comparison-list-oc-results

The ASUS P8P67 (or the P8Z68 which is the same thing only a Z chipset) seems to be a popular choice.

EDIT: considering overclocking is such a crap shoot, who knows if you'll be able to hit 5GHz. Either board should hit 4.5GHz. I will say, that I've seen 1-2 ASRock Extreme3 Gen3 over 4.5GHz, but it doesn't seem like a lot of people can get much above 4.5GHz. Now, a lot of CPUs will never get over 4.5GHz regardless of motherboard so I don't know if the Extreme3 really is bad for over 4.5GHz, or if not enough people are giving it a chance.

I had to RMA mine so I don't really have any overclocking experience with the Extreme3 Gen3. In the link I provided, there were no attempts to overclock the Extreme3 Gen3, but a few for the Extreme4. Sometimes I wonder if a lot of overclockers follow the "if it is more expensive it must be better" line of thinking, or if there really is a difference. I know for my purpose I didn't mind so long as I got good voltages at close to 4.5GHz.

Thanks so much for this link. I'm not too sure what to look at though to determine which z68 would be best to overclock. Since I'm looking for a motherboard that would be able to last for long periods of high loads, would I look for the motherboard that has the highest Prime 95 stable hours?