Third world problems

[willpatt2011]

Hi, Im looking to build a medium- high end gaming PC, but living in a sort of 3rd world country I've been having difficulty finding the good stuff. Well I've confirmed the CPU is going to be a Intel Core i3-2120, the mobo's proving to be a more difficult choice as I'm not entirely sure how it will affect performance and have a limited selection at my price range. My choices are-



Asus P8H61-M LX at $160
http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8H61M_LX/


or


Gigabyte Z68AD3B3 at $270
http://www.geekstores.com/stores/amazon/gigabyte-z68ad3b3-lga-1155-intel-z68-sata-6gbs-usb-3-0-atx-intel-motherboard-gaz68ad3b3/

Not into overclocking but might want to put 2 GPUs in there.
So out of the two evils which one is better or more suitable?

 

[fb39ca4]

These are your only options? I would go with the second board if you know you want 2 GPUs at some point, otherwise get the first one. The CPU performance should be basically identical.

 

[charon711]

with the Gigabyte Z68AD3B3 the second PCI Express slot that you would put your second video card in, only runs at X4 speed as opposed to an acceptable X8 or X16.

This basically means that the second slot does not support enough band with to support a SLI or Crossfire configuration efficiently. You would not see much if any boost from the second card. You need it to have at least X8 speed, and the difference from X8 and X16 isnt all that much since most cards dont even max out a X16 slot. I remember reading that there is only a average of 5% difference between the two, But if you do want to run dual cards that second slot needs to be X8 for it to work the way you want it too. Other wise its just a waste of money.

 

[willpatt2011]

with the Gigabyte Z68AD3B3 the second PCI Express slot that you would put your second video card in, only runs at X4 speed as opposed to an acceptable X8 or X16.

This basically means that the second slot does not support enough band with to support a SLI or Crossfire configuration efficiently. You would not see much if any boost from the second card. You need it to have at least X8 speed, and the difference from X8 and X16 isnt all that much since most cards dont even max out a X16 slot. I remember reading that there is only a average of 5% difference between the two, But if you do want to run dual cards that second slot needs to be X8 for it to work the way you want it too. Other wise its just a waste of money.

I guess I'll have to ask relatives overseas for something better, in the meantime I guess I'll have to settle for the Asus and a single low end gpu.

Thanks for the feedback. [:truegenius:6]

Cheers all.

 

[charon711]

why a low end? if your willing to pay the extra amount for the more expensive mobo why not take that money and put it into a GPU that would out preform the 2 you would have put in it?

 

[willpatt2011]

Best answer selected by willpatt2011.

 

[willpatt2011]

why a low end? if your willing to pay the extra amount for the more expensive mobo why not take that money and put it into a GPU that would out preform the 2 you would have put in it?

It will have to be low end because that's all they have available here, and two of them would be better than one.

The GPU (the best they have) will be a MSI R5670 1GB.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/HD_5670_1_GB/