Motherboard hunting.

Toothless · Jul 15, 2014

In big games I play, it's normally the CPU hitting 50-60% and my GPU hitting 70-90%.

Vario · Jul 15, 2014

suraswami said:
from 4 to 4.2 I don't see any difference unless I run the built-in test, which shows I gained 1 to 2 FPS depending on which map I run it.

But OC my 7950 from stock clock 960 to 1150 gives me much better experience, smooth game play and no stuttering.

So I'd say its not a CPU bottleneck for you, assuming the built-in test shows minimum frame rate and not max fps.

Toothless · Jul 15, 2014

So I thought it over and I'm going to try for an Intel build. I have everything but the board and CPU. So I was thinking at least a 3570k but I have no brains when it comes to Intel boards.
Budget for the moment is $325.

arnoo1 · Jul 15, 2014

600watt is more than enough, just buy a good brand like corsair and make sure the psu has enough connectors for the gpu's

a single 660 uses max 140, so if u have the ti version it's maybe 160 a card
so 2x160watts +130 for most amd cpu's maybe 30watts voor mb 40watts voor fans and drives
=~460 watts

Vario · Jul 15, 2014

Lightbulbie said:
So I thought it over and I'm going to try for an Intel build. I have everything but the board and CPU. So I was thinking at least a 3570k but I have no brains when it comes to Intel boards.
Budget for the moment is $325.

Socket 1155 or 1150? 1150 is probably the way to go to get the latest (Devils Canyon).

Toothless · Jul 15, 2014

Vario said:
Socket 1155 or 1150? 1150 is probably the way to go to get the latest (Devils Canyon).

1155 will let me run the 3570k.

GorbazTheDragon · Jul 15, 2014

Yeah but you can get 4690k.

Unless you already have a 3570k I'd suggest going with the most current architecture. And if you do get a Z97 board now you have the potential to upgrade to a Broadwell CPU.

$325 is a bit tight for an i5 and board.

If you are not going to spend a huge amount on a board, the Z97-A from Asus is a pretty good option. Otherwise, if you are willing to go with a Z87 board, the Z87x-D3H, UD3H, and UD4H are really good boards. The build quality is great, but the feature set might be a bit bland for some people's taste, they often can be found floating around each other's price brackets.

Toothless · Jul 15, 2014

Well I am planning on staying with a single-GPU setup. A Z87 won't bother me if a 970 ran with me perfectly fine.

GorbazTheDragon · Jul 15, 2014

The main problem with Z87 is that it probably will not support Broadwell CPUs, so you will be stuck on Gaswell as far as upgrades go. Also, you might not be able to get a 4690k to run without having another CPU (4670k for example) to flash the BIOS.

newtekie1 · Jul 15, 2014

GorbazTheDragon said:
The main problem with Z87 is that it probably will not support Broadwell CPUs, so you will be stuck on Gaswell as far as upgrades go. Also, you might not be able to get a 4690k to run without having another CPU (4670k for example) to flash the BIOS.

Not to mention there are reports of people putting their Devil's Canyon chips in Z87 boards and the board giving the chip 1.5v+ at first boot!

Vario · Jul 16, 2014

If you are going 1155 maybe consider that used package in the classifieds, $210 for i7 2600k and a mobo
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/2600k-and-asus-p8p67-pro-b3.143914/

I have a Z77XUD3H and its CPU overclocking is great. However It doesn't like Samsung 30nm Green Ram and the Via USB ports are flaky. Otherwise I think its pretty good.

GorbazTheDragon · Jul 16, 2014

I'd still suggest Z97 over the older platforms. The new platform is a lot more versatile as far as I/O goes.

newtekie1 · Jul 16, 2014

GorbazTheDragon said:
I'd still suggest Z97 over the older platforms. The new platform is a lot more versatile as far as I/O goes.

Agreed, and you can get a really good bang for the buck board(like the Z97 Extreme6) for under $150.

Toothless · Jul 16, 2014

newtekie1 said:
Agreed, and you can get a really good bang for the buck board(like the Z97 Extreme6) for under $150.

Well it depends how much I can sell my FX-6300 for, going by my M5A97 didn't kill that too.

Vario · Jul 16, 2014

You should be able to get $80-100 for it on eBay, or try forum classifieds.

Toothless · Jul 16, 2014

Vario said:
You should be able to get $80-100 for it on eBay, or try forum classifieds.

Or try here. Time to make a heatware.

Toothless · Jul 16, 2014

Okay so this went from trying SLI to needing a way to get a 4690k/3570k+motherboard combo. PROGRESS MY FRIENDS. THIS IS PROGRESS.

eidairaman1 · Jul 16, 2014

He killed his mobo on purpose...

de.das.dude · Jul 16, 2014

i woudnt be surprized if the 97 evo killed your chip. i put mine in a mates asus and it sent 1.5v even though i manually set it at 1.4. asus is horrible now. their boards die too frequently and after i have shifted to asrock my life has been better.

Toothless · Jul 16, 2014

de.das.dude said:
i woudnt be surprized if the 97 evo killed your chip. i put mine in a mates asus and it sent 1.5v even though i manually set it at 1.4. asus is horrible now. their boards die too frequently and after i have shifted to asrock my life has been better.

It wasn't an EVO. It was just the normal M5A97 R2.0. I also checked the core voltage on CPU-Z and AIDA64 and made sure that the core voltage was never above 1.41v. BIOS checked and everything.

de.das.dude · Jul 16, 2014

mine was a revision one that i put on. thats why they were scrapped. anyway asus isnt good. stay away from them until they fix their issues.
having a top of the range motherboard but having it fail after months -> only happens in asus.

Vario · Jul 16, 2014

Lightbulbie said:
Okay so this went from trying SLI to needing a way to get a 4690k/3570k+motherboard combo. PROGRESS MY FRIENDS. THIS IS PROGRESS.

I think you will "feel" the difference, I went from Phenom II @ 4.0 to Ivy Bridge and the speed boost was very noticeable.

XSI · Jul 16, 2014

Maybe its just me, but 2x660 sli would be much better for gaming improvement compare to platform change. Let see 10-20% improvement maybe in some cases because of new cpu+mb. Up to +90% from sli. If your goal is gaming with better fps, i would go sli.
p.s. can u borrow another 660 just to try it?

Vario · Jul 16, 2014

XSI said:
Maybe its just me, but 2x660 sli would be much better for gaming improvement compare to platform change. Let see 10-20% improvement maybe in some cases because of new cpu+mb. Up to +90% from sli. If your goal is gaming with better fps, i would go sli.
p.s. can u borrow another 660 just to try it?

In the long term the CPU upgrade would be better, he would probably be able to go for another 4-6 years before a 4790 becomes too slow and obsolete.

XSI · Jul 16, 2014

i've read the starting post. i didnt take into account his MB is broken. so in this case he needs new MB. so platform change is more relevant.

System Name	Veral
Processor	5950x
Motherboard	MSI MEG x570 Ace
Cooling	Corsair H150i RGB Elite
Memory	4x16GB G.Skill TridentZ
Video Card(s)	Powercolor 7900XTX Red Devil
Storage	Crucial P5 Plus 1TB, Samsung 980 1TB, Teamgroup MP34 4TB
Display(s)	Acer Nitro XZ342CK Pbmiiphx + 2x AOC 2425W
Case	Fractal Design Meshify Lite 2
Audio Device(s)	Blue Yeti + SteelSeries Arctis 5 / Samsung HW-T550
Power Supply	Corsair HX850
Mouse	Corsair Nightsword
Keyboard	Corsair K55
VR HMD	HP Reverb G2
Software	Windows 11 Professional
Benchmark Scores	PEBCAK

System Name	Computer of Theseus
Processor	Intel i9-12900KS: 50x Pcore multi @ 1.18Vcore (target 1.275V -100mv offset)
Motherboard	EVGA Z690 Classified
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15S, 2xThermalRight TY-143, 4xNoctua NF-A12x25,3xNF-A12x15, 2xAquacomputer Splitty9Active
Memory	G-Skill Trident Z5 (32GB) DDR5-6000 C36 F5-6000J3636F16GX2-TZ5RK
Video Card(s)	EVGA Geforce 3060 XC Black Gaming 12GB
Storage	1x Samsung 970 Pro 512GB NVMe (OS), 2x Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB (data 1 and 2), ASUS BW-16D1HT
Display(s)	Dell S3220DGF 32" 2560x1440 165Hz Primary, Dell P2017H 19.5" 1600x900 Secondary, Ergotron LX arms.
Case	Lian Li O11 Air Mini
Audio Device(s)	Audiotechnica ATR2100X-USB, El Gato Wave XLR Mic Preamp, ATH M50X Headphones, Behringer 302USB Mixer
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex Platinum SE 1000W 80+ Platinum White
Mouse	Zowie EC3-C
Keyboard	Vortex Multix 87 Winter TKL (Gateron G Pro Yellow)
Software	Win 10 LTSC 21H2

System Name	Veral
Processor	5950x
Motherboard	MSI MEG x570 Ace
Cooling	Corsair H150i RGB Elite
Memory	4x16GB G.Skill TridentZ
Video Card(s)	Powercolor 7900XTX Red Devil
Storage	Crucial P5 Plus 1TB, Samsung 980 1TB, Teamgroup MP34 4TB
Display(s)	Acer Nitro XZ342CK Pbmiiphx + 2x AOC 2425W
Case	Fractal Design Meshify Lite 2
Audio Device(s)	Blue Yeti + SteelSeries Arctis 5 / Samsung HW-T550
Power Supply	Corsair HX850
Mouse	Corsair Nightsword
Keyboard	Corsair K55
VR HMD	HP Reverb G2
Software	Windows 11 Professional
Benchmark Scores	PEBCAK

System Name	gaming system
Processor	2600k @ 4.2 ghz
Motherboard	MSI Z77 MPower
Cooling	Thermalright ultra extreme 120 rev.C w/noctua NF-S12B push/pull
Memory	16gb corsair vengeance 2400 c11 @1.5 v/
Video Card(s)	GB gtx670 WF3x sli @1080/1372/6660(core/boost/mem)
Storage	2x samsung 850evo 250gb raid 0 ,2tb wdblack, 3TB wd purple
Display(s)	Samsung Syncmaster P2770FH, asus VH242t/19" lg 1440x900
Case	fractal design r4
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Corsair HX1050
Mouse	Razer abyssus
Keyboard	corsair k70
Software	Windows 10 pro x64

System Name	Computer of Theseus
Processor	Intel i9-12900KS: 50x Pcore multi @ 1.18Vcore (target 1.275V -100mv offset)
Motherboard	EVGA Z690 Classified
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15S, 2xThermalRight TY-143, 4xNoctua NF-A12x25,3xNF-A12x15, 2xAquacomputer Splitty9Active
Memory	G-Skill Trident Z5 (32GB) DDR5-6000 C36 F5-6000J3636F16GX2-TZ5RK
Video Card(s)	EVGA Geforce 3060 XC Black Gaming 12GB
Storage	1x Samsung 970 Pro 512GB NVMe (OS), 2x Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB (data 1 and 2), ASUS BW-16D1HT
Display(s)	Dell S3220DGF 32" 2560x1440 165Hz Primary, Dell P2017H 19.5" 1600x900 Secondary, Ergotron LX arms.
Case	Lian Li O11 Air Mini
Audio Device(s)	Audiotechnica ATR2100X-USB, El Gato Wave XLR Mic Preamp, ATH M50X Headphones, Behringer 302USB Mixer
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex Platinum SE 1000W 80+ Platinum White
Mouse	Zowie EC3-C
Keyboard	Vortex Multix 87 Winter TKL (Gateron G Pro Yellow)
Software	Win 10 LTSC 21H2

Motherboard hunting.

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

Vario

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

arnoo1

Vario

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

GorbazTheDragon

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

GorbazTheDragon

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

Vario

GorbazTheDragon

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

Vario

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman

de.das.dude

Pro Indian Modder

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

de.das.dude

Pro Indian Modder

Vario

XSI

Vario

XSI

System Name	Indis the Fair (cursed edition)
Processor	11900k 5.1/4.9 undervolted.
Motherboard	MSI Z590 Unify-X
Cooling	Heatkiller VI Pro, VPP755 V.3, XSPC TX360 slim radiator, 3xA12x25, 4x Arctic P14 case fans
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 2x16GB 4000 16-19-19 (b-die@3600 14-14-14 1.45v)
Video Card(s)	EVGA 2080 Super Hybrid (T30-120 fan)
Storage	970EVO 1TB, 660p 1TB, WD Blue 3D 1TB, Sandisk Ultra 3D 2TB
Display(s)	BenQ XL2546K, Dell P2417H
Case	FD Define 7
Audio Device(s)	DT770 Pro, Topping A50, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, Røde VXLR+, Modmic 5
Power Supply	Seasonic 860w Platinum
Mouse	Razer Viper Mini, Odin Infinity mousepad
Keyboard	GMMK Fullsize v2 (Boba U4Ts)
Software	Win10 x64/Win7 x64/Ubuntu

Processor	Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory	32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super
Storage	500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s)	Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply	eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

System Name	PCGOD
Processor	AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard	Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling	Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory	16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage	Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s)	NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case	AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s)	Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply	Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse	Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard	Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software	Windows 7 Pro 64

System Name	Monke \| Work Thinkpad\| Old Monke
Processor	Ryzen 5600X \| Ryzen 5500U \| FX8320
Motherboard	ASRock B550 Extreme4 \| ? \| Asrock 990FX Extreme 4
Cooling	240mm Rad \| Not needed \| hyper 212 EVO
Memory	2x16GB DDR4 3600 Corsair RGB \| 16 GB DDR4 3600 \| 16GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse RX6700XT 12GB \| Vega 8 \| Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB
Storage	Samsung 980 nvme (Primary) \| some samsung SSD
Display(s)	Dell 2723DS \| Some 14" 1080p 98%sRGB IPS \| Dell 2240L
Case	Ant Esports Tempered case \| Thinkpad \| Antec
Audio Device(s)	Logitech Z333 \| Jabra corpo stuff
Power Supply	Corsair RM750e \| not needed \| Corsair GS 600
Mouse	Logitech G400 \| nipple
Keyboard	Logitech G213 \| stock kb is awesome \| Logitech K230
VR HMD	;_;
Software	Windows 10 Professional x3
Benchmark Scores	There are no marks on my bench

System Name	Mother PC/XSI PC/ Laptop
Processor	I3 6100 Skylake@3.7/Intel Core2Duo E8400@3.0-3.7Ghz/Amd sempron 2100+
Motherboard	B150M MSI Night ELF/ASUS P5Q PRO P45/
Cooling	Cooler Master Hyper Evo 212/ X 2
Memory	Kingston HyperX Fury 2x4GB DDR4@2133 Dual channel /Adata 2x2 GB DDR2@800 dual channel/ 2,5GB
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte Windforce 950GTX/MSI 8800GT OC Zilent edition@660/1650/950 / ATI Radeon x1250
Storage	1pc:240GB SSD Kingston HyperX Fury/2PC:Intel 330 SSD 60GB/Samsung 500 GB/Samsung 320GB/80 GB
Display(s)	LG 22MP58VQ 1920x1080/ Samsung 2232BW - 22" 1680X1050 and LG Full HDTV 50" / 15" 1280x800
Case	Deepcool Tesseract Red/ Modded no name case
Audio Device(s)	Realtec 1150/Creative X-FI, Xtreme Gamer + Samsung 5.1 HT + additional 4 speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply	EVGA 500B Bronze 80+/ Chieftek 650W 80+.
Mouse	Cheapo 5$ mouse/ trackpad :)
Keyboard	Some cheap 10$
Software	Windows 10/Win 10/ Win 8.1
Benchmark Scores	later :)