Help with i5 build please

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19 Jul 2009
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Hi guys, really struggling choosing a motherboard for my new i5 build. I want to spend as little as possible really but would also like to do some overclocking at some point in the future (nothing extreme) so if that means I need to spend some extra cash then so be it. I quite like the look of the Gigabyte boards and am hearing good things about them so was thinking of the UD2 (cheapest lol). What benefit would I get from spending more? I'm not too hot on motherboards as u can probably tell :) Also is the US3L supposed to be any good in case I don't want mATX?

That brings me on to my next dilemma... is there any drawback or benefit to a micro case? Can anyone recommend a micro case and full size case that are cheap but decent?

Thanks
 
Soldato
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The GD80 seems to like overclocking the i5's and with the oc genie which ramps up about 700mhz clock with 1 press of the button on the mobo its a nice lazymans clock.

Eg the 860 clocks to around 3.5ghz with the oc genie 1 button tweak but the boards one of the most expensive ones there at £183

The MSI GD65 is supposed to be a decent baord too and its only £131
 
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hey, all the gigabyte boards are solid, just make sure that the one you go for has enough connections on for your needs (SATA/USB/PCI-E etc) and RAID support if you want it. Problems with mATX is they tend to have less connections and tend to be spaced closer together too, if its a gaming build youre best with normal ATX tbh
I wouldnt bother with an actual mATX case either really, too hard to work with, just go for a mid tower if you want relatively small
Decent budget cases include

Coolermaster Elite 335
Antec 300
Xigmatek Midguard
Coolermaster CM690
Antec 902 - this isnt really budget but is a cracking case if you can stretch to it
 
Associate
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OCUK do a pre overclocked bundle, if you are happy to OC yourself, just buy the components in their bundle, i think it's an asus p55 mobo @ £115, but you will need a good cpu cooler to go with it. gl
 
Soldato
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Coolermaster Elite 335
Antec 300
Xigmatek Midguard
Coolermaster CM690
Antec 902 - this isnt really budget but is a cracking case if you can stretch to it

I think the NZXT Beta is better than the Antec 300. Lots of other choices though, just go on OCUKs section and sort by price, all the way up to £60 i can only find one or two cases that aren't brilliant for the money.
 
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I think the consensus is that the best feature/performance/overclocking bang for buck P55 mobos are the ones around 120 to name a couple:

MSI GD65
Gigabyte UD3/4
Asus P7P55D Pro

Im looking at i5 and those are the 3 i'm considering.
 
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OP
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Thanks for the replies so far. The following article suggests that the Realtek audio codec in the Gigabyte boards is better than the Via codec in the Asus which makes a difference for me. Does anyone know anything about the Gigabyte US3L? Is the UD3 better?
 
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OP
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Right peeps, so far I've decided on:
i5 750
Gigabyte P55-UD3
G Skill Ripjaw 1600mhz DDR3 8-8-8-24
HD 4850
Samsung F3 1TB HDD
Antec 300 (may change to Coolermaster 335)

now for the PSU... how much wattage do I need? Will be running a 2nd HDD and possibly a 2nd GPU in future
 
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