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
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
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
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
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.
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.
From the sound of it the Gigabyte UD3 is a great board at a great price. Look at the Lancool Dragon Lord K58 for the case as well.
im in the same situation, the ud3 seems to be winning slighty, but then asus P7P55D Pro seems to be getting praise. i need someone to make the descistion for me.
maybe have a look at the manufactures site and see if theres good support from them, that allways help me decide on what board to buy, msi does have great support
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?
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
