Now that bulldozer has proven to be a pig I can move ahead and build using the 2500k. A couple of questions though, firstly which board should I go with, the recommended MSI GD53 looks great but I'm a little concerned about how much slower its sata 3 ports are compared to others reviewed by cpc. If I was to buy a faster SSD in the future is this going to hamper its speed seeing as it only managed a score of 309MB/sec. Other options for a mobo would be the Asus Maximus Iv gene Z or the possibly the sabretooth (I would prefer a ATX size board really although I don't really know why). The second question is how far off is Sandy bridge E and is it expected to be much dearer than the present sandy bridge chips and will it work in the above mentioned boards if I decide to build now with the possibility of switching chips out. I waited long enough for bulldozer and I'm itching to build really.
The ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z / Gen 3 is going to be released in the near future. So if you can hold on for a bit it might be worth waiting for that one. Offers PCI-express 3.0 for what it's worth!
Hmm interesting. I doubt I will be using pci 3 for sometime though and I'm fed with wating for the next best thing to come along. Found a good deal on a 2500k and gene z, just waiting to see what scan throw up on their today only section after 1.
Micro-ATX is good as long as you don't want a boat of HDD and also if onboard audio is good enough. Personally the only dislike I have about the Gene Z is the lack of a single lane above the graphics slot. I like my dedicated audio card so this puts it out of the way so my graphics card has full access to cool air! Also it strikes me as pretty poor if you were considering SLI or Crossfire. The spacing is simply too small for decent dual card cooling configuration.
FYI today only doesn't usually update til about 3pm (though it says 2pm) Also, you can request things on their FB page.
Im very happy with my sabertooth. Only had it about a month so im still tinkering with it, but overall im very impressed. The sata speeds are nice, ive just got my ssds set up in raid 0 which is cool, and the overclocking has been pretty solid so far. I have removed the thermal armour though as im watercooling and I dont get much airflow through my tjo7. I didnt want the board getting too toasty with its coat still on
Right a few things to think about then. I don't have the need for loads of HDD's, just a single 1tb F3 and my ssd. I was considering adding another 560ti somehwere down the line so the spacing issue is definitely something to think about. @Parge have they changed that recently as I always thought it was 1pm (you are correct though as it does state2pm on the site).
As long as I've known about it (6 months or so) its always been 2pm. In the two times I've been waiting for stuff to come onto today only (yesterday and about 3 months ago) the site wasn't updated til about 3pm.
Asus motherboards seem to have the fastest SATA III ports so far... About Sandy Bridge-E, it will have its own socket (LGA 2011), should arrive close to the end of the year and will be bloody expensive =P (even more now that bulldozer proved not to be up to the task). It will also sport a quad-channel memory controller. On the other hand, Ivy Bridge will be compatible with LGA 1155 but expect it to release in 2012 Q2-Q3. It could be a path to upgrade a i5-2500, though... IMO the i5-2500k is still the "sweet spot", unless you really need the highest processing power and quad-channel memory controller for which you will have to pay quite a premium... I'd spend that money on a good HSF and SSD. I own an asus p8p67 deluxe and a i5 2500k (non oc) and i can tell you that my HDD (WD caviar black 1tb) is slowing my PC like hell...
Thanks for everyones answers. I have now ordered an Asus sabretooth p67 board and the 2500k. I went for the Asus mainly for the speeds of the sata 3 ports even though it was more expensive.
Just something that came up recently for myself; getting a z board is really handy when your gfx card needs to be rma'd and you don't have a spare. I even forgot about the onboard and suffered 2 days without a rig until i remembered. The intel 3000hd on the 2500k manages 1080p playback and browsing/surfing dutys rather well. Probably not a major selling point, but handy in an emergency. Edit; nevermind, i was a touch slow there. Regardless, you got youself the basis of a good setup there.
