CPU CPU for Maximus IV Gene-Z motherboard ?????

Hi bit-techers,

I am looking for advice on what CPU I should buy for an ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z motherboard?
Link to review - http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2011/07/18/asus-maximus-iv-gene-z/1

The back of the box states that the board is a LGA1155 socket for 2nd generation i7, i5, and i3 processors. What is the best compatible CPU in each of the three categories regardless of cost?

Thanks for your help.

 

You want a i5 2500K most probably. Should cost you £80-£90 second hand.

 

Your Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z is compatible with both 2nd generation Sandy Bridge and 3rd generation Ivy Bridge processors.
If by 'the best' you mean 'the fastest' here is the list:

Sandy:
i3-2130 (3.4GHz & HD2000) or i3-2125 (3.3GHz with a little bit faster gpu HD3000)
i5-2550K (3.4GHz & no gpu) or i5-2500K (3.3GHz & HD3000)
i7-2700K (3.5GHz & HD3000) or i7-2600K (3.4GHz & HD3000)

Ivy:
i3-3250 (3.5GHz & HD2500) or i3-3245 (3.4GHz with a little bit faster gpu HD4000)
i5-3570K (3.4GHz & HD4000)
i7-3770K (3.5GHz & HD4000)

All i5 and i7 with 'K' have unlocked multiplier and can be overclocked with your motherboard.

 

definately got to be the 2500K. One of the best CPUs ever.

and because they were so prevalent, its pretty easy to pick one up. I'm sure you'll ber able to find one new on the bay for less than £100...second hand even less.

 

Thanks for your help, guys.

Apart from Scan.co.uk and EBay what other sites would you recommend I look at for my purchases?

The case I'm going to use is a horizontal one, not a tower, the dimensions of it are Width - 430 mm, Depth - 560 mm, and the Height - 180 mm so I was thinking of going water rather than air cooled due to the height, but having said that I'd appreciate recommendations for both types of cooling. I have a be-quiet Dark Rock Advanced cooler, but at 166 mm it is just a bit too high for the case :-(

 

A 3770K or a 3570K is also an option although they still hold their prices. 2500Ks used are pretty cheap nowadays.

The question is are you going to overclock?

 

I have no plans to overclock straight away, but would like to have the option to do so at a later stage.

If I were to buy a new 3770K how much could I expect to pay for it now? I have an account with Scan.co.uk, but the site doesn't list socket 1155 i7's or i5's - there isn't the choice to filter by 1155 i7 and when you do filter by 1155 i5 nothing shows up.

CCL Online offers an i7 3770K for £277.99, and Amazon.co.uk the same processor for £274.99. However the bit-tech review dated April 2012 for the i7 3770K quotes a price of around £240.

 

That price looks awfully high.

Have you had a look on Amazon or eBay?

 

Mate try get a cheap 2500k. Really great cpu and still holds its own today.

 

I wouldn't buy a 3770K for £270+ these days, no way. As others suggest, shop around, you should be able to pick one up second hand for about £150.

 

I've upgraded from a 2500k at 4.4ghz to my 4790k at 4.8ghz and really didn't notice much difference. Save your money mate. Can always pick up a i7 when they drop to a sensible price second hand.

 

I know you've had CPU's mentioned to you mate but I'll ask the following:

1. Are you currently running a CPU in the Gene-Z? If so, which? (Yes that was 2 Q's but...)
2. Whether or not the board is in use, do you know the BIOS revision its on?

I mention that as the board won't recognise an Ivy unless its on a certain BIOS revision, there's two way about it I guess? One, it came with it on (perhaps a later production board with the BIOS on it for Ivy), two, its been updated to a BIOS with support for Ivy.

Now, I ask the above due to a couple of reasons, firstly I do have an i7 3770K (Used) for sale currently in the MP at £150 inc., its just the CPU, however, if need be, I could have a look for a spare Intel cooler!

Secondly because I would not want to see you buy a CPU from the Ivy range only to stumble across the aforementioned where the board does not run right! I've seen it a fair few times over the years, hence my mention.

Oh, I do also have a low profile CPU cooler as well as nice Silverstone GD04B case, yes, I love me HTPC's.

All the best.

 

Could always pick up a cheap sandy to update the bios to allow you to use a ivy then sell it on again with minimal loss of money.

 

I would have got to that.

As I would be more than happy to have lent my G620 CPU if the BIOS on the board required updating.

 

Might be worth looking around at used Xeon E3 series as well. While they won't be good for overclocking like i5/i7 K parts, the low 25w-60w TDP parts are a lot easier to find than the elusive Core i T or S parts. Those kind of parts are nice to have in sff cases, lower power draw and lower heat. Xeon stuff can sometimes be had for half the price of Core i for parts that are essentially equal in performance. Again, it's likely you would need to be on most recent bios revision for those too. If needed I suppose you can always pick up the cheapest Celeron you can find to flash it, or there are 'dummy' cpu blanks that just allow it to post to bios.

 

Very kind of you!

 

Unless you absolutely need PCI-E 3.0 stick with a 2500k or a 2600K for the hyperthreading.

You can usually pick up 3570Ks for hilariously cheap.

 

Not sure if that is the case over there, but over here they are not cheap at all - they sell second hand for far in excess of £100 on evilbay.

 

Hi guys, Sorry for not getting back to you a bit sooner on this.

I had to log into my Scan.co.uk account to see when I actually bought the board and it turns out I purchased it all the way back on the 28th September 2011 !!! I honestly didn't realise it was that long ago. The board has never been used and is still in its original packaging gathering dust.

Right now I am awaiting delivery of an i7 3770K that I got on Ebay for £175 and I have a locally sourced i5 2500s that I will use for the flashing. Thanks to the "Noob" for pointing that out to me.