Build Advice New 1156 build - motherboard and graphics help

Hello everyone

I am building a new PC and already have the processor (Core i5 750).

I would basically like everyone's opinions on what motherboard to get. I do not want a mATX board and I'd like to spend around about £100, but I will spend up to £130 if needs be.

Obviously, I want the overall performance to be very good but when it comes down to it, I care most about gaming performance. I may decide to overclock, but TurboBoost (Rev2) seems good enough to me.

I would have gone for a board that supports USB 3.0 and SATA 6GB/s, but, as I understand it, if I make use of these features this will limit my gaming performance.

I aslo need a little help with graphics cards. Graphics card wise, I will be going with a Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic (896mb or 1792mb), Palit GTX 275, or another GTX 275. Is the Gainward GeForce GTX 260 GS identical to the Pailt GeForce GTX 260 Sonic?

I would also like to have a go at overclocking my graphics card, so I'm wondering how quiet the reference coolers are on the GTX 275s, as I know that the Palit does not overclock well.

I really appreciate all your help

Ben

 

I would recommend either the Asus P7P55D or Gigabyte UD3 for just over £100. They're both good overclockers and TBH it's not worth paying any more unless you really need SLI support.

As for the graphics card, I wouldn't bother looking at the GTX 275 right now, they're too expensive considering the prices of the 4890 and 5850. The GTX 260 is still reasonable value so long as it's around ~£120. Any more than that and the 4870 (1GB) or 5770 offer better value for money. If you do go for the GTX 260 make sure it's the 896MB version (it's not worth paying more for the extra RAM), and preferably the cheapest one you can find (the GTX 2xx reference coolers aren't that bad AFAIK).

Oh God, I just realised I sound like an ATI fanboy in this post, which just goes to show how far behind NVIDIA are right now.

 

I would LOVE a 5850, but they're just a bit too expensive for me I think. The GTX 275 is around about £165, which is within budget, though I may adjust that to allow room for a 5850. There is also the matter of PhysX to consider aswell

Would you recommend an Aus P7P55D for £106.97 or the Gigabyte Ga-P55a-UD3 for £98.45? I know the differences in performance will be small, but do you have any idea what they are?

 

As you seem to care most about gaming performance (Me aswell), I 'd put a bigger portion into the gpu than any other component. You will notice the difference between a 260 and a 5850 in more intensive 3D titles i.e GTA IV, Far Cry 2, Crysis etc. If you have the ability to save up enough, a core i5 750 overclocked situated on an Asus P7P55D with an HD 5850 will net you a stellar framerate, DX 11 support and ultimately longevity. Consider getting a 4Gb 1600MHz DDR3 kit for the bandwidth aswell.

 

From reviews I've read the Asus is a very good board and if you are thinking about multi GPU then you want a Gigabyte UD4 or Asus P7P55D Pro because the cheap boards are gimped to having a x16/x4 configuration whereas the UD4/Pro and higher use x8/x8 for multi GPU configurations.

Other than that the P7P55D is supposed to be a great board and I wouldn't bother with the 5850 right now, yes it's a great card but it's also very hard to acquire one, most places still have back orders for the cards and we don't know when they'll be back in stock to purchase at will

 

Thanks for the advice guys. One of the problems I have faced with this build is the rapid increase in price of DDR3 memory, which has really annoyed me because it's an extra £20 on the cost of my build.

The other is the increase in price and decrease in availability of the 260 and 275.

 

im surprised no ones recommend the msi GD65 i thought that was the main 1156 board everyone was getting. Then again it is around £125 maybe thats why.

 

260 and 275 have been discontinued I think.

 

I'm not sure, but they're still available in shops for now.