Recommend Intel H67 motherboard

[ShadowKnight]

Recommend Intel H67 motherboard

Can someone here please recommend a good H67 motherboard for an Intel 2500k processor? Here is what I have come up with so far:

Processor - Intel LGA 1155 i5 - 2500K
Cabinet - NZXT Gamma
PSU - Corsair VX 550W
Monitor - BenQ G2420HD 24"
Ram - Corsair 2x2GB XMS3 1600 MHz
HDD - Seagate Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 SATA 1 TB 7200 RPM
ODD - LG 22X SATA DVD
K/M - Microsoft Combo
UPS - APC UPS 650VA

And:

Right now I don't have a budget for a dedicated GPU but in the future I might consider purchasing one. That's why I am going for a 550W PSU. But if I don't get a GPU in the future, would a 550W be an overkill? Should I consider spending the extra 1000 Rs. somewhere else? I'll be adding extra hard drives in the future, that I am sure.

Is the onboard graphics card capable of handling a resolution depth of 1920x1080?

Please give an appraisal for the UPS I have selected.

I'll be using this system mainly for web development and I'll also be using Photoshop. And I am also thinking of giving gaming a shot!

 

[coderunknown]

why go for the "K"? better save it & also which card you tempting to buy? VX450W is enough till HD6850 or GTX460. anything above, VX550W is a good & safe choice.

the HD graphics will handle Full HD videos but not games. to game you'll need to lower graphics details & resolution to make games playable.

 

[ShadowKnight]

why go for the "K"? better save it & also which card you tempting to buy? VX450W is enough till HD6850 or GTX460. anything above, VX550W is a good & safe choice.

the HD graphics will handle Full HD videos but not games. to game you'll need to lower graphics details & resolution to make games playable.

Sam, I am not sure why I am put on the K version. I thought I'd give overclocking of the onboard GPU a shot. What do you think?

If I do get a dedicated GPU, it's probably going to be an 5770 so is it safe to go with VX450 instead?

 

[coderunknown]

onboard graphics? i don't think its possible. or is it? lets other reply but AFAIK, its fixed/locked.

yes, for HD5770 or HD6770 (going to be launched soon), VX450W is enough. or you may consider CX400W also.

 

[The_Man]

Yes,you can overclock the GPU of a K series cpu.If you need to do that,then I would recommend an ASUS board with GPU boost feature.It's very easy with that board.

 

[ShadowKnight]

Yes,you can overclock the GPU of a K series cpu.If you need to do that,then I would recommend an ASUS board with GPU boost feature.It's very easy with that board.

Can you suggest a model? I know about the ASUS P8H67-M series. It has P8H67-M Evo and P8H67-M Pro and a few others but I can't figure out the difference between Evo and Pro. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[The_Man]

There are a few differences.Some of the notable differences include the presence of PCIe 2.0 x1 slot,GPU boost with switch(without switch in pro),auto tuning etc present in the Evo.

I hope you are aware of the hardware bug in the present day Sandy Bridge motherboards.If you have many SATA devices,it's better to wait for the new boards to arrive.

How good are you @overclocking?Even if you just know the basics, you don't need all these fancy switches and things like that.Just buy a cheaper board and you can overclock the GPU with ease.

IMHO,it's better to keep the CPU in it's original state if you don't need that tiny bit of performance gain from the GPU.Overclocking for additional core clockspeed is a good idea since it's a quad but we don't have the mobo for that.I also plan to buy the same cpu and I can tell you that it's GPU is good enough to handle all these apps like Photoshop,3DS Max etc.It's good enough even for video editing.Only gamers need that extra performance.

And also remember that it has built in OCing;turbo boost.So the GPU&CPU will OC itself if necessary and anything beyond that,I feel is unnecessary at this point of time.

If you still want to OC it,buy the EVO.It's the safest and easiest way to do it.
PRO is good too.But it wont be as friendly as the EVO.

You will need a separate GPU for gaming.I plan to use the 2500K's GPU till I buy a discrete GPU.I will be buying a low-end motherboard with solid caps and will the save the extra money for a better graphics card.

 

[ShadowKnight]

There are a few differences.Some of the notable differences include the presence of PCIe 2.0 x1 slot,GPU boost with switch(without switch in pro),auto tuning etc present in the Evo.

I hope you are aware of the hardware bug in the present day Sandy Bridge motherboards.If you have many SATA devices,it's better to wait for the new boards to arrive.

How good are you @overclocking?Even if you just know the basics, you don't need all these fancy switches and things like that.Just buy a cheaper board and you can overclock the GPU with ease.

IMHO,it's better to keep the CPU in it's original state if you don't need that tiny bit of performance gain from the GPU.Overclocking for additional core clockspeed is a good idea since it's a quad but we don't have the mobo for that.I also plan to buy the same cpu and I can tell you that it's GPU is good enough to handle all these apps like Photoshop,3DS Max etc.It's good enough even for video editing.Only gamers need that extra performance.

And also remember that it has built in OCing;turbo boost.So the GPU&CPU will OC itself if necessary and anything beyond that,I feel is unnecessary at this point of time.

If you still want to OC it,buy the EVO.It's the safest and easiest way to do it.
PRO is good too.But it wont be as friendly as the EVO.

You will need a separate GPU for gaming.I plan to use the 2500K's GPU till I buy a discrete GPU.I will be buying a low-end motherboard with solid caps and will the save the extra money for a better graphics card.

The_Man, I am aware of the issue pertaining to the 6 series chipset. I don't know if it's going to be possible for me to wait. I really wish I can wait till April so that I can purchase an Intel Z68 motherboard but I doubt if my dying system will live that long. If it doesn't, I'll have no choice but to go and get a new system. You said you plan on buying a low end motherboard. May I please know if you have a specific model in mind? Thanks!

 

[The_Man]

Yes.I'm in a similar situation too.I'm thinking about buying a cheap motherboard now and plan move to a better P67 motherboard after...maybe 2 years.I expect the price of the P67 boards to drop by that time(just like c2d).The mobo will still be under warranty so selling it will be easy.I'm not going to use the SATA II ports so the 2nd buyer can use them if he needs to because he can use them for another 2 years.

I have Intel's H67BL in mind.Not the cheapest H67 board.But I think it's one of the cheapest H67 boards with USB 3.0 ports(which is good and resale value is another factor).It doesn't have solid caps everywhere which is not a problem in my opinion.It's not necessary.

You can only connect a single gx card to it(only 1 x16).That's not a problem either.Because
1)I wont do that.
2)It's better to go for a P67 board if you plan to add 2 cards.AFAIK even on the H67 boards that support 2 cards,the second one will only run @ 4x(not 8x).