Motherboards
 

I'll get the embarrassing item out the way first, I bought another 560Ti to go in my system so that I could SLI.
I only quickly looked at the box of my Z68AP-D3 motherboard and saw that it did SLI. Turns out if I'd read it properly it only supports crossfire SLI not the Nvidia version.

So, throwing good money after bad, and secretly hoping a new MB will help sort my random BSOD that have been plaguing me these last few months, does anyone have a recommendation for a motherboard? I don't want to spend mega bucks, hopefully no more than £100.
Needs to be socket 1155 for my i7, oh and of course Nvidia SLI compatible!

AsRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard (Socket 1155, Intel Z77, Up to 32GB DDR3, ATX, 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s, Supports NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX, Premium Gold Caps)
from amazon £102

This looks good :thumb:

I'm thinking either of these two...

http://www.ebuyer.com/398379-asrock-...FaTMtAodKSAAyQ

or

http://www.ebuyer.com/345316-msi-z77...oard-z77a-gd65

Is the MSI one worth another £20?

lol dammit, in the time I've researched and posted those two you've already picked out one of them! :thumb:

Hi there

From reading the reviews on both Motherboards I would spend extra £20 for MSi

Here are reviews

AsRock

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...erboard/1509/1

MSI

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages..._review,1.html

I've only once ASRock motherboard which has been faultless,but their BIOS or features has been low down for me

Jura

ASUS or MSI FTW

I like the look of the ASUS Sabertooth board but out of my price range. Looks like it's the MSI board then :thumb:
BEFORE I do order it, I think I'd better check what PSU I've got.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MB-389-GI

Would be my choice

This is getting expensive now, I don't think my 600watt PSU is up to it. By the time I've finished buying all the replacement parts I could have bought the latest and greatest graphic card!

Neanderthal

Ive just upgraded my motherboard so i have a Z77X-D3H that i will be selling soon, its 1155 socket, its only 6 months old and was bought from Overlockers.

Read the reviews and the board, its a fantastic mobo and the 3D bios is great. If your interested just let me know.

This is a pic of it, well the bits you can see lol, its been in a well looked after computer.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...ps250b7557.jpg

Hi there

Have look on OCZ,running one and very happy with him

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...rsupplies/ocz/

Or try have look on the CoolerMaster series(they're expensive and tried only once,but I prefer OCZ)

About other motherboards,I've tried only once Gigabyte(LGA775 this time) and I've been disappointed with this MB,USB problems mainly with external HDD which are powered by USB,due this I would never choose Gigabyte,simply I don't trust them

ASUS is what i've in my PC and very happy with this MB,friend have MSI,with which have good experience and really rate this MB very highly


Jura

So your putting down the Gigabyte name based on just one experience of a faulty board ?

Ive had 2 faulty Asus boards in the past, the original one that i RMA'd then the replacement was faulty. Asus apologised and the 3rd one they sent me was fine, i was just unlucky. I had a Panasonic TV that became faulty, should i now not touch Panasonic ? Its the same with Car manufacturers or any other area of manufacturing, you will always get a certain number products with faults as we dont live in a perfect world.

Manufacturers produce millions of motherboards, your bound to get a certain percentage that will be defective with any manufacturer you choose. To say you don't trust them on just one experience of a faulty mobo is a bit laughable really.

I know you've got an I7 already to go. . .

Intel are releasing the new 1150 socket based Mobo & CPU next month.

hi Rob, yeah would be interested. PM me :D

BlkKnight, sounds expensive....
I only built this last year :cry:

Curious thing, my cosair (sp?) 600watt PSU isn't listed on Nvidia's SLI ready list but I have an additional PCI-E power cable in the box? why would they supply 2 if it could only run one card? or is this another 'no to SLI but yes to Crossfire'?

Hi Rob

Yes I know its only based on one experience,but have tried few of MB from Gigabyte,few people running them what I know and they're disappointed too with GB,I wouldn't choose GB for my PC,but that's me

I've tried few of MB like on LGA775 or LGA1366/1156,but in my opinion Asus MB are best


Jura

I don't think yours 600W will be OK with SLI,OCZ now have and has been faultless,they're not expensive and you can still sell yours without the problem

Jura

From past experiance running SLI will need more than 600 w psu deffo mate

i have to agree with jura .. had 2 gigabyte boards and both were an issue .. had many asus ones and had no problems.
if you dont mind having them running at x8 and x8 then the asus p8z77v (@ about £125) will do that,
if you want them running at x16 on both then you will have to spend alot more..

I'm torn whether to bother or not.
So far I'm in for £120 on the card, then there's another £100-120 on an MB and £80 on a PSU + the hassle of stripping out the PC and doing a fresh install. So probably £300 smackers to get a performance increase that a new single £300 card would easily better?

The BSOD issue with the Z68 boards was normally fixed with a BIOS update due to it being the first board to run with the new boot system, had the same issue with mine, with in the first 2 months they had released 3 or 4 new BIOS upgrades for it! ;eek:

Would I be better off just selling my 560Ti's and buying two new ATi cards?
If so which ones?

How much do you want to spend on graphics cards? ;)

Well to upgrade with what I've got it'll be £250-300 so is there a ATI card for £200 that'll be better?

Well updated the bios, can't comment on whether it's fixed BSOD as it's so random it can go weeks without one then have two in a day.
What it has done is reset the settings so my 'overclocked' bundle I bought from Scan is now standard speeds...

You will be able to pick up a 7950 for around 220-250 easily (new) which will be a good improvement.
Overclocking should be fairly easy to do depending on the mo bo, most have the facility on the mobo, just boot it up in bios mode and you should be able to do it from there and save the settings ;)

How come this 420W PSU can do SLI but my 600W one doesn't?

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/420w-...-xfire-eps-12v

Only £50 as well. I'd need it to power the CPU, GPUs, Blu-Ray drive, one SSD, 2 HD's and then the USB powered things like two HD's, iphone charger etc.

Because is 85% efficient(80% plus Bronze),which means is more efficient than normal PSU

Have look for OCZ,running one and usually they're 80% plus efficient and cost less


Jura

What I know,in yours case can be the PSU is not for this job,nVidia cards are usually more power hungry as their counterparts from ATi

Are you tried to clean install new drivers and uninstall old drivers via DriverSweeper etc.?

Try clean installation of the drivers and you will see if this helps,if not check the connection on yours GPU,yours PSU have two 6/8 pins for GPU?


Jura

Haven't had a BSOD since updating the Bios. Well that was until I tried to overclock the CPU back to the settings it was before (Scan pre-overclocked bundle).
Then I had BSOD'orama and had a hell of a job convincing Windows to load again.
Anyway, back up and running with a slightly overclocked CPU.
Still in two minds as to bother to all this upgrading to just SLI. Will I get any extra longevity out of a newer PSU and Motherboard? bearing in mind I only built this PC beginning of last year :(
Will definately look at the OCZ PSU's Jura :thumb:

The reviews I'm reading about the OCZ PSU's, whilst positive, a lot of people are commenting on the length of the cables being quite short. My PSU is mounted at the bottom of the case so I'm worried that'll be a problem?