Help me pick a good Z68 motherboard please!

[Steelhedgehog]

Hello, Ladies and Gents.

I am looking to upgrade from an Athlon II x4 645/Biostar 785g motherboard to a Sandy Bridge Quad-Core/Z68 Motherboard.

I am a guy that likes to mess with my power settings. I know at exactly what voltages my current Athlon II needs to run at any speed between 3.5 to 2.4 ghz. I just love to screw with the thing. It undervolts to 1.2375v at stock speeds and overclocks as high as 3.317ghz without increasing the stock voltage (1.35v stock). This system has seen more than 2 weeks worth of Prime95 in its life. I mostly game and browse the internet, but do some photoshopping and media converting as well.

I know Sandy Bridge processors can turbo up from stock speeds, but what I want to know is can I control the voltages at which they do so? Is there a motherboard that will let me control turbo state voltage if it is not a common feature? I generally undervolt my PCs, I like to have full control of the vcore.

I really want to buy a Z68 board for a future upgrade to Ivy Bridge and a Radeon 7000 series card. So should I buy one of the cheaper quad-cores (newegg has the i5-2320 for only $175), or go for a 2500k? Will I miss the minor loss in clock speed when gaming or the unlocked multiplier when doing photoshopping?

 

[Jawshh]

Hello, Ladies and Gents.

I am looking to upgrade from an Athlon II x4 645/Biostar 785g motherboard to a Sandy Bridge Quad-Core/Z68 Motherboard.

I am a guy that likes to mess with my power settings. I know at exactly what voltages my current Athlon II needs to run at any speed between 3.5 to 2.4 ghz. I just love to screw with the thing. It undervolts to 1.2375v at stock speeds and overclocks as high as 3.317ghz without increasing the stock voltage (1.35v stock). This system has seen more than 2 weeks worth of Prime95 in its life. I mostly game and browse the internet, but do some photoshopping and media converting as well.

I know Sandy Bridge processors can turbo up from stock speeds, but what I want to know is can I control the voltages at which they do so? Is there a motherboard that will let me control turbo state voltage if it is not a common feature? I generally undervolt my PCs, I like to have full control of the vcore.

I really want to buy a Z68 board for a future upgrade to Ivy Bridge and a Radeon 7000 series card. So should I buy one of the cheaper quad-cores (newegg has the i5-2320 for only $175), or go for a 2500k? Will I miss the minor loss in clock speed when gaming or the unlocked multiplier when doing photoshopping?

You like to mess with stuff, so, you should go for Gigabyte / Asus / ASrock mobos because they provide the most tweakable settings!

But, I don't know why you're trying to upgrade man, your current setup looks good enough for your regular computing.

The 2400K is pretty slick according to a couple reviews I've read, I'd go for it instead of other i5s if I can spare the dollar. I think it's pretty much a "black edition" because of the unlocked multiplier, pretty good for what you're trying to accomplish.

 

[Steelhedgehog]

Okay, I went with an Asrock Extrmeme 3 Gen3, so it'll have PCI-E 3.0 for future radeon 7000 cards (with Ivy Bridge). I also found a i5-2500k for only $185, just $10 more than the 2320, so I had to get it. Thank you for the recommendation. I hope the Asrock board is all I want, but if not, I know it'll be close. The Extreme4 has some great reviews.

 

[Buckshot420]

Okay, I went with an Asrock Extrmeme 3 Gen3, so it'll have PCI-E 3.0 for future radeon 7000 cards (with Ivy Bridge). I also found a i5-2500k for only $185, just $10 more than the 2320, so I had to get it. Thank you for the recommendation. I hope the Asrock board is all I want, but if not, I know it'll be close. The Extreme4 has some great reviews.

Please let me know how it goes. I am looking at that exact same combo for my new build.