[sofakng]

Right now I'm running a GTX 480 on an Intel C2D E8400 (clocked at 4.00 GHz).

I'm thinking of upgrading to a GTX 580/590 and I think it's finally time to upgrade my motherboard/cpu because I'm still on PCIe 1.0 and all of the new cards are PCIe 2.0 and these systems use DDR3, etc.

Anyways, what CPU/motherboard is recommended for a GTX 580/590?

Here's what I'd like:

** Motherboard
* PCI Express 2.0 (two x16 slots)
* DDR3 (dual-channel; do they even make/require triple channel any more?)
* Good overclocking (no vdrop [if thats possible], etc)

** CPU
* Quad-core

** RAM
* 4 GB minimum. Is it worth it to go to 6 GB or 8 GB? (I'm running 8 GB DDR2 now because it was cheap)

I'm planning to sell my old GTX 285, GTX 485, C2D E8400 + motherboard fund an entire system upgrade.

Thanks for any suggestions!

EDIT: I'm also a fan of Intel and nVidia so I'd prefer to stay with them unless it's a huge difference between Intel and AMD platforms, etc.

 

[soldierblue]

2500K is what I'd get.

 

[stren]

+1 on 2500k, if you can afford it and you want to futureproof get the 2600k for more multithreading support.

I would stay away from the 590 until they fix the VRM's. What resolution are you gaming at?

The sandy bridge motherboards only support dual channel memory. Get 8GB if you want to, you probably won't notice much of a performance increase from 4GB, certainly it's more future proof though so personally I would get the 8GB.

For motherboards, I would look at the

gigabyte ud4: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128478&cm_re=ud4-_-13-128-478-_-Product

asus maximux iv extreme (if you think you might want to go tri sli in future):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131700&cm_re=maximus_iv-_-13-131-700-_-Product

There are other good boards from msi/asus too, note that none of them let you do x16 on two cards. I believe that if you want that you still have to look at X58. However the fps difference between x16 and x8 is small.

 

[sofakng]

Thanks for the suggestions.

The ASUS Maximus IV Extreme is definitely too expensive for me...

What's the best pick from these:

ASUS Sabertooth P67
Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3

I'd like EFI compatibility with Mac OS X (Hackintosh) if possible. Both of these seem to list EFI compatibility too...

I've had good luck with ASUS in the past so I'm leaning towards that one? Are there any other good boards for the i5-2500k or i7-2600k?

Also, what about memory? Is DDR3-1600 OK or is it worth it to spend the extra money for DDR3-2133?

 

[dkim1359]

Both the Sabertooth P67 and the UD4 are solid boards. DDR3-1600 will be more than enough. DDR3-2133 will score better in synthetic benchmarks but you won't notice any performance difference in everyday performance.

 

[terraprime]

well if you wanna do rebate newegg has 2x2gb Kingston hyperx Blu for $34.99 AR and they can hit 2000mhz review Worth the bang for the buck even if you get 2 sets of them for the long run, cant hurt unless you dont have a 64bit OS

Oh and the i7 2500k is best for gaming but you might need to get a new HSF if your current doesnt not support socket 1156 as it same mounting holes as SB's 1155 socket.

 

[sofakng]

Is either board better for overclocking or anything like that?

The ASUS is a bit more expensive but I've always had good luck with them... *shrug*

Reading the OS X forums seems to indicate the Gigabyte is a bit more compatible though, hmmm. (OS X compatibility is really just an afterthought though)

 

[iamtwan]

Id go with the Sabertooth P67 and 2500K and pick up some 1600 DDR3 like dkim said.