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I am helping someone put together a decent mid-range gaming machine. What I would like to know is what motherboard would you partner with an i5-2500 (k or no) using only a single graphics card?

I guess this question is mostly for Patrthom because he's a GD guru but anyone shooting some advice would be appreciated.

I generally build my systems along the lines of what Techreport.com's recommendations are, and they have yet to steer me wrong. Last I heard, they like the ASUS P8P67 LE which newegg has for 125 bucks.

Get therapy.

What?

Biannoshufu said:

Get therapy.

What?

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This isn't a thread to help me find a good computer part. THIS THREAD IS FOR ALL OF YOU TO SYMPATHIZE WITH THE FACT THAT I NEED A COMPUTER PART! I'm perfectly capable of picking a part on my own, I just sometimes doubt my own judgement and besides, I'm better off never picking the part. Look what happened in the past.

- I bought a Maximus Formula for my old core 2 duo system way back when. It was terribly unstable. We separated on terrible terms.

I went with the AsRock P67 Extreme4 in my new system. Since then the Z68 chipset released, so I'd suggest the z68 Extreme4 instead.

MAN UP AND BUY THE PART ALREADY. Your window of opportunity will pass the instant today's tech becomes obsolete, and you'll have to start all over again.

I highly approve of this new meme.

Your inability to take the given advice and decide is a clear indication that you need therapy.

Frankie Williamson said:

This isn't a thread to help me find a good computer part. THIS THREAD IS FOR ALL OF YOU TO SYMPATHIZE WITH THE FACT THAT I NEED A COMPUTER PART! I'm perfectly capable of picking a part on my own, I just sometimes doubt my own judgement and besides, I'm better off never picking the part. Look what happened in the past.

- I bought a Maximus Formula for my old core 2 duo system way back when. It was terribly unstable. We separated on terrible terms.

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I laughed so hard I have to change my clothes now.

Personal recommendation is for Z68-based, no question. It enables all the good parts of P65/P67 and H67. Single graphics card means mATX boards can be considered, as well as sub-700W PSUs. I haven't researched any particular board yet, but my current favorite brands (in no particular order) are Gigabyte, Asus, Asrock, and MSI. Which board you choose is going to depend on what features you need.

Also, I am sorry for your clothes.

--Patrick

Only concern I would have about mATX boards would be modern graphics cards are:

1) massive - you're going to have serious space issues when you put it together, but may not be a problem after you get it put together.

2) Really really hot - Some graphics cards run into the 60C temperature ranges, and in a cramped environment it could (maybe) damage other components if it is sitting right on top of them. This may not be an issue for all graphics cards, but my 4880x2 runs obscenely hot (it's not bad for the card because it's specced for it, but may be bad for other components.)

Yeah, we're going to use a 6870 card so an mATX board is probably out of the question.

Depends on the case chosen. It is quite easy to assemble a mATX build that stays cool, it just means the cables need to be managed well and there has to be sufficient ventilation and room for the full-sized cards. It needs to be planned and assembled as a system, not a merely a box full of high-end parts.

--Patrick

Eh, we're not really worrying about that.

So, good z68s?

Features needed for this rig include working, continuing to work and hopefully not exploding. He doesn't really need any of the advanced OC stuff or anything since this is basically going to be a starter kit for playing PC master race games.

I chose a representative board from three manufacturers.
Each one was selected based on its feature list compared to its peers from that manufacturer.

ASUS: P8Z68-V PRO
ASRock: Z68 Extreme4 Gen3
Gigabyte: GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 (Rev 1.3 if you can get it, not 1.0)

I would probably choose the ASRock for its features, were I forced to choose among these three.
Compare each one based on your needs, or at the least use them as a baseline for further searching.

--Patrick