Uber Value Computer Thread - 2013 - Xmas Ed

[Cas Bitton]

GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 - $165.00?

Do not buy this motherboard. You are better off getting the ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 as listed in the OP.

I actually purchased the GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 on Tuesday night and unfortunately I was hit buy a widespread bug that seems to be affecting a lot of gigabyte 67/68 boards.

More info can be found here:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1034724/giga ... ng-problem

I'm a bit disappointed and felt a bit burnt buy the experience. Updating the bios does not help and neither did trying alternative ram, psu or gfx cards.

Thankfully I was able to replace it with the Asrock and have had zero problems since, Please consider this advice before you make your order

[Slazza]

Hmmm, thanks for the heads up!

[steve_rogers42]

Thanks Cas, been reading up on this slowly, alongside news about x79 and SB-E...

I know a lot of peaople have had a lot of good luck, and some that have had bad luck over the years with gigabyte tech, but since this board was released a lot of people have been wary as its a chipset only update from the p67 series, layout etc. is the same, only in the more recent boards have they changed to add in vga/dvi/hdmi onboard with z68 which should have been there to begin with...

will do some more research...

[Artful-dodgeR]

Thankfully I was able to replace it with the Asrock and have had zero problems since, Please consider this advice before you make your order

Unfortunately one of the Asrock boards it also having troubles with USB3.0

Whingepool has a bunch of info on it

[Bek]

i7-2600k for $325 or the i5-2500k for $217 (Is the i7-2600k worth the extra $108?)
GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 - $165.00
G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM - $69
Thoughts?

Do you currently do anything that would benefit from the 4 extra threads the i7 offers?

I have the z68 UD3R-b3. Works fine for me - however don't buy the asus p8p67 pro v3 either as it has heaps of issues. Although I'm guessing you'd be getting a Z68 board anyway.

[Slazza]

Do you currently do anything that would benefit from the 4 extra threads the i7 offers?

Not really.

[Bek]

So save the $108. That's two new release games. That's as many as 20 old ones. And that's awesome.

[FrAUdie]

I bought a UD3H-B3 and haven't had any problems like in that thread you posted.

I actually intended to get that AsRock board but they didn't have any in stock and the shops impression was it also has it's fair share of problems.

[Slazza]

Thankfully I was able to replace it with the Asrock and have had zero problems since, Please consider this advice before you make your order

Unfortunately one of the Asrock boards it also having troubles with USB3.0

Whingepool has a bunch of info on it

Looks like i'll be avoiding any mobo with the Etron USB 3.0 Host Controller in it.

[Jez]

Just bought a GTX 560 Ti today and am having some issues with the effectiveness of the fan. A quick google search reveals that I am not alone, the evga heatsink and fan that came with it seem to be relatively solid, I'm hoping it's just a drive issue that gets fixed.

[Z313]

Hi All,
I've generally been fine with picking new hardware. I was really hoping my current rig could run BF3 well enough.. I was wrong.

Anyways I was thinking about getting the i7 2600(K) with the Asrock Ext4 Gen3 but I was hoping someone could anwer:
Is there any useful difference between the Extreme3 and Extreme4? (I only expect to run 1GFX card and not too).

Is it worth the extra money for the K cpu?

Thanks,
Jim

[stoolsample]

Hi All,
Anyways I was thinking about getting the i7 2600(K)
Is it worth the extra money for the K cpu?
Thanks,
Jim

Unless Your doing some video encoding or photo/rendering, the 8 threads of the i7 2600k shall provide LITTLE gain over the Equivalent i5 2500k, the 4core 4thread is better utilized in games, the extra 4 threads from the i7, wouldnt not provide benefit in gaming at all (bar HEAVILY CPU threaded ones)

I am an avid gamer, with a i7 2600k, Ordered the i5 but it wasnt in stock, I do a bit of 1080p fraps/re-encoding of my games, realistically even just doing those I still should have got the i5, The benefit of 8 threads is there, but If your not doing a LOT of encoding, The i5 Quad still rips up encoding just as fast when used 100%, and TBH.. Some of the programs I use for video encoding dont even use all 4/8 cores effectively from the i7, it can be sitting between 30-80%...

Each to their own... as they say..
Oh.. I am also sitting on 24/7 4.0ghtz with a 212+ cooler and never go above 65*c loading. FYI - It can go up to 4.6ghtz here at home, room for more but I dont have the right conditions...

[steve_rogers42]

Hey guys, and those watching this thread, i will be aiming to update this coming night/week depending if i can get my life sorted :3 so sorry about the wait, but regular programming will resume shortly.

<3

[jacobbby]

Hey, i'm new to pc building, might use this for a guide. Thanks for posting it. Looking forward to the update for it.
Thanks.

[brat81]

Yeah a update would be nice still baffled over which motherboard to get for my 2500k.