# i5-3570k What Z77 Mobo?



## cmaxvt (May 31, 2012)

So I am looking into upgrading to the Ivy, and I am debating what kind of Mobo to get.  I plan on SLI'ing my 670 down the line and am not looking for anything too expensive or fancy, but I want to be able to overclock the Ivy.  My goal is something around here:

ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6...

My buddy is happy with one of these and was able to OC the same processor to 4.4 easily with little experience.

Anyone have any opinions on Mobos in a similar price range and what I should be going for?


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## brandonwh64 (May 31, 2012)

cmaxvt said:


> So I am looking into upgrading to the Ivy, and I am debating what kind of Mobo to get.  I plan on SLI'ing my 670 down the line and am not looking for anything too expensive or fancy, but I want to be able to overclock the Ivy.  My goal is something around here:
> 
> ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6...
> 
> ...



That looks like a solid board, I would go for it.


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## Fourstaff (May 31, 2012)

Same dilemma here, you have the UD3H as an alternative if you are interested


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## cmaxvt (May 31, 2012)

Fourstaff said:


> Same dilemma here, you have the UD3H as an alternative if you are interested



Yeah the UD3H seems like the board I am getting the most.. excited? about.  Seems like the sweet spot of price per performance.. if these boards even HAVE any difference in performance.. which I severely question =P  Seems like a giant mess of Z77 boards in the price range of $130>$190.. it's kind of ridiculous how many options there are.


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## Fourstaff (May 31, 2012)

Pick any one and you will still be happy regardless lol, but I get the same feeling as you, the desire to get the best for money


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## cmaxvt (May 31, 2012)

Yeah.. and just the boredom at work that makes me incessantly research this crap =P


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## erocker (Jun 1, 2012)

cmaxvt said:


> Yeah the UD3H seems like the board I am getting the most.. excited? about.  Seems like the sweet spot of price per performance.. if these boards even HAVE any difference in performance.. which I severely question =P  Seems like a giant mess of Z77 boards in the price range of $130>$190.. it's kind of ridiculous how many options there are.



It holds the Ivy Bridge OC WR right now. That board at it's price is a great buy.


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## cmaxvt (Jun 1, 2012)

erocker said:


> It holds the Ivy Bridge OC WR right now. That board at it's price is a great buy.



You mean until I get ahold of it, obviously.


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## erocker (Jun 1, 2012)

cmaxvt said:


> You mean until I get ahold of it, obviously.



Lol, well it shows that the power components on the board can handle some pretty good load. Quality stuff.


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## cmaxvt (Jun 1, 2012)

erocker said:


> Lol, well it shows that the power components on the board can handle some pretty good load. Quality stuff.



Yeah, honestly that is somewhat superficial, but in a lot of ways that helps justify this as probably the best board for the money.  honestly tho.. I am not going to be overclocking the RAM at all, just upping the multiplier on the CPU, so I cant' imagine I am going to need THAT much quality, but it's at least some good validation of a well-priced board.


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## 20mmrain (Jun 1, 2012)

Honestly if you can afford a little more.... Get the Gigabyte Z77 G.1 Sniper 3. 

You are going to get a much higher class board.... with more upgrade room then you can shake a stick at. You will be getting enthusiast grade without the high cost.

It will handle higher overclocks better then the Asrock board.... plus it has the X16/X16 PCIe 3.0 slots you would want for GTX 670 SLI. It has the same features as the Asus P8Z77 Premium motherboard.... but for about half the cost. Also has a great Onboard NIC card. Great Onboard Sound card. Comes with Decent wireless NIC card and antennas. Look over the specs man.

I am using this motherboard now.... and I love it. So I making sure to preach about it to anyone who will listen. This is actually the first motherboard I have been this excited about in a long time.


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## cmaxvt (Jun 1, 2012)

20mmrain said:


> Honestly if you can afford a little more.... Get the Gigabyte Z77 G.1 Sniper 3.
> 
> You are going to get a much higher class board.... with more upgrade room then you can shake a stick at. You will be getting enthusiast grade without the high cost.
> 
> ...



Alright.  So sell me on the difference between this and the UD3H.  Being true 16x/16x PCIE 3.0 sounds intriguing, but I don't see any difference in benchmarks per 8x/8x on bandwith.   What justifies the extra.. $30-$50 in price?


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## cmaxvt (Jun 1, 2012)

Whoa, also.. this is WAY too expensive.  That is over $110 more than the current mobo I am looking at.  That is way out of my pricerange.  I guess I was looking at the MicroATX Sniper board which is $190.  I love the ide aof owning one, but I most certainly cannot afford that board, it is more than the CPU itself.


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## konanunu (Jun 1, 2012)

I got the MSI Z77A-GD65, MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s U..., mostly because of the 8 sata ports and full pcie setup, i have no need for pci slots.

i found it on sale here in canada for $159.99


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## 20mmrain (Jun 1, 2012)

cmaxvt said:


> Alright.  So sell me on the difference between this and the UD3H.  Being true 16x/16x PCIE 3.0 sounds intriguing, but I don't see any difference in benchmarks per 8x/8x on bandwith.   What justifies the extra.. $30-$50 in price?



Benchmarks I received a few hundred point alone from the upgrade. My last (Temporary board) was the Asus P8Z68 V-Pro Gen 3. After upgrading to this board... I received my few extra hundred points. Now from what I read Gen 3 X16/X16 will have the most effect @ higher resolutions. 
But the other good news I want to mention is if you go 3 way sli in the future or add another type of expansion card...... the other two slots run @ x8/x8. So if you have all 4 slots running you will run like X16/X16/X8/X8.
Not to mention that if your running benchmarks and you don't like the score you got..... well then you will know for sure it is not because of you loosing bandwidth.
The other area you are missing when it comes to the difference between the boards is the type of components used to make them. The ASrock board.... is more of a middle grade board. It is made with components that reflect that. (The number and type of Mofsets exc....) These types of things will allow the Gigabyte board to most likely sustain a higher overclock longer then the ASrock board you are looking at. (12 Digital Phase vs 8 Digital Phase) 
The Gigabyte board is made with better components and more of them.  (The number and type of Mofsets exc....) As well components like the "Killer Onboard NIC card" Also like the Onboard " Creative Sound Blaster Card "
Plus there is more.... here compare the two.....  Gigabyte Sniper 3

Asrock Extreme 4 Z77

If you look it over .... you will be able to see a lot of extras a differences that will shout out at you. Now if you choose to save some money because you don't need most of that stuff. That is understandable..... but it seems you are thinking about building a hell of a rig. My idea for that is why not get the best backbone you can for your highend hardware to run on.


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## 20mmrain (Jun 1, 2012)

cmaxvt said:


> Whoa, also.. this is WAY too expensive.  That is over $110 more than the current mobo I am looking at.  That is way out of my pricerange.  I guess I was looking at the MicroATX Sniper board which is $190.  I love the ide aof owning one, but I most certainly cannot afford that board, it is more than the CPU itself.



The mATX version would be an upgrade too.


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## Bo$$ (Jun 1, 2012)

Get a Gigabyte z77 UD3H it is a cracking board!


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## cmaxvt (Jun 1, 2012)

So I just realized that the MSI boards don't have a regular PCI slot, which means my X-fi Xtremegamer (which I have had absolutely no issues with and love) would be unuseable.  Count them out.  The Gigabyte has one PCI slot but it is directly below the second PCI 3.0 slot, meaning if I SLI in the future, it renders that PCI slot unuseable.  That pretty much leaves me with the Asrock or an expensive Asus.  I guess Extreme4 or Extreme6 gets the nod.  The only downside really seems to be the cheaper ethernet controller.. which is pretty marginal for a complaint.


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## cmaxvt (Jun 5, 2012)

Well it's looking more and more like, since I can't get the Asrock Z77 boards on Amazon, it makes sense to splurge on the Asus P8Z77-V since I can get it for about $30 more on Amazon than the Extreme4 on Newegg due to shipping/tax. Anyone else want to chime in?

These are the two boards i have sorta settled on, and it seems like the ASUS has to be a better board if I am getting them for the same price.

ASUS
ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s US...

Asrock
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6...


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## cmaxvt (Jun 5, 2012)

PS - I can't do most boards for two reasons: MSI, Giga, and a few others, either don't have PCI or have PCI that is blocked by an SLI'd card.  Since I have my legacy PCI XtremeGamer soundcard that I think actually is awesome when paired with my Klipsch Promedia, I refuse to give up good sound on the next mobo.


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## aCeFr3aK (Jun 5, 2012)

konanunu said:


> I got the MSI Z77A-GD65, MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s U..., mostly because of the 8 sata ports and full pcie setup, i have no need for pci slots.



I got the MSI board also, only thing I don't like about the board was the state it came in, stickers on it and 2 bent pins on the front audio connector. Other than that its awesome so far! The bios is so clean and easy. I am installing windows now.


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## cmaxvt (Jun 6, 2012)

aCeFr3aK said:


> I got the MSI board also, only thing I don't like about the board was the state it came in, stickers on it and 2 bent pins on the front audio connector. Other than that its awesome so far! The bios is so clean and easy. I am installing windows now.



Honestly I would be getting the MSI if it weren't for the lack of PCI slots.


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## micropage7 (Jun 6, 2012)

ASROCK Z77 Extreme4 Gen3


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## konanunu (Jun 6, 2012)

aCeFr3aK said:


> I got the MSI board also, only thing I don't like about the board was the state it came in, stickers on it and 2 bent pins on the front audio connector. Other than that its awesome so far! The bios is so clean and easy. I am installing windows now.



Mine had bent USB3.0 front panel header pins , 5 of them.

But i kept my stickers on, makes overclocking easier


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## cmaxvt (Jun 6, 2012)

I would honestly have bought the asrock extreme4 already, except that it's not on amazon and therefore is much more expensive cuz I have to order it from newegg with CA state tax and shipping.  If Amazon carried the Asrock Z77 board this would be settled.

Sadly I am now considering $420~ for the ASUS PZ77-V and i5-3570k
compared to about $390 for the Asrock Extreme4 and i5-3570k on Newegg.

That makes the ASUS seem like a better buy.

Hopefully I don't need to pull the trigger QUITE yet and I can hold off until (if??) Amazon gets the Asrock Z77's.


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## cmaxvt (Jun 6, 2012)

I am ALSO Considering this board, which Amazon does have:

BIOSTAR TZ77XE3 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s...

How do you guys think it compares to the Asrock extreme4?  Honestly, if it weren't for me thinking Biostar is a piece of junk I'd be tempted to buy it.  The Tom's hardware review put it favorably.. I don't know what to think.  Or at least they put the slightly tier up board of Biostar as worth it.  There is very little difference between the two Biostar Boards from what I've seen.  Any thoughts on this board?  I really don't need a lot of the featuresets of the more expensive boards.

I don't want WiFi, I don't need dual LAN, I don't care about the audio chipset, I just want PCI that fits with SLI to keep my old XtremeGamer X-fi Soundcard in and the ability to overclock and have this board last a long time.  Hence the possibility of going with the ASUS.


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## Mordecai Walfish (Jun 9, 2012)

i personally dont think much of biostar boards & have always considered them bottom tier.  Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the only 3 boards i'd ever used by them died within 6 months each, some way or another..


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## cmaxvt (Jun 9, 2012)

I ended up ordering the asrock extreme4.  Everything i need, nothing i don't... cheapest option with good reputation.  Thanks a ton for the input guys.


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## Mordecai Walfish (Jun 9, 2012)

good choice. keep an eye on the voltages with that one though.. especially if you plan on overclocking.  

a voltage/power issue is the only one i encountered with my last asrock board (an AMD 870 extreme3) but besides that it was just marvelous as far as features and ease of use goes.


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