Need help in choosing a good motherboard.

[wnxhaja]

I am a newbie in building pc so I need your help guys.

I have i5-3570k and HD7870. I will not go for crossfire but still want to overclock my cpu and v-card and get the most out of them.

Thanks a lot in advance for those who will help me

[frontier204]

You can overclock a video card on any motherboard that you can mount the card on.
I'm not sure of your budget, but an inexpensive one is here: Newegg.ca - MSI Z77A-G43 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Looks like you can get a modest OC out of it - MSI Z77A-G43 Test Setup | bit-tech.net

The next step up (in terms of overclocking potential) would be something like ASUS's PRO range: Newegg.ca - ASUS P8Z77-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Assuming you're not going nuts with below-ambient cooling, you'd likely be able to max your CPU's overclock on such a board.

Any higher than ~$200ish and you're looking at boards that cost more because they're designed for more than two video cards, lots of USB 3.0 ports, and similar bells and whistles.

Of course overclocking is not guaranteed no matter how high you go with the motherboard, but those are some ideas.

[wnxhaja]

Thanks a lot for your help, I guess I will go for Asus.

[Ravenor]

I would also recommend the Asus matx boards as well if you are not going crossfire. Specifically the Maximus V Gene. It will give you all the bells and overclocking whistles you want and keeps the budget from getting out of hand. I have my 2700k "gently" overclocking 4.2 with no voltage increase at all. It also has one of the best on board audio systems I have ever heard.

[LoTech]

I always stick with the more common names for MB's. My usual preference is ASUS or GIGABYTE. Over the past 8-10 years I haven't had one fail. Although I did short out a GIGABYTE board once. I like the new GUI for the bios in windows, so clean and intuitive. Easy to use and no need to reboot. Easy to play with and easy to reset if you go to far. I also have enclosed a link you may find useful for window shopping.
Good luck with your build.
Motherboards - Desktop & Server Boards at Memory Express

cheers

[Shadowmeph]

I have been noticing a trend with motherboards lately and that is that it seems harder to find motherboard for single video cards

[Mena]

Have you considered a unique mITX build?

Bitfenix Prodigy ( choose the black for better airflow )
Asrock Z77E-ITX Motherboard ( fastest bootup on the planet and excellent BIOS ) OR the ASUS PZ778-I DELUXE MITX BOARD
Intel 3570K
Corsair H-series Water Cooling ( Your choice as the prodigy can handle all the models )

There is a tradeoff for the motherboards though.

The Asrock while just as good as the ASUS has a SATA 3GBps mSATA port UNDER the motherboard. Bad placement but it is there should you choose to use it for RST or a hidden small storage for a OS in case of drive failure. Also the CPU Placement is off to the left hereby limiting your cooling options if you use a video card instead of the internal one.

Pics of the Asrock Z77E-ITX:









The ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE has a bit more robust power delivery ( hence the daughterboard attached to it on the right hand side ) and a better CPU placement. This opens up your cooling possibilities greatly. However it does NOT come with a mSATA port anywhere and does not boot as fast as the Asrock does.

Pics of the ASUS P8Z77I-DELUXE:


Oh and here is a pic of the Bitfenix Prodigy cases. Note the white has more restrictive airflow where the Black one has much better airflow.





Hope this helps you out in your computer parts search!

[MARSTG]

Wow, cool, if it were me I would go with the Asus board, forget the msata, just slam a regular SSD and you are set. The white case looks awesome.

[xbournex]

Originally Posted by MARSTG

Wow, cool, if it were me I would go with the Asus board, forget the msata, just slam a regular SSD and you are set. The white case looks awesome.

You could also go with MSI's offering of the z77 ITX, or Gigabyte's H77/z77, or Zotac's Z77... You're not really limited to two...

[terrybear]

dont rule out biostar's offerings as well ... ******* gave a very positive review on a 77 series one.