Upcoming birthday upgrade

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Trotter

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I have a birthday coming up. My wife has been asking me what I want for my birthday. So I am looking for suggestions from the general membership. Here's what I have been thinking about...

I would like to upgrade to an i5 CPU and mobo. But I want to keep the cost to $350 or less (NewEgg). I am not up on what is great in Intel mobos, unfortunately. My requirements are:
  • Quad core
  • ATX mobo
  • Must have at least six SATA ports
  • Items must not be in a combo (going to be a month+ before purchase)

I would not mind to move up to a set of 2x4GB or 2x8GB RAM if there's enough of the budget left, but I am good with the 4x2GB I currently have if not.

I have toyed with the idea of moving to a bigger SSD but my mobo does not have SATA6. USB3 would be nice, too, but I don't have anything to use it with at this time.

Other than these I don't really have any needs as far as my computer goes. My 560Ti does everything I need, my case is a good one, I have a great gaming mouse, a mechanical keyboard, and two 24.6" monitors. Heck, I don't have to upgrade to a LGA1155... but I want to do it anyway. ;)
 
Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS $209.99

Or if you don't mind a few less features:

Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z68-V LE LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS $132.99

Oh, and the processor:

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K $219.99

You could always get off cheaper with an AsRock or a Gigabyte motherboard, but I wouldn't go with either. I've heard a lot of horror stories about AsRock motherboards, and while most of the time Gigabytes boards are fine, their RMA process is virtually non existent, so if you have a problem, you're more than likely screwed. Congrats on the upgrade!
 
She can't upgrade you? :lol:

I had a lot of problems with ASRock. It just has a higher failure rate. Being they are a sub-company off ASUS, you would think they would be good..
 
She can't upgrade you? :lol:

I had a lot of problems with ASRock. It just has a higher failure rate. Being they are a sub-company off ASUS, you would think they would be good..
False, they are no longer associated with Asus anymore, are pretty much rivals now, and are in the top 3 contenders of motherboard manufacturers. Their Xtreme Z68 models are top notch compared to the likes of say, eVGA, so have been rehashing the same designs for 3 gens now.

Trotter, you can't go wrong with a 2500k bud.
 
They are owned by Pegatron, and I'm going to guess that happened somewhere around 2007 when they started pushing out better product. Only recently (2010/2011) have they started really ranking up there and made 3rd behind Gigabyte and Asus.
 
Question: What's the real difference between the P67 and Z68 chipsets, besides the P67 not turning on the CPU's graphics?
 
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