What board should I get if I want the easiest route to OSX running on my build? The ONLY requirements I have are good overclocking, okay price, and good compatibility for one high end (if not two) GTX card(s). Probably either 2 760s or 1 770.
I'm leaning towards the GA-Z77X-UD5H as most usually do, but I want to see if there's anything else with a cheaper price or anything like that.
Still just thinking about jumping for an i5 3470k and a Gigabyte Haswell board and pray it works, then get an i7 Broadwell later. Just for the sake of future-proofing and saving money (it's cheaper than the UD5H).
Right now I have a Corsair 500r, and that's it. Just about to start buying parts. Any ideas on the mobo? Price, overclock, GTX ease, and OSX compatibility. Thanks!
The cheaper boards often don't let you up voltage (google mother board name and upping voltage, you will see threads complaining about it often), thus limiting you to a stock voltage overclock. To push into mid to high 4's you usually have to up voltage and each jump calls for increasingly better cooling as well. All chips have a voltage max that you should not approach, unless you can afford to lose it (the chip). The UD5H is a good OC board. The ds3h CAN be if you hit the lottery and get a chip that will clock high on stock voltage. The ud5h is the "sure thing" but you still might be 4.5 4.6 at silly voltage while someone with the same board gets 4.7 on stock. It is literally all luck of the draw.
If you are gaming at 1080p to be honest the 760 is enough. If you are playing on a 27 inch at 2560x or going to use multiple screens then the SLI is nice. 2560x monitors are finally becoming affordable. Should hit pretty decent prices by Black Friday.
Ivy, Haswell, use different motherboards. Broadwell? We have no idea what that is going to be atm. There have been some nasty rumors that it will be BGA and not LGA, kind of like the new Mac Pro. We will see. I doubt they will really drop LGA, but I really am not expecting a much faster chip then sandy and up. I expect better USB (3.1), better integrated graphics (who cares) and that is about it. Broadwell will almost certainly involve a die shrink as that seems to be the only innovation atm. Speeds are staying about the same. Integrated graphics are getting better (tablets, all in ones). Cores are being added to Xeon workstations (not ideal for gaming and super expensive). The new ivy bridge e will be the top dog for gaming and it is barely faster then Sandy Bridge E.
To be completely honest? We are hitting a wall in technology on silicon. All the tech since Sandy has been very small upgrades and usually involves getting power usage down and better onboard integrated graphics.
If you had say a i7-2600k, 2700k at near 5 GHZ? The only upgrade you could even go to would be a enthusiast series chip and they are hella expensive and the gains are minimal. The advances have come in better Sata (6.0) and USB improvements and power usage and if you had a SSD for the games? You don't even care about that.
So I wouldn't worry too much about "waiting for something". You want near 4.5 ghz for gaming on Sandy Bridge through Haswell. It has been harder to get the speed past that on every step up with the die shrink, HORRIBLE cooling under the lid (no solder) and increased integrated graphics on the chip. The speed has gone slightly up however per clock, so performance has remained relatively the same for gaming when you OC.
Tom's hardware did a write up on the Ivy Bridge E and that is the top of the line 1000 dollar chip, newest tech available. SB-E was top for YEARS now and if the new 1000 dollar chip can barely beat it? Don't expect huge improvements any time soon.
If I was going to wait for anything? I would wait for the holiday sales. Other then that? You aren't missing out on anything for a long while.
