Motherboard Help

[Jamesbond007]

@Jamesbond007, besides the boards I mentioned (the GA-Z77-UD5H and the Asus P8Z77-M Pro), is there a Z77 board you recommend? And on the flip side of that, do you have any comments between the GA-Z68XP-UD3-B3 and the GA-Z68XP-UD4? When I did mobo comparison on Gigabyte's website between those two and GA-Z68XP-UD3, I noticed a big difference was in the UD3H-B3, it has support for a "ATI CrossFire X/NVIDIA SLI technology" versus an "AMD CrossFire X/NVIDIA SLI technology." What is that difference mean besides brand names?

I do not use a Z77 motherboard myself so I have no specific recommendations at this time (although personally I would prefer using a Gigabyte motherboard). As you can see I am using a Z68 motherboard which I intentionally got in March when they were still widely available even though I was well aware that Ivy Bridge is coming soon.

There is no difference between "ATI CrossFire X/NVIDIA SLI technology" and "AMD CrossFire X/NVIDIA SLI technology". They refer to the same technologies (support of two or more graphics cards) which are not supported in Mac OSX.

Both the GA-Z68XP-UD3 and the GA-Z68XP-UD4 should work with a Sandy Bridge CPU such as a Core i5-2500K for running Mac OSX. They can also support Ivy Bridge processors provided the necessary BIOS updates are installed.

 

[Aup808]

@Jamesbond007, thanks for your reply! I was planning on using an i7-2700K, but I am sure both those boards work too. I guess it just depends which has more support/more compatible, since I guess they are relatively the same, with the exception of a few ports (it seems the UD3H-B3 is very popular on this site).

I would love to hear from anyone using a Z77 board!

Also, in terms of my graphics card, I narrowed it down between the XFX 6870 versus GTX 560 vs GTX 550TI. Again, I heard nVidia works better for video editing (and was mentioned in the thread), but I am not sure if XFX 6870 is a better/more compatible card with Hackintoshes.

 

[gredhead]

(Jamesbond007) - I've got a Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 mobo but am waiting couple months to build, for work travels, and hopefully for Mountain Lion and native Ivy Bridge / 4000 graphics suport. You said to update BIOS before installing Ivy Bridge processor on Z68 mobo. So if all I have is an Ivy Bridge processor, and the mobo needs to be updated first, is there some way around this?

 

[Gordo74]

(Jamesbond007) - I've got a Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 mobo but am waiting couple months to build, for work travels, and hopefully for Mountain Lion and native Ivy Bridge / 4000 graphics suport. You said to update BIOS before installing Ivy Bridge processor on Z68 mobo. So if all I have is an Ivy Bridge processor, and the mobo needs to be updated first, is there some way around this?

Nope.

 

[Solidww]

Aup808 - Do you live on the Big Island? Now, for the monkey wrench.
I would get a used GTX470. The prices are getting very reasonable and I seriously doubt 1 second or 1 minute will make your life that much better. <link>http://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/PremiereCS5.htm</link>
Check out that website for yourself. If your going to go ATi, then you will have to have CS6 if you want the real-time timeline renders. At this time I would get a 5770 or 5870. WHY? They are great cards, run cool, and are extremely reasonable from a pricing point.

Are you working on movies like Avatar? I am wondering about the desire for so much processing power?

 

[Aup808]

So really, this isn't too much different with Z77 and Z68 boards? If I got a Z68 board with a Sandy Bridge processor, then way down the line I decided to upgrade to Ivy Bridge, that would be possible (and hopefully easier if Apple supports Ivy Bridge) to do so? Is there something major that the Z77 boards can do/support than Z68 would never be able to do, or is Z77 just a newer line of motherboards?

 

[Solidww]

Z77 has - native Intel USB3.0 ports instead of the Marvell/ASMedia/etc.... parts. UEFI, instead of BIOS on some boards. I maybe wrong and correct me if I am but more PCI lanes as well.
If your really looking for high end with the ability to expand later. LGA1366 would be better. I know people say it's dead but for film makers and people that do work you have a lot of PCI expansion slots and 6 core pricey processors .

 

[Aup808]

@Solidww - I did not see your first post before I commented! Haha.

WOW, that was a very interesting article. I am at work at the moment and cannot read everything, but I read about the test and the results. Interesting - I was confused about CUDA cores and what exactly they mean/do, but that article explained a lot. Instantly, when I saw 470, I was like, "That's less than 550/560," but obviously that was a dumb assumption to make, haha. Thank you for that!

No, I am not working on Avatar movies, haha. However, I am a recent film graduate, and would like a machine where I could work on side film projects and potentially look into more work with Cinema 4D/After Effects/any other sort of software that comes in that field. But really, I would also use this computer as a PC with SolidWorks and do some gaming (as I said before, not a hardcore gamer, but would like that extra power in case I needed it). I mean, do you think i7-2600K is extreme overkill? :\ I only considered it because I thought since I only get new computers ever so often, I feel I could make a powerful one now and have it for several years before I need to replace parts... And then even years after that before I should just build/buy a complete new one.

With the Z77, you said it has native USB 3.0 ports, but Z68 can support them as well with Marvell/ASMedia/etc? I am not sure if I understand completely - I thought there were still USB 3.0 ports on Z68 boards? And with LGA1366 - I feel going in that direction would cost me A LOT of money for something I am sure I need at this point yet... Maybe way down the line, but for what I am doing, I feel that might definitely be overkill, lol.

 

[Solidww]

Shocking isn't it? Truthfully, for what work I do in Films and Pictures the Core2Quad works great. Especially, with a GTX285 installed! FCP and PPro 5 run great. The machine runs cool and with my current Hard-Drive set up I have no issues.

i7-2600K - Is a great processor!! !! Just understand to get the potential out of that processor you really need to be working on large files and have RAIDs. A quick story. A buddy of mine makes HIGH-End gaming graphics and animations. He upgraded to that i7 and said "All it did was cut-down on my render times." Going from 8 to 16 gigs of RAM gave him better performance in Maya and Cinema 4D.

If this is an investment in your future. Then, getting the 2600k is a good idea. It will serve well for years to come. 3-5, maybe. We don't know what is coming down the pipeline.

Native Intel USB3, just means Intel is making the chip for it. USB3, on older boards can be finicky in the OSX environment due to chip variations.

You could just wait until the June WWDC and see what Apple will be releasing. Rumors say USB3 is being added to the MacBook Pro. That means that Z77 with Intel USB chips may get support.

It's better to wait and take your time if this is for your future. Instead of buying all these parts and wondering why your not editing pix faster. Yup, that's my story. Stay in touch and keep searching around this community. There's a lot of great people that will help you.
www.youtube.com/warriorsphoto - check out the films I made. They were all edited on a first gen i7 machine.

 

[Aup808]

If Apple does support USB 3.0, does that mean the USB 3.0 ports on the Z68 will be able to work on Mac/have support?

Haha, last summer I said I would wait until Sandy Bridge... Now I am thinking about waiting until Ivy Bridge gets support... But unfortunately my current computer is hitting the fan, so at some point this summer I really need to start something - whether it's a Z68 with Sandy Bridge, or maybe a Z77 with Ivy, or hell, even a Z77 with Sandy (too many option, ha... ), I was just trying to start early so by mid-late summer I have enough knowledge and an idea of what exactly I am going to buy. I am definitely waiting until June 11th before buying any parts, ha - that conference will definitely shape what I will buy and when.

Again, Solidww, you've been a great help. As I said before, I am at work where there is no flash (boo!) so I will check out your videos when I return home.

If anyone else have any other opinions, I would love to hear them!