A little advice is needed from the PC Gurus here

[hoofhearted4]

Just gonna put this here: The AMD system has an immensely better mobo in it. You are way better off going with a P67 mobo instead of a Z68.

 

has it been confirmed yet if P67 will fully support Ivy Bridge?

 

but ya, if you dont plan on using an SSD, then you can go P67 as well. as to which is "better" is a matter of opinion.

[Catman66]

I agree it is a mater of opinion. At this time, I will not be using an SSD. I have an OCZ Vertex 3 120 GB, but I still prefer my platter drives.

[hoofhearted4]

z68 is good if you ever plan on using ur SSD.....plus im not sure p67 has 100% confirmation for support of Ivy Bridge. its gunna be one of those "well it will work, but its not the correct way of doing things" kind of like AM3 was with bulldozer

[Vecna6667]

Not only that, but I beleive P67 is being phased out by most companies.

[Nysba]

When it comes to SSDs, the only thing the Z68 boards have over the P67 is that you can use a small SSD as a cache for your HDD, effectively making it a hybrid drive. And I'm pretty sure it's like 64GB that it "supports", it can go above that, but it won't be at its best performance. Definitely not the reason you'd go Z68 over the P67. And I have no idea of other differences between them, I think the Z68 has on-board graphics.

 

And yes, the P67 definitely supports Ivy Bridge, just like the Z68, they're all the same socket type. LGA 1155

Edited December 28, 2011 by Nysba

[PowderdToastMan]

Hoofhearted4 spot on as always.

 

The i5-2500k is really the only way to go even compared to the best amd.

 

Heres a I-5 2500k vs a amd 955: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=288

 

as far as the mobo you can get one for 100 bucks that will support what you are asking.

[Catman66]

Awesome. Thank you everyone. I will be getting an i5 2500k for sure. Still undecided on the on the gcard though.

[FMod]

When Z68 doesn't cost a lot more than P67, it's a good idea to take it. You'll get some iGPU features for video playback and encoding. Plus it's always nice to be able to run it without your GPU. The iGPU is inside 2500K, it's just disabled on P67.

 

I would suggest Asrock Z68 Pro3 if you're on a budget, can go up to Z68 Extreme3 if not. Good quality for moderate prices. Asus P8P67 and P8Z68 are some other good boards, but get ones without any suffixes (not LE and not Deluxe).

 

For GPU choice you have to state your budget. HD6850-6870, GTX560Ti and HD6950 are some good choices for high settings (GTX570 has a flaw in its power supply).

[Catman66]

Well, I guess I should update this now that I have my new system. I went to the "Dark Side" as some here would say. I am now the proud owner of an AMD system. It has an FX-6200 with 16gigs DDR3 on an Asus M5A97 mobo. nVidia GeForce GTX 560ti. With a ThermalTake 850 watt psu. This thing bangs!!! Play everything on ultra. Not sure what my fps is in game. Will have to figure out how to find that out.

[hoofhearted4]

download FRAPS