New build

setishock

Wizard of Wires
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Ok so just for S&G's I'm going to build another system, since it's still too hot to get out and fly.

I'm open for suggestions on a state of the art mother board. Has to be Intel based and be able to take 2nd and 3rd gen CPU chips.
Let's not break the bank so I'm setting the budget at 300.00usd for the board. Let's also keep in mind I'm not a gamer.

Since it is a fact in 2016 Intel will get completely out of making it's own boards, I guess I need to have 2 systems just in case my board should decide to take a dump.

The floor is open.
 
Since I'm not a gamer I went for a business grade motherboard, the B75-HD3 from Gigabyte. It's solid.

By the way, the HD3 has two memory slots and the H3D has four.
 
hang on.. confused :p

'State of the art'... '2nd and 3rd gen'

So you're after a Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge based system then sir?

If so, check out the EVGA Z68 boards for 2nd gen (I have one, it's had the sh!t kicked out of it since 2011 and it still works :D)

EVGA boards in general, especially the Classified boards, have always been good to me!

State of the art to me though would point towards X99 or Z170 like, PCI lanes on the board and more PCI slots than PCB space...
 
Asus mobos or die has become my motto. I use asus mobos in all of the builds I do for friends because of the fan xpert and ai tuner suite. Gigabyte made some great Z68 boards as well.
 
My current board is Z77 so let's revise the specs.
3rd and 4th gen Intel CPU's.

I've been looking at Z99 and Z170 boards. Impressive. I can't find the board that has the Sound Blaster system in it. I saw that in a Newegg video and was impressed. Can't remember for the life of me which board that was on.
 
And the debate rages on...

I tried an AMD chip just once and that's all it took. Never could get it to cool down. It finally smoked itself, thank God, and it was back to Intel.
Ok so I'm narrowing down the boards. Looks like to get great sound I'll have to get a gamer board. I was kind of hoping I could find another media board. I've got a good surround sound system that's itching to get another great sound source plugged in to it.

Let's move on to a case. I'd like a large window in the side with no fan mount. Never did care for a fan in the middle of the window. Let's set some specs:
Full tower ATX
Large side window (No fan)
At least 6 3.5 HD bays with dampeners
At least 2 5.25 optical bays
At least 2 dedicated SSD bays
PSU in bottom
2 fans in the roof, 1 in back, space for 2 in front
Room on the back of the mother board plate to run wiring
No LEDs (I have my own design in mind)

I was looking at one last night that has a totally modular hard drive rack. You stack up however many you need and clip that on a mounting rail. Leaves room for liquid cooling systems or just some good unobstructed air flow. I'll see if I can find it again and toss up the link.
 
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