Faulty Mobo Precipitates Re-think and Re-build - Ideas Welcome

[will101]

My main desktop gaming PC has been BSODing for a while now and after some fault finding it's time for the mobo to be replaced.

Currently I have an ATX mobo in a full tower case which to be honest, takes up a bit more room than is convenient or necessary. My thinking is that I can downsize my PC whilst I'm replacing the Mobo and keep most of the same components.

• I currently have a Phenom x4 956 BE that is only 6 months or so old.
• I feel no need to change my HD6950 just yet.
• I am using a 120GB SSD as the main OD boot drive and could mange without a mechanical HDD
• I am using a Khuler H70 CPU cooler that saves quite a bit on internal space
• I currently have a Xonar DX PCI card for Dolby Surround Headphone gaming
• I currently have a PCI wireless card (Obviously, if the wireless is integrated into the mobo then that saves me one PCI slot.)

Now, are there any clever solutions that will let me fit the same PC in a much smaller envelope? will be replacing the motherboard but can also replace the processor if it unlocks better mobo options/features and/or performance for gaming.

As I'm upgrading the mobo, I'd ideally like to be able to get USB3, SATA3 & UEFI BIOS specced.

So the last requirements are:

• The upgrade can't cost the earth; ideally around £300 tops for mobo, CPU & case
• System should be quiet
• SLI/Crossfire not required
• 2 RAM slots fine

Note: Overclocking not really a requirement.

[DennisMenace]

For gaming I'd definitely recommend an i5-2500K/3570K, but at £160-£180 this leaves it tight for a mobo + case (although mid-tower cases can be cheap if you want functionality not aesthetics).

It makes sense to go 2500K + Z68 (Sandybridge) or 3570K + Z77 (Ivybridge, supports PCIE 3.0) but they are interchangeable.
Most Z68 mobos except Gigabyte are UEFI, but they are upgrading most to UEFI now/soon. All Z77 should be UEFI. Nearly all have Sata3/USB3 as standard.

Personally I'd go for Z77/3570K, getting a decent (£100-£150) mobo, and upgrade the case later (when you sell the Phenom?). Otherwise keep an eye out for Z68 bargains, they're an older chipset so there's a few clearance deals around, and this should let you fit a decent case into the budget.

[KeyboardDemon]

As you are happy with the performance of your 965be, then all you'd need is a case and mobo. I wanted to suggest the Silverstone Sugo SG09 but I don't think this is available yet. I'm guessing the initial price would be around £100 to £130 leaving you with a decent amout to get a mobo.

Mobos start from around £60 so even if the case costs £140 you'd still have £100 left over, probably not enough to upgrade to an i5 instead, but should you decide to go for the Sugo you could use your existing case until the SG09 is released.

[will101]

Thanks for the replies fellas.

I saw an i5-2550K going for a reasonable price on Amazon so snapped it up. After doing some considerable weighing up, I resisted the urge of blowing all my remaining budget on a Maximus V Gene mobo and went for the much more modest Panther Point ASUS P8Z77-M. The PCI slot this motherboard featured allowed me to keep my existing sound card. The only additional card I needed to upgrade was the wireless card to a PCIe version.

I was fortunate enough to score a micro ATX case (Fractal Arc Mini) from a friend for the cost of a beer so was able to squeeze 8Gb of RAM and a 16Gb USB3 pen drive for a squeak over my original budget.

To be honest, the performance of the Phenom was plenty (even for BF3!) so the purchase came about more from not being prepared to wait the month or so for the old, no longer in stock mobo to be repaired and returned.

When the Sugo SG09 comes out I will definitely have a look though...