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Darren S

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Buying a I7-2600k, need help picking a motherboard

Hi

I am going to build a new pc, I am not a gamer and would use it more as a HTPC than anything else.  I know I won't necessarily need a fantastic spec to accomplish this but I want a really fast pc so I can multitask without any delay.  So far I have decided on an I7-2600k CPU.

It seems I have 3 options – H67, P67, Z68 on the 1155 socket boards.  I plan to hook my monitor up to it (dvi or vga) and also my TV via HDMI.  I don’t think I will need/want to overclock the CPU so I am leaning more towards the H67.   So my question is this:

I have read that the on board graphics supported by the 2600k is very good, but would I get as good performance just using the on board card or would I be silly not to buy a discrete graphics card?

If so, what graphics card would be best suited to give me that better performance?
Another question arises if I go with a discrete graphics card, which is, should I then opt for a P67 board?

To finish off, can you then suggest which motherboard or motherboard and graphics card combination I should buy?

Ideally I am hoping to get a box built for around £1000 but I would rather stretch to around £1500 than scrimp  on quality.

Thanks in advance
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Gary Case
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Darren S

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Hi Gary

Thanks a lot for the advice, I'll have a look at this after work.

Do you have any thoughts on the Asus P8Z68-V PRO?
The Z68 board is very nice .... but unless you plan to overclock, it's definitely overkill.    I wouldn't use it, as I run all my systems at their designed speeds ... if I want a faster system, I buy a faster CPU :-)

But it's definitely a nice chipset, and the Asus P8Z68-V Pro is a VERY nice board for it.