Mobo Recommendations ?

[LeftEyeNine]

What chipset motherboard would I need for an Intel Core i7 3770 ? Also what particular brands/models would you advise ?

Danke im advansung.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Anything with a Panther Point chipset such as the H7* or Z7* series. Alternatively you could use the Sandy Bridge motherboards, provided they've had a Bios/EFI update to recognise the Ivy Bridge ones.

[LeftEyeNine]

Ok, here comes the actual question. I currently own the following rig:

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R (Rev 1.0)
Intel Core i7 920 @2.66 GHz
Kingston HyperX 3x2GB Triple Kit DDR3 @1600 MHz
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 5870
OCZ StealthXtreme 700W PSU
Corsair Carbide 500R Case
3 SATA HDDs

I was looking into getting myself The Beast aka. GTX 690 however I was received with doubts that such rig would drag down that Beast and that I had to upgrade my mobo and CPU first -which I opposed for the gain would only be, say, an extra 20 FPS over some 60 FPS ,something I wouldn't mind not being a benchmark enthusiast, rather a gaming one.

What's your opinion on the matter ? Would gain from a mobo and CPU be substantial/essential ?

[Furunculus]

my rule of thumb for a well balanced gaming machine; always spend between x1.5 and x2.0 more on the GPU than the CPU.

the variability above depends on what res you game at - 1920x1080 = x1.5 / 3x 1920x1080 = x2.0.

you are talking about tying a CPU whose performance in modern money would be at best £80 with a GPU that costs in the region of £800.

somewhat unbalanced.

plus, unless you are running 3x 1920x1200 screens anything more than a single 4GB GTX680 is overkill.

i run Batman Arkham City maxed out at 5760x1200 on a single OC'ed 7970 for example.

[LeftEyeNine]

Um, actually GTX 690, not 680.

Would you rather compile a new rig with the current video card than keeping the current one upgraded with the beast ?