SPCR

I'm putting together a microATX system and will probably go with an Ivy Bridge CPU over Sandy Bridge. But I haven't found any of the newest generation Z77 and etc. motherboards with the features I'd like. The board that most meets my needs is the ASUS P8H67-M PRO/CSM, which has both a PCI slot (becoming rarer and rarer) and an IDE header (almost extinct).

The newest generation of boards all have USB 3.0 headers, which would be nice for the future, but I don't use many USB peripherals except for keyboard, wireless mouse dongle and USB thumb drive. Other than that, what would I be giving up by using a last-generation motherboard with Ivy Bridge? FWIW, I'll probably be installing a fanless video card that can drive three monitors.

Other than what you've mentioned, the ability to drive three monitors from the mobo and better fan support (assuming Asus mobos) are the two that come to mind.

If I did want to use the onboard video, would the older chipset be able to take advantage of the faster HD2500 and HD4000 graphics? It's not clear to me how the graphics are implemented, but I assume it's primarily on the CPU.

JJ wrote:would the older chipset be able to take advantage of the faster HD2500 and HD4000 graphics? It's not clear to me how the graphics are implemented,

good question

JJ wrote:but I assume it's primarily on the CPU.

It's only on the CPU. Why in the world do you have such a doubt?
What current chipsets do is just the I/O (so, to be fair, the third independent monitor is chipset related).

If you need some numbers about IVB on the Cougar platform, look for last february IGP testings (2500K vs 3570K) on expreview, they were carried out using the Z68 chipset.

If you are really set on the Z77 board, the ASRock Z77 Professional LGA 1155 seems to fit your needs. It has both PATA support as well as 2 PCI slots. Good thing is also that it takes socket 775 coolers (if you happen to have one).

cruelsister wrote:It has both PATA support as well as 2 PCI slots.

PCI is not (no more) native in the Panther platform: it can be a concern with OS different from Windows (IIRC currently the ASMedia PCI bridges are an issue at least under Linux).

quest_for_silence wrote:PCI is not (no more) native in the Panther platform: it can be a concern with OS different from Windows (IIRC currently the ASMedia PCI bridges are an issue at least under Linux).

To clarify, both Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge platforms don't have a native PCI controller. Both use a PCIe to PCI bridge chip.

CA_Steve wrote:To clarify, both Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge platforms don't have a native PCI controller. Both use a PCIe to PCI bridge chip.

I stand corrected: to further clarify, AFAIK on Panther Point PCI is supported only by Q and B SKU (so not by the "classical" P/H/Z).

Specifically ASRock uses the ASMedia ASM1083 bridge chip to implement PCI on the Z77. But to point, JJ didn't think that Legacy PCI and IDE exists on Z77 motherboards. Just wanted to inform him that it does.

cruelsister wrote:Specifically ASRock uses the ASMedia ASM1083 bridge chip to implement PCI on the Z77. But to point, JJ didn't think that Legacy PCI and IDE exists on Z77 motherboards. Just wanted to inform him that it does.

Also needs to be microATX.

Sorry! Forgot about that requirement. Looks like you are stuck with the Asus board as that is the only one (as I guess you already knew) that has IDE in a Micro form. Personally I'd make sure that device had an unfortunate accident.

Dommage, n'est-ce pas?

I see the newer generation boards saying they support DDR3 1600 and have seen the same said about Ivy Bridge. Is the memory speed dependent on the chipset, or just the CPU?