Mobo replacement advice (LGA1366/X58)

Gentlemen,
Many years ago I used to be big into gaming/PC building, but have fallen out of the loop and I need your advice.

I'll go straight to the point. Basic machine specs:

ASUS P6T Deluxe (Version 1)
Intel Xeon X5675 (six core)
24GB RAM (link)
Two SSDs in RAID-0

If you Google "asus p6t deluxe problems" you'll get a ton of results where people are complaining about cold boot/POST/power-up issues. There seems to be an engineering problem with this specific Mobo, and mine has the same issue.

Without going into too much details, I've since replaced PSU, GPU, upgraded processor (to the Xeon) among other things. This mobo is very unreliable and will often die during basic use (not even gaming) and refuse to POST until it decides to do so again.

I have been dealing with this issue for years, but it's time to replace it for a different model. I rarely play games and I would like to stay with an LGA1366, since this machine is plenty for me (for now).

Can you please recommend a solid X58/LGA1366 Mobo that I can start looking for? I would prefer to stay with ASUS despite of this issue (been an ASUS fan since the 90s), but I'm willing to consider other options. Right now I am not overclocked, but I'd like a good, reliable Mobo that can offer this option if I decide to go that route.

TIA for your advice. I have been out of the game for way too long and wouldn't know where to start, besides digging Mobo review archives from 2009 (which I started doing, btw). But the tribal knowledge of the community has more value to me, since the P6T Deluxe has stellar reviews but failed in high numbers in the consumers' hands.


Thanks in advance!
__________________

I was in a similar situation a few months ago with my ASrock X58 board on its last legs. I decided that the cost to get a replacement board wasn't worth it and I jumped to Skylake. I didn't want to spend $200 on a used motherboard that might not last much longer anyway due to the age of the platform.

I know that isn't what you were looking for in an answer but just my 2 cents.

Not sure I would stick with ASUS for an x58 board.

They are all going to be used and very expensive.

Here is an INTEL DX58SO (new bulk) for $110 + shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-DX58SO-LGA-1366-Intel-X58-Bulk-OEM-No-accessories-/351145882028?hash=item51c1ecf1ac:g:Y0MAAOSweW5VFsZq

As long as you don't need 6 RAM slots, I think it is the way to go unless you can find a Gigabyte for about the same.

Systems I currently have or have made with x58 boards that are still going.

Wife - Gigabyte EX58 UD3R
Family member - ASROCK X58 Deluxe - not as many overclocking options in the BIOS on ASROCK x58 boards when compared to other brands... but still a decent board.
Family member - EVGA X58 FTW3 - got it from a forum member here for really cheap. One fan header doesn't work but other than that it works/has been working fine.

Otherwise just upgrade the platform.

Guys,
Thanks for your input, I appreciate it and I know it's not always going to be what I'd like to hear.

At this point I am not even considering used Mobos. Every now and then I find new ones, and those are typically the ones I consider.

I've been looking at X58 Mobos from old AnandTech reviews, and am in the process of compiling a small list of good candidates. Right now I am focusing on X58 based Mobos offering these features:

USB 3.0
SATA 3.0 6Gb/s
RAID support

Here is what I have so far (X58+USB3+SATA3.0+RAID)

ASRock X58 Extreme3
ASRock X58 Extreme6

ASUS Sabertooth X58
ASUS Rampage III Extreme

INTEL DX58OG
INTEL DX58SO2
[size=-2](comparison link, these two seem to offer much more than the DX58SO, but now I need to find out if they're compatible with my existing RAM, based on what the comparison page says)[/size]

I will have to resume my search later. I know Gigabyte and eVGA have good options as well. At this point, I am ok with another brand, provided it was reliable and well supported during its life.

Thanks all for the help, I sincerely appreciate your input.

I wouldn't bother with even requiring USB3.0 onboard as pretty much all the x58 and all but the latest x79 boards used a super crappy 3rd party USB 3.0 chipset that works correctly maybe 5% of the time.

I have dealt with that with multiple boards and it isn't even worth messing with the USB 3.0 ports on those boards.

You are better off getting an add-in USB 3.0 PCIe card and being done with it.

My only issue with P6T Deluxe V2 were multiple BSODs with AMD 290 card. Somehow they weren't compatible. No issues with an older video card or a newer MB with the same video.

cyclone3d said:

I wouldn't bother with even requiring USB3.0 onboard as pretty much all the x58 and all but the latest x79 boards used a super crappy 3rd party USB 3.0 chipset that works correctly maybe 5% of the time.

I have dealt with that with multiple boards and it isn't even worth messing with the USB 3.0 ports on those boards.

You are better off getting an add-in USB 3.0 PCIe card and being done with it.

Click to expand...

Very interesting, thanks for the input. Is this the general consensus?

ashmelev75 said:

My only issue with P6T Deluxe V2 were multiple BSODs with AMD 290 card. Somehow they weren't compatible. No issues with an older video card or a newer MB with the same video.

Click to expand...

You got lucky, my friend. Mine's been very unstable, and searching shows that several users with the same mobo had the same issue.

Treppiede said:

...There seems to be an engineering problem with this specific Mobo, and mine has the same issue.

Click to expand...

it's not an engineering problem, it's a feature,

gigabyte x58 mobos are pretty solid, don't get evga, it's crap

Treppiede said:

Guys,
Thanks for your input, I appreciate it and I know it's not always going to be what I'd like to hear.

At this point I am not even considering used Mobos. Every now and then I find new ones, and those are typically the ones I consider.

I've been looking at X58 Mobos from old AnandTech reviews, and am in the process of compiling a small list of good candidates. Right now I am focusing on X58 based Mobos offering these features:

USB 3.0
SATA 3.0 6Gb/s
RAID support

Here is what I have so far (X58+USB3+SATA3.0+RAID)

ASRock X58 Extreme3
ASRock X58 Extreme6

ASUS Sabertooth X58
ASUS Rampage III Extreme

INTEL DX58OG
INTEL DX58SO2
[size=-2](comparison link, these two seem to offer much more than the DX58SO, but now I need to find out if they're compatible with my existing RAM, based on what the comparison page says)[/size]

I will have to resume my search later. I know Gigabyte and eVGA have good options as well. At this point, I am ok with another brand, provided it was reliable and well supported during its life.

Thanks all for the help, I sincerely appreciate your input.

Click to expand...

cyclone3d said:

I wouldn't bother with even requiring USB3.0 onboard as pretty much all the x58 and all but the latest x79 boards used a super crappy 3rd party USB 3.0 chipset that works correctly maybe 5% of the time.

I have dealt with that with multiple boards and it isn't even worth messing with the USB 3.0 ports on those boards.

You are better off getting an add-in USB 3.0 PCIe card and being done with it.

Click to expand...

Same thing with SATA 3 actually. The integrated SATA 3 controllers on x58 boards give SATA 2 + maybe 5% performance at best from what I've read. The problem is the Marvell 91xx controller. So even though you technically would have SATA 3, you'll still be massively bottlenecked by a single SSD. A workaround is buying a SATA 3 add in card or RAID controller.

Another option is this PCIE add in card. You attach two SSDs to it, and it sits in a PCIE slot, so SATA is completely out of the picture. I use one of these because I too am limited to SATA II. It is reliable, bootable and you can run it in RAID 0 or 1 with ease. Using this, the bottleneck become the PCIE bus. The card only uses PCIE x4, so if you have PCIE 2.0, that's a 800MB/s transfer rate. I actually do get this in benchmarks. A properly working SATA 3 RAID 0 config would be faster, but whatever. 800MB/s is still nothing to scoff at and it's really good for an x58 system. Oh and less cables to manage!

Other PCIE cards like the HyperX Predator are also an option, but you're limited in capacity, whereas with the former solution it won't cost an arm and a leg to buy your own SSDs and get a 1-4TB solution.

Great info man, thanks for sharing!

I actually do have a PCIe USB 3.0 card (StarTech), but everytime I have to use it I need to press F8 and skip the driver signature check, which is complete bullshit... for this reason, I hoped that having it onboard would have made things easier.

Very interesting that USB 3.0 and SATA III are both poorly implemented in X58/LGA1366 based boards.

I really like the Apricot card you linked. I just wonder if my SSD drives will fit in it, since they came from a server and are much thicker than your typical SSD drives. I will consider buying it, just as soon as I find a good replacement for my motherboard.

P55 boards are the same way. I disabled Sata III and USB 3.0 immediately.

Marvel controllers are the worst....

Hello OP, I had a P6T Deluxe V2 and it was a questionable board as well, when it died I RMA'd it once and it came back about as bad as it was when it went in so I got a newer Asus X58 board and they still don't have Intel 6gbps sata, only marvell sata controllers. They are terrible, avoid at all costs and use a HBA, hw raid card, or build a new rig with nvme. Same for USB 3.0, can second the other poster's experience with USB 3.0 on X58. It's pretty bad, my x79 board is from 2013 and I've had good luck with usb 3.0, intel 6gbps sata 3. If your current machine still functions you could wait for the chipset after x99 or maybe the refreshed x99 for broadwell-e.

I think my X58A-UD3R is having similar problems; I wasn't aware it 'ran in the family'. Even before it started the 'endless restart loop without POSTing', it would sometimes fail to POST or awake from 'sleep mode'.

I thought about the 'used mobo' route but you guys are right; if the other MOBO's have issues they are also just 'waiting to die'. If I can't fix this I will just wait a few months and grab a 6600K