Which low/mid range i7 board?

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SkyMonkey

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I'm looking for a lower/mid end motherboard for an i7 build.

I'm a tweak it and leave it type user, I'll probably spend a few days getting my i7 920 up as high as I can get it on air, and then leave it there for a year plus. I don't need a ton of fancy overclocking features, nor am I willing to pay for something like the EVGA Classified. I'd like to own it sure, but it's just not worth the price premium to me at this point.

I'd like this board to last me 2 years on the i7 platform, hopefully longer. Current system is ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe with an Opteron 185. I've had this motherboard for 4+ years, and the processor for 2+. I tend to buy a good motherboard and then hold on to it for a long time, upgrading CPU/GPUs occasionally. I am not interested in being on the bleeding edge, or even the leading edge for a long time.

Other considerations:
Onboard audio is a don't care, I have a Auzentech Prelude that I <3 long time.
SLI is a must, 3 way SLI is a don't care.
High reliability and good customer service are pluses. I've loved EVGA in this regard for video cards, but their low end X58 motherboard isn't all that hot from what I've read.
Price should be $250 or less. $300 is not out of the question for killer motherboard, but it'd have to offer a lot over the competition.

Under consideration:
Asus PT6
Asus PT6 Deluxe (microcenter is having a sale I believe, I'm getting the the i7-920 from them tomorrow)
Gigabyte EX58-UD3R (All X58 motherboards from Gigabyte are now SLI compatible through BIOS updates. Understand there are some quality issues here though?)
MSI X58 Platinum

Does anyone have direct experience with the above boards? Or are there others I should be looking at? I read the tech report review on them, and would read other reviews if I could find them. These middle/lower end boards are pretty new to the X58 world it seems.

Thanks!
 
I like my eVGA X58 SLI. It actually has a number of the features that the Classified brags about.

I honestly haven't heard of anyone really disliking any of the X58 boards. They all seem to be pretty similar, other than RAM slots and expansion card layout. Most of the complaints I've heard were about companies in general ("___ support sucks so I won't buy their X58 board") rather than a specific X58 board.
 
I'd go with the ASUS P6T or the Gigabyte EX58-UD3R. Keep in mind that the UD3R is about $40-50 less than the ASUS.
 
i say go with the EVGA X58 SLI-TR $270 - $10mir. great product with great customer service and frequent bios updates.
 
I would probably go with the Gigabyte EX58-UD3R. Pretty much all of the x58 boards offer decent performance. If you just want to clock it as high as you can and then leave it, you might as well go with a decent board from a well know manufacturer.
 
Currently I'm leaning towards the Gigabyte, I can grab it locally tomorrow for $200 including tax (after rebate).

I'm not sure what the evga really offers over it except for the customer service factor (which admittedly is awesome, but ~$100 awesome, probably not).

Price isn't so much the factor, it's more feature/performance at a given price point for my typical use.

How are Gigabytes 775 motherboards holding up reliability wise?
 
EX58-UD3R powering my main rig right now. I couldn't be happier with a motherboard then I am with this one.
 
Kyo said:
+1 :p

The board can be easily flashed with the more expensive Pro SLI bios (link). Newegg (link)
Click to expand...

But is that officially supported or is it warranty voiding? Gigabyte allows you to flash SLI support onto their non-SLI X58 boards AND keep your warranty.
 
auceny said:
i say go with the EVGA X58 SLI-TR $270 - $10mir. great product with great customer service and frequent bios updates.
Click to expand...

+1

I wasn't a big fan of EVGA's 680 series motherboards (who was?), but I really love this board. I didnt care about the 2 year warranty on the TR version because i upgrade yearly anyway, so money saved there. Right now, I have my i7 920 running 4.2 GHz on a TRUE. I haven't even tried to reach higher yet. I'm waitng until my AS5 is cured within 200 hrs. I just went by the EVGA forum recommended settings and BAM! I've ran IBT 10 times, no problems. Great customer service and frequent bios updates are icing on the cake. I was considering the Classfied version, but I'd just be spending $200 more on a board that I can do the same speeds on now. I will say the Classfied does look awesome!
 
I wouldn't spend 70 bucks more just for an extra 2 ram slots. I think the EVGA boards really don't fit this bill well at all.
 
I settled on the Gigabyte EX58-UD3R, and had to wait a few days for my RAM (Crucial Balistix 1600) and velociraptor to come in. They came yesterday and I threw the ram in for a quick boot check. First boot = success. Pushed bclock up to 166 and another boot was just as successful. Tonight or tomorrow the journey begins in earnest. 3.8GHz is a good goal, but I'll be happy with a bit less than that fully stable.

So far it looks like the mobo was a good choice, but the devils in the oc'ing details.

Also, I'm barely seeing the boot screen by the time my graphics card comes up. I'm thinking this may be an issue the gpu (9800GTX+) but I'm not sure. Are slow boots a norm with these x58 boards? Power button to screen on is probably about 10s. 6-7s to the post beep.
 
SkyMonkey said:
I settled on the Gigabyte EX58-UD3R, and had to wait a few days for my RAM (Crucial Balistix 1600) and velociraptor to come in. They came yesterday and I threw the ram in for a quick boot check. First boot = success. Pushed bclock up to 166 and another boot was just as successful. Tonight or tomorrow the journey begins in earnest. 3.8GHz is a good goal, but I'll be happy with a bit less than that fully stable.

So far it looks like the mobo was a good choice, but the devils in the oc'ing details.

Also, I'm barely seeing the boot screen by the time my graphics card comes up. I'm thinking this may be an issue the gpu (9800GTX+) but I'm not sure. Are slow boots a norm with these x58 boards? Power button to screen on is probably about 10s. 6-7s to the post beep.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's normal behavior for this board. Mine does it too. Overclocking very far will get you the double post issue, but that is normal too and not a problem, so don't freak out when you push further and that starts happening.
 
Unless the OP has a reason to go mATX (reduced case size, lan computer, etc), there's no benefit of a mATX board over an ATX board. And there are several negatives... less card slots, fewer sata ports, etc.

The OP also stated he wanted SLI (but not necessarily tri-sli) AND a pci slot for his sound card. So that board would only satisfy his requirements if he was using single slot coolers for his cards, which is unlikely.


While a mATX board has worked for you, maybe reading the OPs list of requirements first would help?
 
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He didnt say he needed a slot for his A-tech Prelude sound card, only that he didnt care since he had that. In this case though, the GENE has software X-Fi... so would he need a slot for the card or not?!!?

I suppose we need more info from the OP to be sure. Whatever though, Im not here to argue really (no really, Im not!). Sometimes you mention a product, and even if it wasnt what you wanted in the first place, you like it for other reasons so it still works. The GENE is a great package with alot of the $350 board features for alot less. If the OP says its too cramped, so be it.
 
"Onboard audio is a don't care, I have a Auzentech Prelude that I <3 long time."

Hmm... Does that sound like he wants a slot for it? 0_o
 
Sounds like he could go either or... maybe if this board has good enough audio, he might end up using that card in another box...
 
What's funny is that the OP already bought AND built his comp before the GENE board was even suggested.
 
All thread crapping and off topic with relation to the OP is deleted. The OP has made his decision. Post in a new thread and please review the forum rules on thread crapping and off topic posting.
 
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