Asus P6X58D Premium vs. Gigabyte X58A-UD7

A

Artex

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 11, 2005
Messages
118
Hey Guys,

My current system is pretty much at the end of it's life (and has been for a while). Seeing as how I cannot upgrade to Vista or Windows 7 due to a hardware incompatibility between the Nvidia Nforce chipset and ATI cards. I'm looking to build a new system over the next month or so to be used primarily for 1920x1200 gaming - non-SLI/Crossfire for now.

Since I'm starting from scratch, I'd like to go all out with the latest and greatest, leaving some room for future upgrades. I've narrowed the majority of the hardware down to what you see below, but I'm torn between the mothboard choices. The Asus looks fantastic and that's what I'm leaning towards at this point, especially with the overclocking results I've seen. The Gigabyte baord is more expensive, and I've read several threads pertaining to RAM compatiblity issues (which can hopefully be fixed with a BIOS rev.) and problems with PCI-E spacing, as well as spacing issues with that giant Northbridge cooler. I do, however, find the added connectivity (2 x combo USB/eSata) attractive as well as the 24 phase power for overlocking. I just don't know if I can justify the price premium over the Asus board. Also, I know that USB 3/Sata3 won't be fully supported by Intel until sometime in 2011, but since I'm starting from scratch, I figured these boards seem to be the cream of the crop so why not have the added functionality. So far it looks like my New Egg wish list comes out to around $2K.

Thoughts on each?


New System Specs:

Intel Core i7 920 (D0)
Corsair 6GB TR3X6G1600C8D
Corsair Obsidion 800D
Corsair 850HX
Corsair Hydro H50 Cpu Cooler (push pull config)
Arctic Silver MX-3 thermal compound
ASUS P6X58D Premium or Gigabyte UD7
Intel X25-M G2 80GB SSD
150GB Velociraptor (from old system)
2TB Western Digital Green (eSata enclosure) (from old system)
Sapphire Radeon 5870


Current Specs:

AMD Athlon X2 4400+ Toledo
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (Socket 939)
Zalman CNPS9500 CPU Cooler
2GB Corsair TwinX2048-LLPRO DDR (PC3500)
Sapphire HD3850 (AGP, yes, it's old...)
150GB Western Digital Raptor
150GB Western Digital Velociraptor
2TB Western Digital Green (eSata enclosure)
700W OCZ Power Supply
24" Asus Monitor
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum
 
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Looks like you'll have a very good system there. Both are good boards and neither will limit your overclock. It comes down to brand preference and layout when discussing these upper tier boards. I've been very happy with my Gigabyte EX58-UD5, so I would probably go with the X58A-UD7 if I was choosing. I have yet to see any conclusive evidence showing that 24-phase power provides a substantial boost in overclocking. If anything, your CPU will reach its threshold before the motherboard ever holds it back.

For non-SLI/Crossfire, you can also take a look at the ASUS P6T or the new Gigabyte X58A-UD3R.
 
Thanks for your reply. I would like to add another 5870 down the road.. Part of the problem is that I haven't see too many reviews on these. There is a nice write-up on the UD7 at HardwareCanucks, but aside from that - not too much else.
 
Solid thread, this is exactly the decision I'm struggling with. Do I take a stab at future proofing and go with the USB3/SATA6 support, or save some bucks and settle for something like the Gigabyte UD5 or one of the previous Asus P6T mobos? Either or, the result will likely have zero effect on my max overclock, it all boils down to whether I honestly believe I'll use the new transfer tech before I require a new mainboard.

EDIT: I'm currently leaning toward to Asus P6X58D, if only because it's $50 CDN cheaper than the Gigabyte UD7. USB3, SATA 6.0, support for 32nm CPUs. I'm beginning to think it's worth the premium.
 
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Yeah, I hear you and I'm leaning that way as well. Plus that ridiculous northbridge cooler on the UD7 seems totally unnecessary and a design flaw in my opinion.
 
Artex said:
Yeah, I hear you and I'm leaning that way as well. Plus that ridiculous northbridge cooler on the UD7 seems totally unnecessary and a design flaw in my opinion.
Click to expand...

the cooler is optional...you don't have to use it if you don't want to
 
For sure. The last thing I want are mounting problems with aftermarket CPU coolers. I love Gigabyte (my GA-P35-DS3R has been nothing but awesome), but I'd rather save myself $50 and the potential aggravation.

polonyc2 said:
the cooler is optional...you don't have to use it if you don't want to
Click to expand...

o rly? Obviously, more research is required.
 
Yeah, I understand it is optional and I don't think I'd use it to begin with - does that justify the price premium? If it was the same price as the Asus board, I think the decision would be easier. If the Asus board had the same connectivity as the Gigabyte board, it would be an easy winner in my opinion. Ahh.. choices, choices..
 
For me, the only real bonus afforded to the UD7 is the 24-phase power. Not sure when or even if that will come into play, at least not in the lifetime of this particular motherboard. I could be wrong, of course. I try not to make it a habit.
 
I've had the P6X58D for about 6 weeks now. I think I lost one of the Intel SATA ports on the board as drives that I plugged into that particular port were not getting recognized. Not a huge deal since the board has 8 SATA ports counting the 2 SATA 6bp/s ports.

Also the machine doesn't boot cleanly, I have to do a soft reboot has a reboot for whatever reason. A couple other people have reported this on the Asus support forums.

That said everything else about this motherboard is pretty sweet. OC'ing has been solid and a breeze.
 
Man, cold boot issues are so common these days on new release high end motherboards. Shame to hear the Asus suffers from it as well. Must be something to do with a specific hardware configuration ...?

Regardless, I'm gonna wait out the month of February before I buy. See what i7 930 brings (cheap 920 D0, at least). Hopefully Asus gets everything sorted with a BIOS update ... or someone releases new hotness to steal top spot on my wishlist.
 
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Yeah, I've been thinking about that 930 as well. I've been modifying this same wish list all year. It's a never-ending cycle! Sometimes I think I should just pull the trigger and be done, and then something awesome comes out. Speaking of D0's, where is everyone getting theirs? NewEgg can't promise me it will be a D0 stepping if I order a 920.
 
I was in the same boat but eventually just pulled the trigger. Going to assemble the parts this weekend.

Got my i7 920 D0 at Microcenter...drove 60 miles to pick it up in person and make sure it was a D0.
 
If you live in the States and there's one within reasonable driving distance, Micro Center is hands down the best place. $199 USD for an 920 D0, but you gotta pick it up in store. They're selling them at a loss hoping to tack on things like x58 motherboards, DDR3 memory, etc. Being Canadian, my only hope would be to drive to California ... though I'm fairly sure the gas consumption would obliterate my profit margin. :rolleyes:

For the rest of us, we're stuck with the usual suspects: Newegg, NCIX, etc. Or the FS\T forums on [H], Anandtech or eBay. You're right though, the etailers will never guarantee a D0 stepping ... unless of course they list the item as such and bloat the price accordingly.
 
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I've also caught wind of the X58A-UD5 (emphasis on the "A"), the Gigabyte UD5 with Sata 6.0 and USB3. It's $50 cheaper than the UD7 with no ridiculous NB cooler. I wonder if the stock cooling is better than the UD7, assuming one were to run the UD7 without the massive northbridge heatsink? Don't think the UD5 has 24-phase power, though. 12+2+2. So it's basically the Gigabyte equivalent of the P6X58D, for all intents and purposes.

Is there any other difference between the X58A-UD5 and the UD7, other than 24-phase power? There must be, something to justify the massive price gap. I need to run over that Hardware Canucks review with a fine tooth comb ...
 
Deeky said:
I've also caught wind of the X58A-UD5 (emphasis on the "A"), the Gigabyte UD5 with Sata 6.0 and USB3. It's $50 cheaper than the UD7 with no ridiculous NB cooler. I wonder if the stock cooling is better than the UD7, assuming one were to run the UD7 without the massive northbridge heatsink? Don't think the UD5 has 24-phase power, though. 12+2+2. So it's basically the Gigabyte equivalent of the P6X58D, for all intents and purposes.

Is there any other difference between the X58A-UD5 and the UD7, other than 24-phase power? There must be, something to justify the massive price gap. I need to run over that Hardware Canucks review with a fine tooth comb ...
Click to expand...

My Gigabyte Extreme's(older iteration of the UD7) northbridge sits at about 43C without the ridiculous northbridge cooler.
 
Deeky said:
Is there any other difference between the X58A-UD5 and the UD7, other than 24-phase power? There must be, something to justify the massive price gap. I need to run over that Hardware Canucks review with a fine tooth comb ...
Click to expand...

Biggest differences are the 24-phase power and the NB water block. If you don't plan on using a water block, the UD5 makes more sense. On the same note, I have yet to see any conclusive evidence that 24-phase power makes a significant difference when overclocking. Regardless, the 12+2+2 phase of the UD5 will not hinder a 4GHz overclock.
 
Maybe 24-phase will start showing dividends when OC'ing 6-core CPUs. Maybe.
 
I'm guessing the i7-980 is going to overclock wonderfully without much help from according to Fudzilla and the rest IT rumormongers. I thinking most people will hit 4.5Ghz with people running close to 5 with only standard decent water cooling.
 
Where is the page about the RAM compatibility issues with the UD7? I'm strongly considering that board as well, but my current board had ram issues, so I'm not about to go through that again if possible, especially if it's a high-end board this time.

Strangely now my biggest concern though is the colors of these boards lol, I think they will look fugly in my 800D case. May wait out for the black and red goodness of the Rampage III extreme.
 
FYI....

There is a difference between

Arctic Silver 5

and

Arctic Cooling MX-3
 
MJZ said:
FYI....

There is a difference between

Arctic Silver 5

and

Arctic Cooling MX-3
Click to expand...

Yes. One is better than the other (MX-3>AS5) because it is typically 1-2C lower. MX-3 also doesn't need any curing time.
 
PC_User said:
Yes. One is better than the other (MX-3>AS5) because it is typically 1-2C lower. MX-3 also doesn't need any curing time.
Click to expand...

Some people think Arctic Silver makes MX-3. They are completely different companies. I'm surprised they haven't litigated actually. I'm guessing one is a knock-off of the other (to build upon consumer confusion for reputation).
 
Wow this thread has blown up! I'm still on the fence here too.. I definitely will go with MX-3 as the reviews have been extremely positive. Too bad the Egg doesn't stock it yet - only MX-2 which is still some of the best compound out there. I do wish both boards had a better color scheme as well - especially for boards this "beefy" and $$$. The whole baby blue and white doesn't feel like a match for the performance offered with each. I defintiely want the 800D to show off the internals, but they really should've done something different in my opinion. I appreciate all the responses thus far guys.
 
BeavermanA said:
Where is the page about the RAM compatibility issues with the UD7? I'm strongly considering that board as well, but my current board had ram issues, so I'm not about to go through that again if possible, especially if it's a high-end board this time.

Strangely now my biggest concern though is the colors of these boards lol, I think they will look fugly in my 800D case. May wait out for the black and red goodness of the Rampage III extreme.
Click to expand...

Quite of the few NewEgg reviews have shown this, as well as the Hardware Canucks article I believe.
 
I'll be using this when I put together the new build. I've heard good things about it, seen some promising numbers compared to other thermal pastes.
 
The Rampage III Extreme looks sick but it's definitely more board than I need ... no doubt with a price tag to match. It's nice to see someone finally getting the PCIe slot arrangement right ... but what the hell is with the two molex power connections?
 
MJZ said:
Some people think Arctic Silver makes MX-3. They are completely different companies. I'm surprised they haven't litigated actually. I'm guessing one is a knock-off of the other (to build upon consumer confusion for reputation).
Click to expand...

I know, many are getting the two Arctics confused. One is Arctic Silver, the other is Arctic Cooling (a Swiss company). However, I'm not sure if AS5 is a knockoff because they've been around for a very long time.

Deeky said:
I'll be using this when I put together the new build. I've heard good things about it, seen some promising numbers compared to other thermal pastes.
Click to expand...

Gelid is good from what I've seen, but the top 5 thermal pastes are all within a degree or two from each other anyway.
 
PC_User said:
Gelid is good from what I've seen, but the top 5 thermal pastes are all within a degree or two from each other anyway.
Click to expand...
True. It's clear there are pastes better than AS5, but once you move beyond that distinction there isn't much separating the contenders.
 
I picked the P6X58D about 5 weeks ago and it has been great. This is my first ground up build and the details are in my sig.
 
Nice, Sherloc. I'm 99% sure the P6X58D will be my next mobo, unless I suddenly decide to save some bucks and opt for AMD. Gonna give it a few weeks. Waiting for word on the i7 930 and maybe some more Fermi details.

Do you have any problems with cold boot?
 
Actually if you want, you can get the Gigabyte UD3R and save more money.

Basically the same board give or take a few difference such as a slightly lower power phase, one less Gig port. Other than that, no much of a difference and you still get USB 3.0 / SATA6.

As for the i7 930, it seems like a lot of news points to an almost identical chip with a +1 multi and maybe a few minor adjustments here and there. It doesn't seem like Intel is ready to roll out a 32nm lower end chip yet as far as current i7s go, they like odd number multi anyways so it doesn't seem like the 22x multi will help that much. But if you can wait a month, then I'm not going to stop you.
 
I've also been considering the X58A-UD3R and the X58A-UD5; both are great. Between the UD5 and the Asus (they're both around $300), I'd still take the Asus. UD3R would definitely be nice to save some coin but the PCIe arrangement isn't ideal for my needs and it's lacking a few of the features I'm looking for. Besides being packed with features, the P6X58D is the only board with the ability to do x16/x16/x1, which is exactly what I need. The slots on the UD3R are dangerously close together and I'd be unable to use 2 of the 4 x16(x8) slots assuming I hope to maintain my x16/x16. There have been reports that the top x1 slot in unusable due to it being too close to the top x16 slot. If that were the case, it would be useless to me.

Not saying the UD3R is out of the running! It's still a definite consideration. An $80 CDN difference is no small change.

The i7 930 ... I'm waiting to see if it drives the price on the 920 D0 down moreso than anything. If the 930 itself manages to exceed expectations, all the better. I'm also waiting on Fermi details. If Fermi looks to be a disaster, I might save hundreds of dollars and go Crossfire-only AM3.
 
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Deeky said:
I've also been considering the X58A-UD3R and the X58A-UD5; both are great. Between the UD5 and the Asus (they're both around $300), I'd still take the Asus. UD3R would definitely be nice to save some coin but the PCIe arrangement isn't ideal for my needs and it's lacking a few of the features I'm looking for. Besides being packed with features, the P6X58D is the only board with the ability to do x16/x16/x1, which is exactly what I need. The slots on the UD3R are dangerously close together and I'd be unable to use 2 of the 4 x16(x8) slots assuming I hope to maintain my x16/x16. There have been reports that the top x1 slot in unusable due to it being too close to the top x16 slot. If that were the case, it would be useless to me.

Not saying the UD3R is out of the running! It's still a definite consideration. An $80 CDN difference is no small change.

The i7 930 ... I'm waiting to see if it drives the price on the 920 D0 down moreso than anything. If the 930 itself manages to exceed expectations, all the better. I'm also waiting on Fermi details. If Fermi looks to be a disaster, I might save hundreds of dollars and go Crossfire-only AM3.
Click to expand...

Well the 4 PCI-E x16 layout on the new UD3R is only if you want USB 3.0 / SATA 6. If not, then the older Gigabyte UD3R is even cheaper by about $35USD and probably has the more widely-used layout. Plus, it seems the PCI-E x1 slot above the first PCI-E x16 slot has enough clearance for a sound card so you wouldn't even have to occupy a PCI-E x1 card in a x16 slot.
 
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