Best i7 Motherboard?

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vjcsmoke

Supreme [H]ardness
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Asus Rampage 2 or Gigabyte UD5 or DFI T3eH8 Ultra?

What's best for a crossfire i7 system?

Also which one can I get cheapest? Any great deals out there?
 
Best is really dependent on your needs... and cheapest and best normally don't go together either.

What are you looking to spend? What are you requirements or wants beyond crossfire.

I really like my P6T6 and I think it's one of the best i7 boards out right now, however it might not be ideal for you.
 
Oh man, someone just pointed out that the rampage 2 was a micro ATX board. Will that even fit in my lian li midtower case? That just seems weird.
 
aaah. Thanks for clearing that up. I was like, wtf?

How gimped is the P6T SE compared to the deluxe and the regular version?
How about the EVGA LE classified vs the regular classified?
 
vjcsmoke said:
aaah. Thanks for clearing that up. I was like, wtf?

How gimped is the P6T SE compared to the deluxe and the regular version?
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The P6T SE has pretty poor spacing of the PCI-E slots for crossfire, since both your cards will be right against each other in the first two slots. The P6T Deluxe V2 however is free of this limitation.
 
Does the P6T Deluxe overclock well? How is the motheboard layout compared to others?
Are x58 mobos going to go down in price any time soon. Hmm. All the decent ones seem to be around $300.
 
I just sold me EVGA x58 "Vanilla" board or standard one. I got the x58 LE version instead and love it!
 
vjcsmoke said:
Does the P6T Deluxe overclock well? How is the motheboard layout compared to others?
Are x58 mobos going to go down in price any time soon. Hmm. All the decent ones seem to be around $300.
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I think all the X58 boards overclock well, you have to remember this is the highend chipset and if you check out the roadmap it will continue to be.

I doubt they're going to come down much in price soon, since the 6 core Gulftowns are supposed to work on this platform as well. The current generation boards will get cheaper once things like USB3 come out, but that's not for a while. If you're buying now, or within the next month or so I'd say things will probably stay the way they are.
 
How about the Foxconn motherboards? They look cheaper. They have flaming blade, blood rage, and renaissance models.
Is the MSI x58 Platinum SLI a good motherboard or does it fail at overclocking. It only has 8 capacitors?

Oh and lastly I just noticed the Asrock x58 Deluxe has a ton of features and can be found for only around $200. QuadSLI, CrossfireX, Tri SLI, 24gb ddr3 2000, etc.
Does anyone have any experience with this because I can't find any reviews.

I guess I'm looking for best bang for the buck.

Ok which mobo is better - Asrock x58 Deluxe or Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R?
Can either of these mobos get an i7 920 to 4ghz?
 
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The udr3 only has 4 dimm slots. For the money the asrock has more bells and whistles. I have a p6t gen one and co stepping 920 - I can run 4.0 all day but it gets really hot (even with my mugen2) so I decided to go highest clock with no other changes other than fsb. I have 3.6 ghz with HT and all the bells and whistles turned one with nothing more than a fsb boost
 
vjcsmoke said:
Is the MSI x58 Platinum SLI a good motherboard or does it fail at overclocking. It only has 8 capacitors?
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I got mine to 3.8 on stock cooling, didn't get even a chance to put my Dark Knight on it or I'm sure I'd have been at 4GHZ+ on a non-D0. I still can't recommend the board though, too many little things, like it refused to take my HV20 via firewire, one of the main reasons I went i7..
 
What about the Foxconn Bloodrage?

50a.jpg


It looks very sexy but only has 3 memory slots?
 
I'm going to have to reccomend the P6T Deluxe. It's been rock solid for me and has perfect slot spacing for Crossfire. All X58s overclock well just beecause it's less board based with the on die controller and they're the ultra high end chipset for Intel. You can't really go wrong with any of them, I would just choose what fits your needs.
 
Does it have 10 sata ports and SAS? I seem to not have enough sata ports. I wish some of these more expensive i7 mobos would drop a bit. You'd think they would in today's world economy.
 
I have the Asus R2E, nice board, clocks my d0/xeon up to 4.2 (w/HT & 12 MB) effortlessly on 1.3 v. ; actually had it up to 4.4 @ 1.3 v (HT & 12 MB) , but it BSOD'd after an hour - I did not push it any further.

I run it 24x7 at [email protected] (HT enabled + 12 MB) (200x20) without issue.
 
Do you mean an Asus x58 Deluxe Version 2?

Ok so what's the deal with open box? I see some motherboards on newegg are listed as open box but a lot cheaper. What happens if something is wrong with it and you need to return it? What items are generally end up open boxed? Isn't there something inherently wrong with it?

Anyone have any opinions on the Gigabyte x58 UD5?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128362
 
vjcsmoke said:
Do you mean an Asus x58 Deluxe Version 2?
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R2E = Rampage II Extreme


vjcsmoke said:
Ok so what's the deal with open box? I see some motherboards on newegg are listed as open box but a lot cheaper. What happens if something is wrong with it and you need to return it? What items are generally end up open boxed? Isn't there something inherently wrong with it?


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128362
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I've never had a problem with Newegg open box mother boards, B U T they do not come with any accys. In the case of a high end board that's usually pretty substantial. Besides the usual junk mine came with special SLI & Cross fire connectors, an LCD readout and a bunch of sensors that you could install if you were so inclined.
 
I would trade my eVGA Vanilla 758 board for an eVGA LE cause it looks SO much better and the functionality is fairly similar unless of course you need the extra functionality

The eVGA LE has a pulse! a motherboard is sort of like the heart of your PC... with a pulse!
 
Doesn't seem to be a consensus on what mobo is the best bang for the buck yet.

Some names I've heard mentioned:

eVGA Classified - $400. Excellent but a bit too pricey.
Asus P6T Deluxe - $300. Not too expensive but it won't fit a 3rd dual slot card.
Gigabyte EX58-UD5. $279. Up to 3 cards. Gigabyte quality and ease of use. But supposedly slow to post.
Rampage 2 Extreme Gene. $220. Affordable and supposedly a good overclocker but microATX form limits expansion.

Any other candidates?
 
vjcsmoke said:
Doesn't seem to be a consensus on what mobo is the best bang for the buck yet.

Some names I've heard mentioned:

eVGA Classified - $400. Excellent but a bit too pricey.
Asus P6T Deluxe - $300. Not too expensive but it won't fit a 3rd dual slot card.
Gigabyte EX58-UD5. $279. Up to 3 cards. Gigabyte quality and ease of use. But supposedly slow to post.
Rampage 2 Extreme Gene. $220. Affordable and supposedly a good overclocker but microATX form limits expansion.

Any other candidates?
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R2E (full sized board, not the Gene)

ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution

Bang for the buck is another issue, GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R for $175 AR hard to beat in that dept.
 
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Hmm the low end gigabyte is interesting, but what features did they cut out to get to that price point? I think a lot of low end boards cut out sli support...

What about the P6T non-deluxe motherboard. Not the SE though.
 
Is the slow post something that affects all X58 boards or only certain bios makers and mobo makers?

I have been wanting to get the Asus P6T6 WS board but due to the insane price here in Australia I have also been eyeing the EVGA X58 SLI LE which some people mention also suffers from the slow posts.
 
I went ahead and ordered the Asus P6t Deluxe v2.
After bing cashback it's gonna end up being 228.

Oh but warning, Superbiiz charges you $2.50 signature fee on paypal orders over 250, so it really ended up being $230.50.
And I gotta wait 60 days before I can claim the cashback.
Hmmm....

Now all that's left is a processor and heatsink.

I hope I made the right choice picking the ASUS Deluxe over the Gigabyte UD5.
 
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vjcsmoke said:
I went ahead and ordered the Asus P6t Deluxe v2.
After bing cashback it's gonna end up being 228.

........

I hope I made the right choice picking the ASUS Deluxe over the Gigabyte UD5.
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If you are going to pick "Asus P6T Deluxe V2" why not the "ASUS P6TD Deluxe" It's sort of like v3. P6TD Deluxe has Stack Cool3+ with 8 layer PCB + additional 2 layers and 2oz copper which the P6T Deluxe V2 doesn't have. Also P6TD Deluxe is 16+3 phase design while P6T Deluxe V2 is 16+2 phase design.
 
Classified.:D
Just plain works and works great.

#2 X58 SLi
Excellent board.........had one before the Classified.

LE looks good too..........never had one though.

Any EVGA X58 board will support Crossfire.
 
wormbaby said:
If you are going to pick "Asus P6T Deluxe V2" why not the "ASUS P6TD Deluxe" It's sort of like v3. P6TD Deluxe has Stack Cool3+ with 8 layer PCB + additional 2 layers and 2oz copper which the P6T Deluxe V2 doesn't have. Also P6TD Deluxe is 16+3 phase design while P6T Deluxe V2 is 16+2 phase design.
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Because P6TD Deluxe doesn't give me about $60 of Bing cashback. Besides I really doubt I'm gonna notice the difference between 16+2 and 16+3 phase cool design. :) But thanks for the suggestion.
 
According to reviewers, the P6TD deluxe does not support C0 stepping of the 920. That is odd, I wonder if will support the new 6 cores coming out? That is kind of a priority in my mind for what the best "x58" motherboard is.

The classified looks to be an amazing board, but $400? Seriously? Is it *really* worth $200 more?

The LE EVGA board would be PERFECT if it had another x16 slot. Sooooo close to perfect.

I'm debating on ordering the P6TD Deluxe. I'm not worried about the stepping as I managed to get a d0, but I just hope the gufftowns will be supported :(
 
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I'm not saying the Classified is a good value proposition -- far from it. I think if you have to ask yourself if it's really worth $200 more than a P6T or EVGA LE, then you've already answered your question. :) However, from a pure enthusiast standpoint -- from a giddy, hey I'm buying into an X chipset and not a P chipset anyway, so lets go all out, attitude -- the Classified is king of the mountain IMO.

The Gigabyte UD5 would be king (it may very well be queen) if it had the PCI-E layout of the Classifed, and if it could support as extreme BCLKs and RAM OCs (and if it didn't have that awful color scheme.) The P6T6 and P6T7 would be worth contenders to the thrown, in my opinion, if they didn't have NF200 chips. The P6T Deluxe was thrown out of the running, in my opinion, when they through out the extra SATA/SAS controller without replacing it.
 
vjcsmoke said:
Hmm the low end gigabyte is interesting, but what features did they cut out to get to that price point? I think a lot of low end boards cut out sli support..
Click to expand...

you are correct, there is a version of the UD3R-SLI, but you can flash the straight UD3R too. I know a guy that has one and loves it. He does not need, or want, more than 6 gb of ram
 
wormbaby said:
If you are going to pick "Asus P6T Deluxe V2" why not the "ASUS P6TD Deluxe" It's sort of like v3. P6TD Deluxe has Stack Cool3+ with 8 layer PCB + additional 2 layers and 2oz copper which the P6T Deluxe V2 doesn't have. Also P6TD Deluxe is 16+3 phase design while P6T Deluxe V2 is 16+2 phase design.
Click to expand...

vjcsmoke said:
Because P6TD Deluxe doesn't give me about $60 of Bing cashback.
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I just bought the P6TD with 60 bucks cashback from Ewiz (SuperBiiz). Though I'm not sure where 16+3 got started. Mine is 16+2. Asus web site also specifies 16+2. If there are 16+3 models out there then I need to RMA. I can't report how well it does though cause I won't have it built for a few months. :(
 
I've only had my P6T Deluxe for about a month now, but so far it's been rock solid. I haven't overclocked it for daily use yet since the i7 at stock clocks is beastly. But I did a mild test overclock on it up to 3.6Ghz and had no problems.
 
I have a regular ASUS P6T and run 3.6GHz (just my initial playing) with no issues all day. It "only" supports 12GB or RAM, but who cares? $250 was a price I could deal with, especially after getting my RAM for $95 and taking advantage of the Microcenter $199.99 i7 deal.

Checked again and it looks like a BIOS update resolved the 12GB RAM limitation and it supports 24GB..sweet!

http://asus.com/Product.aspx?P_ID=QtpKQuERkuYw6trc&content=specifications
 
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Shotglass01 said:
I just bought the P6TD with 60 bucks cashback from Ewiz (SuperBiiz). Though I'm not sure where 16+3 got started. Mine is 16+2. Asus web site also specifies 16+2. If there are 16+3 models out there then I need to RMA. I can't report how well it does though cause I won't have it built for a few months. :(
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*shrug* Oh well. Ewiz did give me an extra 10 bucks off my P6t Deluxe v2. They trotted out a $10 coupon on monday, i asked for it, and they applied it no probs. :)
Oh just noticed that Ewiz's cashback is down to 15% now.

Hmm, I really can't find a difference between P6T v2 and P6TD except for the Stackcool 3 vs Stackcool 2.

http://usa.asus.com/compare.aspx

Well I emailed ewiz to see if I could swap the P6Tv2 for the P6TD Deluxe. Hopefully the motherboard hasn't shipped yet and they can fix things. Stack cool 3 does sound pretty nice. I just hope that doesn't mess with my bing cashback cos I need that $60 back!! *crossing fingers*
 
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