Help me find a clean, solid, well designed motherboard

J

JPS

2[H]4U
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May 2, 2001
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I sat down last night to start to design a new workstation for myself as I have been upgrading several client PCs and I am starting to realize my E8400 is a little underpowered for my current needs. I am settled on CPU and am going with a quad-core S1156 or S1136 CPU - need need for hexa-core and I do not foresee such a need either.

What I cannot find a good motherboard - for either socket. By the end, I am sure this will sound like a <rant>, but I am amazed it is so hard to find a clean, basic motherboard. By that I mean one that is not loaded with onboard sound as almost every onboard solution sounds like crap. I want a motherboard where if it does have onboard features, say with the NIC(s), it uses quality parts like Intel chipsets. I want a motherboard that gives you the ability to overclock, should you want to. I do not want a motherboard that uses crazy colors and LEDs - I know there is a market demographic for this, but I am sure there is a demographic like clean understated designs as well.

In terms of manufacturer's I am a fan of pretty much Asus, Gigabyte, and Supermicro. They all make great motherboards, but finding one that meets the criteria I laid out above is harder than finding a Yeti. Gigabyte is pretty much ruled out at the beginning b/c they all have onbaord sound, they continue to put FDD and PATA headers on their boards, and their colors tend to make me want to vomit. Now, I use their motherboards all day long for client builds because they are well made and offer features that are suitable for client builds, but for my own workstation, no dice. Asus makes great boards as well, and right now, their Maximus III Formula is almost what I am looking for. My gripes against it are the colors used and the heatsinks around the socket - they are pretty much sized for decoration and not function. Flip it over to Supermicro and I like their MBD-X8SIA-F-O motherbaord except for the fact, that I need to run Xeons (cost), I could not overclock (well) the CPU used, and there is limited cooling around the socket and the chipsets.

Can someone point me to a hybrid of the best of the Asus Maximus III Formula and the Supermicro MBD-X8SIA-F-O? Does such a motherboard even exist or should I be content to settle for something that is less than ideal?
 
Look at the ASUS Sabertooth(X58 or P55) or the EVGA P55 boards.

Yes they have on board sound, but if you choose not to use it, no loss.

The sabertooth although decked out like a deer hunter, is a very feature rich board for the price.:D
 
bigdogchris said:
I personally feel Gigabyte makes some of the best boards.
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I agree - they make great boards and as I mentioned above, I use them often when I build custom PCs for clients. I am just not a fan of the colors they use, the fact that they tend to use crappy NIC and audio chipsets, and the fact that they still include PATA and FDD headers.
 
You're not going to find a motherboard without crappy onboard sound, but the ASUS Rampage III Extreme and Formula use Intel chipsets for their integrated NICs rather than crappy Realtek or Marvell controllers. Here's the Formula: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131666

The Maximus III Formula is a good choice if you decide to go with LGA1156. Although the heatsinks aren't huge, you have to keep in mind that the P55 chipset produces little heat since most of the northbridge functions are built into the CPU.
 
JPS said:
What I cannot find a good motherboard - for either socket. By the end, I am sure this will sound like a <rant>, but I am amazed it is so hard to find a clean, basic motherboard. By that I mean one that is not loaded with onboard sound as almost every onboard solution sounds like crap. I want a motherboard where if it does have onboard features, say with the NIC(s), it uses quality parts like Intel chipsets. I want a motherboard that gives you the ability to overclock, should you want to. I do not want a motherboard that uses crazy colors and LEDs - I know there is a market demographic for this, but I am sure there is a demographic like clean understated designs as well.
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+1000000. Intel NICs FTW. Since ASUS has apparently seen the light with the Rampage III series, I'm hoping all their future boards will also have Intel NICs.

As for onboard sound, yes, it's crap. What's wrong with disabling it? That's what I do.
 
Sorry to go off track here, but I can't tell the difference between onboard audio and a "good" sound card. It makes me wonder even more because I have been commented on my superb listening ability lol
 
IronRuler said:
Sorry to go off track here, but I can't tell the difference between onboard audio and a "good" sound card. It makes me wonder even more because I have been commented on my superb listening ability lol
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If you can't tell the difference then you either don't have very good hearing or you aren't using quality speakers or headphones. With a good set of speakers or a good pair of cans, the difference is significant.
 
I'd go with one of these 3 MBs:

ASUS P6X58D-E
Pros: Board has been out awhile so more stable. Relatively cheap. Slot layout good for either PCI or PCIE expansion cards when using 2 GPUs.

ASUS Sabertooth
Pros: 5yr warranty
Cons: Poor PCI slot placement for expansion card /w 2 GPUs.
Ugly/clashing color scheme for a lot of people.

ASUS RIII Formula
Pros: Intel Nic, comes with XFI sound, best looking MB of the 3.
Cons: Noticeable price difference than the other 2 MBs. With 2 gpus in top and bottom slots pci slot is unusable.
 
ASUS Sabertooth for the price/performance. I have heard only good things.

ASUS R3 if the price is of little concern.
 
I have spent a fair bit of time looking deeper into this. The Supermicro board I originally linked to is my favorite, but I cannot overclock (much), the RAM is pricier as it has to be x8, and the Xeon CPUs are spendier - rat farts.

Moving back to the (pro)sumer side of the equaition, I have pretty much settled on S1156 and am not going to pursue S1136 - just no clear advantage as I will not be running two graphics cards so I am not concerned about the x16 pipelines, nor do I need triple-channel RAM. However, no matter what board I get, I will be disabling the onboard sound and NIC and using add-on cards, Xonar for sound and Intel for the NIC.

Given that, I am pretty sure it is down to either the Asus Sabertooth 55i or the EVGA P55 FTW. Cost is a big difference between the two, even with rebates. I do like that the EVGA has 3 mechanical PCI-E x16 slots as I have other add-on cars that I would like to use and the Sabertooth only has one extra x16 slot. Not a deal breaker, but nice nonetheless. Beyond price and slot configurations, the two seem pretty similar to me as I will be neutering the sound and NIC so I don't care about those differences. I do wish the Sabertooth did not have a PATA controller, but it is not the end of the world. Might even get some use out of it if I resurrect my Plextor CD-R that I used to use for rips of bad discs.

I have read reviews for both and again, they seem pretty much spot on - does anyone have any real world experience or differences that I am missing that I should consider or that might sway my decision clearly to one or the other?
 
I just finished a build using the EVGA P55 FTW 200 board.
I found it to be very well built and a snap to overclock.

Due to the need for stability rather than outrageous clock speeds I settled in at a 185 BClk and right on the mark at 1600 MHz for the Ram.

The board has a very well designed BIOS, and actually has three BIOS chips if that floats your boat. The board design is very clean and well organized.

I got a great price + MIR so I think I spent around 179 dollars.
I used a Ci5 750 (no need for hyperthreading) and Corsair Dominators.
The package was very complete, nothing you didn't want, everything you'd need,

All that and you can't beat EVGAs customer service.
My son has been abusing this board on a daily basis and it's a stable as they come.
 
JPS said:
I have spent a fair bit of time looking deeper into this. The Supermicro board I originally linked to is my favorite, but I cannot overclock (much), the RAM is pricier as it has to be x8, and the Xeon CPUs are spendier - rat farts.

Moving back to the (pro)sumer side of the equaition, I have pretty much settled on S1156 and am not going to pursue S1136 - just no clear advantage as I will not be running two graphics cards so I am not concerned about the x16 pipelines, nor do I need triple-channel RAM. However, no matter what board I get, I will be disabling the onboard sound and NIC and using add-on cards, Xonar for sound and Intel for the NIC.

Given that, I am pretty sure it is down to either the Asus Sabertooth 55i or the EVGA P55 FTW. Cost is a big difference between the two, even with rebates. I do like that the EVGA has 3 mechanical PCI-E x16 slots as I have other add-on cars that I would like to use and the Sabertooth only has one extra x16 slot. Not a deal breaker, but nice nonetheless. Beyond price and slot configurations, the two seem pretty similar to me as I will be neutering the sound and NIC so I don't care about those differences. I do wish the Sabertooth did not have a PATA controller, but it is not the end of the world. Might even get some use out of it if I resurrect my Plextor CD-R that I used to use for rips of bad discs.

I have read reviews for both and again, they seem pretty much spot on - does anyone have any real world experience or differences that I am missing that I should consider or that might sway my decision clearly to one or the other?
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If hexa-core CPUs are under your consideration, keep in mind that LGA 1156 is pretty much a dead-end platform at this point. That's because there will be no more new worthwhile CPUs coming out for that socket for the remainder of its production life. The only new CPUs for that socket will simply be higher-clocked versions of the existing chips.

For that matter, LGA 1366 is also a dead-end platform. The only new "consumer/enthusiast"-level CPU coming out for that platform will simply be a higher-clocked version of the hexa-core i7-980X Extreme. Intel has no current plans whatsoever to introduce a lower-cost hexacore CPU, making the current i7-970 the bottom of Intel's hexa-core lineup (however expensive that CPU actually is).
 
E4g1e said:
If hexa-core CPUs are under your consideration, keep in mind that LGA 1156 is pretty much a dead-end platform at this point. That's because there will be no more new worthwhile CPUs coming out for that socket for the remainder of its production life. The only new CPUs for that socket will simply be higher-clocked versions of the existing chips.

For that matter, LGA 1366 is also a dead-end platform. The only new "consumer/enthusiast"-level CPU coming out for that platform will simply be a higher-clocked version of the hexa-core i7-980X Extreme. Intel has no current plans whatsoever to introduce a lower-cost hexacore CPU, making the current i7-970 the bottom of Intel's hexa-core lineup (however expensive that CPU actually is).
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I have no need for hex-core now, or in the forseable future. I did just finish building 3 workstations built around hexa-core chips and if you have the means and software to leverage such power they are impressive beasts.
 
JPS said:
Given that, I am pretty sure it is down to either the Asus Sabertooth 55i or the EVGA P55 FTW. Cost is a big difference between the two, even with rebates.
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Also remember, the Sabertooth 55i was a $200 board until the recent price drop + rebate. So you're getting the high quality pcb and caps of a high end board, for a closeout price because it doesn't have the latest and greatest USB 3.0 and SATA III.

I ordered mine today.
 
woodchuck69 said:
Also remember, the Sabertooth 55i was a $200 board until the recent price drop + rebate. So you're getting the high quality pcb and caps of a high end board, for a closeout price because it doesn't have the latest and greatest USB 3.0 and SATA III.

I ordered mine today.
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All points noted. I am going with the Sabertooth 55i and an X3440 CPU - I have a 10% off coupon at the Egg so I will be ordering later this week. Now I am just trying to figure out which memory I want, as I will be running 16GB and the only Mushkin I can get for that config is CAS9 Redline. Hmmmm....decisions, decisions, decisions.
 
My Sabertooth just arrived. Holy cow this thing is beefy. I thought there had to be something else inside the anti-static bag that was making it weigh so much... nope just the board.
 
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