Which of these 5 mobos and why?

O

Operaghost

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 4, 2004
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Listed below is the rig I'm throwing together. Tell me which mobo you would choose and why.

CPU - C2Q Q6600 G0
RAM - 4x2GB OCZ Reaper DDR2 800 (might change this to 2x2GB of DDR1066
PSU - PCP&C S75CF 750W
HDD - Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB SATA 3.0
HSF - Xigmatek HDT-S1283
Case - Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower
OS - Vista Home Premium SP1 64 bit System Builders OEM
GPU - Either HD 4870 X2 or I might wait for Nvidia to drop the GTX 295 and get that

Here are the mobos I'm looking at:

MSI P43 Neo3-F LGA 775 Intel P43 $85

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L $99

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R $120

ASUS P5Q Pro $130

ASUS P5Q Deluxe $189

So which mobo would you choose, and more importantly, why?

This rig is being built for purely for gaming, and I'd like to try and OC the Q6600 to 3.6 if possible.
 
You will not go wrong with either the P5Q Pro or the UD3R - these two are right now, without a doubt, the best overclocking P45 boards available right now and the "best bang for the buck". The P5Q Deluxe isn't worth the extra cost. If I had to choose between the P5Q Pro or the UD3R, I'd probably choose the UD3R just because I see more UD3R/UD3P users on [H]ard and XS. I've never liked the P43 chipset for some reason so that eliminates the MSI board from your list for me.
 
I have a question about the "Memory Standard" specification. On the UD3R it says the standard is DDR2 1366+/1066. What exactly does this "standard" mean? The board is optimized to run its memory at these speeds? Will there be a loss in performance if I'm running DDR2 800?
 
Stay away from Gigacrap, have had only bad luck with their crappy MB:s and it was MB releated isuues that was solved bu going to ASUS.
 
Operaghost said:
I have a question about the "Memory Standard" specification. On the UD3R it says the standard is DDR2 1366+/1066. What exactly does this "standard" mean? The board is optimized to run its memory at these speeds? Will there be a loss in performance if I'm running DDR2 800?
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Those are maximum speeds, you will not see a performance loss if running slower memory than the boards maximum rating. The memory will run as fast as the memory used is specified to run unless you overclock the memory.

E.R said:
Stay away from Gigacrap, have had only bad luck with their crappy MB:s and it was MB releated isuues that was solved bu going to ASUS.
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and there's probably someone the exact opposite of you saying the same thing about ASUS. :p Replies like this are silly and, given the large user base of both manufacturers, doesn't usually have the impact the poster hopes to make.
 
E.R said:
Stay away from Gigacrap, have had only bad luck with their crappy MB:s and it was MB releated isuues that was solved bu going to ASUS.
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Ya, without any REASONING behind crapping on a manufacturer, your argument holds no water. Hence why I asked WHY people would choose this or that board.

Every manufacturer has problems, nobody is perfect. Next time you want to crap on a company, try listing specific examples.

I'm leaning towards the gigabyte board thanks to you ;)
 
Operaghost said:
I'm leaning towards the gigabyte board thanks to you ;)
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There are so many UD3R and P boards out there in use without any problems that one can be assured there aren't any engineering issues indicating a bad overall design. Sure, there can be bad batches and a DOA here and there but that can happen with ANY board from ANY manufacturer.
 
Operaghost said:
Ya, without any REASONING behind crapping on a manufacturer, your argument holds no water. Hence why I asked WHY people would choose this or that board.

Every manufacturer has problems, nobody is perfect. Next time you want to crap on a company, try listing specific examples.

I'm leaning towards the gigabyte board thanks to you ;)
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It is wellknown that using 4 dimms on the GAX38DQ6 is a big failure for highspeed memorys when you whant to OC both mem and CPU. It was 100% impossible to run a acceptable OC of over 3GHz on the Q6600 G0 CPU and keep memory at rated speed of 1150MHz. Every avalibe BIOS Official as BETA had same more or less big and severe issue and it did take a dip finaly and died on me. Moving on to the Maximus SE solved all the problem and a decent OC of 3,6+ and memory at 1250MHz was possible at lower Vcore than on the DQ6. Only bad about Maximus is the NB heat, but that is cheap and easy solved.
It is up to you to serching and you will find that i was not alone with this major major issue of this crapboard that never got a decent BIOS before it was renamed X48. Problem is that Gigabyte uses components that not was up to the task and to me it stinks lowquality around this board when usage of 4 dimms is not possible and OC the same time, but if you never ever going to OC then Gigabyte it the brand to go due to price but nothing more.
If you buy gigabyte then you will be dissapointed as some tends to buy lowquality junk just for its price and not pick quality over price and cheat themselfs, but that is all you loss as you seems to go the wrong route.
I highly doubt that the issues are as severe with the Maximus/Rampage as it is with X38/X48-DQ6 that cant hold up the stress of simple OC and 4dimm usage.
 
P5Q Pro was the final choice for me after studying it and the GA-EP45-UD3R closely. Both are top-notch boards with tons of real-world successes all over the forum world.

Overclocking in my P5Q Pro is a breeze (see sig), spacing is awesome (even with giant CPU coolers and 10.5" PCI-E cards) and layout is excellent. However, the same can be said for the GA-EP45-UD3R. Ultimately it came down to an aesthetic decision as the two boards both gave everything I was looking for... I wanted the inside of my case to be blacked out so the blue LEDs would pop more. P5Q Pro = Black, there you go.
 
Tobit said:
there's probably someone the exact opposite of you saying the same thing about ASUS
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asus_repair_kit_big.jpg

nuff said:D
 
hstuehmeyer2000 said:
asus_repair_kit_big.jpg

nuff said:D
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Oof, yeah.. that was one of those "bridge" boards between DDR and SDR, no? I remember reading about those in '01-ish.

Every maker has their duds, even within the same board run. You roll the dice and take your chances :p
 
To throw in my two cents, I've been running a P5Q Pro with my CPU overclocked to 3.8GHz 24/7 for several months now, and I haven't had a single issue with it. The board is great, and it's easily just as good as the UD3R. Which one you get really depends on personal preference, as well as which specific features and design decisions you prefer. I personally went with the ASUS partially for the ability to go Crossfire in the future, and also largely because I prefer ASUS' BIOS design to the one Gigabyte uses.
 
My P5Q Pro runs like a champ. I've had zero problems with it, and it OC's my Q6600 well.
 
I would get the UD3R personally out of the ones you listed.

I have used a lot of gigabyte boars over the years with great success. In fact every Intel based gigabyte board I have bought since the P4 came out is still in service today. But I have to admit most spend little to no time overclocked.

I did far more overclocking with the AMD CPU's and sometimes I had to do some strange shit to get the system to work the way I wanted. One example was a gigabyte VIA KT333A if I am not mistaken. Anyway with that board I had to run my hard drives off the add on raid chip to use it with an FSB of 333 or else it wouldn't boot. But hey when you overclock you shouldn't expect things to just work IMO. Despite the chipset name that board did not officially support 333 FSB

I have also used a number of Asus and other boards over the years. Every time I paid the Asus premium for a board I was left disappointed. I don't think I have had one live 2 years yet.
 
UD3R

Why? Because i own it and it overclocks like mad :)

Here is a thread on diff kinds of ud3* boards. You can search around the entire forum as well if you want some overclocking results.

I had a Dfi on my first 939 system and it was one of the best overclocking boards i ever experienced to this day, yes it might of been 939, but if dfi is still living up to its name today, the dfi would be up there with me. :cool:
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
out of those 5, defintely get the dfi ut p45 t2rs plus

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136053

or for around a deuce (if you want to spend that much) you can get the lp ut p45 t2rs.

because they are great overclockers with the 65nm quads, comprehensive bios options, stable, no ram compatibility problems, and the compnay supports the mb with constant bios updates.
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I'm with Vanilla here. Those DFI boards are some of the best OCers, bar none, maybe next to the BlackOps(which requires DDR3 though). They take alot of tweaking but the results out of them are great. They do need aftermarket cooling on the MOSFETS and chipset at some point though if you start OCing enough.
 
Operaghost said:
Ya, without any REASONING behind crapping on a manufacturer, your argument holds no water. Hence why I asked WHY people would choose this or that board.

Every manufacturer has problems, nobody is perfect. Next time you want to crap on a company, try listing specific examples.

I'm leaning towards the gigabyte board thanks to you ;)
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my last 3 boards have all been GB, go for it.
 
My P5Q Pro rocks, I personally prefer asus but the gigabyte board is a good choice also. I will probably go gigabyte on my next build if they get rid of that awful color scheme ;)
 
E.R said:
It is wellknown that using 4 dimms on the GAX38DQ6 is a big failure for highspeed memorys when you whant to OC both mem and CPU. It was 100% impossible to run a acceptable OC of over 3GHz on the Q6600 G0 CPU and keep memory at rated speed of 1150MHz.
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lol my Q6600 is way over 3.0 and my mem is at 1160 pretty damn stable. Just because you had one bad Gigabyte board doesn't mean every other board is the same.
 
It's hard to say. I've too many DOA gigabyte boards and bad experiences with their RMA service. The flip side of that is I currently run an ASUS Extreme Striker (original) which is well known as having the worst DOA average of any board ever and at the same time is considered the best overclocking board of its generation. I can still turn around and sell it for more on ebay than any of those boards.

For my dollar Id say the P5Q Pro it seems like its becoming a standard for component hardware reviews meaning it sets itself apart as a solid piece of equipment.
 
DeadSkull said:
lol my Q6600 is way over 3.0 and my mem is at 1160 pretty damn stable. Just because you had one bad Gigabyte board doesn't mean every other board is the same.
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The poster you quoted specifically mentioned that there are issues with running four DIMMs at high frequencies, and on that board specifically. Not only are you using a different board, but you're also using only two DIMMs. I'm not saying that his claims are necessarily true, but your own experiences prove nothing about his statement either way.
 
I'd go for the UD3R since it looks like it's a mean overclocker and I always did like the colors on Gigabyte mobos. But note that I'm a bit partial to Gigabyte mobos in general. :)

WIth that said, the Asus P5Q Pro is currently $115 with free shipping right now. If cash is a constraint, I highly recommend going with the Asus P5Q Pro right now. You honestly can't go wrong with either mobo.
 
Zero82z said:
The poster you quoted specifically mentioned that there are issues with running four DIMMs at high frequencies, and on that board specifically. Not only are you using a different board, but you're also using only two DIMMs. I'm not saying that his claims are necessarily true, but your own experiences prove nothing about his statement either way.
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UD3P ~ UD3R + PCIe 2.0 and useless crap. Yes I'm running only 2 DIMMs but Gigabyte boards aren't the only ones which have trouble overclocking with all DIMMs filled from what I've read. Also with DDR2 prices this low unless you really need 8Gb of Ram, a 2x2Gb kit should work out just fine.
 
DeadSkull said:
UD3P ~ UD3R + PCIe 2.0 and useless crap. Yes I'm running only 2 DIMMs but Gigabyte boards aren't the only ones which have trouble overclocking with all DIMMs filled from what I've read. Also with DDR2 prices this low unless you really need 8Gb of Ram, a 2x2Gb kit should work out just fine.
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The poster you quoted was talking about the GA-X38-DQ6, not the UD3R or UD3P. It is a wholly different board from the one you are using. I am merely pointing out the fact that using your own experiences to contradict his statement does not make any sense since your circumstances and hardware are completely different. I am not here to debate the advantages and disadvantages of using four DIMMs, or whether or not other boards have similar issues.
 
Zero82z said:
The poster you quoted was talking about the GA-X38-DQ6, not the UD3R or UD3P. It is a wholly different board from the one you are using. I am merely pointing out the fact that using your own experiences to contradict his statement does not make any sense since your circumstances and hardware are completely different. I am not here to debate the advantages and disadvantages of using four DIMMs, or whether or not other boards have similar issues.
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Yes, but then he went on to generalize the quality and oc ability of all Gigabyte boards equating them to "low quality junk". Also E.R apparently needs to go back to a High School English class for a lesson in basic centense composition.

E.R said:
Problem is that Gigabyte uses components that not was up to the task and to me it stinks lowquality around this board when usage of 4 dimms is not possible and OC the same time, but if you never ever going to OC then Gigabyte it the brand to go due to price but nothing more.
If you buy gigabyte then you will be dissapointed as some tends to buy lowquality junk just for its price and not pick quality over price and cheat themselfs, but that is all you loss as you seems to go the wrong route.
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also Gigabyte EP45-UD3P version gets bios updates before other versions because its the "premier" version of the UD3# line.
 
DeadSkull said:
Also E.R apparently needs to go back to a High School English class for a lesson in basic centense composition.
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Apparently, you need to go back to a high school English class for a lesson in basic spelling.

(just kidding)

Anyway, I'm not going to get into a whole discussion here. I was only saying that your particular argument in that case is not valid. As for his other statements about Gigabyte boards, that is a different matter.
 
Operaghost said:
What differences are there between the X48 and P45 chipsets?
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X48 has more PCI-E lanes, allowing for full 16X/16X Crossfire. That is the only real functional difference between the two. However, the P45 chipset is manufactured on a 65nm process instead of the 90nm process used by X48, so P45 boards tend to actually overclock a bit better than X48 boards.
 
Thanks for clearing that up for me Zero.

Now I just need to flip a coin between the UD3P and P5Q Pro.
 
P5Q Pro is $100 AR with free shipping :D

UD3P is around $20 more expensive ;)

And the P5Q Pro looks better, black PCB FTMFW :D
 
P5Q Pro might have a better looking PCB, but I'm all about functionality and quality over asthetics :)

Does the P5Q Pro have a double layered copper coating on the pcb like the UD3P does?
 
Operaghost said:
Does the P5Q Pro have a double layered copper coating on the pcb like the UD3P does?
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No, but it doesn't really matter. The P5Q actually has superior CPU power regulation since it's 8-phase instead of the Gigabyte's 6-phase. Realistically though, you'll get the same mileage out of both boards. It's down to which one you prefer more.
 
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