Which Z77 to get? Advice

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NathanP2007

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So first off i get the gist that reviews arent out yet so more information will be out soon, and also that technically all i have to do is compare specs on the different motherboards and decide what specs i desire more. But i wanted to ask for opinions as well, considering this will be my first motherboard purchase that im going all out on.

So my planned PC build components are: IB 3770K, Z77 mobo, Intel 520 SSD, and this tech bench ( http://www.highspeedpc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=TopDeckXL ) as my permanent "case". However i have a backup empty HAF 932 that if i decide i want a real PC case, i can put the components into.

My Budget? Its hard to give a exact amount, but lets just say usually i go for bang for buck with highest critical/consumer reviews (typically around $100-150), this time i am aiming more at a full featured, made for gaming motherboard. ($200-275ish)

Some info to know, i will OC the 3770K but im not a crazy OC'er, or trying to get every last MHz out i can get. The PC will be a gaming rig, web surfing, HTPC, the whole deal. I will be getting either a 7970 or a GTX 680, with the possibility of a second down the road for SLI/CF.

Basically i am seeing a lot of people really talking about getting the Asus Sabertooth and the Asus Pro. The sabertooth kinda makes sense considering with my Mobo being exposed on my tech bench, the dust (etc) cover would come in handy.
Any others i should keep my eye on?



Separate but related questions:
-Also, it looks like motherboards still only have the 6 E-SATA internal ports, what are you supposed to do if you have 2 in use with Bluray/DVD drives, 2 in use for mass storage (2tb Green Drives), and the last 2 in use with your Boot SSD and 640Gb Black HDD...and you still have 2-3 HDD's left over you'd like to have your PC use?
 
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I am in the same boat on this. I am also curious. Ideally I am looking at the Sabertooth or the Deluxe since they seem like they will be great OCers but the Sabertooth doesn't have the same amount of VRMs as the Deluxe and I am not even sure if that will matter. There was also something I saw about Asus and RAM that no one else has done but not sure if it was true or not.

"If you happen to purchase ASUS for Ivy Bridge, there is also a little treat in store, as they have reworked the memory sub-system. Their new method stunned Intel engineers, but should provide distinct memory speed advantages. Simply put, instead of memory banks being read consecutively, the memory is read in parallel. We are awaiting more detail regarding how this feature works."

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5728/...view-asrock-asus-gigabyte-msi-ecs-and-biostar
 
Yep, pretty much waiting on reviews. Asus is my leading contender for the mobo.
 
Glad to hear my assumption about getting a Asus mobo is on the dot. There was something i read quickly that had mentioned that some of the more high end boards arent out yet? That what we are seeing isnt the full lineup, that a few weeks from now (end of april) there will be even more Z77 boards...has anyone else read that?

I get that we are waiting on reviews so you guys arent commenting on my first main question about Z77...but can you answer the other two questions?

-Basically if you are using all your internal mobo SATA ports, and need more, what are your options? Are their SATA splitters? If there are and you use one, does it affect performance?

-With the techbench i will be using not having a "front I/O" like gaming cases have, are there brackets for the back I/O plate you can get that are similar? USB 3.0 ones and etc? Basically what i am talking about are PCI-E adapters except without the PCI part, they are in the same place (Back I/O) but plug into the headers on the mobo. Like the E-Sata bracket that came with one of my 775 mobo's.

UPDATE: Found the ATX-Brackets. Im very happy. http://us.estore.asus.com/index.php?pg=2&l=product_list&c=111 I want to have as many as possible considering i wont have a front I/O panel on my tech bench, dont want to buy a $200 mobo and then not use a bunch of its USB 3.0/2.0 headers.
 
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maxkilla said:
go with Asus Maximus v gene imo
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That motherboard confuses me. It seems to me to look like a high grade motherboard, gaming motherboard, yet its a micro ATX? I would assume with it not being ATX...they have removed features/ports/PCI-E slots...so why would i go with the Maximus V Gene instead of say the Sabertooth? I feel like if there was a ATX version of the Maximus V i would totally go for it.
 
NathanP2007 said:
That motherboard confuses me. It seems to me to look like a high grade motherboard, gaming motherboard, yet its a micro ATX? I would assume with it not being ATX...they have removed features/ports/PCI-E slots...so why would i go with the Maximus V Gene instead of say the Sabertooth? I feel like if there was a ATX version of the Maximus V i would totally go for it.
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there will be one called Maximus V without Gene.

Full ATX board.

which will come out with Liquid Cooling Capable on Power Phases.

and ofcourse price will be sky high. atleast $450 + imo.

what a waste of money?

if you are not thinking Tri Sli or CFX .

it's not worth it.
 
Krystm said:
the Sabertooth doesn't have the same amount of VRMs as the Deluxe and I am not even sure if that will matter.[/url]
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The Sabertooth has better quality VRMs. Each VRM is physically like 25% larger, and made of better material. My P67 Sabertooth (8+2) supplied slightly more stable power than my Z68 Pro (12+4) does if CPU-Z is any indication.

The only thing that bugs me about the Z77 Sabertooth is the large amount of amount of wasted area at the back I/O... They removed DVI/VGA for nothing.
 
maxkilla said:
and ofcourse price will be sky high. atleast $450 + imo.
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What makes you say that. The P67 Maximus 4 is running 259 and the Z67 is running 339. I can't imagine Z77 is going to really increase the price over the Z67 -- even if its a few $$$ more, $350 isn't the end of the world.
 
NathanP2007 said:
-Basically if you are using all your internal mobo SATA ports, and need more, what are your options? Are their SATA splitters? If there are and you use one, does it affect performance?
Click to expand...

If you need more SATA ports, your only option is to buy a SATA add-in card. You can find 4 port PCIe 1x ones fairly cheaply on Newegg, etc.
 
Wow influx of knowledge thank you guys.

First off, i am NOT going to buy a $450 motherboard. I will not be doing Tri anything, but i am curious what other differences there will be between the Maximus mATX and ATX. Like i have said, i use a LOT of ports and really like a full featured motherboard. Its true all i will need are two PCI-E slots max, but only having one PCI-E 1 slot and nothing else...Forceman mentioned, i own a USB 3.0 PCI adapter card, i will probably be getting a SATA add in Card, so right there i am more than what the mATX Maximus can do. Remember my use is not strictly gaming, but also major HTPC, so lots of hard drives, lots of peripherals, etc.

Forceman: That will totally work because i have a techbench so i can use those external ports just like i would the internal ports. But what if i was using a regular gaming PC case? And needed a sata port for a internal hard drive inside the case? Are there no splitters or internal anything? (also, with the Add in card you mention, do you think performance is hinded cause your using multiple drives off of one port?)


I will be very happy if he is wrong about the $450 pricing, though $330 would be a HARD pill to swallow for a motherboard, especially if the only difference is more PCI-E slots for 4 way SLI/CF and a few more PCI-E 1x 4x etc slots.

I would also be very interested in seeing a review comparison of the Sabertooth vs the ATX Maximus.
 
Gigabyte Sniper 3 has 10 SATA ports total. Should retail around $280ish, from what I've seen.
 
DejaWiz said:
Gigabyte Sniper 3 has 10 SATA ports total. Should retail around $280ish, from what I've seen.
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Never liked them cause of the "gun" look (even tho i love guns) but im super happy to see they have moved away from that! So i will have to add it into consideration. Though i agree my eyes are really on Asus, but i have owned a Gigabyte board very happily. Any clue what it will cost? (The Sniper 3)
 
NathanP2007 said:
Forceman: That will totally work because i have a techbench so i can use those external ports just like i would the internal ports. But what if i was using a regular gaming PC case? And needed a sata port for a internal hard drive inside the case? Are there no splitters or internal anything? (also, with the Add in card you mention, do you think performance is hinded cause your using multiple drives off of one port?).
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There are no splitters for SATA, but you can get expansion cards with internal ports - I have a 2 port one in my home server. As for performance, I'm not sure how many drives you can run off a x1 PCIe card before you run into problems, but I doubt you'd have any problems in normal use. You can find x4 cards, but they are expensive.

Like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816150031
 
Very good information Forceman thank you! That was exactly what i was curious about if existed.
 
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Thank you. $290 for a top of the line board is reasonable-ish to me, i could see paying that and not feeling guilty. The really difficult part personally is the difference between boards, non physical. So all the features, most software, in bios and in OS, that are hard to line up next to each other and compare which software is better. Hard to know what software you can live without and what would really be useful. Considering the only boards iv had are 775, i dont have experience with the first versions of a lot of the software on these boards like say...some Sandy Bridge owners do.
 
maxkilla said:
there will be one called Maximus V without Gene.

Full ATX board.

which will come out with Liquid Cooling Capable on Power Phases.

and ofcourse price will be sky high. atleast $450 + imo.

what a waste of money?

if you are not thinking Tri Sli or CFX .

it's not worth it.
Click to expand...

Its called the formula, and the formula boards always come in around 250. The Maximus extreme's come in around 350. You will never see a maximus board over 400.
 
I can't give any overclocking feedback yet but the Asus P8Z77-V Pro I picked up on Friday was installed last night. My rig was Windows 7 on a C2D E6600 with the latest greatest Gigabyte socket 775 / DDR2 board. All I did was shut it down, swap the mobo, cpu, and ram and fire it back up. I installed the drivers and everything was good to go. Windows Performance Index went from 5.9 to 7.6.

The asus board has some nice features and seems to be easy to overclock. My main reason for getting this board was the PCI slots. I still use an X-Fi elite pro since it has no modern equivalent. The UEFI bios is pretty slick. The board layout is well thought out and easy to work with.
 
PCMusicGuy said:
I can't give any overclocking feedback yet but the Asus P8Z77-V Pro I picked up on Friday was installed last night. My rig was Windows 7 on a C2D E6600 with the latest greatest Gigabyte socket 775 / DDR2 board. All I did was shut it down, swap the mobo, cpu, and ram and fire it back up. I installed the drivers and everything was good to go. Windows Performance Index went from 5.9 to 7.6.

The asus board has some nice features and seems to be easy to overclock. My main reason for getting this board was the PCI slots. I still use an X-Fi elite pro since it has no modern equivalent. The UEFI bios is pretty slick. The board layout is well thought out and easy to work with.
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That's good to hear, I was planning to pick up the Pro along with a 3770k, cannot wait!
 
Anyone recommend a good bang for the buck motherboard that doesn't require sli?

Don't feel like spending over $140 on a motherboard.
 
rfisher983 said:
Anyone recommend a good bang for the buck motherboard that doesn't require sli?

Don't feel like spending over $140 on a motherboard.
Click to expand...

Probably either the Asus P8Z77-V LE or LX, or one of the lower price Gigabyte boards. Haven't heard as much about those yet, everyone is talking about the higher-end boards now.
 
Man this is all really up in the air. Honestly i like the G1 V3 Sniper, i like basically every Asus board, though the Sabertooth is really looking good, the idea of the Maximus ATX board, depending on price...so many good boards. I hope there are reviews that compare them against each other and have a best Z77 board for a gamer or something like that.
 
I'm liking the features and warranty of the Sabertooth. Only think I don't like is the brown slots. Would have looked a LOT better if it was all done in black, imo.

The Sniper 3 looks nice, but I think it carries too hefty a price tag for what it is. Had it been priced around the $230-240 Mark like the Sabertooth, I think Gigabyte would have an instant de-facto Z77 board for the market.
 
also, you have to keep in mind that the sniper is an XL-ATX boards, and probably wont fit in a mid tower unless its a larger mid tower. The gene is a great value, and they dont remove anything except ports...it has extreme OC'ing, great design and solid build. also, with the newer motherboards, you wont need that USB 3 pci adapter, so that's not really a concern

I currently have the EVGA FTW preordered. High price, but EVGA support simply CANT be beat, and they are using extremely high quality components
 
I didnt know that about the sniper, but that isnt a issue, the tech bench i am getting is XL-ATX (and obviously backwards compatible with everything smaller than XL) and my backup gaming case that i own is a HAF 932 full tower.

That FTW board looks amazing but looks like i would be paying a high price for PCI-E 16 slots i dont need. I might not even go CF/SLI, and if i do it will only be a dual setup, never tri or quad. Its accessories though, wow i want those lol, like i have said with a tech bench i will be needing ATX brackets for ports, and the ones that come with that board are perfect, hopefully EVGA sells them separately on their site.

Thank you for the information regarding the Gene and that it is identical except ports.
 
What is the main benefit of the G1 Sniper 3 over the Asus Pro and Gigabyte UD5? I assume it is the PLX chip so it can run 3/4 way CF/SLI? If one is not planning on ever doing more than 2 GPUs is there a reason to consider the Sniper? Haven't seen any reviews yet (just previews).
 
grambo said:
What is the main benefit of the G1 Sniper 3 over the Asus Pro and Gigabyte UD5? I assume it is the PLX chip so it can run 3/4 way CF/SLI? If one is not planning on ever doing more than 2 GPUs is there a reason to consider the Sniper? Haven't seen any reviews yet (just previews).
Click to expand...

It has several attractive integrated features like a Creative CA0132 audio chip, front audio headphone amplifier, Dual LAN with one being Intel and the other a Killer NIC, apparently official support for 2666 DDR3, a PS2 port if you have a mouse/keyboard that needs one, and then of course as you mentioned the PLX chip for 4 way SLI/CF.
 
grambo said:
What is the main benefit of the G1 Sniper 3 over the Asus Pro and Gigabyte UD5? I assume it is the PLX chip so it can run 3/4 way CF/SLI? If one is not planning on ever doing more than 2 GPUs is there a reason to consider the Sniper? Haven't seen any reviews yet (just previews).
Click to expand...

Are boards like the UD5 that arent gaming specific like the G1 Sniper 3 made with the same parts except the amount of PCI-E 16 slots? I lightly assume that the higher end the board, the higher end parts they use, transistors, audio etc. Am i wrong?
Besides that, there is no reason, i am just listing boards that i think are possible purchases, and asking for advice, and with the comment you just made, it makes me give a second look at the Sniper and maybe remove it from the list of possible Z77 boards.
 
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