Motherboard selection

Hi - new member 1st post

I am building an i7 full tower and have ordered everything except the motherboard and video card. (See specs below) I’d like to get opinions on the motherboards I have been researching.

This system will be used for gaming and potentially video editing. I’m shooting for a modest overclock to 3.2Ghz, but stability is my main objective.

So far, I’ve narrowed the motherboards down to the Asus P6T Deluxe V2 and the EVGA X58.

The video card is undecided, but it will likely be a single high-end card like a GTX295 or 4870x2.

The quality of the built-in audio is also a factor, as I didn’t really plan on buying a separate card.

I would be interested in any feedback from the group on the boards I named.

Thanks,

Aluman

System specs:
i7-920, CM ATCS 840, Corsair 850TX, WD Raptor 74Gb x2, WD 1Tb, TRUE 120 Extreme, Sony DRU-865S DVD-R/RW, Vista Ultimate 64, Motherboard, video card - undecided, RAM after decide MB

I would highly recommend looking at the gigabyte boards also. I have the p6t deluxe and like the giga ud4p better by far. Funny thing is I cant really compare the 2 boards, as the asus wont run one of the 920 procs that I have and the giga will run both.

my experience with the giga board has been great though, no issue at all, and the board flies.

i would also tell you to check gigabyte out to(i agree with dejo)

the gigabyte boards are very well and come with a lot of features

im running a intel 920,gigabyte ex58-ud5 it was the easiest system to get up and running
i had no problems whatso ever with this board and will stick with gigabyte in the future.

take a look at gigabyte before you make your decision.

gigabyte has a strong line up for i7, i would have to say if i were to g et a ATX board for i7. it would have to be either the UD4P or the UD5 boards...

Evilsizer said:

gigabyte has a strong line up for i7, i would have to say if i were to g et a ATX board for i7. it would have to be either the UD4P or the UD5 boards...

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UD4P is a good one. Has the same BIOS options as the EXTREME. You can always upgrade the system cooling hardware if you need to. I'd say GIG has it goin' on with i7 boards.
Followed closely by the P6T. Not the bomb but it gets the job done and it seems to make a lot of builders very happy.
FOXCONN is too slow and it's a shaky company right now so that would be a caveat there.
DFI? May as well RMA the board before you even take it out of the box from what I have seen.
Have only seen one report on BIOSTAR and it is a very good one but one is just not enough to yell: "SOLD!"

Thanks for the advice. I did some checking on the Gigabyte UD5, but ultimately I ended up ordering the Asus P6T Deluxe V2. The Gigabyte board looks solid, anyway.

Aluman

Love my DFI X58. Rock solid and an OC'n champ. Running 4.0+ with HT and Turbo on. I don't see any particular boards being better than another with 1366. They are all comparable as it is the chip that will limit your OC, and the heat it puts out.

Please show me how often users have shown BCLK's of over 230? The only I have seen have been on DFI and Foxconn so far that I recall, both of which you have been advised to pass over....

I personally dislike Asus in particular for their naming conventions in the bios. Many have been confused by the term of QPI/Dram being used instead of vtt or cpuvtt like the other boards bioses have them listed. Gigabyte and Asus are by far the most commonly purchased from my research though.

Decide what options you "need" on your board and buy the most affordable one you can with those options. The board will not be your bottleneck.

well n3b, gigabyte has a strong offering price/features is better then the others you brought up imo. over 230 BLCK is nice but i dought if he goes air he will be running that speed. im at a mear 3.4ghz and happy with the performance but 3.8ghz would be nicer for Rosetta/FAH. hitting higher is still something i want to do but lack the time. the OP may not be able to handle the numerous bios options the DFI has, better to start someone out easy. like with a Asus or Gigabyte board, then as they get more the hang of it can move on to a DFI with a later upgrade. since i dont know if the new X58 DFI is like the older ones but most of the comments about DFI. has been you need to tweak the bios just right to get oc's stable. someone with not much oc'ing under the belt will be overwhelmed/frustrated with such a board,imo. i do agree with your last sentence, that is what one should do. sometimes its hard for someone to know right off hand what they need if they never had to go this route in the first place.

N3buchan3zzar said:

Love my DFI X58. Rock solid and an OC'n champ. Running 4.0+ with HT and Turbo on. I don't see any particular boards being better than another with 1366. They are all comparable as it is the chip that will limit your OC, and the heat it puts out.

Please show me how often users have shown BCLK's of over 230? The only I have seen have been on DFI and Foxconn so far that I recall, both of which you have been advised to pass over....

I personally dislike Asus in particular for their naming conventions in the bios. Many have been confused by the term of QPI/Dram being used instead of vtt or cpuvtt like the other boards bioses have them listed. Gigabyte and Asus are by far the most commonly purchased from my research though.

Decide what options you "need" on your board and buy the most affordable one you can with those options. The board will not be your bottleneck.

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+1

Waiting on my 2nd DFI UT as the 1st one was broke on delivery. People are gettin stupid clocks on this board and I can't wait to do the same.