Need suggestions on a i7 mobo

Looking for a board for an i7920 setup.

need 3 channel ram
good overclocking ability/options
durability

Budget: for sake of comparison, unlimited.

i plan on building around i7-920 , 3x2gb Gskill 2000 , 1 ati 4890 , and a corsair 850tx psu.

Crossfire is not really of importance to me, or at least 2 x 16 pcie channels aren't.

just looking for some recommendations and/or opinions.

Without price limit. Asus R2E or a EVGA classified E760

On a budget, I grabbed a used MSI x58 platinum (they are ALL SLI capable wit ha bios update even ones that are not listed as SLI) for just over a hundred a couple months ago. Works well, no VTT voltage control (not sure what the difference is anyway) but it over clocks fairly well; 'A' stepping D0 up to 4.6+ benchable, 4.4 Ghz HTT prime stable. 21x multi does not lock (OCP kicks in, this is true of ALL the MSI boards though, so if going extreme, avoid them).

All benching done on air so far

For the price I can not complain but I am used to only spending at most $125 on a mobo NEVER would spend the $400 for one of the top of the line ones.

ASUS p6 series seems hit or miss, not an extreme clocking board either IIRC.

I'm building two of these rigs actually, and they will be daily users, i'm looking to get managable 24/7 air cooled clocks out of them (cooled with a TRUE black edition). Thanks for the info neuro, great stuff

edit: after googleing the r2e i can only find thes asus hand held devices under that name

2nd edit.. i'm an idiot.. didnt put that with Rampage II ext.. so i found it lol

Thinking of trying my hand with an BIOSTAR TpowerX58 LGA 1366 , the last tpower board i had was the 45 for my e8400, and it was a rather sexy clocker once u got the memory settings down. And most reviews i can find on it (minus the doa's.. they happen, wherever u go) are good. looks like for the 1366 market, the 250$ about midline for standard atx

I had 2x DOA Foxconn Bloodrage boards, but the reviews i saw were screamin.
Check em out.

Neuromancer said:

ASUS p6 series seems hit or miss, not an extreme clocking board either IIRC.

Click to expand...

What do you consider extreme clocking? I would say a 60% overclock is pretty good.

Shadowmonk said:

I had 2x DOA Foxconn Bloodrage boards, but the reviews i saw were screamin.
Check em out.

Click to expand...

Well, i also take tech support and stuff like that in consideration to.. which seems foxconn be lackin

I just meant that NO matter what board you look at reviews for on the egg. your gonna have doa's , hell, i cant recall EVER see'n a board with a 5 egg rating.

Daddyjaxx said:

What do you consider extreme clocking? I would say a 60% overclock is pretty good.

Click to expand...

Good question, i'm not looking to keep these rig's in the 4gh'z 24/7, they will be for gaming and UNG/Vericut. And For the most part i am looking for a board that CONSISTENTLY provides stable oc'n.. i'd be happy keeping them solid in the 3.2-3.5ish range. And i want a board that can keep those clocks (while not extreme) for a VERY long time. The #1 priority for these systems is reliability,durability.

Personally, I just bought a Asus R2E, but that's probably a bit overkill for you lol. I've read good things about the mid-range Gigabyte boards. Have you had a look at them? I built a system with an E6400 and a Gigabyte board a couple years ago and it's still running strong

I myself AM a fan of gigabyte, loved their boards since Axp days. i didnt look @ many boards, but if they have a UD4P flavor of something that would be smooth.

I'm running the MSI X58 Platinum SLi. Great board imho. It's by far an "extreme overclocking" board but, it does very nicely. Was able to get 4.4Ghz with no sweat on mine. 4.5Ghz was a bit of a challenge tho since my chip is a C0 stepping.

Not sure about the boards you tested on Neuro but, mine locks the 21x

CASE: <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129070>Antec Three Hundred <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042> 51.95$

CPU: Intel Core i7-920 <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202> 288.99$
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375> 188.99$
Ram:G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225> 134.99$
Video:XFX HD-487A-ZWFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150436> 144.99$
Hard Drive(s): Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320> 69.99$ x 2 (for raid)
PSU:CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006> 109.99$
Media Drive: PLEXTOR Black 24X DVD+R <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249054> 44.99$

Monitor: Acer H243Hbmid 24" <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009167> 219.99$

CPU Cooler: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme - Black edition <http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=504&products_id=24731> 64.99$

UPS System: powercom King Pro KIN-1000AP <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842106105> 109.99$

This is what i've come up with so far, going for power, great gaming capable, but not extreme, think this would be a good combo, not worries about sli/xfire, one thing with the systems is they have to be mildly portable for travel.

I think this is a nice total system setup for coming in and just a hair under 1500$