Mobo choice, what's the difference ?

Hi guys

I'm planning to build a new liquid cooled system with an i7 930 processor which I intend to OC to 4.0Ghz. I also intend to run 5970's crossfire and eyefinity in the future (a little off topic here but is a 1000w power supply able to power all that ?)

I can't decide exactly which motherboard to pick, I've read reviews on how some 200+ motherboards perform the same as the 500$ ones.

The motherboards I've rounded up are;

- Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
- Asus P6X58D-E
- Asus Rampage III Extreme
- MSI Big bang Xpower x58

I understand that other than the rampage III and xpower being future proof for being gulftown ready.

What are the main differences besides stupid onboard "1 button auto overclocking" functions which doesn't really matter cuz I have to OC the procesor myself anyway and other manufacturer gimmicks like special FX sound.

What about bios wise ? I'm very new to overclocking and would like to get the board with the most user-friendly bios for me to overclock with little or no issues.

I'm having doubts over the 300$ premium for the rampage III and xpower, I've read reviews comparing ud3 and the older rampage II and there were hardly any differences in terms of performance, but I could not find anything regarding how easy it is for OC'ing newbies like me.

I hope you guys could provide some insight and opinions on what I should do, cuz I've pretty much got all my parts for my PC it's just the choice of motherboard for holding me back. I'm intending to use this computer for at least 2-3 years so I want to invest my money in something that is able to provide sustainable performance but not overpriced at the same time.

If anyone could suggest a better board than those I've listed above, it'll be great

Gigabyte X58A-UD3R is a good oveclocker ive seen 4.4 GHz on a good CPU, it also has 3 year warranty at a good price.

Rampage lll extreme is probably the best motherboard on market right now, its overclocker god, Bios isnt very friendly, but if you get some guide you would be fine.
UD3R isnt expensive, very good overclocker, but it isnt new, if you want a board with sata,usb 3.0 you could get something like rampage lll, Gigabyte UD7.

There isnt really big difference in overclocking between high-end boards.

tomic888 said:

Rampage lll extreme is probably the best motherboard on market right now, its overclocker god, Bios isnt very friendly, but if you get some guide you would be fine.
UD3R isnt expensive, very good overclocker, but it isnt new, if you want a board with sata,usb 3.0 you could get something like rampage lll, Gigabyte UD7.

There isnt really big difference in overclocking between high-end boards.

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the x58a-ud3r actually does have usb 3.0 and sata 6 gb/s

im going to jump in and recommend the x58a-ud5 or ud7, great boards, better chipset cooling aswell