Opinions on Intel Branded Boards?

[Creegz]

I just ordered a DZ77GAL-70K on special right now. I am also getting a 3770K with it. I am wondering if I should re-sell the board and get something else or if that board is actually good. I have never used an Intel branded board before and am wondering if they are actually good, or if I'd be better off either cancelling or buying something else and selling this one. In any event I got a good price on the board, it basically came with the processor when I look at the bundle deal I got.

One of my biggest curiosities is the new visual BIOS, and if it's actually reasonable to use. Also, wondering if it has any really big issues, as my current board has serious problems with powering USB devices. It absolutely refuses to do it on any USB 2.0 ports, even after my first one being returned.

 

[jazon1]

over all my experience has been pretty good with intel boards they tend to not have alot of features but are pretty reliable.

UEFI bios are great there are alot more options now as they are no longer limited to a 1Mb file size for the bios like they were with original EFI and so far my system has been very stable and super easy to OC.

 

[Woomack]

My experience with Intel boards in last 2 years is totally different. All Intel boards that I was selling in desktop computers/small servers had some issues. For example I had 1 cpu server board which was unstable while C1 state for cpu was enabled ( and it's default setting ). There was no BIOS fix or anything else.
I just stopped to make desktop computers on Intel boards as Gigabyte or ASRock boards are cheaper and ( hard to believe ) more reliable.
If you want to overclock anything then Intel boards have some limitations and problems with higher memory clocks ( depends from board ). Point is that these boards are designed to work within Intel specification and memory above 1600 is already overclocking.

 

[iThomas]

Intel boards tend to be very reliable but as mentioned they arent as feature packed as other boards. I.e. The z77 mobo specs might need a minimum of 2 sata 3 and usb 3.0 ports; with intel boarda youll tend to get the minimum while with other oem boards they usually have more than the minimum specs released by intel to be allowed to be sold as a z77 board.just my 2cents. If ya got a good deal i would stick with it

 

[hafa]

My experience has been different from Woomack's. We've been using Intel brand boards almost exclusively in all our builds over the past 3 years. That accounts for about 275 machines, only one of which has had an issue. Note that these are all standard desktops running at stock speeds and voltages.

The enthusiast-level boards actually have fairly decent options for overclocking in the bios, unlike the earlier and/or entry-level boards. The DZ77GAL-70K looks like it has a decent feature set as well. Obviously, YMMV.

 

[Nebulous]

All the intel branded boards I've own were just set and forget. We're talking pre 775. No overclocking features whatsoever. Only things you were able to adjust in the bios was standard things like time and boot options. Once running they were rock stable. Never had an intel branded board that clocked tho so I cannot say if those were reliable or not.

 

[EarthDog]

Things are MUCH different now on the Intel mobo front than from pre s775...

They are good stock type boards, and they have come out with an enthusiast level board with decent features...they wouldnt be my first choice however.

 

[Creegz]

Thank you all for the input. I managed to get the board for 150 bucks, but the price is so low on the CPU too, it's like the board is free. I looked at some ASUS and Gigabyte boards too, and they were all 150 bucks, so I feel I got a good price on this. It's from Intel's retail edge deal. The cost of the board was on par with anything I would have bought after buying just the CPU from Intel. If I do find the board doesn't suit me, I can always replace it right

 

[EarthDog]

Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 would have been a great choice in that price range. Its on sale for $109.99 at newegg.com and, IMO, better than that Intel board.

 

[Creegz]

Unfortunately I don't live in the US so most of the US pricing goes up quite a bit for me. Those boards where I work I can get for around 125 on average unless it's on a really good sale going under what we pay for them.