What motherboard do YOU use, and why?

[awesomehandle31]

After my MSI board fizzled away yesterday i decided i would never buy MSI again... Which lead me to the typical shopping search which lead me to these two questions... What boards are people having the best luck with in the z77 ~300$ price range? I had no idea how many 100's of boards were in just that price range alone. Its alittle overwhelming and silly...

So, what are you having the best luck with? I will be upgrading to i7 3770k when i buy the board next week, which makes it seem like the G1 sniper will most likely be my best option.

Some input would be great, motherboard purchasing has always been a weak point in my builds and i would like to change that starting.......... now

 

[EarthDog]

No reason to avoid MSI really. All companies have boards that crap out...AFAWe know, MSI doesnt have any higher failure rate than any other company...

That said, you dont remotely need a $300 board for your uses. Boards of that caliber are really made for LN2/Dry Ice overclocking.

G1 Sniper 3 is a solid board. So is Asrock Z77 Extreme 6, Giga UP4H, etc. If you want a 'hard core' overclocking board that wont break the bank, Get Asrock OC Formula or MSI Z77 Mpower.

 

[Nebulous]

I also had an MSI board that went bonkers for unknown reasons. I replaced it with a Gigabyte G1 Sniper M3 and also had some issues with it. Swapped again this time got the Gigabyte Z77X-UD4H. Board is fantastic and works flawlessly. I have a list of brands I stay away from.

 

[Mandrake4565]

I've had issues with MSI, Asus and Gigabyte boards, it happens. I don't stay away from one or the other because of those issues, I stay away because of their customer service. Of the boards that went bad on me, under warranty, Msi had the best customer service in my case. They were easy to deal with and replaced my board 2X with little hassle. I have also dealt with Evga on a gpu issue and they were great also. The there is Asus, they are like a roulette wheel round and round it goes where it stops nobody knows, at least for me it has been.

 

[awesomehandle31]

One of the reasons i was looking at the sniper was the 16x16x support (as i understand it, you may only run 16x16x with 3770k+ cpu's) which i will be getting next week in town once i decide on a board. It would be nice to find a non e-atx board that can support 16x16x but I have yet to stumble across one, which is why I have crossed ROG off of my board... I realize 16x16x isnt a HUGE difference over cards in 8x4x but I would like to see it for my self!


Guess i will have to order a dual slot GPU link too =\

 

[EarthDog]

16x/16x is overrated. The performance difference is negligible over 8x/8x anyway (1%).

 

[awesomehandle31]

also, anyone have experience with cool labs gpu thermal pads? gpu reflowing sounds like fun....

 

[awesomehandle31]

that maybe i will get 2% going from 8x4x to 16x16x ~!

 

[EarthDog]

I wouldnt make 16x/16x a buying point is my underlying point. 8x/8x is fine and sometimes 16x/16x boards which use a PLX chip (all Z77 would as 16x/16x is not possible on Ivybridge without it) adds latency due to that PLX chip.

 

[awesomehandle31]

=\ and nowwwwww! Back at square one, **** it may just order the rog maximus as it comes with Ac3 atm for only 289 wont require ordering a new bridge/link either!

 

[EarthDog]

That is a fine board, however, not something you need in that, there are a lot of features put on the board specifically for extreme (think Dry Ice/LN2) overclocking you likely wont use. You can easily get something that costs much less...

Asrock Z77 Extreme 6
Giga Z77 UP4H
Asus P8Z77-V
MSI Z77 GD65

All would be great for ambient overclocking.

 

[awesomehandle31]

Is LucidLogix Virtual Vsync snake oil for those of us with real video cards? gigabyte sells it as "run at any fps" like i could actually utilize the steady 70+ i can get on my 3 60hz 30inch monitors which I find hard to digest.

Quoted from lucidlogix website

Virtual Vsync enables games to run at any FPS, with no image tearing, stuttering, lags and latency artifacts.
Enhanced performance - when system has dGPU and iGPU
Unlimited frame rates - beyond traditional in-game Vsync
Flawless visual quality without tearing
Up to 250% better responsiveness vs. standard Vsync"




i'm speaking in terms of the V formula, the v extreme, for sure would be 100% over kill for me now, and 10 years from now. But I think the V formula fits nicely into what i'm looking for, and it gives me plenty of room to grow over the next two years, as i'm not leaving ivy-bridge till Broadwell at the earliest. Also it will allow me to turn my LED's to red and whole case will match black/red board, black/nickel blocks, red tubes black/nickel fittings! It will be worthy of a windowed side panel.

I have had the most luck with Asus in previous builds, and I absolutely love the ROG Laptop my Girl got me for X-mas, and I really like the idea of the built in water block. Might as well go all out if i'm going to be draining my system and pulling parts!

Thx for the advice, just one step closer to feeling like my newest tower is complete!

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I use a lot of Asus stuff, because I had used some and got really familiar with the BIOS options, so I know it the best. I also got really used to high quality overclocking software, as well as the ability to do RCTweakit/ROG Connect via my laptop... For extreme stuff, tools that save you time getting your settings in place, also save you some money and frustration over time. On subzero, you are constantly burning off something that costs some money so time is more valuable than on air. You also change settings more frequently on subzero, whereas on a daily driver you find settings initially that work well and you ride on those a long time.

Still, I don't usually use Asus for builds. I have used medium grade MSI and Gigabyte, and had good experience. I would lean towards ASrock for a daily driver, because I like their pricing, and I don't really buy into the mosfet criticisms (they use some lower quality components in the VRM area which run a bit hotter, but do the job fine).

So basically, I wouldn't pay a $100-200 premium for the Asus boards in a daily driver. You simply won't get a worthwhile performance advantage out of it in that type of usage. They are premium boards however, as are any in that high end price range, so if that is worth paying for to you, that isn't a bad choice. It's just an expensive, and unnecessary choice.

A lot of people buy the premium stuff because its premium stuff though, its good branding and that's why Asus caters to the really high end crowd. It is symbolically important to many people when they make buying decisions.

 

[mokrunka]

I use ASUS a lot as well, though I think that may be about to change.

In the past 6 months or so, I've had 3 of their boards (2 - P9X79, and 1 - P9X79 Pro). I've had the SATA controller go out in one of each. Seriously. Really frustrating to have to tear down the entire rig and pay for shipping back to a manufacturer with issues like this.

Both boards were less than 2 months old when they died.

 

[cullam3n]

eVGA Z77 FTW, because it showed up the right time in the classifieds. Otherwise I probably would have went with Gigabyte.

 

[awesomehandle31]

whereas on a daily driver you find settings initially that work well and you ride on those a long time.

I guess i more considered my H80'd, 6-core bulldozer, on a 150$ asus board, sportting a 480, inside a 40$ case, autoclocked to 4.4, a daily driver. But i guess my definition was/is based off of where I am on the spectrum of PC modding

You are right. I will find a nice high "stable" oc some where eventually and leave it at that, which is something i could not achieve past autoclocking on the msi-z77a-g45 that fizzled out. I thought it was the CPU but the board fizzling has kept me from fully determining that.

so if that is worth paying for to you, that isn't a bad choice. It's just an expensive, and unnecessary choice.

yea, to an extent... Though, they do sell dry ice at the publix next to my house...

A lot of people buy the premium stuff because its premium stuff though, its good branding and that's why Asus caters to the really high end crowd. It is symbolically important to many people when they make buying decisions.

That is a fact! Though I have only come to the point of buying top of the line after many bad experiences with el-cheepo boards from the whole array of companies... Does the ROG light up on those boards?

 

[awesomehandle31]

btw... Thanks for pointing out that this site has its own classifieds way down there at the bottom! I have a mountain 1-2 gen off parts that i would LOVE to part with at low prices.

 

[ThorV2]

Gigabyte getting ready to buy first Asus board... I live gigabyte and have never had an issue. Getting ready I buy my order Asus board ever a Maximus V Extreme and I hope it doesn't arrive dead I have heard about bad customer service.

 

[awesomehandle31]

I hear asus customer service comes down to who's working that day, and holy **** grats on the OP board... i read allot of complaints about bent pins on newegg, but I feel this is ALLOT of user error. I also read lots of " CPU wont clamp" that i also think is people not realizing the force needed to clamp down some intel chips... specially compaired to how easy it is to clamp down AMD chip... I feel this way mostly because the complaints are across ALL boards and very common. Must come down to like 25% manufacture and 75% user error

 

[ThorV2]

For me it really comes down between the MVE, UP7, and G1 Sniper I need to fit 3 7950s lol!!!