I7 motherboard choice help

[mlknez]

Help!

I am putting together a system that I will be primarily using for video and photo editing and for some game play. I do not require SAS drives, but do require 1394 connections and the ability to easliy overclock. I would also like to have at least 1 legacy PCI slot available. I have read several reviews, but am not sure which to go with. Even the vendor websites don't really do a good job in distinguishing their individual offerings in this arena. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[scrumhalf]

For easy/stable overclocking, Firewire, and legacy PCI support, consider the Asus P6T Deluxe. The regular P6T would also fit the bill (it's currently out of stock on the Egg though, and the Deluxe has better phase power for higher overclocking stability). The Asus boards have a great BIOS, making overclocking quite easy. I just built another Core i7 system last week for editing HD Video, I went with the P6T Deluxe and have been extremely satisfied. This was quite possibly the easiest build I have ever put together, everything worked right out of the box, no hunting for BIOS updates or adjusting RAM timings to get system stable. Straight up, rock solid, great performance from the first boot.

 

[mlknez]

Thanks for the response. That one sounded good to me, but they have a V2 of that same motherboard listed on their website. I was just curious what was fixed from V1 and if I should wait for it or where I could get it now.

 

[scrumhalf]

The answer to that question is rife with controversy. The official word from Asus is that the only difference is the removal of the SAS Controller for the V2 board. Many have speculated that this is not reason enough to do so and they are hiding something. However, to this day, no one has uncovered any kind of major flaw that would suggest otherwise. The V1 board continues to win rave reviews on hardware site, and I can tell you from experience, it doesn't disappoint. It's up to you if you want to wait a month (could be more, could be less) to save $20 and get the V2 board, but if you want a board now, the V1 is great.

 

[mlknez]

I put in an order for the board. Thanks

 

[scrumhalf]

Enjoy, you're gonna love it!