Can't decide on Core i7 mobo. Please help!

Nils

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Hi,


I really don't know which of these mobo's I should get: Asus P6T Deluxe V2 or Gigabyte X58-UD5

In the first instance I would go for the ASUS because I've always used their boards and never had any problems with them. It also receives very positive comments in reviews and I haven't yet heard one bad thing about the p6t deluxe. However what troubles me is that it only has 6 sata ports of which two are not on a 90° angle what is kinda annying for cable management. Besides, when you are doing 2-way SLI with dual slot cards, you can't add a third card for physx as the last slot is blocked by one of the cards. I'm not sure it will make a big performance difference but it's always nice to have it. Though the PCIe setup on the asus would be better as there's more room between the two cards, allowing better cooling.

The Gigabyte has 10 sata ports, which my main reason to get that board. However, I've already heard a reasonable amount of bad things about that board. First, there would be incompatibility with some memory making the board to do strange things while posting. Secondly I've also heard things about buzzing capacitors, which is kinda annoying. Third, there would be several problems with the bios. And finally, Gigabyte's overall build quality would be worse than asus'.

Now, which board would you guys recommend me? I would have no problem with buying the gigabyte if some of you can confirm that gigabyte has already addressed these issues (the UD5 is already released for quite some time so they might have reacted to these problems).

Any help would be really appreciated,

Thanks
 
Both boards have good and bad reviews, it all comes down to the fancy extras that you will/will not be using.... In my opinion the EVGA SLI LE is the best X58 board out at around that pricerange.... Just read the reviews and see for yourself.....

If you are strickly looking for a dual x16 slot mobo then get the P6T deluxe v2.....

EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX X58 SLI LE Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188049

 
The Asus P6T deluxe only has 1 16X slot or 2 8X slots for graphics cards. That is the one thing that annoys me about the board. I will be getting a different board when I buy a second I7 based computer.
 
P6T Deluxe has a really bad placement of the PCIe slots (3rd one cannot be used for 3x SLi since the 2nd one is too close to it). It also has some RAM issues...not sure if it's been fixed yet.

UD5 - haven't really heard any reviews on it yet.

Go for the P6T, UD4P or UD5 is reviews come out
 

Yoosty

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You are completely wrong on slot speeds. I have a Asus P6T Deleuxe w/OC Palm and am running SLI at full 16x speed.

But the P6T SE has that pci-e slot configuration.
 


I would recommend you do your research before posting wrong info, the P6T deluxe v2 has 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 at x16/x16/x1 or x16/x8/x8 ..................
 

Nils

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The pcie configuration on the asus is fine with me. The only thing what's holding me back is the small amount of sata ports. The gig has lots of them but I've already read lots of threads about it on forums and found out that there are some issues with it (memory,bios). I've also read a lot of this about the asus but practically all of them were good things.
Now my question is, can some of you (eventual owners of the ud5) tell whether these things can be solved with a bios flash, because i would like to try the gig but can't afford it if there would be something wrong with it.

Thanks
 
Well this is the deal as far as X58 goes......

Asus AND Gigabyte are having major issues with thier quality control... some might get a flawless board while others might get a dud (DOA).... If you dont want to go with an EVGA SLI LE or a Classified you have to take that risk..... Its that simple....

I simply cannot tell you if the Asus is better than the Gigabyte or vice versa... You will have to choose on your own.... I recommend you read all the reviews and go with the board that fits your needs....

 

Nils

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If there is one board from evga i would take into consideration, it is the x58 3xsli. You can call me old-fashioned, but i still use a floppy from time to time and evga has removed support for them. Also, I really don't like their bios's. They lack a lot of structure, when compared to asus or gigabyte at the moment.
When it comes to the DOA thing, I'm not scared. The shop where I always buy my components has very good costumer service so if I get a dead board they replace it immediately.
 
Floppys are a thing of the past, not many see a use for them and if your mobo does not have a floppy connector then all you have to do is get a USB floppy drive, it does not get any easier than that.... I could care less for the floppy, dont use them now and dont see a need for them in the future....
 
Excluding the TR, yea.... You can see just by reading the reviews, most peeps that are having issues with the v2 or the UD5 are switching to EVGA.. I even saw like 10 reviews where each person stated that they were loyal Asus or Gigabyte customers till they upgraded to x58.... They also said that they wished they had spent the extra cash for a quality product in the first place... But then then you have the peeps that recieved a perfectly stable board with 0 issues whatsoever.. So its kinda like a gamble...

I had the SLI LE for about a month and to this date it was the most easiest and stable board I have used.... You can ask anyone who has an LE or Classified and they will tell you it was a no-brainer at the time of purchase.....

The P6T , Supercomputer and MSI Plat x58 gave me random issues every now n then..... They were minor but unacceptable issues, specially when you pay good money on a mobo of that caliber.......


 

Nils

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I think I will get the asus first and if there is something wrong with i'll just send it back and get the evga.
I've read some reviews about the evga 3xsli and when i saw the bios screenshots, i wasn't very happy. Some of the settings where not grouped and simply mixed together so it took some time to find the appropriate settings needed to oc. Also i didn't like the voltage control. I saw things like -/+ 0.01 instead of simply choosing the voltage you want. However, it might be that evga has already fixed this with a bios update. I'm sure you can tell me more about it as you owned one already.
 

icenum

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I'd agree last few builds the Gigabyte had longevity issues and Asus as well. RMA board to GB took a while. 2 EVGA boards going strong as Intel mobo but with more features. Longest lasting last run was EVGA-Intel mobo.