Foxconn Renaissance vs. Elitegroup ECS x58b-a

[jackbravo]

Ladies and Gents,

I have come to the sad and feared conclusion that I will return my biostar x58 board. It just won't detect all three sticks of memory. I have the option of RMA'ing it, but it'll cost me $20 more...and for that, it seems that I could get a new board from newegg.

There seems to be two pretty good options. The foxconn renaissance is currently on sale at newegg, and seemed to be reviewed favorably by THG. I don't plan to OC more than 3.2-3.3. I have geforce 260 now, and I don't plan to SLI anytime soon. If I do in the future, I doubt I'll tri sli it, so I'm not concerned about the foxconn's slot spacing.

FOXCONN RENAISSANCE
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 52-21.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813186161

I'm also considering the Elitegroup ECS x58 motherboard. It was not one that was reviewed by THG, but it was reviewed by guru3d favorably. Elitegroup though is traditionally an OEM manufacturer, so I'm a little hesitant to go with them. The mobo though seems pretty nice, especially for the pricce.

ELITEGROUP ECS x58b-a
http://www.guru3d.com/article/ecs- [...] d--review/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813135229


Any thoughts or previous experience would be appreciated.

 

[Proximon]

Why not stick with one of the first string motherboard companies?

Gigabyte UD3R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131365

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Though I'm not an intel guy, I gotta agree with Proximon. Looking quickly at what you are going to spend, get a better board man. ECS, only reason I'd get their board is the price, and they are nearly as high. If you are looking at the rebates, there's not a guarantee you will recieve the rebate. Usually in my opinion Biostar is good, so you may have gotten a dud. However, if you are dead set on a different board, I reccomend Gigabyte. I have one of their boards in my AMD box, very nice board, no problems with it in 1.5 years or so. Good board for the money I think.

 

[jackbravo]

Thanks for the recs. I've been thinking about the Gigabyte too....it's a nice board for the price. A friend of mine said about the UD3R "it's like the fat chick relative of it's sexy cousin" - talking about the UD5.

I'd love to get the p6T deluxe v2, but it's about another $100.

So far, the box is costing me $800, so adding $100 is kinda of a bid deal to me. I don't know...maybe I should just suck it up and do it....

Foxconn seems nice though....

 

[Proximon]

I have no major objection to Foxconn, but they don't have the rep of the big 2.

Gigabyte has the best build quality usually, and although ASUS has lousy tech support they generally do well with software and BIOS updates.

 

[jitpublisher]

Gigabyte gets my vote as well, they just seem to very well built solid boards.
Have been quite happy with any Gigabyte board I have ever owned, whether it was a budget board, or highend.
ASUS is a big name, very popular. But still, I have heard a lot of people complain about their service. To be fair, they probably sell more boards than anyone so you would naturally hear more complaints I suppose.
I have never owned a Foxconn board, see a lot of good things being said about them though.
I would hesitate to recommend Biostar, and would never, ever suggest anyone spend money on an ECS board, they could not even pay me to take one.

 

[jackbravo]

that's interesting, because a friend just said the same thing about ECS...thx for the opinions. anybody use the ud3r?

 

[Proximon]

It's included in a great many builds here, second only to the UD3P in recent popularity. Gigabyte took over from ASUS when they released those two boards, both of which are second gen P45 boards.

 

[daidalas]

what do you guys think about the evga x58? at 260 its more expensive than the gigabyte but how do they compare???
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188046

 

[Proximon]

It's got some nice features, and EVGA has been pretty good with the nVidia boards for a while (as good as possible with the poor chipsets). They are new to the Intel chipset thing. I think the heatsinks around the CPU are a bit much.