Can't decide on a motherboard for i7 920

[hunter1801]

I'm trying to decide the last parts for my build. I'm building an i7 920 computer for gaming and possible video editing, sound editing, and photoshop down the road. I plan on using 1 video card to start (5850), and want to keep the Crossfire option open for down the road. I know I won't need 3 video cards though. As far as RAM goes, I am starting with 6GB and don't see myself upgrading a whole lot more in the future. 12 gigs max probably. That's all I can think of now.

I don't know what motherboard to get. I here a bunch of recommendations, mainly different Asus and Gigabyte boards, but I don't know which ones I should go with. I don't want to spend over $300. Closer to $200 would be preferred, but can go closer to $300 if it gets me a better board. Just not OVER that definitely. Any suggestions?

 

[janxta]

Check out the ASrock X58 Extreme at newegg for $170. You can read a review at anandtech.com. Good luck with your new build.

 

[belial2k]

Asrock is good if you don't want to do much OCing....but if you do I would go with Asus P6T SE...it is a crossfire only board, but other than that is about the same as the regular P6T.

 

[hunter1801]

Well if it is a big performance difference, I would much rather go with something better than the SE or even an Asrock. I was looking at even the P6TD for $260, but was just looking for suggestions to what board will be best for my usage that I posted.

 

[jive]

HI,
Any X58 mobo will do the job, the difference is most of the time in the freebeeees you get, 10 or 8 usb, sas port, 2X16x line for two card in sli or cross fire, sli and/or corssfire, chosse your option choose the board after. I bought a p6t deluxe v2 I ran my i7 920 at 3.93 for the last 5 month. I don't even have one glich with that card.
bye. No bsod no nothing it's almost boring too have nothing to do then play ;-)

 

[belial2k]

performance for all the P6T boards will all be similar, they just add features as you go up the chain. From what I can tell you will be fine with the SE since you already plan to use ATI graphics, and being crossfire only is the main limitation of the SE.

 

[hunter1801]

I always hear people talking bad about the SE (or as they call it, the Shi**y Edition). From what I've understood, it isn't as good, or is more of a budget board.

 

[belial2k]

It seems all the x58 boards suffer from several poor reviews. I credit some of this to user error, and some of it to all the manufacturers having poor quality control from time to time. I've used all the P6t versions, and other than a short period where they had some poor voltage control problems (now fixed) I've had really good luck with them. Much better luck than I had with Asrock and EVGA...who I've had nothing but problems with. The SE is the budget board, does not offer SLI, and doesnt have all the features of the higher priced boards. But 90% of users will never use the missing features anyway. But like all computer hardware, it comes down to luck of the draw, and being able to troubleshoot if something is wrong.

 

[azndood79]

Have you considered the brand Gigabyte? the products are pretty good. Toms hardware actually tested one and compared it to other sub $200 mainboards. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cheap-x58-motherboard,2368-15.html

I would recommend paying up to get a mb that has 6 memory slots.

I bought myself a Gigabyte GA-X58 Extreme, and a friend of mine bought a P55-UD6. Both are great products.

 

[coppertrail]

I was set on an EVGA board for my i7 build, now I'm going to look at this one as I too will only be running 1 vid card (NVIDIA GTX 260) and will not be gaming. $100 price difference is pretty significant.