P55 vs P55A

[bn_hot]

I'm interested in the Gigabyte P55 or P55A boards but am concerned that the P55A boards are a bit of an experiement even though they are, from Gigabyte's perspective, mainstream.

Here is what I am looking for, and am insterested in advantages/disadvantages of going with GA-P55-xxxx vs. GA-P55A-xxxx

1) i7-860, 8G DDR3 1333
2) RAID 0 with either 2 or 4 WD Black drives (1.45 MB/s each)
3) Dual screen video with 22-24 inch monitors. Should work with games or Adobe CSx.
4) I don't have any USB 3 devices at present
5) OC.... whatever I can reasonably/cosnervatively do on air. Not sure I want to pony up for high end coolers.

Thanks

---Brian

 

[bilbat]

2) RAID 0 with either 2 or 4 WD Black drives (1.45 MB/s each)

WD blcks don;t 'play nice' with RAID - need to step up the the RE3/RE4 drives for that; also, more than two drives in a RAID0 starts dropping the throughput - they are optimal in pairs... You want a system that screams, run a pair of WD VR's in RAID0 for your system/programs drive, and a pair of RE3's in RAID1 to protect your data...

No matter what you buy, it's a beta board; the original P55s were a blank-paper design; before they learned what there was to learn, they were 'off to the races' again, this time with unknown USB3/SATA3 hardware - and - even worse, from vendors they had no history, no 'standing relationship' with! There is exactly one (count 'em, one) real second gen board in the whole 1156/1366 mess - the GA-EX58-UD3R, rev. 1.6/7! The Marvell are pretty well useless; the USB3 is likely good fo 'future proofing", but to use either in a P55 that's already light on PCIe lanes, means you have to swap something out for their use...

 

[saint19]

i7-860, 8G DDR3 1333

Any P55 support the i7-860 and 8GB, even, all support 16GB

RAID 0 with either 2 or 4 WD Black drives (1.45 MB/s each)

500GB? at 69.99=279.96.........SSD 80GB Intel=299.99....Spinpoint F3 1TB=89.99..Don't spend you money with 4 HDD WD

Dual screen video with 22-24 inch monitors. Should work with games or Adobe CSx

That depends of the GPU not of the mobo.

OC.... whatever I can reasonably/cosnervatively do on air. Not sure I want to pony up for high end coolers

The Gigabyte mobos are very good OC mobos, so, you don't need worry about that. The best OC depends of your budget.

 

[bn_hot]

I'm asking if a GA-P55 board should be pursued over a GA-P55A board?

Anybody?

 

[Henry Chinaski]

I'm asking if a GA-P55 board should be pursued over a GA-P55A board?

Anybody?

No. I would choose the GA-P55A board.

 

[ekoostik]

Here is what I am looking for, and am insterested in advantages/disadvantages of going with GA-P55-xxxx vs. GA-P55A-xxxx

Advantage with the "A" series - USB 3.0/SATA3
Advantage with the non-A series - lowest priced board is $30 less than the lowest price A board (according to new egg right now) - that's the GA-P55M-UD2 for $105

Not sure I want to pony up for high end coolers.

Consider the Cooler Master Hyper 212+. Works great and typically around $30.

NewEgg shows it at 35 + shipping right now.

Buy.com has it on sale for $21.10 right now, probably shipping on top of that but I didn't check.