P55 Motherboard advice needed

[IInferno]

Hi for my new build computer ive already selected most things (i5 750, Sapphire HD 5770 vapor-x).
I had selected the Asus P7P55D-e pro as the motherboard but then remembered about foxconn and had a look at their Inferno Katana GTI motherboard. (my current pc uses a foxconn mobo)

Ive not found much info on it and just wondered if anyone had some insight onto which i should go for. Although not crossfiring straight away its an option i want open for a bit later. I'm a homebuild newbie but do have basic knowledge and have fixed my current comp a few times.

 

[flaminggerbil]

Foxconn have had trouble in the past with sockets burning out 1156 cpu's (no idea if this has been fixed in any way), the ASUS P7p55d series are all good boards though.

Do you want the option of SLi? If not then you might as well get a slightly cheaper one without it and just stick with crossfire.

 

[tecmo34]

The issue with the foxconn has been fixed. There is no reason to be worried about the board catching fire like the original issue in November, 2009. I would stick with the Asus P7P55D-e pro

 

[IInferno]

Reason for pro over cheaper p7p55d-e is the x8/x8 on crossfire was bouncing between pro and evo but didnt need the extra gigabit socket which is the only real bonus i could see.

 

[flaminggerbil]

You'll not notice any difference in terms of performance with x8/x8, benchmarks have shown it being as low as 3-5% fps loss, which is practically nothing.
Ofcourse if you've got cash to burn and dont have anything else you want to save the money for then the faster slots wont hurt, but it is a chance to save ~£40 to spend on a second graphics card.

 

[tecmo34]

I think that is why IInferno said he went with the Asus P7P55D-e pro over the Asus P7P55D-e, which is x16,x4, which isn't a good dual card setup!

 

[IInferno]

Sorry, yes tecmo is right. It's my fault, I was typing while on the phone. I didn't see the advantage in the cost of the evo, which is why i opted for the pro.

 

[flaminggerbil]

Oh I'm an idiot, forgot that the p7p55d-e only has a x4 second slot.

Not sure what kind of effect that would have on the second card though, not seen any benchmarks for that.

 

[IInferno]

From what i read up on, it was a significant enough drop to suggest not crossfiring and buying a single more expensive card with the mobo.

 

[flaminggerbil]

I actually have the p7p55d-e so fairly major fail on my part forgetting that, never planned to crossfire it though.
They're a solid series of motherboards and come with the usual high quality ASUS components and software, well worth the money.
I've not had any experience with Foxconn but they seem rather cheap in comparison, including the BIOS which looks a bit crap.

Might be worth having a look at the Gigabyte boards as well.

 

[IInferno]

the mobo from foxconn i had/have has worked fine but it is years old but yes the reviews were a bit up and down for the more recent ones, which is suprising as they make a lot of components that asus use themselves. I guess its a case of stick to what you know.