Which MOBO for New Gaming Rig?

[draiko333]

Hi all,

I'm currently looking to build a new gaming rig and I'm having trouble deciding on which motherboard to use. Hoping some of you can provide some input and opinions. I've looked at benchmarks and reviews and get mixed results all the time.

First of all I should mention I plan on using an i5 760, with either 2x Asus Radeon HD 6870 or 2x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 FTW, and 4 GB of DDR3 1333 RAM.

I don't know anything about overclocking, and I don't know if I would ever try as I'm afraid of damaging my computer. I did however notice some of these boards come with some sort of auto-OCing feautres (Asus TurboV EVO and MSI OC Genie). I might give those a try if they're safe enough to use 24/7 without melting my computer. I have been told already though that these features aren't recommended... so I might skip on those.

Now for the boards:

ASUS P7P55D Deluxe = $132.64
Gigabyte P55A-UD4P = $162.92
MSI P55A-GD65 = $149.99
ASUS Sabertooth I55 = $151.84

As someone who is a noobie to OCing and computer building in general; what's the recommended board? I intend to order through NCIX and have the computer built before arrival, so if you wish to recommend a different board than the ones I listed just make sure it's available through NCIX.
(Prices are from Pricebat as NCIX does price matching).

Thanks in advance for taking the time to help!

P.S. If anyone has any recommendations for a computer case under $100 which will provide sufficient cooling feel free to pipe in! As it stands now I'll probably be getting the NZXT Hades.

 

[jaquith]

Out of that bunch:
ASUS P7P55D Deluxe = $132.64
ASUS Sabertooth I55 = $151.84

My picks:
or ASUS P7P55D-E Pro = $179.99

EVGA P55 FTW SLI | 132-LF-E657-KR = $179.99 + EVGA GeForce GTX 460

I too would encourage Corsair 1600 DDR3; CMP4GX3M2A1600C8

Case CM690 II Advanced

 

[JackNaylorPE]

ASUS Sabertooth I55 = $151.84

or

or ASUS P7P55D-E = $179.99

Skip the Giga ..... unless it gets a NF-200

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/usb-3.0-performance,2490-2.html

At two-thirds of the price of its Asus rival, Gigabyte’s P55A-UD4P cuts costs by using the processor’s PCIe 2.0 connections to host its high-bandwidth controllers. Two of the primary graphics card’s 16 PCIe lanes supply its USB 3.0 and SATA 6.0 Gb/s controllers, and Gigabyte disables six more lanes to make the upper slot an effective x8 interface. The USB 3.0 and SATA 6.0 Gb/s controllers revert to the chipset’s 2.5 GT/s lanes whenever two graphics cards are installed, to preserve the x8 transfers each graphics card needs for optimal CrossFire or SLI performance.

 

[jaquith]

^That's why I don't like the LGA 1156, the X58 eliminates the problem if you're willing to pay ~$150-$200 more AND you have the need for 2-3+ WAY SLI.

 

[draiko333]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Just curious... why do you both suggest ASUS P7P55D-E over the Deluxe?

Thanks again!

 

[jaquith]

Because my typo was carried-over P7P55D-E Pro is what I meant; USB 3 & SATA3, eSATA support.

Side-by-Side - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%2050001315%20600007888&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-131-400^13-131-400-TS,13-131-634^13-131-634-TS,13-131-621^13-131-621-TS