Which Mobo...?

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shadows1123

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So, I have two choices from newegg.

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423

and

EVGA E758-A1 3-Way SLI (x16/x16/x8) LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188039

now, I have always liked EVGA because of their customer support and extremely high (and consistent) ratings in newegg. Gigabyte, I've heard both good and bad things, I have no idea how their customer service actually is. EVGA is also very attuned to the overclocking community. Their BIOSs are always the easiest to overclock (so I've heard). and the fact that the evga motherboards include a power switch, reset switch, clr cmos button, and a debug code is priceless. the gigabyte mobo only has a clr cmos button (and shorting out the power/reset buttons work, i know...but that's not the point) but i would definitely miss the debug codes. I know not about Gigabyte boards. The price between them is unimportant. The SATA III and USB 3.0 are also irrelevant. I believe the number of PWMs on the CPU are 10 and 11, not sure if digital/analog, but shouldn't be too much of an issue for someone like me.

Another question I had about the Gigabyte motherboard: it supports DDR3 2200 and DDR3 1300. Would it support anything in the middle? (like DDR3 1600?)

I originally had my heart set on the EVGA board. But I felt something was missing. I feel that in the future, I will be using all the expansion slots, and with the EVGA board having up to 6 (really, 4 (crossfire + sound + tv card)) i'd like to have that little bit of wiggle room to upgrade (maybe a WiFi card or a RAID card for more SATA ports, just a thought.

also, if anyone has any other motherboards (i've pretty much checked all of newegg, but i know there are an infinite other websites to look at, i just don't know where else to look (somewhere as user-friendly as newegg?)) that i can look at? that'd be awesome!

thanks in advance
 
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banthracis

banthracis

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Wait, you're calling the new industry standards unimportant?

Would you like to use DDR2 RAM, USB 1 and IDE Drives as well? :D

In terms of the overclocking, you have to change the same settings regardless of the BIOS or company. Which companies is easier is simply a matter of what you're used to.

Sound cards are unnecessary. Even audio professionals can't tell the difference between onboard and a sound card.

You seriously need more than 10 SATA slots?

Can also consider this Asus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131641&cm_re=asus_usb_3-_-13-131-641-_-Product

 
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shadows1123

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haha, not necessarily calling sata 3 and usb 3.0 unimportant, but today and the next couple years until peripherals catch up, there's no need. and, i can always get a pci/pci-e expansion that has sata III and usb 3.0 :p but the expansion space is limited on the evga board, if only by one slot. sound cards may be unneccessary, but i have a 5.1 sound system that only has an optical TOSLINK input, and in order for video games to play in 5.1, i need something with dolby digital live (ironically, the gigabyte has sata III and usb 3.0 as well as a realtek alc889 which supports DDL, making that extra slot almost useless, but i dunno how true it is when i have the board in hand)

and, not that i'll *need* more than 10 SATA ports, but more a matter of i *want* more, just as i *want* an extra PCI-E slot. there's also EVGA's board that's exactly like the e758 but with SATA III and USB 3.0...but...no onboard optical port and.....no onboard USB?!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188065 if you were curious. never mind on that one.

as for the asus one you recommended, i don't like the GPU locations for a crossfire setup. the two cards would sit in between the two other pcie cards, essentially making a sandwich of heat. yes, the gigabyte board is situated in a similar fashion, but the judgment is overruled because of the extra pci-e x1 slot

so, let's see. it's all boiling down to:

EVGA:
Debug Code on Mobo
Better Ratings (66% 5 Star Ratings vs 8% 1 Star Ratings)

Gigabyte:
Extra PCIe Slot
Worse Ratings (57% 5 Star Ratings vs 16% 1 Star Ratings)
SATA III and USB 3.0

Most of the other Pros/Cons aren't deciding factors.

orrrrrrrrrr i could just spend $400 on the EVGA board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188048 but i'm staying away from the ASUS P6T7 Supercomputer simply because of the NF200 chipset. i wouldn't really be looking forward to dead ATI cards simply because they're not nvidia cards >.>
 
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shadows1123

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nah, that was just me being obnoxious. i've been reading some bad PR on nvidia lately, so i kinda switched boats since then. nothing against the NF200 in particular, just, i'd prefer an x58 board
 
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shadows1123

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pretty much the only keeping me away from this board is the poor reviews i'm reading...
 
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Somebody_007

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I personally like gigabyte a bit more since they focus on performance rather than features. Which is why I went with the ud5. Although some of the asus features are pretty nice. But nothing beats a badass heatsink like the ud7 has.
 
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shadows1123

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ASUS Rampage III Extreme LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131642

COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119216

Does a Rampage III Extreme fit into a CM 690 II Advanced? It says the dimensions are 12.0" by 10.6". ATX Standard is 12.0" by 9.6".......if it matters, I'm throwing in a corsair 1000hx in the bottom.

edit: yea, it'll fit according to someone's newegg review of the cm 690 II advanced. but i can't use the molex adapter that's on the bottom cuz it'll be up against the PSU. what's the molex adapter for, anyways?
 
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Somebody_007

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well the asus is undoubtably better lol.

It has much better heatsinks, an active cooler far more features(probeit...). It has many things like debug LEDs and a beautiful breathing red LED. It has with some addons capability of going 4-way sli. It has very good sound. It has a cpu defroster. lga 756 mounting(or whatever it is called) holes. ANd the list goes on.

But mainly: has good heatsinks and an active cooler
 
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banthracis

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That is completely false.

Ga boards are in fact, the preferred boards for most overclocking competitions.

Either way, ANY board with sufficient phase power is limited by the chip, not the board.
 
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Somebody_007

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I'm talking about the ud3r not all gigabyte boards(i have a ud5 with a decent OC).

And you definately can do high OC on the ud3r but I don't reccomend it due to the rather small heatsinks. I would go with a slightly better board like the ud5 or p6x58d-premium if you plan on high OCs

I may have exagerrated a bit in that post. You CAN OC enough on that board but I don't reccomend it.
 
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banthracis

banthracis

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Still false. Tom's gave the GA UD3 a recommended buy award and demonstrated it's ability to overclock perfectly fine to just under 4.1ghz, not once, but twice. Mobo roundup and system builders marathon $2k system.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-cpu-gpu,2643-7.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/x58-usb-3.0-sata-6-gbps,2614-13.html

Compared to even the UD7 GA mobo, the UD3 got within 0.063 ghz of it's max overclock.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/x58-usb-3.0-sata-6-gbps,2614-13.html

In fact, all mobo's tested were very close. Like I said, mobo makes very little difference in overclock potential as long as it has sufficient phase power.
 
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banthracis

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Highest is 28C over ambient. Even assuming a hot 30c ambient, worst chipset, the ASROCK, would have only reached 58c on load. Not even remotely close to operating max of 100+C for the chipsets. A 2 degree difference when the hottest is 40+C under the limit is insignificant.

Regardless, the UD3 clearly has no issues even with ~4.1 ghz overclocks. Absolutely false to claim it is incapable of high overclocks.
 
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Somebody_007

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sorry I didn't mean to say incapable. I just wouldn't reccomend it. And on high OC's the difference would be far greater. Also with High OC's I mean higher than 4.1 maybe 4.3-4.4

And those are just the voltage regulator temps what about the bridge temps?

There tests were also done on a test bed I presume which has better airflow than most cases would.
 
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