Sandy Bridge motherboards which model?

inwd

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Hi,

Building a new i7 2600 and I'm having trouble working out what are the better boards at the moment with the sandy bridge. I'm interested in the Gigabyte or Asus range although can be whatever brand. Any suggestions? What is popular choice with consumers what are a few of the best boards at the moment for value and performance? Thanks!
 

inwd

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I have thought about 2600k though I don't have plans to overclock the price difference for the 2600K is around fifty dollars or more in Australia at the moment :p

Thanks for the link I should hold off a few months then it's not an urgent build thanks for the tip. Are there any SB motherboards out at the moment that people are recommending?
 

Too early to call. Not enough data on motherboards to determine the stars and super performers. Let the bugs be worked out first. Then read reviews, recommendations, pricing, availability, etc., and make your decision. This would be a conservative approach. (I am a risk taker, but with other people's money! LOL).

Regarding overclocking - it will be just a matter of time (when, not if) before you get the urge to start tweaking things. It is a lot of fun, and very rewarding in terms of gaining knowledge!
 

Eagle Eye_54

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Yes, if I were building a Sandy Bridge setup now, I would likely go with the ASUS deluxe or Pro mobo. They are available now after the Intel chip fiasco. Maximum PC also shows the Deluxe as its' motherboard of choice for SB. They seem to be slowly working out the bugs that were present in the SB mobos and you should be happy with one of theses. I really like the new BIOS in ASUS SB boards...easy to work with. If you do decide to OC, I would suggest that the ASUS has that well covered.
 
From the get-go I've recommended the ASUS P8P67 DELUXE for most enthusiasts. I do NOT recommend either the H67 or Z68 'IF' using a Discrete GPU 1 or more; you'll loose physical RAM and share the PCIe bandwidth with the Discrete GPU.

Clearly, the H67 + 'K' CPU is a total waste; No OC and limited Turbo-boost. The H67 is fine for non-K CPUs and onboard VGA. The Z68 allows K OC, but again you're faced with the sharing as described above.

Therefore, Discrete GPU + K SB CPU leaves the P67. Next, it comes down to 'Options' and 'Needs' that you haven't listed.

SIMPLE CONFIG -> SABERTOOTH P67 or P8P67 PRO or P8P67 DELUXE or P8P67-M PRO
SIMPLE CONFIG / BT -> P8P67 PRO or P8P67 DELUXE

PCIe SSD -> P8P67 PRO or P8P67 DELUXE
RAID 0 SSD / PCIe SSD -> P8P67 DELUXE
LAN Party - > P8P67 DELUXE

To simplify, if the goal is a single GPU, SSD + HDD + ODD, OC or essentially as a basic but fast Desktop and I didn't need all the bells and whistles {BT/RAID 0 SSD/Dual LAN/CF or SLI} then I'd choose the P8P67-M PRO http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=iT2FJPCMOGBHClu4

ASUS:
Maximus IV Extreme {2~3WAY, x8...x8, Marvell 9182 [ASUS typo? 9128] RAID 0/1, Dual Intel LAN, BT}
P8P67 WS Revolution {2~3WAY & 4-WAY Quadro only, x8...x8, Marvell 9128 RAID 0/1, Dual Intel LAN}

P8P67 DELUXE {2-WAY, x8/x8 + x4 open, Marvell 9128 RAID 0/1, Dual Intel/Realtek LAN, BT, eSATA, USB3 Ft Panel}

P8P67 EVO {2-WAY, x8/x8 + x4 open, Marvell 9120 no RAID, Dual Intel/Realtek LAN}
P8P67 PRO {2-WAY, x8/x8 + x4 open, Marvell 9120 no RAID, BT}

SABERTOOTH P67 {2-WAY, x8/x8, Marvell 9120 no RAID, eSATA}
P8P67 LE {cheap}
P8P67 {cheap}
P8P67-M {cheap}
P8P67-M PRO {cheap}

edit: Building Chart:
Build_Chart_Q1-2011-1.jpg
 

inwd

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Cool thanks for the info. It's kind of a low budget simple build these are the specs. I don't plan on overclocking anything really :0 build is replacing a quad core that I use allot of multitasking adobe programs for graphic design etc and I want to play a few of the latest games :p

i7 2600

Corsair dominator 1600c9 8GB kit 2x4GB DDR3

MSI\Gigabyte GeForce GTX560 Ti 1GB

Corsair 120GB SSD, 2.5" Force Series

Antec True power 750Watt

Fractal Design RC3
 
Then leaving some expandability open the P8P67-M PRO {2-WAY, x8/x8 + x4 covered, eSATA}. It's fine for what you described. I would look at the G.SKILL Ripjaws X:
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

P8P67-M PRO - http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=iT2FJPCMOGBHClu4&templete=2

Nice Article -> http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/memory/2011/01/11/the-best-memory-for-sandy-bridge/1

Don't get me wrong, I love Corsair but their current lines for Sandy Bridge aren't in keeping what they should be. In any case the Sandy Bridge is better suited for 1.5v DDR3. Corsair's Vengeance offers 1.5v DDR3.
 

fullofzen

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I gotta agree with Ubarles. There are so few Rev 3.0 SB MBs out there that anyone that buys one now is basically an early-adopter.

Here's some reviews of the Asus P8P67 LE ATX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131706&cm_re=p8p67-_-13-131-706-_-Product

Only 3 stars? Some suggest that it is somewhat buggy.

Here's some reviews of the Asus P8P67 base model ATX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131705&cm_re=p8p67-_-13-131-705-_-Product

3 stars? Again, some are saying it's buggy.

I'm planning to buy the Asus P8P67 Pro for sure -- the versions that came out prior to the recall got rave reviews, but there just seem to be a lot of bugs to work out. In other words -- Asus is a good mfr; they know what they're doing. There are just not enough out there to have gotten the bugs knocked out of them yet.

The Asus P8P67 Pro -- likely to be the most popular P67 boards -- hasn't been in wide supply yet at all. Way to early to pull the trigger.
 
The ONLY reason I mentioned ASUS P8P67M-Pro is because of your statement of "low budget simple build"...

The P8P67M-Pro is in my {Cheap} list because 'I' don't love m/u/ATX MOBOs, but unlike the P8P67 LE, the P8P67M-Pro got good reviews http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/motherboards/asus-p8p67m-pro-924170/review and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131707

As far as early adopters, no argument there - I'd wait until supplies are up and the Guinea Pigs report back. However, prior to the 'B3' there were clear impressions of most of the P67 MOBOs which shouldn't change much it at all.

Good Luck!
 

inwd

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OK thanks jaquith for all the info in your posts. What about the MSI P67A-GD55? Assuming revisions on all the SB boards are out or coming out soon on those models mentioned. I would prefer a full ATX board :p
 

fullofzen

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From Neegg (MSI P67A-GD55) it's gotten good reviews so far; MSI also has a reputation for quality. However, the MSI board is missing some features that the Asus board has. Namely, reviewers have given the auto-overclock feature of the Asus P8P67 board very high marks -- this is called the "auto-tune" feature. This is missing from the MSI board.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1500/1/
 
My order of preference: EVGA {gaming}, ASUS, ASRock and MSI. I have no problems with MSI.

People tend to recommend what they have the most experience with and for me it's EVGA and ASUS. I look at them {MSI} all of the time and have a neutral feeling about them. I have to my recollection, never built an MSI rig...however, I do know that MSI made a concerted effort on the P67/H67. I hear 'military grade' and my pavlovian response think MSI.

MSI P67A-GD55 reviews are always Good.
 

inwd

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true I've only had exp with ASUS and GIGABYTE boards. I could consider ASUS PRO but I don't know if I would take advantage of the features over the MSI P67A-GD55 for the price.
 

colo

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But have not the P67 chipset been withdrawn by Intel for the design flaw?
 

colo

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Do you think one should wait for the Z68 series? Does the Intel DP67BGB3 have decent enough HD graphics not to warrant a discrete GPU?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z68-express-lucidlogix-virtu-ssd-caching,2888.html

http://www.trubritarforums.com/index.php/topic/6763-x68-and-990fx-mobos/page__p__71902#entry71902

Asus support is really very poor here in India. Though I am using a Asus Deluxe board, and it has served me fine, it recently failed after running 24x7 for 6 years.

Thanks
 

colo

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You still require a discrete graphic card for ASUS P8P67 DELUXE board, do you not?

Thanks
 
Yes, the P67 requires Discrete GPU(s). Waiting, it depends upon your Purpose and Budget. 'IF' I were to build either an HTPC or general Desktop {non-gaming} then I would probably wait for Z68, and most HTPC's are like DVD/DVR players so the H67 is fine. Supposedly, the Z68 is coming out in Q2 2011, but the P67 recall -- it 'could be' closer to Q3 2011. Remember, either the H67 or Z68 will pull both Physical RAM {0.5GB+} AND PCIe Bandwidth {10~20%} regardless if a Discrete GPU is used or not.

In any case, if 'Gaming' is part of the 'LIST' then P67 or maybe Z68 but for 'TV' resolutions.

Hope that helps & Good Luck! :)
 

colo

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Thanks for that..

I want to build a powerful PC, capable of heavy multi-tasking, as also HD playback.

Am told Intel has rectified the SATA error and added a suffix -B3 to their P67 series.

But the SATA error is the one that HAS been reported, there could be others. So I think it best to wait for the Z68.

Thanks!