Motherboard Vendors, Personal Preference or Actual Performance Differences?

[iGlowstick]

Hi guys,

So I've been looking over Motherboard choices for the Haswell chips and well in CPUs in general.
I was kinda confused as to whether or not MoBo vendors, ASUS/MSI/etc, are just a case of personal preference or if there is a significant difference in the way they build their MoBo's.
Anyone able to identify some points or areas where they majorly differ?
Any input would be appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[alexoiu]

Hi, There are differences, reflected in the price:
- materials' quality, determining the incidence of failures, OC-ability, performance under stress,
- features/quality of different controllers/phases
- BIOS (user friendly, easy to update/recover/chip replacing, assuring compatibility with different devices),
- support under warranty (service, drivers updates),
- documentation/manuals.

 

[iGlowstick]

Hi, There are differences, reflected in the price:
- materials' quality, determining the incidence of failures, OC-ability, performance under stress,
- features/quality of different controllers/phases
- BIOS (user friendly, easy to update/recover/chip replacing, assuring compatibility with different devices),
- support under warranty (service, drivers updates),
- documentation/manuals.

And as far as PCI Express 3.0 x16 / 2.0 x16, what is the difference?
Does it make a big difference if they run x8/x8? Is there a board that runs x16/x16 for SLI?

 

[alexoiu]

There is a slight difference 3.0 vs 2.0:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/07/18/pci_express_20_vs_30_gpu_gaming_performance_review/13
But, as they mention: "With real-world gameplay performance advantages under 10% it doesn't change the actual gameplay experience. It in no way allows us to improve in-game quality settings nor does it give us any advantages over the PCIe 2.0 system. As we've stated previously in this evaluation, the technical performance advantages are "benchmarkable" but not relating to the gameplay experience."
And they've tested high-end graphics cards.
I guess that with average cards there's no gain in performance.
The same with x8 vs x16 in SLI or Crossfire. And in my opinion, you'd better buy a top graphics card than two average ones.

 

[iGlowstick]

There is a slight difference 3.0 vs 2.0:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/07/18/pci_express_20_vs_30_gpu_gaming_performance_review/13
But, as they mention: "With real-world gameplay performance advantages under 10% it doesn't change the actual gameplay experience. It in no way allows us to improve in-game quality settings nor does it give us any advantages over the PCIe 2.0 system. As we've stated previously in this evaluation, the technical performance advantages are "benchmarkable" but not relating to the gameplay experience."
And they've tested high-end graphics cards.
I guess that with average cards there's no gain in performance.
The same with x8 vs x16 in SLI or Crossfire. And in my opinion, you'd better buy a top graphics card than two average ones.

So you would suggest going with 1x Titan vs 2x GTX780s?

 

[alexoiu]

780 is not quite average.
2 x 780 = 2x650$ = 1300$
1 x Titan = 1x1000$ = 1000$
1 x 7990 = 1x1000$ = 1000$
Add also a more powerfull PSU needed for SLI or Crossfire.
Is the difference worth the performance gain?
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/55577-kfa2-geforce-gtx-780-sli/?page=4
It depends.

 

[iGlowstick]

780 is not quite average.
2 x 780 = 2x650$ = 1300$
1 x Titan = 1x1000$ = 1000$
1 x 7990 = 1x1000$ = 1000$
Add also a more powerfull PSU needed for SLI or Crossfire.
Is the difference worth the performance gain?
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/55577-kfa2-geforce-gtx-780-sli/?page=4
It depends.

Here's the thing, if I go with 1x Titan, I would do so to maybe get another in the future, but at the same time it might not be a good move in case another GPU comes out. Whereas if I buy 2x 780 that's pretty much what I'll stick with for the next few years.
I don't know the likelihood of buying 1 titan now and then in a few months buying another...things are moving too quickly these days..