more criteria should be specified You should give us some more information on what it is going to be used for/in. For example, are you constrained to the microATX form factor or you can fit a full ATX board? Furthermore, what criteria is most important for you? Price? Overclocking capabilities? Features? etc.
Full ATX is fine. Price isn't really an issue. I'm mainly going to be using this as a gaming PC, possibly video editing in the future, and normal day to day usage as well as some webpage stuff, nothing fancy though! In regard to features, whatever the latest and greatest have to offer. I'm looking at an Antec 1200 case which has a fair capacity for drives etc, so guess would like to have a board that can take advantage of this.
No particular reason, apart from the fact I quite like them and have been told they're pretty good boards.
Well the most expensive boards will always be the 'best' boards, but if you're not overclocking then they won't offer any significant advantage over much cheaper boards (maybe a few extra USB/SATA ports). I would just go with something like a UD3 (UD4 if you want SLI) or the Asus P7P55D LE (again, get the Pro version if you want SLI). They're probably the best value for money 1156 boards at the moment.
I have a Gigabyte GA P55 UD5 with an 860 @4.1GHz, all the Gigabyte P55 boards o/c the same, the thing that makes one different from another is it's features, so pick the board that has the features you want or require, the Asus P55 range would I think follow the same theme... ________ JennyLove cam
What are the differences between the UD5/UD6/UD7 Also, what does the 'A' or 'M' after the P55 mean? Also, what does the 'L', 'P' or 'R' after the UD mean?
for Gigabyte boards, P55A means it will have USB3 and SATA6gbps, both newer and will become standard in the future. P55M means it's mATX. i believe LPR are modifiers, so say UD3 is the price range, then you look at the feature list for stuff you need, and buy that board. out of interest, and off topic: @jbloggs, what voltage are you putting through that 860 to get 4.1Ghz?
i LOVE my evga p55 sli board. really good layout, high build quality, all black and a decent price point. no sata 6gbps or usb 3 though. also no floppy or ide which for me was a selling point.
1.425v in BIOS with load-line calibration on "Auto" which in Windows (in CPU-Z) gives 1.392v @ idle and 1.36v under load (Prime..) ________ LoveAnalSexx
Having a look at GA-P55A-UD4, 5 and 6. I can see some small differences in the UD4, but what are the differences between the three boards? One thing I like about these boards is the way that some of the USB ports are powered differently.
The "A"s (for SATA 3 and USB 3) are not as good at overclocking as the older ones according to a few people I know in Taiwan, especially at memory overclocking, but it's not like that matters on LGA1156 anyway. I've haven't heard a bad thing about EVGA boards too - I really have to get one in!! >_< UD5/6 is where you should aim for then, but I'd probably go for a UD4 - it's 95% the same thing with less SATA.
