Motherboards Lost for choice, going for an i7 build

Third post, been browsing about reading rather than writing.

My budget on a motherboard is £200~.

Been looking at Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P or Asus P6T Deluxe, from aria.co.uk, OR anything else within a range of £200.

What would be better?

 

Looking at that site and considering a £200 you really have to go with the GA-EX58-UD5, it is an incredibly good board that I have done a build with. It has the same feature set as the top of the line GA-EX58-EXTREME, just with a different cooling arrangement.

I recommend it highly, but when I look at the specs, the UD5 and UD4P look pretty similiar...

The P6T seems to be a nice board, but I haven't done anything with it, plus I kind of like Gigabyte...

 

The EXTREME is tempting, although I may end up watercooling the chipset and bridge, rendering the cooling included useless.

Thanks for the reply.

 

+1 at everything Von Lazuli has said.

 

put a lil extra in and go Asus Rampage II Gene Matx if you don't need the extra slots of a ATX board

 

Im quite happy with my P6 deluxe v2 from asus.

Ive tried many different Mobos and i usually end up having it replaced with an asus

 

+1 for P6T.

I's been flawless since I built this. Great looks, great features, great O/Cing BIOS.

One thing tho... CRAP sound! If Hi-Fi is your bag... look elsewhere or get a decent sound card.

 

Reading reviews here, and the price differences, I've got my eyes set on the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P.

The Asus board is about £40 more, and doesnt have much of a difference feature wise.

I've always brought Gigabyte boards, the only reason I was tempted to go for Asus was the board is black.

@Pookeyhead, thanks for pointing out the sound issue, I use a 5.1 headset so that would have been an issue.

 

The silly colour schemes of Gigabyte boards is the only thing and makes me look for alternatives too.. if only they did one with a plain black PCB and black connectors

Look forward to seeing your rig at the next LAN!

 

tomshardware has a nice x58 mid range roundup
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/x58-motherboard-i7,2252.html

if posting reviews from other sites is against the rules my bad, please delete my post
but i do love you bit-tech and for me your reviews and advice are the ones I go by

 

Doing a build likes this and using Onboard sound makes me

 

Np

It isn't "OMG that's awful", but if you use headphones a lot, it's very annoying due to digital noise in quiet passages etc. The dynamic range seems muted somehow as well, and lacks the "sparkle" of my X-Fi card.

If you use "normal" speakers and are not overly critical it will be fine, but if you're fussy, budget for a decent sound card.

BTW.. don't assume any other board will be better. I've always had noise issues with on board sound on every single PC I've had.

 

Ugh, digital noise..

I may decide getting a soundcard later on, at the moment I've got a low budget, a soundcard can come later on!

Thankyou, all, for the help!

 

Hello,

Just a thought, if you were looking at using a dual graphics card setup then the PCI-E x16 slots of the Gigabyte X58 UD4P look quite close together if you were using two dual slot cards. I don't know if this is an issue, but was just something that I had noticed.

Ross

 

The Gigabyte EX58-UD5 is a very good board too.

 

@Ross: I'd defently have watercooling in mind!

@oasked: UD5 is tempting! Even if it is pushing my budget a little. Although it seems to be the EXTREME, just without the extra load of junk they stuck on for more cooling? I'd have it watercooled later on so it seems like a waste.

 

No need to watercool it TBH, the passive heatsinks do their job just fine. Whichever board you choose, I'm sure you'll be happy - the majority of X58 boards are very good.

 

O'rly? Ordering today/tomorrow.

Oh, and pay her back for what? You're the one paying your mom back! LOL