SNB Motherboard Ideas Needed

[sixshot]

Originally, I was aiming to get an ASUS P8P67 PRO motherboard when I start ordering parts for my Sandy Bridge rig. But as time goes by, and reviews get submitted, I start to have doubts. The reviews are starting to look pretty bad for that board and the Z68 equiv of it doesn't look any better. (3 of 5 eggs may be barely making by but that isn't acceptable for me)

So I started to browse, yet again, for a SNB motherboard... a good design, one that has 2 space between the first and second PEG slots, solid and stable, overclockable but not in the extreme, and at least a single PCI slot for my aging X-Fi card.

I've narrowed it down to 4 candidates... listed and linked below to their appropriate product page at Newegg:

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P (yes, 1 review but I also have a Gigabyte board)
GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3
ASRock P67 EXTREME4
MSI P67A-GD65

I'm open to suggestions as well. A Z68 board would be nice as it would enable me to use QuickSync w/ the 2600k. But is there anything else I can use the on-die video chip other than transcoding videos? It would also be nice if I can use UEFI as well. But it's not a requirement, yet.

I'm torn now between jumping ship and going with one of the four candidates or taking the chance and going with the ASUS board I originally chose. I have never had a single problem with any of the motherboards I have chosen throughout the years. But like with all things, that luck may run out at some point. Call me paranoid if you want. But the original choice I have is starting to cast a very dark cloud.

[tet5uo]

How about the EVGA boards.

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=130-SB-E675-KR&family=Motherboard%20Family&series=Intel%20P67%20Series%20Family&sw=5

[QuackingPlums]

Interesting how I got one of the original P8P67 Pro boards back when everybody was telling me not to (my argument: I only needed one SATA port) and I have never had any of the problems bar the double-POST issue, which was solved by not overclocking the BCLK so aggressively. I don't intend on taking up my warranty replacement for a B3.

I guess if you want to use the onboard graphics, QuickSync or otherwise, you'll have to get a Z67 or H67 board. If you want overclockability as well then the choice is further restrained to just the Z67. My rig is for games only so even a potential 1-3% degradation in performance is enough for me to never want to use that, but I can see how it can be useful - I'm effectively not using a whole bunch of features that my PC is capable of!

[Abram]

I've always been happy with the 3 Gigabyte boards I've had. It can be quite a chore, choosing a mobo. It's always the component I spend the most time researching, hemming-and-hawing over...

[Paradigm Shifter]

I've always been happy with the 3 Gigabyte boards I've had. It can be quite a chore, choosing a mobo. It's always the component I spend the most time researching, hemming-and-hawing over...

Agreed.

I like Asus, and I like Gigabyte. Had poor experiences of MSI and DFI (although the latter is no longer an issue)...

The Asus P67 Sabertooth might be worth a gander?

[sixshot]

The Sabertooth is out of the question. I'll be snagging two 6950 cards for Crossfire so that PCI slot down at the bottom becomes blocked. I can't tear myself away from my X-Fi card.

"Get a new one, using PCI Express."

Not an option, as my X-Fi also has the I/O module that can only connect to the first generation of X-Fi cards.

I like ASUS as well but they are overly expensive compared to their competitors like Gigabyte and MSI. I've had both before, an AMD board on MSI and my current Intel on Gigabyte.

As for EVGA boards... I have yet to find an EVGA motherboard that appeals to me. It seems their goal is to aim for the stratosphere. I just want one that is more down to earth -- simple, functional, but still flexible and powerful enough to perform.

[tet5uo]

Yeah, I'm big on EVGA for their customer support. RMA's are almost no questions asked, and you can even get away with sending things back with stock coolers included but not attached. (Nice for watercoolers to not have to re-attach the stock HS/F) They don't mind overclocking of their products, and they even once got the factory to send me a new BIOS chip in the mail after a bad flash, after I had refused RMA on the whole board because it was limited edition and the new ones didn't have the NF200 chips to beef up the PCIE.

[Bravo]

I'll put my vote for Gigabyte as well. Been using their motherboards for 3 systems now and their quality, endurance and support have never disappointed. MSI and Asus however brings back troublesome memories, but they both seem to have shaped up since last time I used them, especially Asus.

It's getting hard however to keep that old PCI-slot available on new motherboards, especially the high-end ones ;) Wouldn't surprise me if this is the last generation.

[tet5uo]

I also have had many gigabyte boards that lasted with no issues. They do make solid stuff.

[Paradigm Shifter]

It's funny, I ran the troublesome old Asus warhorse, the A7N8X Deluxe into the ground for years, multiple BIOS flashes (including one that went bad and I had to blind flash to fix it!) without any real issues at all beyond the bad flash, it was a trooper.

Everyone else I spoke to had no end of problems with that board.

I'm running a Gigabyte X58 board ATM, it's good (it was their second highest end at the time) but it's really, really slow to POST. It also hates GF100 cards... endless boot problems if you put one in. GF104 is fine, though. *shrug* Made a review die, as I couldn't run the tests!

...

It's actually funny how slot positioning is becoming my biggest reason for not buying a mobo. Poor slot spacing made me avoid several boards when I was looking for an AM3 board to pair with a 1090T. It's most annoying how the only boards that seem to put slots in the right places (for my usage) are all £300+ monsters.

When the next round of GPUs come out, I'd probably go back to the single GPU route with AMD. Two cards is too troublesome.

[Abram]

One other thing about choosing a mobo.. opinions never end.

I've also had two DFI mobos and I loved them both. one is still running my HTPC - they never gave me andy grief.

I've had three ASUS boards; one crapped out, one was sold, and one, which is now 11 years old dis till running my moms' old desktop.

Though i have a friend that went through two MSI boards inside of two months.

I have zero experience withe ASrock, but I've always taken a good look at them when i shop on a tight budget, because I've always read good things.

Most manufacturers seem good, for the most part.But they all have particular models that are cunty.

Decide what you require from a board, what you do not, find problems in reviews (i use NCIX/newegg/Amazon user, and "professional" reviews), and also check out any BIOS updates once you marrow your list down. And try to get oen that supports future CPUs. Not having to upgrade mobo and ram when you want a new CPU is nice.

For the record, I'm super-duper happy with my current Gigabyte P67A-Ud5-B3. It was a little pricey, but it has all that i need. My secodn choice was the ASUS P675A-somethign-Pro

[Paradigm Shifter]

One other thing about choosing a mobo.. opinions never end.

Ne'er a truer word spoken.

Decide what you require from a board, what you do not, find problems in reviews (i use NCIX/newegg/Amazon user, and "professional" reviews), and also check out any BIOS updates once you marrow your list down. And try to get oen that supports future CPUs. Not having to upgrade mobo and ram when you want a new CPU is nice.

Easier said than done. Intel have been fans of requiring platform shifts to upgrade for years and years. It's only really since AM2 that AMD have moved away from that model, but even they occasionally require it.

[sixshot]

Slot position/design is also a major pain in the rear for me too. I've seen some that has a PCI Express x1 slot above the x16 slot while others don't. Having one just above the x16 leaves room for other things like sound card or a TV Tuner. The worst ones are the designs where you have a x16 slot, a PCI slot, and another x16 slot. I mean, come ON.

Seems like the general consensus like Gigabyte boards. I've owned a couple of ASUS boards in the past. Yeah, they were very solid boards. Can't find anything wrong with them. But today... well, I dunno. There's something odd about a board that is giving people problems when ASUS should be up there in terms of high quality standards. And I have always associated ASUS as being the luxury brand for motherboards. They are expensive as heck but their quality should be top notch.

I'm now leaning towards the GA-Z68XP-UD3P linked above. I think Gigabyte needs to redesign their website to make a comparison chart of their motherboards. The boards using the Z68 chipset lists several models and all of them are either one or two letter different. It makes choosing one difficult as you can't get a sense of "scale" like the ASUS line-up. But oh well... Anyway, that's what I'm leaning towards.

Hopefully, when I finally decide on a board, Newegg will have it in stock...

side note: Newegg has a LGA1155 mounting bracket for my heatsink, w00t! That saved me 90 bucks as I was going to get a Noctua NH-C14.

[Paradigm Shifter]

When it comes to mounting systems LGA1155 = LGA1156. They're physically the same dimensions. Check Intels design documents if you don't believe me. ;)

The PCI-E slot thing drives me insane.

My EX58-UD5 has a PCI-E x4 slot above the first x16 slot. "Great!" I thought, "I can put my shiny new USB3 card in that slot, rather than put it in one of the x16 slots and have a GPU cooking itself due to lack of airflow!"

Except you do that and it disables the third PCI-E x16 slot (which only runs at x8 anyway) where my second GPU is so that GPU1 doesn't quick-roast by being backed right up to the rear of GPU2 - in my tests, GPU1 was hitting 98*C when butted up against GPU2, as against ~75*C when I put GPU2 in the third slot.

Not.

Happy.

...

I'm running a Noctua C14P in a low-power system at the minute. It's total overkill for the CPU I've got it cooling, but it means that delta between idle and load is next to non-existent, and it's next to silent. In fact, the loudest part of the system is the PSU fan. :D I can't hear the system at all unless I get really close to try.

[sixshot]

Love Noctua products now, ever since I got my first fan from them. Any future heatsink and/or case I get has to have Noctua fans in it. No compromises!

Okay, so I spent a good hour or so looking at Gigabyte's motherboard spec pages comparing two boards -- the GA-Z68XP-UD3P and the GA-Z68XP-UD3R. The "P" model is the one I mentioned and linked to earlier. And I spent that much time trying to figure out just what the stupid difference was between the two. Gigabyte's printed specs are identical. And I do mean identical. Every single I/O features on both boards are exactly the same. And it was only after I started looking at the motherboard pictures to try to see if there's any differences that I noticed it -- the power delivery. The "P" model is a 12 phase power design. The "R" is not. That's all. FUCK!

Yeah, Gigabyte is nice and all for having options. But dammit, a billion boards with minor differences means fragmented market on where you can get that one specific board that you laid your eyes on! At least the P model I'm aiming for is a 12 phase. *sigh* Aggravating research...