Which LGA 1366 Motherboard to get?

fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
edited July 2010 in Hardware
so I have a i7-956 ES, and I need a motherboard for it. The last 3 motherboards I have bought were DFI, and I was planning to just get another DFI. But, I have heard Gigabyte and ECS are good now. Also, I was going to do Micro-ATX, but have decided not to now.

So, recommendations peoples? You all know I will be overclocking ;)

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    The Gigabyte X58A UD6 and UD7 boards are good.
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    Thrax wrote:
    The Gigabyte X58A UD6 and UD7 boards are good.

    I see a UD5 for $289.99 and UD7 for $339.99 on the egg. the UD6 got something worthwhile over the UD5?

    actually, I don't even see a UD6 on Gigabytes website :hrm:
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    AFAIK all the models higher than the UD3R just add additional dedicated X16 slots, LAN ports or SATA ports.

    I would personally get the X58A-UD3R because I'd never need more than 2x PCIe 16.
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    Yea the only difference I see between the UD3R and UD5 on Gigabyte's website is the UD5 has dual GbE LAN, and of course the $80 price difference. Gotta get the UD7 for 3x PCI-E 16x slots
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    EVGA X58 FTW3
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    LOL overpriced.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    Same price as the Gigabyte boards.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    I would go with a Gigabyte UD-line board over EVGA any day.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    Not only that, the UD3R will offer comparable overclocking and features for about $100 less.
  • VicarVicar Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    Why not stay with DFI?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    Their best boards are very hard to find now, Vicar. The X58-T3eh6/8 may not be in production any more.
  • VicarVicar Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    oops, they are still being sold here accross the pond.

    I use the X58-T3eh6 which is a cracking good board, although it's fussy about seasonic psus.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    My X58-T3eh8 was not a very good board. DFI use to be known for its superior OC'ing products. I just don't see that anymore in DFI.

    Gigabyte is a great brand along with EVGA. Fatcat mentioned ECS but from what I have seen and heard they are not all that great.
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    You can still get the X58-T3eH8 on the egg for the same price as the X58A-UD5

    3x PCI-Ex16 vs 2x PCI-Ex16, although you do get USB3.0 with the Gigabyte

    I'll probably just get the X58A-UD3R and save me $80 over the X58-T3eH8 and X58A-UD5. I mean, you can never have too many hard drives right.... :wink:
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    I just wish I had the same amount of room for HD's in my case as my mobo has ports. Even before my water cooling mod my case only had 6 slots, mobo has 10 :(
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    Regardless of the specific model, the Gigabyte Ultra Durable (UD) are excellent quality and rock solid reliable. I started using UD boards a couple years ago and have been completely satisfied. When I get around to upgrading processors and motherboards - who knows when that will be - I probably won't even look at other brands, just go straight to Gigabyte.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    I still find it amazing that Gigabyte basically pushed a button and went from fail to win in the course of a single chipset (Intel P965).
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    Wasn't that right around the time that Asus acquired most of the shares of Gigabyte? Perhaps the win-button-pressing is related?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    Asus doesn't have any stake in Gigabyte.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    I'm sorry... I was referring to Asus and Gigabyte merging their motherboard and video card divisions a few years back. Technically, no, Asus doesn't own stake in Gigabyte but from what I've read the to companies work together to produce their mobo's and video cards. Or so the articles from 2006 say.
  • miragemirage
    edited July 2010
    ardichoke wrote:
    I'm sorry... I was referring to Asus and Gigabyte merging their motherboard and video card divisions a few years back. Technically, no, Asus doesn't own stake in Gigabyte but from what I've read the to companies work together to produce their mobo's and video cards. Or so the articles from 2006 say.

    It lasted very short. Gigabyte used ASUS to avoid Foxconn takeover.

    Gigabyte-Asus joint venture is dead
    Gigabyte Says Goodbye...to Asus!

    By the way, I never found a chance to use Gigabyte motherboards after dozens of motherboards I have used so far. Based on my experience, ASUS has been consistently good with several problems here and there. But I would not buy any Foxconn and ECS again.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    See, I've had the opposite experience: Every ASUS board I've ever bought has had obscure and bizarre problems. I'm running ECS now an everything is rock solid.
  • miragemirage
    edited July 2010
    I could give another chance to ECS next time then.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited July 2010
    Only Asus component I've owned was a video card. Back when the GeForce 3 was king. I loved that card to death and it treated me well. My Asus Eee 1005ha has also been good to me for the most part.

    As for Gigabyte. I've owned 3 of their boards. I've had to RMA 2 of them, but to be fair the 2nd was because I had a crappy power supply which, I'm pretty sure, surged and killed the board. Gigabyte handled the RMAs well and returned the boards repaired. One of them is still running in my HTPC, the other was an old Athlon XP board which I've since gotten rid of. Worked after the RMA up until the time I got rid of it. My current board is a champ and I love it.
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