Opinion needed for new rig build

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by deltatux, Apr 19, 2012.

?

Which motherboard?

Poll closed Jun 18, 2012.
  1. Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H

    10 vote(s)
    38.5%
  2. ASUS P8Z77-V

    11 vote(s)
    42.3%
  3. ASRock Extreme4 Z77

    5 vote(s)
    19.2%
  1. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

    Messages:
    19,040
    Likes Received:
    13
    GPU:
    GIGABYTE Radeon R9 280
    Hey guys,

    It's that time again to rebuild my rig as Ivy Bridge is literally around the corner.

    My current rig: http://www.kwokinator.com/page/computer-specs#desktop

    My planned rig:
    Intel Core i5 3570K
    Mushkin 4 x 4 GB DDR3-1600 CL9
    LG DVD Writer
    Mushkin Chronos 120 GB SATA III SSD

    Absolute maximum budget: $750 all in (shipping+taxes, taxes 13%).

    All I'm missing is the motherboard and I have narrowed it down to five choices. Each with its own strengths and weaknesses:


    ASUS P8Z77-V
    Pros
    • Moderately priced
    • Plenty of USB rear ports
    • Built-in WiFi
    • Good motherboard layout
    • Has PCI slots for backwards compatibility
    Cons
    • Price, for what it is, $189 would be more suited than $209
    Price: $209.99+tax

    ASRock Extreme4 Z77
    Pros
    • Moderately priced
    • Fair amount of USB rear ports
    • Good motherboard layout
    • Has PCI slots for backwards compatibility
    • Good amount of PCIe slots, does away with the useless third PCIe x16 slot
    Cons
    • AsRock has yet proven to me in terms of durability
    • Doesn't seem that it supports UASP?
    • Not many stores carry this board at the moment
    Price: $189.99+tax

    Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H
    Pros
    • Moderately priced
    • Gigabyte's 2oz Copper + fibre glass PCB
    • 2x Gigabit LAN adapters
    • Modest amount of rear panel USB plugs
    • USB 3.0 front panel module included
    • Good motherboard layout
    • Has a PCI slot for backwards compability
    Cons
    • Is there UASP support??
    • Would the keyboard and mouse be constantly lit because power is still supplied to it when powered off when using those red USB ports on the rear??
    Price: $189.27

    I'm mainly looking for durability, my current board fell short of expectation in terms of durability. It also fell short on performance as AHCI is buggy on the SB600 southbridge on my existing board as well as an overvolting BIOS bug.

    Requirements for the board: must have a minimum of 6 USB ports at rear and a minimum of 8 SATA ports on the motherboard itself (regardless of SATA II or III). Rig should not exceed more than C$750 at all.

    So thoughts guys? Vote and tell me why you recommend that board over any other boards. I'll gladly take all recommendations for a long while.

    Thanks,
    deltatux
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2012
  2. eclap

    eclap Banned

    Messages:
    31,468
    Likes Received:
    4
    GPU:
    Palit GR 1080 2000/11000
    Asus v board gets my vote. My last 2 rigs had v boards in them and they never let me down.
     
  3. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

    Messages:
    19,040
    Likes Received:
    13
    GPU:
    GIGABYTE Radeon R9 280
    Any specific reason why you vote the P8Z77-V over something say the Sabertooth Z77 or the other boards? or it's just past experience?

    Cheers,
    deltatux
     
  4. Chillin

    Chillin Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    6,814
    Likes Received:
    1
    GPU:
    -
    Anand said that ASUS has something special for Ivy Bridge that will really boost performance.

    Otherwise ASROCK.
     

  5. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    22,492
    Likes Received:
    1,537
    GPU:
    Asus RX6700XT
    ASRock Z77 Extreme4 has a very easy to navigate UEFI layout. Has plenty of USB ports. Board is very clean looking (in person). Very competent tech support (though requires e-mail interaction) if ever needed. More room between CPU socket and DIMM than most other boards for less chance of losing a DIMM slot to a CPU cooler (which is a major issue for some of us). Oh yeah, can't forgot....Pegatron, the owners of ASRock, also make roughly 30% of the Asus boards on the market as well, which pretty well proves their product quality.

    I'm now on ASRock board #5. My only ASRock product failure was purely my fault. The board was just an innocent victim of my carelessness (that resulted in the socket getting damaged).
     
  6. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

    Messages:
    19,040
    Likes Received:
    13
    GPU:
    GIGABYTE Radeon R9 280
    Which ASUS board would you recommend then out of that list? Would you suggest Sabertooth or the P8Z77-V?

    This is the first time I've seriously contemplated ASRock, it's fitting in my budget just fine but finding it will be a mission as only 1 store carries it and they have only one left (unfortunately got other stuff to do right now to get it).

    Also, if the memory performance is significantly better on ASUS then, I might just stick with ASUS. Does anyone have any links to any performance charts?

    deltatux
     
  7. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    22,492
    Likes Received:
    1,537
    GPU:
    Asus RX6700XT
    Most sites are waiting for Ivy Bridge to launch before doing Z77 reviews.
     
  8. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

    Messages:
    19,040
    Likes Received:
    13
    GPU:
    GIGABYTE Radeon R9 280
    Guess so, I know Hilbert has some lined up already (that's all I'm saying, not saying anymore :p).

    deltatux
     
  9. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    22,492
    Likes Received:
    1,537
    GPU:
    Asus RX6700XT
    Last rumor put Ivy Bridge launch for Monday.....if true, I'd expect Hilbert to be working on his review(s).
     
  10. Chillin

    Chillin Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    6,814
    Likes Received:
    1
    GPU:
    -
    I always say, go with the cheapest motherboard available that meets your needs as it has the smallest impact on performance. Especially since socket 1155 is coming to an end next year so there is no point in splurging for a one-year socket.
     

  11. Brasky

    Brasky Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    2,603
    Likes Received:
    640
    GPU:
    Gigabyte 4070 Ti Su
    i have had good luck with gigabyte over the past several builds i've made. pretty straight forward and no issues yet, 2 z68 ud3's for work and a ud7 for myself.
     
  12. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

    Messages:
    19,040
    Likes Received:
    13
    GPU:
    GIGABYTE Radeon R9 280
    If I was going to constantly change CPUs, then I would have kept with AMD, but since they fell short of expectations, I was going into Intel thinking that this is likely a one and done deal so I need a board that will last me my usual rebuild cycle of up to 5 years (Intel has been historically notorious of constantly changing sockets, Socket 775 was an exception to that rule, even then they forced people to change chipset even though the socket didn't change). Current rig already lasted me 4.5 years with only 1 CPU upgrade from a dual core Athlon X2 4200+ to this Phenom II 810.

    deltatux
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2012
  13. Chillin

    Chillin Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    6,814
    Likes Received:
    1
    GPU:
    -
    Even in that case, unless you are going to use the features of the $250 board at launch (don't plan for using a motherboard feature a year or two down the road, much better new technology will be out by then for the price difference) then by all means get it, otherwise get the cheapest model that suits your needs.
     
  14. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

    Messages:
    19,040
    Likes Received:
    13
    GPU:
    GIGABYTE Radeon R9 280
    I actually quite like the Gigabyte board. Only major issue is the fact that it's missing a VRM heatsink which is going to limit overclocking as VRMs do get really hot. Learned this with my ASUS M3A which has no VRM heatsinks. I was hoping the UD3H model would be my go-to solution but Gigabyte oddly chose to forgo 2 SATA ports on a more expensive board... go figure right?

    I see many people voting for the ASUS P8Z77-V but without any reasons as to why. It would be lovely if someone would tell me why they've chosen that particular board over the other options.

    EDIT: I would like to also add that I rarely change the motherboard, when I do, it's usually during an overhaul like this, so that's why I place durability on top of my list next to affordability. Right now I'm trying to strike a balance between the two.

    Once again, thanks guys.

    deltatux
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2012
  15. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    11,630
    Likes Received:
    1,119
    GPU:
    4090 FE H20
    asus P8Z77-V is one of the best all around performer for the price imo
     

  16. Tat3

    Tat3 Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    11,863
    Likes Received:
    238
    GPU:
    RTX 4070 Ti Super
    Not going to recommend any of those. :)

    Did you check out GA-Z77X-UD5H WB ?
    http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128549&Tpk=GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H wb

    One PCI slot for your soundcard.
    Bluetooth 4.0/WiFi Expansion Card.
    USB ports:
    Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (available through the internal USB headers)
    Up to 6 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB headers)
    Chipset + 2 VIA VL810 Hubs: 1.Up to 8 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB headers)
    Good layout ?

    Just check it out yourself and see what you think.
    http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4167#ov
    http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1890/

    I think that this Z77X-UD5H-WB = WB WiFi because there is only WB WiFi on Gigabyte website or UD5H.
     
  17. isidore

    isidore Guest

    Messages:
    6,276
    Likes Received:
    58
    GPU:
    RTX 2080TI GamingOC
    Sabertooth Z77 ftw..incredible motherboard, also best OC capabilities between MSI Z77-GD65, Asus Maximus V Gene and ECS H67H2-M it can go up 200mhz more.
    Also, have a look at this review, very detailed.
    The motherboard it's a beast, i'm definitely getting it.
     
  18. BlackZero

    BlackZero Guest

    Out of those if you want the 5 year warranty then go with the sabertooth otherwise the P8Z77-V would be my choice. I don't have any experience with asrock boards so can't comment on the Extreme4 Z77.
     
  19. lehtv

    lehtv Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    3,093
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    N/A
    I'd probably go with the Gigabyte board based on specs. I doubt overclockability will suffer much from the lack of one VRM heatsink. Overclockability depends so much on the chip you happen to get. And even if overclockability does suffer noticeably e.g. a few hundred MHz here or there, that alone isn't worth another $40 IMO.
     
  20. Li4m79

    Li4m79 Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    5,159
    Likes Received:
    12
    GPU:
    2xPalit GTX770 Jetstream
    And enter Deltatux......... oh wait a minute!!!

    gonna be interesting to see what people say, because I too feel an ivy bridge upgrade coming soon :)
     

Share This Page