How are Intel MB?

[davel]

So I was pretty much decided on buying a Gigabyte but was curious I never purchased an Intel MB before.

I was curious how reliable are they and how is their RMA service?

I never had an Intel CPU go bad, so was thinking MB are the same?

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Afaik they are one of the best in every way but often give problems with overclocking. But for stock they probably trade blows with high end Asus for stability and reliability

 

[davel]

Yeah i was tempted to go Asus, but i heard their RMA service is horrendous from various threads on different forums. My previous build is gigabyte and haven't had any issues.

On newegg I see two boards so not many choices. I was planning on overclocking a little bit but I doubt I go crazy if I get to 4 - 4.2 I would be super happy.

 

[Mars999]

I have had a few Intel MB's never had issues. Stable and fast. OC can't comment but most people who build rigs now they aren't the best OC's...

I would stick with Gigabyte. I have many Gigabyte MBs and never had issues. Thing also is Gigabyte, MSI, ASUS always seem to have more options added to their MB vs. Intel also...

e.g. Bluetooth, WiFi, Dual Lan, ect....

 

[denis280]

Depends where you buy it from. I got Asus and never got problems with parts or rma.or calling them.

 

[postmortemIA]

I had few intel boards, pretty much 0 problems. Very quiet. Frequent BIOS updates. Top notch stability. This one is turning 5 yrs in few months.
Cons is that their mainstream series do not do OC.

 

[paperwastage]

I had few intel boards, pretty much 0 problems. Very quiet. Frequent BIOS updates. Top notch stability. This one is turning 5 yrs in few months.
Cons is that their mainstream series do not do OC.

http://communities.intel.com/thread/24527

somewhat... have a DP67DE board, OCing doesn't work cause mobo throttles after hitting TDP limit despite setting the TDP limit really high... latest bios sucks (0072, 0077)

Yeah i was tempted to go Asus, but i heard their RMA service is horrendous from various threads on different forums. My previous build is gigabyte and haven't had any issues.

On newegg I see two boards so not many choices. I was planning on overclocking a little bit but I doubt I go crazy if I get to 4 - 4.2 I would be super happy.

RMA though was not too bad...

Had to do it to replace the v1 board with a v2 (sandy bridge SATA issue)... since it was a defect, they offered advanced RMA w/o any shipping costs (otherwise, think you have to pay $25 for advanced RMA w/ a return label prepaid by them)

 

[LR6]

My last two computers had Intel motherboards and they were essentially problem free. Zero to very, very few lockups, crashes, reboots or anything similar.

In fact, I have a new Intel DH77EB MB waiting on a Ivy Bridge I7-3770 CPU.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I prefer Intel Motherboards or equally simple motherboards. They tend to be more reliable and less problems. I would never buy bling bling motherboards again. Such a useless waste of money.

 

[philipma1957]

I have one with my i5-2500k it is good I oc to 4.2

I also did not change the bios . My I5 2500k build is my fastest setup and my most expensive. I like the mobo,But it is the extreme model so it overclocks.

i grabbed it along with my 2500k from micro center in january. got a good deal 300 for the 2.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121511


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072&Tpk=intel i5 2500k

cost is 375 for the 2 at newegg.

 

[nenforcer]

They are usually well built boards but tend to lack some features or just have the minimum possible feature set.

Intel chipsets / motherboards were among the first to drop PS/2, IDE / PATA, floppy and serial ports and in turn didn't add any extra SATA 2 / 3 ports or additional SATA RAID or eSaTA controllers like some other manufacturers will.

Despite being billed as enthusiast motherboards the X series also have a limited feature set in the BIOS for overclocking which doesn't fit in with their price range.

 

[mike2fix]

Over the years, if I needed absolute stability and reliability, I have used Intel boards, the tradeoff is lack of features and they are not the fastest boards available.

 

[SolidSnake42]

If only the new Z77 70K was 20 to 30 bucks cheaper, then I may have considered it.

 

[God Mode]

I'm sure they're stable and all but I don't shop for toyota camrys when I look for hardware. Too many plain boards that lack polymer capacitors even. I'm simply in a different demographic from those that want an intel board.

I'm sure one of the reasons for so many boring boards is to sell chips and prevent taking too much market from enthusiast board manufacturers ex: asus, gigabyte etc.

 

[jacktesterson]

I had a Intel P67 board used in a build that did 4.4 on a 2500k

Foxconn makes most Intel boards.

 

[HexiumVII]

The new Z77 intel board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&Tpk=DZ77GA70K looks amazing, but a bit pricey.

The UEFI BIOS actually looks from this century, I mean i almost perfer the old ones if you look at the sad graphics the other brands have.
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us...p-boards-software-visual-bios.html?wapkw=bios

So far the reports are the BIOS is less than mature. So maybe sit on the sidelines till more people get the board.

 

[aman74]

The new Z77 intel board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&Tpk=DZ77GA70K looks amazing, but a bit pricey.

The UEFI BIOS actually looks from this century, I mean i almost perfer the old ones if you look at the sad graphics the other brands have.
[IMG=http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/3218/p67uefi04.jpg][/IMG]

So far the reports are the BIOS is less than mature. So maybe sit on the sidelines till more people get the board.

Which bios needs some work? I'm confused as you're talking about an Intel board, but showed a pick of an Asus bios...

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

If only the new Z77 70K was 20 to 30 bucks cheaper, then I may have considered it.

I just spent the evening working with the Intel® Desktop DZ77GA-70K last night and from my experience it is the best overclocking board that we have ever had. I liked both the new Visual Bios and the Classic Bios look. Really was a good time with an Intel board for overclocking.

 

[piasabird]

Intel Motherboards are pretty good. They are stable and built to specifications as designed by Intel. If you purchase any Intel Motherboard be advised to look at the specifications. When Intel says 1.5v DDR3 #### RAM they mean it. If the specifications does not say it will work with 1600 DDR3 1.65v RAM, then it probably will not work. I dont overclock but I Like Intel motherboards better then Asus Motherboards.

Also try to look at their tested ddr3 List. They sometimes test the motherboards with 1600 DDR3. Lately I have seen some restrictions on the DDR3 like the number of Memory chips per side on double sided DDR3. Often even their MATX and Mini-ITX motherboards often have 2 banks of RAM. I have a Z68. I think it is a DZ68DB ATX motherboard. I saw some people claim that they had problems with SSD's, but I have never used one. It could just as easily be defective SSD's. I am still considering SSD's as experimental equipment. I have not even tried to update the BIOS. I dont believe in fixing something that is not broken. Let someone else test the new BIOS versions and turn their motherboard into a brick. It seemed to work right out of the box for me using an i-5 2500k. I am not messing with the Virtu Software either. It is just basically an overpowered HTPC with no TV Card.

I read an article on the Intel Website descrbing their RAM usage guidelines and they were claiming their newer motherboards support interleaving in a way to use something like 3 equal in size DDR3 dimms in a kind of triple channel mode. Never tried it.

 

[Magic Carpet]

So I was pretty much decided on buying a Gigabyte but was curious I never purchased an Intel MB before.

Buy it then, that alone, would give you invaluable experience. As to me personally, I stay away from them because of limited control and options. Unless you need business features (Q67, etc), I'd pass.

I was curious how reliable are they and how is their RMA service?

Depends on the e-tailer. As to reliability, Intel boards have been very reliable in my experience. But I wouldn't pick a board based... purely on brand. Model to model, they vary, greatly. The devil is in the details and design.

I never had an Intel CPU go bad, so was thinking MB are the same?

Motherboard is made of many components scattered across a sizeable printed circuit board, so the risk of something playing up is naturally higher. Intel or not.

 

[Dislikeyou]

:hmm:

 

[Mars999]

I vote for Gigabyte

 

[GothAmKing]

My last two computers had Intel motherboards and they were essentially problem free. Zero to very, very few lockups, crashes, reboots or anything similar.

In fact, I have a new Intel DH77EB MB waiting on a Ivy Bridge I7-3770 CPU.

Are u Insane or what ? U r goin to pair up a Intel H77 with a beastly i7-3770 !!! It's just like leaving a 10 year old shepherd boy to tame a LION.U need a Russian Circus Ringmaster to do that.Go n grab a quality mb from Asus Or Gigabyte.i'll recommend Asus cuz it's quality that matters.Obviously u gotta have to pay a little more than those cheapo ASSRock or Biostar things,but that will really benefit u in the long run.Mind my words man,u are doin a serious mistake !

Talk with some good members in this forum on a thread before u make ur purchase.don't think that i'm a hungry salesman of Asus.No.I tell from the best of whatever little Knowledge I have.

@davel
Intel mobos are good for HTPCs but If u want to game with a discrete video card i.e, a GPU, opt for Asus,Gigabyte and MSI(maybe).Intel builds the house but u need to get it painted,decorated,wired up to be able to live in it.And the brands do that,not Intel.it's them who make Intel's research on a new tech a fruitful boon for people.Intel mobos may be able to OC a bit towards 4 or 4.6 ghz but why pay for a less featured mobo if u can grab a quality one from a great Brand without bankruptin urself?? Think before u leap......

 

[bononos]

Are u Insane or what ? U r goin to pair up a Intel H77 with a beastly i7-3770 !!! It's just like leaving a 10 year old shepherd boy to tame a LION.U need a Russian Circus Ringmaster to do that.Go n grab a quality mb from Asus Or Gigabyte.i'll recommend Asus cuz it's quality that matters.Obviously u gotta have to pay a little more than those cheapo ASSRock or Biostar things,but that will really benefit u in the long run.Mind my words man,u are doin a serious mistake !

Talk with some good members in this forum on a thread before u make ur purchase.don't think that i'm a hungry salesman of Asus.No.I tell from the best of whatever little Knowledge I have.

@davel
Intel mobos are good for HTPCs but If u want to game with a discrete video card i.e, a GPU, opt for Asus,Gigabyte and MSI(maybe).Intel builds the house but u need to get it painted,decorated,wired up to be able to live in it.And the brands do that,not Intel.it's them who make Intel's research on a new tech a fruitful boon for people.Intel mobos may be able to OC a bit towards 4 or 4.6 ghz but why pay for a less featured mobo if u can grab a quality one from a great Brand without bankruptin urself?? Think before u leap......

Your shockingly wrong about Intel mbs. They have a fine reputation for quality and unless they have fallen off precipitously recently, I don't where you got the idea about Intel's being the 10yr old lion tamer.
And your whole rant about Intel being good only for htpcs is wrong also.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

If you are not interested in overclocking and don't need too many features, Intel is the best you can get in that case. However, often they do give trouble with overclocking, although they have improved many people still get problems with Intel mb oc. But apart from that there is nothing wrong with them at all. At stock they are really fast and stable, but they may or may not overclock very well.