- Jun 3, 2004
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I recently picked up a Core i7 920 and I'm trying to find a board that suits my needs. So far I've looked at several of the more popular boards, and very few seem to have two usable PCI slots. I'm currently using a Razer AC-1 sound card and a TV tuner card, and I'd like to continue using both with the new board. Everything will also be water cooled, and I'd like to continue using my MCW30 chipset block if possible. I currently only run a single GTX280 that takes up two slots with the waterblock on it, so PCI slots directly next to the main PCIe slot are pretty much useless.
On top of all this, I'd like to get a board that has high overclocking potential. While this is my first experience OCing an i7, I have several years of previous experience so I'd prefer overall performance over simplicity. I'm also running a pretty decent cooling setup, so I'd like to try to reach 4.5Ghz with this D0 if possible.
So far, I've been looking at boards from DFI, Gigabyte, Asus and EVGA. I was just about sold on a DFI, but I've read mixed reviews of their X58 offerings. The LP DK X58 looks like a decent option, and seems comparable to my current LP LT P35, but many of the Newegg reviews talk about high RMA rates on this board. On top of this, I'm not sure I want to put as much effort into researching the plethora of bios settings as I did with my current board.
As for the Gigabyte boards, it looks like only the low end UD3R would even fit my PCI slot needs, as all the higher end boards stagger PCI/PCIe slots. I'm not sure if the NB cooler on this board would allow me to use my current block, and I also don't care for the limited RAM slots on this board.
The popular Asus board seems to be the P6T Deluxe, but again it has the same issue with the PCI slots. In fact, if I add another card for SLI (which I may do at some point, and I've accepted that I'd have to drop the TV tuner for this), the soundcard would end up sandwiched between the video cards. The vanilla P6T layout is more appealing to me, and this is the board I'd probably go with if I decided to go with Asus.
Last, but not least, are the boards from EVGA. I've been a huge fan of their video cards for the past several generations, but I've never tried one of their MBs. The E758-TR looks like it would fit my needs, though again I'm not sure about replacing the NB cooling. But having never used an EVGA board I'm not sure what to expect here.
So anyways, sorry for the huge post but I'm sure people here have experience overclocking on these various boards and I'm hoping to find some good advice.
On top of all this, I'd like to get a board that has high overclocking potential. While this is my first experience OCing an i7, I have several years of previous experience so I'd prefer overall performance over simplicity. I'm also running a pretty decent cooling setup, so I'd like to try to reach 4.5Ghz with this D0 if possible.
So far, I've been looking at boards from DFI, Gigabyte, Asus and EVGA. I was just about sold on a DFI, but I've read mixed reviews of their X58 offerings. The LP DK X58 looks like a decent option, and seems comparable to my current LP LT P35, but many of the Newegg reviews talk about high RMA rates on this board. On top of this, I'm not sure I want to put as much effort into researching the plethora of bios settings as I did with my current board.
As for the Gigabyte boards, it looks like only the low end UD3R would even fit my PCI slot needs, as all the higher end boards stagger PCI/PCIe slots. I'm not sure if the NB cooler on this board would allow me to use my current block, and I also don't care for the limited RAM slots on this board.
The popular Asus board seems to be the P6T Deluxe, but again it has the same issue with the PCI slots. In fact, if I add another card for SLI (which I may do at some point, and I've accepted that I'd have to drop the TV tuner for this), the soundcard would end up sandwiched between the video cards. The vanilla P6T layout is more appealing to me, and this is the board I'd probably go with if I decided to go with Asus.
Last, but not least, are the boards from EVGA. I've been a huge fan of their video cards for the past several generations, but I've never tried one of their MBs. The E758-TR looks like it would fit my needs, though again I'm not sure about replacing the NB cooling. But having never used an EVGA board I'm not sure what to expect here.
So anyways, sorry for the huge post but I'm sure people here have experience overclocking on these various boards and I'm hoping to find some good advice.