Recommendation for 1156 mobo

[lothar]

This is getting off topic, but ever try the "lifetime" warranties for all the manufacturers?

I doubt any of us have tried them all, but i can tell you from my own experience with a few brands & from tons of forum discussion, just because they all have lifetime warranty does not in any way shape or form mean your support/RMA experience is going to be equal.

My personal experience with "lifetime warranty" Team Xtreem RAM vs. Mushkin RAM pretty much sums this up.
After dealing with Team, i have learned that if the company does not have a solid North American support situation, a lifetime warranty doesn't mean crap all.


Mushkin support/warranty is excellent; there's almost no question of this.
I'd say that quite frankly, there is not a single other company of their caliber in that area.

Corsair is definitely also good, as is OCZ, but they aren't quite up to that level IMO. Both have good North American support.

G.Skill is very popular, but their North American support is far more questionable, as while some people have pretty good experiences, i've heard of far too many that are quite bad.

And i can go on.

I do understand the appeal of the cheaper kits, & that's precisely why two of my systems run G.Skill (even though i dread the day i have to RMA).

But i'd never ever question someone wanting to stick with a brand they've had great experience with, as i too would personally buy Mushkin over anything else every single time if they were a comparable option within my desired specs/price range.

Already did with the post above yours.
"Both G.Skill(recently), OCZ(2003...not sure how they are now), and Crucial(2005) have shipped me a stick before I even RMA'd the bad one to them."

Team Xtream? WFT is that?

G.Skill support was never questionable in my book.
Any manufacturer that sends me replacements before I RMA my product to them for testing is excellent in my book.
OCZ, Crucial, and G.Skill all did that.

Of course if you're buying RAM from Team Xtream, or some other off-brand crap RAM that I've heard nothing about and doesn't have a North American presence, you're pretty much gambling.

Mushkin in price range of others? We both know that rarely ever happens. If it does happen you bet I'd jump on over it.
However I wouldn't pay an extra $20 tax just to have them or wear their name on my shirt.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Look up TeamGroup memory sometime. They were offering some of the best overclocking memory a couple years back.

 

[blackrain]

This is getting off topic, but ever try the "lifetime" warranties for all the manufacturers?

I doubt any of us have tried them all, but i can tell you from my own experience with a few brands & from tons of forum discussion, just because they all have lifetime warranty does not in any way shape or form mean your support/RMA experience is going to be equal.

My personal experience with "lifetime warranty" Team Xtreem RAM vs. Mushkin RAM pretty much sums this up.
After dealing with Team, i have learned that if the company does not have a solid North American support situation, a lifetime warranty doesn't mean crap all.


Mushkin support/warranty is excellent; there's almost no question of this.
I'd say that quite frankly, there is not a single other company of their caliber in that area.

Corsair is definitely also good, as is OCZ, but they aren't quite up to that level IMO. Both have good North American support.

G.Skill is very popular, but their North American support is far more questionable, as while some people have pretty good experiences, i've heard of far too many that are quite bad.

And i can go on.

I do understand the appeal of the cheaper kits, & that's precisely why two of my systems run G.Skill (even though i dread the day i have to RMA).

But i'd never ever question someone wanting to stick with a brand they've had great experience with, as i too would personally buy Mushkin over anything else every single time if they were a comparable option within my desired specs/price range.


blackrain, if you are not OCing, why are you looking at higher priced mobos oriented toward OCing?

There's seriously no need to spending a lot on a P55 mobo when you are not OCing.
Same with RAM...if the kit is rated for higher than 1.5v or DDR3-1333, you shouldn't even bother with them, as anything above that is designed for OCing.

This is the sort of mobo i'd be suggesting.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131604

As for RAM, this link is DDR3 2x2 GB sorted by price, which is pretty much how i'd be looking at things, especially if you are not OCing.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2%20x%202GB%29

That very cheap G.Skill at the top is actually just fine in a stock system.

Heatspreaders are basically pointless even when OCing; definitely not needed if you're sticking w/ JEDEC 1.5v.

While I don't need a heavy duty overclocking board, the ASUS P7P55 doesn't have firewire or esata. I think that I would like to have a more feature rich board. Is there something you can recommend between $130-$170? The boards that Newegg features in this price range all have some complaints that make me second guess.

 

[cmdrdredd]

While I don't need a heavy duty overclocking board, the ASUS P7P55 doesn't have firewire or esata. I think that I would like to have a more feature rich board. Is there something you can recommend between $130-$170? The boards that Newegg features in this price range all have some complaints that make me second guess.

never rely on newegg reviews. People complain about a power supply that isn't "fully modular" like the HX850 when newegg has pictures showing you that there are perma-attached cables on the PSU! Morons all of em. Also, I've seen people RMA memory because when they put it in their board it boots at DDR2-800 and they bought 1066 memory. The manufacturer tells them flat out that you have to set your motherboard BIOS. And then you have ppl RMA a CPU cooler because it's not getting the same temps as the other guy claimed. Ridiculous I tell you.

 

[n7]

While I don't need a heavy duty overclocking board, the ASUS P7P55 doesn't have firewire or esata. I think that I would like to have a more feature rich board. Is there something you can recommend between $130-$170? The boards that Newegg features in this price range all have some complaints that make me second guess.

Fair enough, didn't know you wanted IEEE1394/eSATA.

I'd look at this Asus then: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131404

I was deciding between that one & my current Gigabyte one myself (went w/ mine mainly due to being cheaper)

Here's the next one i'd consider (though really, based on what i understand of your needs, the P755D makes more sense to me).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128400

Finally, we have the USB 3.0/SATA3 contender
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128409

Definitely pricier, but if you can benefit from those new features, it might make sense.

I personally don't see much use for USB 3.0 myself (use eSATA), & SATA3 is really only going to boost benchmarks & SSDs slightly, but it's still something you can consider obviously.

 

[sticks435]

Something that you may want to consider is that none of the Gigabyte boards support auto voltage change/power savings. So if your looking to save some energy and $, I'd go with the P7P55D.

Details in this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=330645

 

[RussianSensation]

Something that you may want to consider is that none of the Gigabyte boards support auto voltage change/power savings. So if your looking to save some energy and $, I'd go with the P7P55D.

Details in this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=330645

This is no longer true. All Gigabyte boards can now reduce CPU Vcore dynamically when in idle mode and ramp up VCore automatically when at load.

A Quick update:

Current F3n Bios for Gigabyte P55-UD3R resolves this issue:
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/...-UD3R/i7860186x21391ghzDynamicVCoreatidle.jpg

In addition, all current Gigabyte boards should now allow access to 1 higher multiplier (i.e., i5 750 = 21x, i7 860 = 22x, i7 870 = 23x) when Turbo Mode is disabled. Please see this updated thread for more details:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=330645

 

[blackrain]

Fair enough, didn't know you wanted IEEE1394/eSATA.

I'd look at this Asus then: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131404

I was deciding between that one & my current Gigabyte one myself (went w/ mine mainly due to being cheaper)

Here's the next one i'd consider (though really, based on what i understand of your needs, the P755D makes more sense to me).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128400

Finally, we have the USB 3.0/SATA3 contender
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128409

Definitely pricier, but if you can benefit from those new features, it might make sense.

I personally don't see much use for USB 3.0 myself (use eSATA), & SATA3 is really only going to boost benchmarks & SSDs slightly, but it's still something you can consider obviously.

That Asus looks pretty good on paper. Have you looked at the Newegg reviews? Should I pretty much ignore the poor reviews? What is up with this review?

"Cons: No post , Call up tech support they say I need a new bios chip, fine. They want me to pay 15 dollars and, when I refuse to pay they say its another problem from what they originally thought. Horrible customer service, was a loyal asus customer never again RMAing it."

 

[n7]

Honestly, i really don't read newegg reviews.
Majority are done by clueless n00bs, sorry.

I do know that board has been well regarded & OCs well from various threads on various forums, which i put far more stock in that idiots posting newegg reviews.

Obviously there may be some issues, but frankly, most enthusiast motherboards have some issues of some sort.

Yes, i said that.

Most of the major mobo manufacturers are pumping out buggy crap; they've been doing this for a long time, & will continue to.

If there is a specific major issue, that's a different story of course...

 

[CrazyHorse]

I would want to recommend a budget board here. That might give you some more bucks to invest in video or cpu.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...dlist=celebros

Review

 

[blackrain]

Honestly, i really don't read newegg reviews.
Majority are done by clueless n00bs, sorry.

I do know that board has been well regarded & OCs well from various threads on various forums, which i put far more stock in that idiots posting newegg reviews.

Obviously there may be some issues, but frankly, most enthusiast motherboards have some issues of some sort.

Yes, i said that.

Most of the major mobo manufacturers are pumping out buggy crap; they've been doing this for a long time, & will continue to.

If there is a specific major issue, that's a different story of course...

I am also concerned with support. While I am not a noob, I am also not an expert either. So in the event that I do need to contact support, I want to be sure that I am going to get good support. I was surprised to see the newegg review suggesting that Newegg wanted to charge $15 to fix a new board. Or was I reading that wrong?

 

[sticks435]

I am also concerned with support. While I am not a noob, I am also not an expert either. So in the event that I do need to contact support, I want to be sure that I am going to get good support. I was surprised to see the newegg review suggesting that Newegg wanted to charge $15 to fix a new board. Or was I reading that wrong?

I'm pretty sure he was referring to calling Asus support for a new bios chip.

 

[RussianSensation]

My last 2 boards were Gigabytes and overclocked like hell for $90 budget boards:

E6400 2.13 @ 3.4ghz on 965-ds3
Q6600 2.40 @ 3.4ghz on P35-ds3l

3 year warranty, top notch features and good pricing. Can't beat that right now (especially since they enabled access to higher multipliers and dynamic vcore in idle works!).

GA-P55-UD3R is only $140 but performs remarkably for its price:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=235289

Right now I would say going with Asus P7P55D Pro or UD4P for you OP makes sense if you want CF/SLI 8/8x options. Otherwise consider Gigabyte UD2 or UD3R (I would wait for GA-P55A-UD3R).