Help me chose an X58 Mobo.

[refueler1]

I will be building my first computer using an i7 920. I currently have a 9 year old AMD 1800 and it is WAY to slow. So, I have read and read about the X-58 mobos and all are geared towards the gamers. I am not a gamer. I just want a stable, longlasting mobo for my first ever build. I don't need SLI or Crossfire or 5 thousand hookups,,,,. Everything I have read always says that the current crop or X58 mobos all have BIOS issues. I need something that works straight from the box as I am not that computer savy.

If there is not a solid mainstream X58 mobo out yet should I wait or should I move down to a Core2 and one to the more stable time-tested mobos? All I really like to do with my computer is download and play lots of music, graphic design, edit lots of photos and the usuall stuff. I do have two teenage boys so I will throw in good video card for them to play the most current FPSs. I only really play those egames that you get a wally-world. I do plan on installing a NIC, I just purchased the D-Link Xtreme router since I have two other computers in the house. And I am thinking of installing an HT Omega Claro sound card for HiFi quality along with some very expensive speakers and a very good set of headphones.
Thanks for reading. Sorry if this is not the correct forum but I didn't see a spot for newby questions.

 

[TemjinGold]

Hey there, welcome to the forums!

For your kind of usage, an i7 system is overkill and a waste of money right now. A Core 2 system that will be more than fast enough for you is less than half the price (the arch is a lot more mature too.) I would check out a decent p45 mobo, 4 gigs of ddr2, and a good quad core (since you do graphic design and stuff.) Here's some recommendations for starters:

Mobo

CPU

RAM

 

[refueler1]

I have been going back and forth on which CPU to get. The only reason I chose the new 920 is because I have the money and it is a new arch which if something went wrong with a 775 system then I might have issues fixing/replacing parts.?? I plan on using this new computer for a verylong time without any upgrades to it just as I have my current 9 year old AMD system. So, maybe I will relook at the 775 boards and Q9xxx.

 

[Zap]

Welcome to the forums, refueler1.

If you really want to go Core i7 (maybe get another 9 years of use? :Q ) then maybe look for the Intel DX58SO (or whatever it is called - there's only one on the market). It should have the most stable memory subsystem of all the Core i7 boards because Intel kept the memory traces shorter.

Speaking of memory, don't fall for expensive high speed stuff. Find a DDR3 triple channel kit (3GB if running Windows XP or Vista, 6GB if running Vista 64) that is rated for 1.5v.

For video cards for your sons to play current games, look for a GTX 260 or higher, or a Radeon 4870 or higher. There are some new GTX cards coming out this month, so look for those. My brand preference is BFG.*

Also, for stability you will want a good power supply and overshoot your power requirements a bit, perhaps aiming for 600W+. BFG* LS-series and ES-series power supplies should do the trick. Other good brands are Antec Signature or TruePower Trio, any Corsair unit, Thermaltake ToughPower series, probably a few others.

*Disclaimer: I work for BFG.

 

[Shmee]

My dad and I are both going to upgrade our computers soon, both going core i7 920. It took a lot of research and re-research to finally settle on some good boards, even after i though i had it figured it. My original thought was to go with the P6T6 WS Revolution from ASUS; it just looked and sounded so awesome. With 6 pcie x16 slots, onboard SAS, plenty of SATA, nice layout, and "ASUS workstation board quality," it seemed like an obvious winner for less than its "more legacy like" brother, the Rampage II extreme.

Then I started reading about the .2 V Vcore overvoltage, and how 3 way SLI was bugged, and people complaining about the onboard SAS. Since I would be overclocking (though my dad wouldn't,) I figured I better find a more stable board. I eyed the MSI eclipse, but then read about its bios issues, and discoverd how extremely hard it is to get BIOS updates in a decent way. MSI wants its customers to have its site scan the computer and send bios updates live through the internet or something...whatever happened to a simple link to a .bin file for use with awardflash on a USB drive? or even floppy? It was a pitty, because I liked the layout and the ten sata ports...

Kind of wanted to steer clear of the other ASUS boards, due to lack of 3 way SLI support, appealing layout, and those finicky SAS ports on some, $400 price on other.

Three choices seemed to be remaining as good ocing, featured boards. The EVGA, DFI, or a higher end Gigabyte. At that time I figured we could pick two different ones and compare, my dad with one and me with the other. I kind of had the silly subconscious war of an OC battle between boards(I picked i7 920 and 6 GB OCZ Gold 1600 Mhz for both boards, and my dad would also be getting an evga 260 core 216.)

I figured he would get the evga, for good evga support, good quality, good features, overall awesome board. It came down to me either choosing the DFI or one of the top 2 Gigabytes (extreme or UD5). Turns our that the main difference in the Gigabyte boards was the extreme had some cool water cooling support gimmick...I figured just go for the UD5 or the DFI.

Leaning towards the UD5, due to a few more sata, and I REALLY like the layout, (with an x4 slot not covered when 3way SLI is enabled, allowing for a nice sound card), but then I start to hear all sort of numerous bios and compatiblity issues with that too. Leaning back towards the DFI....Well, Its new, out of stock, hard to find...

After more research on various forums, I was pleased that there were numerous bios updates and fixes being put out by Gigabyte, and that overall it Is still and incredible board, the UD5, and capable of some very good overclocks. After reading through here http://forums.tweaktown.com/f6...yte-latest-bios-28441/
it became apparent that there were many beta bioses available for download, and so I felt somewhat relieved. (with so many, surely one would be perfect for me ) Also, it did win the silver award

So, as of now, my decision is that my dad should get the evga, and I will get the gigabyte, as I am willing to spend some time tweaking. Obviously there are some tough choices here, and sorry for long post, but with all the research I did in the past day or two, I figured I would share some insight as to good boards and, at least by my standards

 

[refueler1]

Well, I dont "need" to go i7 920, but, since I do have to get a new system I thought why not go with the latest arch/cpu? I know they are new and the motherboards for them have bios issues but if you want a i7 you don't have to many options on mobos that are stable out of the box. I was planning to get the i7 920 and the UD3R giga mobo as a "home user" set up since I am not a real gamer or overclocker. And the i7920 is only around $30 more than the Q9400 cpus and a good X48 mobo cost as much as a low end X58 mobo. Since I have never put a PC together I am hestiatant to go with anything that has BIOS problems or anything that will make you have to dig into the system to make adjustments. Just have to make the best guess I can I suppose.??????????

 

[conlan]

Welcome to AT forums, read this......X58 Mobo roundup

 

[GLeeM]

Originally posted by: refueler1
I just want a stable, longlasting mobo for my first ever build. I don't need SLI or Crossfire or 5 thousand hookups,,,,. Everything I have read always says that the current crop or X58 mobos all have BIOS issues. I need something that works straight from the box as I am not that computer savy.

x58 is rather new thus the BIOS issues - seems things are slowly getting worked out.

Not sure about this: seems the first mobos for a new arch. are geared toward gamers/enthusiasts? I would guess more mobos will be soon released for regular folks?

If you don't need it today, wait a week or three:
1. to see what new mobos come out
2. for reviews
3. to study the forums some more
4. the vid card and ram should drop in price a bit
5. for more mature BIOSes

Otherwise, Zap gave good advice

I am trying to follow my own advice and wait a few more weeks. My computer is old too

 

[refueler1]

Originally posted by: GLeeM

Originally posted by: refueler1
I just want a stable, longlasting mobo for my first ever build. I don't need SLI or Crossfire or 5 thousand hookups,,,,. Everything I have read always says that the current crop or X58 mobos all have BIOS issues. I need something that works straight from the box as I am not that computer savy.

x58 is rather new thus the BIOS issues - seems things are slowly getting worked out.

Not sure about this: seems the first mobos for a new arch. are geared toward gamers/enthusiasts? I would guess more mobos will be soon released for regular folks?

If you don't need it today, wait a week or three:
1. to see what new mobos come out
2. for reviews
3. to study the forums some more
4. the vid card and ram should drop in price a bit
5. for more mature BIOSes

Otherwise, Zap gave good advice

I am trying to follow my own advice and wait a few more weeks. My computer is old too

Guess I don't have any choice but to wait. Would be nice to know what was out there in development for the non-gamers. I just don't need the SLI stuff or OCing. Just a nice board with the best sound chip! And I have decided not to go Vista. I am going to go XP Pro since they have extended it to 2014. Maybe Windows 7 next year if it turns out good.

 

[refueler1]

Originally posted by: conlan
Welcome to AT forums, read this......X58 Mobo roundup

Yeah, I read that a couple days ago. It says that Asus deluxe had the fewest issues and worked right out of the box. Its just a bit more than I need. Cant see paying for all the extra junk that I'm not really going to use. If no new boards come out in the next month then I will probably have to drop the $$ for the Asus even though I don't plan on using the sli or crossfire or even OC it.

 

[DocDoo]

FWIW: I went from a fairly new 3gHz C2D with 4GB of ram (x86 Vista only saw 3.5gb) ---> to an i7 920 running @ 3gHz with 6GB (x64 Vista) and e_v_e_r_y_t_h_i_n_g is faster. The only reason I made the jump is because I've been eagerly anticipating a 64-bit version of Photoshop for 2 years and built the i7 system and CS4 as soon as they came out. I love LR 2.2, CS4 and the new RAW 5.2!! I won't even bore you with how much faster video rendering is, obviously. Sure, because I bought all this the day it came out the system it will depreciate in value more but I'm done with upgrades for at least 2 years. Only upgrade I see in the near future is changing out my HD4850 and migrate to W7....maybe selling my 6x 1GB DDR3's for 6x 2GB sticks....maybe...ohh here I go again..

As a matter of fact, I was only running 3GB of memory up till just two days ago.

If you have the money, buy the latest and stop looking back.

BTW: The i7 920 OC ability is > the 366@550 Maley was on the BX6 (ahh, the memories)

 

[shempf]

I'll be getting the Supermicro board myself. Should be stable. We'll see.

Might as well go i7 since your looking for long term, unless you feel like waiting another year or so (as said above, cheaper versions should be out sometime in '09)

 

[conlan]

Originally posted by: refueler1

Originally posted by: conlan
Welcome to AT forums, read this......X58 Mobo roundup

Yeah, I read that a couple days ago. It says that Asus deluxe had the fewest issues and worked right out of the box. Its just a bit more than I need. Cant see paying for all the extra junk that I'm not really going to use. If no new boards come out in the next month then I will probably have to drop the $$ for the Asus even though I don't plan on using the sli or crossfire or even OC it.

X58 "Budget" mobos

 

[krnmastersgt]

I don't really see what purpose an i7 system would have for a typical computer user that a Core2 couldn't give. Quad cores aren't even necessary for most people since most standard browsers/media players don't utilize 4 cores, only thing that uses 4 cores is development software, a few games here and there and specialize apps that need lots of computing power. I think a nice dual core like an E8400 would be more suited for the OP than any c2q or i7 would.

Moving on to the idea of an NIC, a good board will have decent integrated ethernet ports so it's not really necessary, if you're pizazzed about how it would drop latencies or whatever their marketing tells you, there are other ways of doing it, and are much more effective. Same goes for the sound card idea, integrated sound is pretty top notch these days.

 

[GLeeM]

Originally posted by: refueler1
I will be building my first computer using an i7 920. I currently have a 9 year old AMD 1800 and it is WAY to slow

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
Quad cores aren't even necessary for most people since most standard browsers/media players don't utilize 4 cores, only thing that uses 4 cores is development software, a few games here and there and specialize apps that need lots of computing power. I think a nice dual core like an E8400 would be more suited for the OP than any c2q or i7 would.

I wonder how many apps will use multithreads in 9 years?

The cheapest CPU will probably have 16 or 32 cores and a dual or quad will be like a Pentium II @ 266 Mhz