Motherboard for i7 860

[rbuczynski]

I am planning to buy an i7 860 but I can't decide which motherboard to get with it. I am not planning to use sli or crossfire and do not need lots of bells and whistles. I am just looking for a stable board that will overclock well.

I was thinking of the:
Gigabyte P55-UD3R ATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E 4PCI SATA2 RAID Sound GLAN Motherboard

I'm not sure if this is a good motherboard for my needs, if it's a waste of money, or if it's not enough. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[ekoostik]

There have not been a lot of reviews out yet so it is really hard to tell. I posed a similar question recently, I think it's on a lot of people's minds, though I do not intend to do too much overclocking. I was initially leaning towards the Asus P7P55D but ended up opting for the Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2. I decided I didn't need a lot of whistles and bells and the price was right. If you want to see some of the feedback I got look in this thread:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=29&threadid=2337520

 

[rbuczynski]

Thanks, that seems like a good choice. Low price and I've always been happy with Gigabyte.

 

[fralexandr]

I went with the asrock cause i needed an ATX board, and historically asrock is basically like a lower end asus that doesn't overclock as well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813157171

 

[RussianSensation]

A quick update, it seems that at the $200+ price level, the Asus P7P55D Deluxe is emerging as one of the best price/performance board for overclocking.
Rock solid 16-phase power design $150 OCing board earns it Editor's Choice at Xbitlabs

Asus P7P55D Deluxe also needed the least Vcore voltage to reach comparable overclocks to other boards at Bit-Tech.net. Asus BIOS updates and BIOS layout are also top notch.

Therefore, it is natural to recommend the lower food-chain derivative in Asus P7P55D for $150 (which has 12 phase power design and lacks CF/SLI at 8x/8x).

My 2nd choice at the $130-$140 level would be the Gigabyte P55-UD3R which also posted excellent overclocking results, having an 8-power phase design with decent power circuitry cooling and 2oz layered PCB. I am currently using GSkill at CL7 1600 speeds with only 1.54V despite its rating of 1.65V. This one runs about $10 less than the non-deluxe Asus board.
UD3R is $130 at Mwave ($10 cheaper than the Egg) At this price it's only $10 more than the CD53, or Asrock P55 Pro.

If you are not going to be overclocking beyond 3.5ghz, the Gigabyte UD2 or Asrock P55 Pro seem like solid budget alternatives as well at just $110-$120.

If you are going to be overclocking to 3.8-4.0ghz though, then I would look at UD3R, MSI GD65 or P7P55D as UD2 may become the limiting factor due to a lack of power circuitry cooling. However, at mild overclocks, it's a solid choice!

 

[rbuczynski]

I think I'm going to go with the UD3R. It seems like the best price/performance board and it has everything I want

 

[ekoostik]

Russian you are all over the motherboard reviews. When do you think we'll finally see something from AT? I'm glad I made a decision last week and didn't keep waiting - I thought for sure they'd be out by now and would be going nuts if I waited. Still looking forward to reading Anand, Gary and company's reviews though.

 

[elconejito]

@ RussianSensation - That is a top notch post right there. Great info.

I do wish all the review sites would hurry up with their reviews.

 

[RussianSensation]

Hey guys, thanks!

I just wish more Anandtech users commented on their own experiences with those boards or other alternatives. It's not that hard to find 1 or 2 good online reviews, but what's really valuable are comments by those of us who use the specific board being recommended (i.e., what quirks we found, what we personally liked or didn't, overclocking issues, sound glitches, heatsink spacing issues, etc.). It appears the large majority of people here are going with D0 920s over 1156 though. This may explain the lack of feedback.

As to why Anandtech keeps delaying their article, my first guess is that most P55 boards may already be on their 3rd or 4th BIOS update (P55 UD3R for example is at F3F). If top websites were to do a roundup of these boards 2-3 weeks ago with early bioses, we may not have received a truly representative viewpoint of the boards' performances. I think now that motherboard companies have had a little bit of time to optimize their bioses after launch (fix glitches, improve OC'ing), review sites are in a better position to provide their recommendations.