Suggestions: ASUS P7P55D-E or GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3

[Narmer]

Asus: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131621

Gigabyte: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128412

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811215015

Video card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125333

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231311

I plan to build this with an i7-870 running at stock. I will be running Windows Server 2008 R2 with WHS and other OSs in the hypervisor. This will be a personal computer running R, Matlab, Sas, Mathematica, etc... No gaming, but I wanted a fast video card that will eventually have two monitors. I chose the case because it allows me to shutdown hard drives that I will not be using (I will only use extra HDDs when I start up WHS). I will also watch blu-rays occasionally (if possible).

Will either of these motherboards handle the 8GB I plan on getting? What if I have a total of 16GB? If not, which board is recommended? Are they both reliable?

 

[Campy]

Both mobos support up to 16GB ram.

 

[Narmer]

Both mobos support up to 16GB ram.

I understand but some mobos start to get flaky and unstable with more ram or certain types of ram. So I was wondering if there have been any known issues with either ram with that amount of memory.

 

[kalniel]

Will either of these motherboards handle the 8GB I plan on getting? What if I have a total of 16GB? If not, which board is recommended? Are they both reliable?

Yes. Yes. (Both). Yes.

The key difference is the implementation of Sata 6gbps/USB3.

Gigabyte split off the CPU PCIe lanes, meaning if you use them you drop even a single graphics card down to x8 mode. However you give lots of bandwidth and a nice quick connection to the sata 6/usb3 controller.

Asus don't touch the CPU PCIe lanes, but instead take four of the eight southbridge PCIe 1st gen lanes and use them for sata 6gbps/USB3. They might be slightly slower as a result and you have less opportunity for other PCIe connections, but you get your full graphics lanes. (I think.. can't tell if the -E non pro/premium version does this or not)

 

[Narmer]

Yes. Yes. (Both). Yes.

The key difference is the implementation of Sata 6gbps/USB3.

Gigabyte split off the CPU PCIe lanes, meaning if you use them you drop even a single graphics card down to x8 mode. However you give lots of bandwidth and a nice quick connection to the sata 6/usb3 controller.

Asus don't touch the CPU PCIe lanes, but instead take four of the eight southbridge PCIe 1st gen lanes and use them for sata 6gbps/USB3. They might be slightly slower as a result and you have less opportunity for other PCIe connections, but you get your full graphics lanes. (I think.. can't tell if the -E non pro/premium version does this or not)

So I would have to choose which is more important, graphics performance or SATA3/USB3 performance? Wow, that sucks. I guess, in my case, the Gigabyte would be more important based on what I wrote in the OP?

EDIT: Then again, none of the HDDs I get now will utilize the bandwidth of the SATA3 so I am better off with the Gigabyte.

 

[kalniel]

How fast does the video card need to be? Two monitor driving is no problem for any of today's cards if it's not for heavy gaming. If you're not planning an enthusiast level graphics card then x8 lane graphics won't be a limitation.

On the other hand, there are currently no devices close to saturating Sata 6gbps, even on Asus motherboards with a PLX chip working off the southbridge.

In short, neither board will be limiting you today. If going Asus I'd probably go for the -pro version. The gigabyte board is good, but also have a look at the higher models in the series - they might use better quality components for greater long term reliability.

 

[NumericalMethods]

On the P7P55D-E there is a switch that allows you to choose whether you devote CPU PCIe lanes to SATA 6 and USB 3 you can double the bandwidth available if performance is an issue. If you do, you loose the 16x graphics lanes, just like the Gigabyte boards. The feature is 'IO Level up'. Nice, flexible solution.

I don't think some of the higher end boards offer this. As far as I'm aware my P7P55D-E Evo doesn't but the graphics slots are set up as 16x or 8x 8x for SLI and Crossfire. The P7P55D-E does not offer that PCIe configuration.

 

[Narmer]

How fast does the video card need to be? Two monitor driving is no problem for any of today's cards if it's not for heavy gaming. If you're not planning an enthusiast level graphics card then x8 lane graphics won't be a limitation.

On the other hand, there are currently no devices close to saturating Sata 6gbps, even on Asus motherboards with a PLX chip working off the southbridge.

In short, neither board will be limiting you today. If going Asus I'd probably go for the -pro version. The gigabyte board is good, but also have a look at the higher models in the series - they might use better quality components for greater long term reliability.

Which would you recommend in particular? I ask because I don't want to assume that I'm buying a better quality board simply because it's more expensive, and not because of some other useless features I won't be using. BTW, the main reason I chose these boards is because of the amount of SATA ports they have. If there are more reliable boards with just as many SATA ports I am all ears.

 

[kalniel]

I am exactly 50:50 between them - actually considering speccing up a similar system for myself and it's practically flip a coin time. I also can't decided whether to go the X58 route, which is another valid option for you as they're good with lots of hard drives (not that p55 isn't, just you don't have any lane bandwidth things to worry about at all with X58.)

So you'll be happy whatever, flip a coin

 

[Narmer]

I am exactly 50:50 between them - actually considering speccing up a similar system for myself and it's practically flip a coin time. I also can't decided whether to go the X58 route, which is another valid option for you as they're good with lots of hard drives (not that p55 isn't, just you don't have any lane bandwidth things to worry about at all with X58.)

So you'll be happy whatever, flip a coin

I was going to get the i7-930 but the i7-870 is so much faster (in burst mode) and the platform is cheaper so I went with it.