Thoughts on GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P board ?

[shadyshabby]

Here's the link if you don't know about it off-hand :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128392

I am trying to cut corners here ... I notice it does not support SLI, which is fine because I can only afford 1 card anyways :lol:

I just want to hear some input from some of you. I have a few questions, if you wouldn't mind :

1. What benefits do the pricier boards have over this one ?

2. One of the reviews for this board says it has an issue with memory and 'downclocks'. He also says it has problems with I/O internals and mentions his card is 4xxx series radeon (which I plan on getting). What does this all mean ? :lol:

3.
A) I checked Gygabytes website and it said this motherboard works with 1666 (oc) memory, but I cannot seem to find any listed on newegg. Am I missing something ?
B) I remember hearing years back that DDR2 works best using 2 slots. Is this true ? I do not want to be bottlenecked by having only 4 gigs and I don't know if it's going a bit overboard to have 4 x 2gigs occupying my MB when chences are they will all be obsolete in a couple years ... You tell me (pls!).
C) If I went with the memory I listed below (4), would it be compatible with the MB / Some reviewer on Newegg seems to think not.

4. Here's my future rig setup ;

AMD phenom II 955 black
Sapphire Toxic vapor radeon 4890
WD 32mb cache 7200 rpm black HD
Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower
Corsair 750w PSU
*G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333* (link below)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231189

---

Thanks for the help ! If you can't find the time to answer any particular questions, Any advise/suggestions would be great !

Thx

 

[shadyshabby]

Anybody ................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................
.............................................................................. ? Any info would help.

I just want to make sure this motherboard wouldn't bottleneck the performance of my 4890.

 

[wolfman11]

I have built two machines with this board. Let me see if I can help some...

1) Other boards have more features than this board such as support for Crossfire, more RAID levels than this board, and, depending on the board, integrated graphics.

2) Issue with memory is misleading. For example, on my system I installed 2 sets of DDR1333 RAM that was rated for 8-8-8-21. This board detected it as 9-9-9-24. Is that the board or the SPD on the RAM? Doesn't matter because I went into the BIOS and manually entered the timings, took 30 seconds and it's documented in the motherboard manual if you haven't done it before. I just chalk this up to people not reading the documentation that came with their board and applying the proper fix action, not a problem with the board.

3) A) Not sure about this, I see it in my print manual too. I installed DDR3 1333 in both of the machines I built, can't speak to DDR3 1600 (or DDR3 1666 as per manual).
B) This board uses DDR3 not DDR2. I have one system with 2x1gb and 2 slots free and the other system has 4x2gb and both work fine. You'll have no issues using all 4 slots if need be.
C) The machine I am posting this from is using two sets of that exact RAM (4x2gb G.Skill DDR3 1333) - it works fine. Like I said above, board will detect it at 9-9-9-24 and you'll need to take 30 seconds to change it in the BIOS to 8-8-8-21 - or not and never notice the difference in real performance anyway...

4) My system (see my sig) is close to the one you are proposing: Same processor, same RAM, same motherboard, same PSU... Different video card, hard drive and case. Can't speak to the parts that are different, but can confirm the overlapping pieces work great together, I'm pleased with them.

Good luck...

 

[mb103051]

this gigabyte 770 board is as fine a low cost board as you could ever expect to be offered at such a reasonable price....
ive been reading alot of user reviews on it and they are very good...will only get better with bios updates...
ck out xtreme forums for more user posts on it
Text
here is 1 but there are many more.....you cant go wrong with this board....

 

[DAVIDINTEL]

Wolfman11, is your 8 gigs of G.Skill DDR3-1333 memory 10666 or 10660 or 10600? I'm building a system with the same mobo.

thanks in advance!

 

[wolfman11]

It's the DDR3-1333 10666. This is the link to it at the egg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231189. It was $20 cheaper a set when I ordered, but prices fluctuate.

 

[kaiser02]

ery good...will only get better with bios updates...
ck out xtreme forums for more user posts on it