x58 Motherboard prices

[SirRob]

I am going to build a new system, but I am a bit frustrated with the price of all x58 motherboards. It has been a while since I built my last system (think Athlon X2), but to spend twice as much for a motherboard than I am used to is a hard pill for me to swallow. The RAM and i7 920 have come down in price to the point where the only real hurdle I have is the price of the motherboard. I am not planning on waiting more than 2 more months. Does anyone have some inside information (or a crystal ball) regarding the future of x58 motherboards?

 

[PCTC2]

X58 motherboards are "enthusiast level", which for the past year or so have stayed in the $200+. When the next generation comes out, they usually drop a bit, the i7 will be crown until next year. I think you're just going to have to cough up $200 or look for a really nice sale/combo deal.

And you my good sir, are the cream of the crop when it comes to lurkers.

 

[SirRob]

Your post made me laugh out loud! Thanks for the compliment.

I was afraid that there would not be a decline in price anytime soon. I will look for a good combo deal, although I do not buy ECS boards from Frys.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

A couple of months ago, X58 boards were typically $300+. Now, they are $200, and recently I've seen one for $175 after MIR. I'd imagine that 2 months down the road we'll see them for $150 or less after MIR.

 

[SirRob]

When they finally hit $150 I would feel better about it. I know it is only $50 difference, but when you are used to paying around the same price for an item for over a decade, a large % increase in cost rubs you the wrong way.

 

[lopri]

http://www.techpowerup.com/853...Stepping_in_April.html

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Excuse my uneducated rant but why would Motherboard makers charge more $$$ for a board that now has LESS NB technology in it?

Thats what grinds my gears

 

[Zap]

The X58 has no competition if you want a Core i7 CPU. That's one reason it is expensive. Another is that all "X" chipsets from Intel are considered high end with an appropriate price. P35 versus X38, P45 versus X48, P55 versus X58... whoops the P55 isn't out yet and is for a different CPU.

 

[Lurien]

If you're willing to go the open box route, here's one for 167.25

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813131359R

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Asus is no longer IMO a good motherboard maker. They may make expensive ones but to which the market they make those for, they cheat the customer, not to mention their horrible website for updates..

 

[SirRob]

That open box is tempting me! I will check on the warranty for open box items, but I should have all of the cables I need from other builds.

 

[SirRob]

Originally posted by: lopri
http://www.techpowerup.com/853...Stepping_in_April.html

What does that mean for the price of motherboards this month?

 

[LokutusofBorg]

The MSI x58 Pro is sub $200 and has been a good board so far (have had it about two weeks). The only differences between it and the higher end boards are bling and BIOS options, I believe. Even so, it has tons of options for overclocking, but I'm running stock so I may not be painting an accurate picture if this board isn't a great i7 overclocker.

 

[cbn]

Originally posted by: Zap
The X58 has no competition if you want a Core i7 CPU. That's one reason it is expensive. Another is that all "X" chipsets from Intel are considered high end with an appropriate price. P35 versus X38, P45 versus X48, P55 versus X58... whoops the P55 isn't out yet and is for a different CPU.

How long till P55?

Do you think that one will finally get PCI-E 3.0? (I know it would be overkill but sometimes having the extra bandwidth is nice if the person plans on keeping the mobo long enough for future video card upgrades. Currently 4850x2 exceeds the bandwidth of PCI-E 1.x)

 

[darkrisen2003]

My primary concern when looking at the current gen of X58 is that from what I understand intel is doing a die shrink later this year to 32nm and nobody seems to know if the current motherboards will support the new 32nm cpu's. If they will then I will start saving for components now but if they wont then I'll wait till tax time next year to get them.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: Just learning

Originally posted by: Zap
The X58 has no competition if you want a Core i7 CPU. That's one reason it is expensive. Another is that all "X" chipsets from Intel are considered high end with an appropriate price. P35 versus X38, P45 versus X48, P55 versus X58... whoops the P55 isn't out yet and is for a different CPU.

How long till P55?

Do you think that one will finally get PCI-E 3.0? (I know it would be overkill but sometimes having the extra bandwidth is nice if the person plans on keeping the mobo long enough for future video card upgrades. Currently 4850x2 exceeds the bandwidth of PCI-E 1.x)

IIRC, P55 is for the I5, the mainstream Nehalem chip with a dual channel mem controller. The I5 isn't even coming out until the end of the year last I heard. I5 will also have the PCI-E controller integrated, and I doubt that the first-gen I5 will have PCI-E 3.0 support.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: darkrisen2003
My primary concern when looking at the current gen of X58 is that from what I understand intel is doing a die shrink later this year to 32nm and nobody seems to know if the current motherboards will support the new 32nm cpu's. If they will then I will start saving for components now but if they wont then I'll wait till tax time next year to get them.

Early reports say LGA 1366 and X58 will be compatible with 32nm Westmere/Gulftown. Compatibility may be board/BIOS specific similar to LGA775, but I've read in more than a few places 1366 will be here for at least this Tick and Tock.

As for the X58 boards and prices, the main things to look out for with the sub $200 boards is 6 vs 4 dimm slots and SLI support. Some of the lower cost boards save on price by skipping SLI validation although some allow for SLI support through a BIOS update. The other cost saving is 4 vs 6 dimm slots.

Personally I found the build quality of my Asus to be lower compared to the cheaper P5Q-E it replaced, even though the X58 board cost more. I guess its all relative as a $200 non-X58 board would've been considered high-end and a $200 X58 board would be low-end.

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: SirRob

Originally posted by: lopri
http://www.techpowerup.com/853...Stepping_in_April.html

What does that mean for the price of motherboards this month?

Probably not much. But it made me think twice.

X58 Specification Updates (PDF)

Some highlights

• - Specifications updated 5 times in 5 months
  - 3 steppings in 5 months
  - 60 errata found and many of them without a fix/work-around (and some of them look quite serious to me)

Now if I compare it to past Intel chipsets.. let's take X48 for example

X48 Specification Updates (PDF)

• - Initial specification = Final specification
  - no revisions
  - 3 errata found and all of them can be worked around via BIOS

Still with me?

Regardless, I think Intel deserves a credit for being honest and well-organized. It's near impossible to find anything on AMD site.

 

[darkrisen2003]

Well the board I would most likely buy would be that newer EVGA one that is blood red and black due to those being my fav colors but also haveing the best brand name/specs on the board I have found. The only issue I have with it is im not too fond of paying nearly 500 for a motherboard considering how much everything else costs. I was fine with paying upwards of 200 for the better boards but 500 is plum rediculos.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: chizow
Early reports say LGA 1366 and X58 will be compatible with 32nm Westmere/Gulftown. Compatibility may be board/BIOS specific similar to LGA775, but I've read in more than a few places 1366 will be here for at least this Tick and Tock.

Are you willing to bet your hard earned money on that? There is a track record for Intel changing specifications enough so that new chips no longer worked on boards/chipsets that were promised support.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Zap
Are you willing to bet your hard earned money on that? There is a track record for Intel changing specifications enough so that new chips no longer worked on boards/chipsets that were promised support.

I already did. The alternative would be to wait for i5/P55 or 32nm Westmere early next year and GTA 4 wasn't going to wait that long. Besides, X58 isn't much more than a glorified PCIE controller, so there's even less reasons and excuses for socket incompatibility going forward. The most important variable has been solidified, the physical pins on the socket itself, so I'm reasonably confident there won't be any issues.

I don't doubt there'll be a chipset update for 32nm, most likely to accomodate PCIE 3.0 and USB 3.0, but that shouldn't have an effect on X58 compatibility. Both Intel and AMD know there's few better ways to annoy customers than constant socket changes and I think they've taken that into consideration in recent years with their relatively stable socket decisions.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: chizow
X58 isn't much more than a glorified PCIE controller, so there's even less reasons and excuses for socket incompatibility going forward. The most important variable has been solidified, the physical pins on the socket itself, so I'm reasonably confident there won't be any issues.

I'm sure physical socket compatibility gave early Prescott owners that confident feeling even as their systems did not POST.

Talk to any 45nm quadcore owner about how well his CPU runs on his reference-based 680i board lately?

If it turns out compatible with future stuff, then great. If all else is pretty much equal and one might have better future compatibility, then great.

If it costs a lot more money for that "might..."

 

[WT]

$200 ?? Sheeesh, I WISH !!! I'm pricing out a build with either a Foxconn Blood Rage or a Gigabyte X58 UD5, both of which are darn near $300, so I am less than pleased with that.
To top it off, I've been thinking of trying H20 cooling, but the Swiftech kit I like is also $260. I can't justify that amount just to squeeze and extra 450+mhz out of an i920.

 

[SirRob]

$820 for a motherboard, CPU, and Water cooling?! I cannot think of how many high end systems I have put together for less than that! Of coarse, I don't spend crazy amounts of money on video cards.

 

[WT]

Of course, I don't spend crazy amounts of money on video cards.

See, thats what's killing me. My GTX280 was $350, so if I add a second one, it will only cost $250, but its still $600 just for vid cards.

At this point, playing the games that I do, I don't need to do a thing, so I'll sit and let my $$ stash continue to grow until I feel it is a worthwhile endeavor. I've never bought high end (other than the GTX280) so I'm thinking the initial parts list that I priced out is just a bit optimistic in its scale.
Drop the WC setup and the second GTX280 and I'm much closer to my comfortable $550-600 upgrade cost.