Gigabyte Z97-SOC Force or Gigabyte Z97X-UD7-TH?

[srsparky32]

torn between these two. which one is the better board? i like the color scheme on both. primarily looking for overclocking power but also with stability. i'm getting a 4790k and probably wont be going much past 5ghz for 24/7 use. this rig is also going to be install, overclock, and forget.

 

[Schmuckley]

SOC Force or Z97 Gene.

 

[srsparky32]

SOC Force or Z97 Gene.

reasoning? also im not going with anything but gigabyte. will never buy asus again. 2 months and one sendback to get my r3e fixed

 

[emissary42]

Do you need Thunderbolt? If not, there is no reason to get the Z97X-UD7 TH over the Z97X-SOC Force, especially for serious overclocking.

Also getting to 5GHz depends a lot on your CPU. Many 4790K don't even come close to 5GHz for 24/7 stability (with anything up to custom-water).

 

[srsparky32]

Do you need Thunderbolt? If not, there is no reason to get the Z97X-UD7 TH over the Z97X-SOC Force, especially for serious overclocking.

Also getting to 5GHz depends a lot on your CPU. Many 4790K don't even come close to 5GHz for 24/7 stability (with anything up to custom-water).

dont need thunderbolt and probably will never use it.

depends on how high youre willing to go on volts, of course. and also on one's definition of stability. my definition is a couple passes of wprime 32m without crashing and all games dont crash or lock up. hasnt failed me thus far. sure a 24 hr run of prime95 would technically be "better" but meh

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

I'd go with the SOC Force it's got far better mosfets.

Surprised by bad Asus experience, I've only had worse with MSi and Asrock (haven't had any probs with GB... yet)

I would still back the Gene.

Actually as far as stress testing goes, I'm completely done with doing more than a few minutes of P95 and furmark. On my desktop I ran a 24h P95 and furmark simultaneous run, no problems at all. I start playing games and the CPU locks up within 5 hours...

 

[srsparky32]

I'd go with the SOC Force it's got far better mosfets.

Surprised by bad Asus experience, I've only had worse with MSi and Asrock (haven't had any probs with GB... yet)

I would still back the Gene.

Actually as far as stress testing goes, I'm completely done with doing more than a few minutes of P95 and furmark. On my desktop I ran a 24h P95 and furmark simultaneous run, no problems at all. I start playing games and the CPU locks up within 5 hours...

yeah dude doing a 24h run is useless. games vary widely and are a better sign of stability. i ran my 2600k at 4.8ghz on a 24hr prime run...bluescreens with vcore error code while playing bf3. so yeah. wprime32m 3 passes and games is my stability test now.

also i was going to buy the z97x soc force but a newegg review was for once useful. said that the cpu socket is too close to the first pcie slot and using a big air cooler (im using my megahalems with 2x ultra kaze 3k's) will prevent a gpu being put in the top slot. so im going to have to go with the Z97X-UD7-TH instead. i'm sure i'll have no problem hitting 5ghz on the 4790k with enough vcore and LLC set to high, though.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

I don't have to worry about it, WC all day

 

[Schmuckley]

reasoning? also im not going with anything but gigabyte. will never buy asus again. 2 months and one sendback to get my r3e fixed

Then it's z97 SOC Force for you..
..cuz Mah friends said so ..
I tend to know the know the boards that will OC and the ones that won't.
I trust their judgement..I do.
I know I don't always listen to them,but would be probably be better off if I did.
Any time I have,I have been pleasantly surprised
PS:M7 Gene is a beast, I can attest to that...0 problems except ones I created..an amazing board!
I have heard the uh..ranger or watever has problems...

 

[emissary42]

also i was going to buy the z97x soc force but a newegg review was for once useful. said that the cpu socket is too close to the first pcie slot and using a big air cooler (im using my megahalems with 2x ultra kaze 3k's) will prevent a gpu being put in the top slot. so im going to have to go with the Z97X-UD7-TH instead. i'm sure i'll have no problem hitting 5ghz on the 4790k with enough vcore and LLC set to high, though.

The Megahalems is not that big and it will also not block the first PEG on SOC Force.

Good luck with hitting 5GHz for 24/7air cooled, even with a pair of DFS123812H-3000. So if you don't get there, at least it is not the board thats holding you back.

 

[srsparky32]

The Megahalems is not that big and it will also not block the first PEG on SOC Force.

Good luck with hitting 5GHz for 24/7air cooled, even with a pair of DFS123812H-3000. So if you don't get there, at least it is not the board thats holding you back.

Lol its gonna happen. Just look at my resume

Core 2 Quad Q9550 4.2ghz 1.42v on Xigmatek Dark Knight with stock fan >> this one also survived Intel burn test 10 passes. Was in mid 70s temp wise

Core i7 2600k 5ghz 1.44v on megahalems with 2x San ace 9G1212H1011

Core i7 3770k 4.8ghz 1.36v also on the megaprime. Could have done 5ghz but CPU was a lemon required a ton of vcore for 5

Core i7 990x 4.5ghz 1.45v on same megahalems setup

Xeon X3440 4ghz same megahalems setup.

Its not that hard. Games don't slam the CPU and if it doesn't crash or blue screen in all games its not gonna be unstable anywhere else. Intel chips get hot too and as long as it stays below 85c for stress testing no skin off my back.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

Go with the SOC Force, the UD7 has a rubbish VRM if you are going to push it to 5

 

[srsparky32]

Go with the SOC Force, the UD7 has a rubbish VRM if you are going to push it to 5

Will do I actually am thinking about the evga z97 classified now

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

I always skip that one (all of the EVGA ones for that matter) because of the lack of Sata-express, M.2, and the rather crummy rear I/O. That said, IR3550s make me drewl.

What about the Asus Z97-WS, has a better feature set than the classy IMO. All that makes me bring the XPOWER into account, but I don't really like MSi and the doubled 8 phase VRM is pretty overkill with the 60A 3550s, it just goes to the OCing side a bit too far for me to consider it for an everyday board. But the delid die guard thing does really tempt me.

 

[srsparky32]

Well the rear io while being pretty skimpy is enough for all the peripherals I use. And the other faults you mentioned are minor.

The z97 WS is a consideration but I still have a bad taste in my mouth about Asus. If it works great but I hope it never breaks because dealong with Asus customer support is like pulling teeth. Same can't be said for evga support they have always been responsive and extremely helpful.

I also refuse to buy a MSI motherboard ever. Lol.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

I've never had a problem with Asus, my previous asus board (LGA775) ran for 7 years without a hitch, so I don't really have experience with their customer support. Do really like EVGA though, although I am still a bit salty about their screw ups with the 970 ACX cooler and I really think they need a bit more brains in their motherboard R&D team because an EATX board without anything non-standard other than a PLX chip is a bit...

Questionable to say the least