Which motherboard should I choose?

[half1980]

Hello to everyone in the TPU community! It's the first time i open a thread although i've been following the TPU forums and the site for the last 4 years!

2 months ago (10th February) i've ordered from my local retailer (and by local i mean a small town in Italy) the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7 although i knew there was the notorious P67 SATA2 problem hoping that i could buy it and then replace it when the new mobos would have been available!

Anyway long story short i still wait for this motherboard, while the retailer keeps saying that next week will be available (he keeps saying that thing for the last 1.5 months!!!!).

I just got mad and cancelled the order because i really want to upgrade my computer (my old one is 5 years old) and also because i have this wonderful Intel core i7 2600k, 8 gigs of ram, a GTX 570 and every part that's needed to build the new computer but i don't have the mobo!

So, at this point i would like to get some help from you regarding which motherboard i should choose.

I had some ideas myself (AsRock Fatality P67 Professional, ASUS Maximus IV Extreme or ASUS P8P67 Deluxe) but i would like to hear some opinions from you.

My new computer will be used mainly for gaming and i would like to do a little OC, no extreme stuff tho (like water cooling and the such)!

Anyway thank you for your help in advance and i apologise for the length of my post!

 

[GSquadron]

That is really normal i think, the mobo you searching for were taken back to the company and you wont be able to have it for sure.
1.5 months is not too much man
At least for me

 

[DanishDevil]

Your title makes it seem like this is Gigabyte's fault. It's not. It's probably your retailer's fault, as I can buy a Gigabyte P67 B3 board quite easily from a variety of retailers.

All options are good, to be honest. Go with what you like best that's in your price range. One board you may want to look into is the ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution. It's basically the UD7, but for much cheaper. NF200 and everything.

 

[brandonwh64]

I herd good things about the ASROCK boards and sandy bridge. I really dont know what kind of retailers ship to italy?

Overclockers.co.uk ships to italy!!

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=5&subid=1906&sortby=priceAsc

 

[half1980]

Your title makes it seem like this is Gigabyte's fault. It's not. It's probably your retailer's fault, as I can buy a Gigabyte P67 B3 board quite easily from a variety of retailers.

When every other manufacturer's (Asus, Asrock, MSI etc.) mobo is available from the entry level to high end then it's Gigabyte's fault.

Despite all the above, i've heard from friends and from various online forums that Asus mobos tend to be somewhat "sensitive" and to break down easily (although i've had 3 Asus mobos till now and i've never had a single problem).


Asrock Fatality seems to be a good alternative although i've read that P67 mobos from Asrock have some problems with their BIOS (i'm not sure what kind of problem there is so please don't crucify me).

Any other opinions? Thoughts? Thank you for your replies!

 

[erocker]

Despite all the above, i've heard from friends and from various online forums that Asus mobos tend to be somewhat "sensitive" and to break down easily (although i've had 3 Asus mobos till now and i've never had a single problem).

Get the Maximus IV. I know Asus boards are fine, and it seems that they are fine from your experience. "Sensitive" and "break down easily" is just heresay. Everyone likes to claim AsRock as being something great nowdays yet few people have them and other than new color schemes and fancier heatsinks they aren't so "great". If you want a good board buy a good board like the Asus, if you want a cheaper not so high end board, get the AsRock.

 

[half1980]

Get the Maximus IV. I know Asus boards are fine, and it seems that they are fine from your experience. "Sensitive" and "break down easily" is just heresay. Everyone likes to claim AsRock as being something great nowdays yet few people have them and other than new color schemes and fancier heatsinks they aren't so "great". If you want a good board buy a good board like the Asus, if you want a cheaper not so high end board, get the AsRock.

Maximus IV seems to be a great mobo although i haven't found many reviews for it over the internet. It has no PCI slot though, thus i won't be able to use my Audigy 2 ZS and i am not really sure that the onboard sound card is better...

 

[brandonwh64]

It comes with 8 channel realtek sound so i would imagine it would be good.

 

[erocker]

Most high end motherboards don't use PCI slots anymore. The onboard sound shouldn't be too far off from your Audigy.

 

[Undead46]

Get an ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution.
It's an amazing board that uses the NF200 chipset for Quadfire capability and is the cheapest out of the 3-4 that have it.

And honestly, I see no advantage the Maximus IV Extreme has over this board, other thank looks and is an eATX board.

 

[txsouthpaw]

Get an ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution.
It's an amazing board that uses the NF200 chipset for Quadfire capability and is the cheapest out of the 3-4 that have it.

And honestly, I see no advantage the Maximus IV Extreme has over this board, other thank looks and is an eATX board.

+1. I just bought one from the egg. It seemed to be the best of the higher end P67s as far as features go, and with a reasonable price. This will be my first Asus board, as I have previously been a long-time Gigabyte user. Asus seemed to really step up their feature sets and attention to detail with their P67 offerings. I also like having the flexibility of the NF200 and the PCIe slot spacing is great.