Recommendation for 1156 mobo

[blackrain]

I am looking to build a gaming PC geared toward future games (multi-threading). No overclocking planned. If the GPU becomes obsolete, I will replace it. I am not really looking into crossfire, unless you can convince me otherwise (based on my budget). I am on about a $800-$1000 budget (but the lower the better). Here are the components that I think I want.

i5 750- $199
Motherboard - ???
Memory - ??? (Mushkin preferred)
Sapphire Radeon 4890 - $199
WD 640GB Black - $70
Case - $70-$80 (probably Coolermaster)


I am going with an i5 because of this article:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3634&p=16


What mobos do you think I should be looking at? My main concern is that I want a solid durable mobo that isn't going to have infinite reboots out of the box and isn't going to require a special BIOS fix to boot up out of the box. I don't have much experience with newer technology builds. I have seen a lot of reviews about Asus having quality problems. However, the P55 reviews look solid for the Asus boards. A lot of the poor reviews at newegg refer to infinite reboots or mobo/memory incompatibilities. Obviously, I am also looking for strong performance.

In sum, I am looking for 2-3 solid candidates with strong compatibility, reliability, and gaming performance.

If you can give me a recommendation in a feature-rich category and a value category, I guess I will then think about whether firewire, esata and other additional features are worth the extra money. I am just not yet decided on whether I need or want those.

If you make a memory recommendation that would be great. Otherwise, I will post in the memory section once I have decided on a board.

Update:
I did do my own research and here is what looks good to me. Maybe this is a good topic starting point. I am thinking less than $200 based on my budget???

MSI:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130239

Not sure about MSI. The only reported problems are DOAs, which is the norm. No weird reports about infinite reboots or incompatibilities. No cheap fans to fail is a huge plus. Although I don't anticipate OCing or Crossfire, the option is there at a much lower price than I expected. And yet....I am torn because there are complaints about support. That may have sealed the deal.

Gigabyte:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128409

No reviews. Not too comfortable with that unless you say I have to absolutely have this one


Asus:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131407

Great reviews on this one so far....but most of the other Asus boards are being crapped on for quality. Is this a diamond in the rough? Maybe too early to tell? I think support used to generally be good. Still the case??


EVGA:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188055

Heard a lot of great things about EVGA and the reviews look great!! But this worries me tremendously, especially since I am looking at getting a 4890:
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=...ey=&#101002920

What to do?
__________________

 

[rudder]

I just bought this motherboard to replace my socket 775 that bit the dust...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130246

I threw in some g.skill ripjaw series ram, turned it on, and was good to go. The tweakability is there... but right out of the box I did not have to touch a thing. I thought it was reasonable for the price... has fireware/esata/and stacked with USB ports on the back.

It does have crossfire... but I was not interested in that really... just based on benchmarks. I have an ATI 4830 right now and buying another 4830 would make it a more expensive platform that say a 4870.

 

[blackrain]

I am looking for a full-size ATX board. Sorry I didn't mention that.

 

[lothar]

Why do you prefer Mushkin RAM?

 

[blackrain]

Mushkin seems to have good ratings most of the time and has a good track record with me. I like G.Skill too.

 

[blackrain]

Anyone? I am ready to buy now. I did do my own research and here is what looks good to me. Maybe this is a good topic starting point. I am thinking less than $200 based on my budget???

MSI:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130239

Not sure about MSI. The only reported problems are DOAs, which is the norm. No weird reports about infinite reboots or incompatibilities. No cheap fans to fail is a huge plus. Although I don't anticipate OCing or Crossfire, the option is there at a much lower price than I expected. And yet....I am torn because there are complaints about support. That may have sealed the deal.

Gigabyte:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128409

No reviews. Not too comfortable with that unless you say I have to absolutely have this one


Asus:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131407

Great reviews on this one so far....but most of the other Asus boards are being crapped on for quality. Is this a diamond in the rough? Maybe too early to tell? I think support used to generally be good. Still the case??


EVGA:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188055

Heard a lot of great things about EVGA and the reviews look great!! But this worries me tremendously, especially since I am looking at getting a 4890:
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=...ey=&#101002920

What to do?

 

[mc866]

If you are looking at only using one GPU go with the Gigabyte UD2, it will save you some money but still keep a great feature set. Read the review here:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3652&p=5

If you don't want to OC but want I solid board I highly recommend it, my 860's been running great on it for over a week now, fast as hell compared to my old e6600 Core 2 conroe.

 

[lothar]

Anyone? I am ready to buy now.

How much are you willing to spend max?

 

[blackrain]

$1000 for the whole build (For the mobo, my best guess is $150-$200). Note that I was editing while you posted to show that I did try to do my own homework

 

[blackrain]

If you are looking at only using one GPU go with the Gigabyte UD2, it will save you some money but still keep a great feature set. Read the review here:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3652&p=5

If you don't want to OC but want I solid board I highly recommend it, my 860's been running great on it for over a week now, fast as hell compared to my old e6600 Core 2 conroe.

Thanks for the recommendation. Looks good except I am looking for an ATX board.

 

[TheRealMrGrey]

I just bought this motherboard to replace my socket 775 that bit the dust...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130246

Are you overclocking with that board, rudder? If so, what are you getting?

 

[lothar]

eVGA P55 boards are all overpriced compared to their competition. Don't waste your time with them.
That particular ASUS board is overpriced(already crossing i7 territory with that price which doesn't make an ounce of sense.)

I would get the P55A-UDP or P55A-UD3R(if it's already available).

 

[TheRealMrGrey]

Blackrain - this site was helpful to me:

http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/?tag=rmp_sg_whirlpoolpcs

Whirlpool is the top tech forum in Australia, and I based my previous system on their suggestions while I was there and never had a problem with it. It served me well for almost 3 years. I'm basing my current build on many of their suggestions:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2019493

Cheers.

 

[blackrain]

eVGA P55 boards are all overpriced compared to their competition. Don't waste your time with them.
That particular ASUS board is overpriced(already crossing i7 territory with that price which doesn't make an ounce of sense.)

I would get the P55A-UDP or P55A-UD3R(if it's already available).

P55A-UD4P?? UDP doesn't exist

The EVGA board is available for $184 with free shipping on Amazon and Buy.com

The Gigabyte board costs the same. So I don't see the EVGA as overpriced over its competition, unless it provides less features. BUt that's not what the reviewers are saying.

 

[blackrain]

Blackrain - this site was helpful to me:

http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/?tag=rmp_sg_whirlpoolpcs

Whirlpool is the top tech forum in Australia, and I based my previous system on their suggestions while I was there and never had a problem with it. It served me well for almost 3 years. I'm basing my current build on many of their suggestions:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2019493

Cheers.

Any comment on MSI support? That seems to be the only sticking point for me. Several reports that MSI support is not very good if you have a problem.

 

[TheRealMrGrey]

Just checked, newegg has P55A-UD6 and P55A-UD4P, but no P55A-UD3R. Sucks really, the UD4P and UD6 are too expensive in my opinion.

 

[TheRealMrGrey]

Any comment on MSI support? That seems to be the only sticking point for me. Several reports that MSI support is not very good if you have a problem.

Yes, I read that as well on the user reviews of the P55-GD65 (board I'm considering). I have never bought from MSI, so I have no personal experience. Now that Ga is offering boards with USB 3.0, I will have to rethink my MB choice. Will look for UD3R if I can find it someplace. The only problem with going with the 3.0 boards is that no one has tested them yet and I will be a guinea pig. I can say my previous Ga board worked flawlessly, so if I don't go with MSI I'll probably go with them. You'll note that Whirlpool is suggesting Ga as well.

 

[TheRealMrGrey]

Hmm...why do a gazillion sites in Australia have the P55A-UD3R, but newegg does not???

http://www.shopbot.com.au/pp-gigabyte-ga-p55a-ud3r-price-207596.html

 

[rudder]

Are you overclocking with that board, rudder? If so, what are you getting?

Not overclocking it yet. I want to buy a coolermaster 212... but they are out of stock everywhere.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Why do you prefer Mushkin RAM?

In my experience Mushkin has the best quality control out of every vender . Yes I said it, even better than G.Skill, Crucial, & Corsair. They also don't have 1000 product lines with all manner of different voltage settings and timings. The problem is they are almost always more expensive than everything else. G.Skill is a better value almost every time. They have 4 lines of memory. Value ram with no heat spreader, silverline with a silver heat spreader which is an entry level set with low voltages, black line which can also have a blue heat spreader as well as Black. The Blue heat spreader is usually lower voltages and looser timings, the black heat spreader memory is tighter timings and a better overclocker. Then they have the Redline which is their top of the line hand picked and hard binned memory that overclocks like a champ.

Also Mushkin has a forum which lists different popular motherboards with recommended settings for each set in that board. I've even been able to email or call mushkin and ask for timings for my motherboard for a particular overclock and get responses that work. It's similar to DFI, enthusiast products. That's just my experience and YMMV so keep options open.

For DDR3 Mushkin I'd go with the 4GB kit http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226072

It's DDR3-1600 1.65v @ 7-8-7-20

Whatever you do go for lower voltage whenever possible for DDR3. That's my only recommendation.

If I were buying a dual channel 4GB kit for DDR3 right now today I'd buy The G.Skill Ripjaw http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231278

DDR3-1600 1.6v @ 8-8-8-24

I don't feel that timings have much impact on performance in real world usage so that's what I'd go with.


As for motherboard that Asus board is great. I've used the P755D EVO for a build and it was solid and stable. Got an i7-860 to ~3.6ghz easily.

 

[blackrain]

In my experience Mushkin has the best quality control out of every vender . Yes I said it, even better than G.Skill, Crucial, & Corsair. They also don't have 1000 product lines with all manner of different voltage settings and timings. The problem is they are almost always more expensive than everything else. G.Skill is a better value almost every time. They have 4 lines of memory. Value ram with no heat spreader, silverline with a silver heat spreader which is an entry level set with low voltages, black line which can also have a blue heat spreader as well as Black. The Blue heat spreader is usually lower voltages and looser timings, the black heat spreader memory is tighter timings and a better overclocker. Then they have the Redline which is their top of the line hand picked and hard binned memory that overclocks like a champ.

Also Mushkin has a forum which lists different popular motherboards with recommended settings for each set in that board. I've even been able to email or call mushkin and ask for timings for my motherboard for a particular overclock and get responses that work. It's similar to DFI, enthusiast products. That's just my experience and YMMV so keep options open.

For DDR3 Mushkin I'd go with the 4GB kit http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226072

It's DDR3-1600 1.65v @ 7-8-7-20

Whatever you do go for lower voltage whenever possible for DDR3. That's my only recommendation.

If I were buying a dual channel 4GB kit for DDR3 right now today I'd buy The G.Skill Ripjaw http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231278

DDR3-1600 1.6v @ 8-8-8-24

I don't feel that timings have much impact on performance in real world usage so that's what I'd go with.


As for motherboard that Asus board is great. I've used the P755D EVO for a build and it was solid and stable. Got an i7-860 to ~3.6ghz easily.

Thanks for the memory recommendations. I will probably go with Mushkin with this build as I always do.

Unfortunately, you have now thrown a huge wrench into my plans. I was going to go with either MSI or EVGA and had ruled out Asus. I was leaning more toward EVGA, but was going to call MSI tech support just to see how bad it really is. I don't know what to do. All of the Asus boards seem to have so-so reviews except for this one which seems to be stellar.

I wish Anandtech would have a showdown between my top picks )

 

[lothar]

Forget MSI.
Stick with ASUS, Gigabyte, and eVGA.
Every once in a while you'd see a Tier 3 manufacturer rocket to the performance/features/value segment *cough* Biostar P965/ASRock X58 *cough*, but it doesn't seem to have happened yet with the P55 generation.

eVGA is overpriced.
Their "good" P55 mobo line starts at the $180(P55 SLI) range and above.
Their $150 P55 LE is comparable to the Gigabyte UD2. No "all-solid" capacitors and the worst of all...no eSATA. Pay $150 for a mobo without eSATA?...
Their P55 FTW is a kick ass mobo, but then it's $220 which again makes price an issue.
Of course if you have more money to blow, feel free to get the $300-400 eVGA P55 Classified which has 200% more gold and bling bling to it.

From my prespective price/features stand point,
Gigabyte P55A > ASUS P55 > Gigabyte P55 > "*" P55.

 

[lothar]

In my experience Mushkin has the best quality control out of every vendor. Yes I said it, even better than G.Skill, Crucial, & Corsair. also don't have 1000 product lines with all manner of different voltage settings and timings. The problem is they are almost always more expensive than everything else. G.Skill is a better value almost every time. They have 4 lines of memory. Value ram with no heat spreader, silverline with a silver heat spreader which is an entry level set with low voltages, black line which can also have a blue heat spreader as well as Black. The Blue heat spreader is usually lower voltages and looser timings, the black heat spreader memory is tighter timings and a better overclocker. Then they have the Redline which is their top of the line hand picked and hard binned memory that overclocks like a champ.

Also Mushkin has a forum which lists different popular motherboards with recommended settings for each set in that board. I've even been able to email or call mushkin and ask for timings for my motherboard for a particular overclock and get responses that work. It's similar to DFI, enthusiast products. That's just my experience and YMMV so keep options open.

For DDR3 Mushkin I'd go with the 4GB kit http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226072

It's DDR3-1600 1.65v @ 7-8-7-20

Whatever you do go for lower voltage whenever possible for DDR3. That's my only recommendation.

If I were buying a dual channel 4GB kit for DDR3 right now today I'd buy The G.Skill Ripjaw http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231278

DDR3-1600 1.6v @ 8-8-8-24

I don't feel that timings have much impact on performance in real world usage so that's what I'd go with.

I agree with you on Mushkin, but just one problem...They're overpriced.
With every memory maker on the face of the planet offering Lifetime warranty it makes little sense to pay an extra $20 for the same Mushkin stick over a G.Skill one.
If there's a problem with your RAM sticks, RMA them and you'll get another set.
Both G.Skill(recently), OCZ(2003...not sure how they are now), and Crucial(2005) have shipped me a stick before I even RMA'd the bad one to them.

There are sometimes insurance are worth it...This isn't one of them.
If there wasn't Lifetime warranty on RAM kits, paying the extra $20 for a Mushkin wouldn't be a problem.
I put paying an extra $20 for a more expensive "Mushkin" RAM kit on the same level as paying for cell phone insurance...useless. For some people it may be useful, but I'm not one of them.

 

[n7]

This is getting off topic, but ever try the "lifetime" warranties for all the manufacturers?

I doubt any of us have tried them all, but i can tell you from my own experience with a few brands & from tons of forum discussion, just because they all have lifetime warranty does not in any way shape or form mean your support/RMA experience is going to be equal.

My personal experience with "lifetime warranty" Team Xtreem RAM vs. Mushkin RAM pretty much sums this up.
After dealing with Team, i have learned that if the company does not have a solid North American support situation, a lifetime warranty doesn't mean crap all.


Mushkin support/warranty is excellent; there's almost no question of this.
I'd say that quite frankly, there is not a single other company of their caliber in that area.

Corsair is definitely also good, as is OCZ, but they aren't quite up to that level IMO. Both have good North American support.

G.Skill is very popular, but their North American support is far more questionable, as while some people have pretty good experiences, i've heard of far too many that are quite bad.

And i can go on.

I do understand the appeal of the cheaper kits, & that's precisely why two of my systems run G.Skill (even though i dread the day i have to RMA).

But i'd never ever question someone wanting to stick with a brand they've had great experience with, as i too would personally buy Mushkin over anything else every single time if they were a comparable option within my desired specs/price range.


blackrain, if you are not OCing, why are you looking at higher priced mobos oriented toward OCing?

There's seriously no need to spending a lot on a P55 mobo when you are not OCing.
Same with RAM...if the kit is rated for higher than 1.5v or DDR3-1333, you shouldn't even bother with them, as anything above that is designed for OCing.

This is the sort of mobo i'd be suggesting.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131604

As for RAM, this link is DDR3 2x2 GB sorted by price, which is pretty much how i'd be looking at things, especially if you are not OCing.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2%20x%202GB%29

That very cheap G.Skill at the top is actually just fine in a stock system.

Heatspreaders are basically pointless even when OCing; definitely not needed if you're sticking w/ JEDEC 1.5v.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Last thing on memory, I have RMA'd 3x through G.Skill and each time it was less than 5 business days total time to get my replacement. I'd call that good. I even told them I overclocked the set, no problem.

I like Mushkin much more, but yeah it's an extra $20 or so that sometimes I could save for something else.

As for the motherboard issue, true if you never plan to overclock and don't need any special features offered on high end boards then go for something value oriented. N7 is giving good advice. As was said, EVGA is overpriced. Good stuff right now, perhaps the best but Asus isn't far behind and offers better value if you don't have to have the best of the best overclocker etc.