High-End Intel Motherboards
AMD really can't compete at the upper echelon of performance, so when we move into the high-end range we currently only have Intel recommendations. To further complicate matters, we have two platforms that we need to address: the old guard Core 2 boards, and the shiny new X58 offerings. It is hard to justify the high-end Core 2 options with the recent introduction of the i7 and X58 products, but if you have already invested in a Core 2 processor and DDR2 these boards still make sense. Any of these boards provide excellent performance and some recent price drops have made a couple of boards more interesting than the mid-range selections.
Core 2
Now priced at $170, the X48 based DFI DK X48-T2RS is great "bargain" at the upper end of the S775 market. This board offers an excellent feature set, great overclocking performance, and is just an extremely stable platform to utilize for a gaming rig or personal workstation.
At the other end of the X48 spectrum is the ASUS Rampage Formula board based on the X48 and ICH9R chipsets. The feature set is almost endless and the board is extremely solid and overclocks like a cheetah on steroids. This is one of the best boards we have utilized in a long time and if it were not for the i7/X58, it would be at the top of our list.
Honorable mention goes to the ASRock X48TurboTwins-WiFi for a unique combination of features, performance, and price in an X48 platform. Foxconn contacted us today and told us they are running a web special on their X48 based BlackOps board that received an Editors Choice award from us earlier this year. The price has been reduced to $229.99 and an additional $60 rebate is available bringing the price down to$169.99. This board is for the tweaker at heart (we mean tweakers) and based on the price reduction we recommend it.
Core i7/X58
We recently reviewed several X58 boards and still have a few additional boards to report on. We are working on a separate i7/X58 performance guide, but in the meantime we recommend the ASUS P6T-Deluxe, Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5, and after a BIOS update this weekend, the EVGA X58 SLI. The Biostar TPower X58 looks like a winner in early testing and we think the DFI X58 and Foxconn Bloodrage boards will appeal to the upper-end enthusiasts.
Wrap-Up
That takes care of our motherboard recommendations for the time being… ah, but what should you then install in your bare motherboard? Stay tuned for additional coverage this week of various computing components and peripherals. In fact, we have a memory gala planned for tomorrow.
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v12v12 - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
I hate to say it, but anyone dumb enough to buy this Sh!_ gets what they deserve. It doesn't take a shopping analysis to figure that this stuff is nothing but BETAWARE. Or more like BEWARE... It's bad enough that M$ is allowed to basically sell a patch-ware OS, now mobo manufacturers are ALLOWED to sell patch-hardware. In the form of "bios updates." PLEASE Do the dang testing YOURSELVES: OC, Stress test etc... WTF are the public/review sites forced to do it themselves — then Hope and pray for a proper firmware to be released to address it?Just like my old NF7-S 2.0 = a GODLY mobo. It's highly OC'd, still passes Prime95 and yet cannot even boot from a damn USB stick? How could that simple innovation be left out? B/c Abit DECIDED to not give a crap and just leave users blowing in the wind...while a POS Dell Inspiron has the bios option???! People PLEASE! If you want to do something about it, DO NOT BUY these types of products until they are properly reviewed by AT and the like and PROVEN: Reliable, stable, and meet any claims or advertising by the manufacturers!
superkdogg - Thursday, December 18, 2008 - link
WANTED: One cheetah on steroids for overclocking experiments. PM me.poohbear - Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - link
thanks for this guide, looking forward to the next one as im really looking at upgrading soon and this article was a wealth of info. cheers.jzodda - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
Nice article. In the mid range category I am impressed with the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P. It's in my opinion the best board I have owned since the Abit BH6 8+ years ago. Its incredible overclocking enables me to run 24/7 stable at 525 FSB. I didn't expect that when I purchased it. My E8400 loves it.AssBall - Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - link
Speaking of Abit... didn't see them lurking around on any of these lists. Are we to conclude that newer Abit boards are no longer top notch equipment, Gary? Or is it just that AT doesn't play with them anymore or they have poor support?DefRef - Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - link
ABIT is out of the mobo business, thus their non-existent profile for years. Too bad. The BH6 and BH6-II were awesome boards.bigboxes - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
I place the blame squarely on the mobo compnay for releasing their products without proper QA. Maybe by then their bios updates will fix the multitude of bugs that infect their products. Until then I'll play the waiting game. :)SonicIce - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
remember then the site used to actually review them and post overclocking results :(tyaiyama - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
I bought it about $260 before $30 MIR in late September. Now it sells less than $200 after MIR. It is feature rich.Chipset: nForce 780a SLI
(nForce 200)
3xPCIe(2.0)x3
Dual GbE
Creative X-Fi Xtreme H/W Audio Card
Everything else in high end M/B can be also found.
strikeback03 - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
is that Instant Boot Technology available on any ITX boards? Would be nice for a carputer.