What more do you get from an expensive mobo?

[mrDMxtreme]

I'm just looking around at 1155 motherboards, and their prices seem to vary a lot.

The main features i want are : 1)must be ATX or larger (cuz its going in a haf x and i don't want it to look dumb

)

2) must have 2 pci-e slots (16x and 8x) (cuz i'm want to get a good gpu now, and when i want/need more power, i wanna sli)

3) this is more info, not really i requirement, but i'm looking for a p67 not a z68 because i'm going to use a ssd and discrete gpu anyway

Lastly my price range that i looked for is between $0 - $220 (canadian).

at the bottom end (around 100) there is the MSI G43

in the middle (around 140) i saw the gigabyte UD4

at the top (around 210) i saw the asus sabertooth

Which all are atx and have 2pci-e lanes running at 16x8x

now i know the sabertooth got a really really good review here

but is it really worth the extra money????

to answer your questions, the computer i build is going to be for software engineering, and playing 1 or 2 games (BF3+MW3+DiabloIII(if it ever comes out))

also you might wanna know i will probably spend the majority of my budget on a 2600k and a GTX570 and some good RAM

well thanks for the info all you

 

[S_I_N]

most of the higher end boards have more power phases to stabilize the voltages for oc'n as well and better caps and chokes. might even be better sound and LAN with more sata ports there's alot going on for them as well as warranties are normally longer. Best way to see it is to use a site like newegg where you can select like 5 items and do a side by side comparison

 

[sheroo]

I'd get the Sabertooth, it'll look good in the HAF X. When it comes to motherboards you generally get what you pay for.

 

[nothingspecial]

Also worth noting is that on high-end boards (for instance the Gigabyte UD7) you're more likely to get two x16 PCI-E slots than one x16/one x8, which if you're going SLi in the future is theoretically going to make it better.

I say theoretically because I've heard people say x8 for second card doesn't make much difference, but I can't testify for that.

 

[tonkin97]

Also worth noting is that on high-end boards (for instance the Gigabyte UD7) you're more likely to get two x16 PCI-E slots than one x16/one x8, which if you're going SLi in the future is theoretically going to make it better.

I say theoretically because I've heard people say x8 for second card doesn't make much difference, but I can't testify for that.

true and if he wants faster cards in the future they will want more bandwidth

 

[mrDMxtreme]

Also worth noting is that on high-end boards (for instance the Gigabyte UD7) you're more likely to get two x16 PCI-E slots than one x16/one x8, which if you're going SLi in the future is theoretically going to make it better.

I say theoretically because I've heard people say x8 for second card doesn't make much difference, but I can't testify for that.

thanks for the replies guys, and i wish i could afford the UD7

haha

as for the 16x vs.8x i saw on youtube comparisions and the difference is sooo small that for me it really doesn't matter. i think it would only matter for ppl that want to get high benchmarks with a carzy setup like 2 gtx 590.... whereas for me 1 gtx570 and maybe in the future another 570, and just for playing some games, IMO not that worth it.

Now i have a different question... i saw a z68x-ud4 on sale and it has 16 power phases, which is a lot more then the sabertooth, which has 8+2 ... so in theory shouldn't the ud4 OC better since it can provide more power to the CPU????

thanks guys

 

[S_I_N]

its not necessarily MORE POWER but more stable power. They all have to have the same power to run things. Just the more power phases make it cleaner thereby more stable.

 

[mrDMxtreme]

Alright, thanks for the clearification.

So I looked, even the p67-ud4 has got 12 powerphases, so does that mean that it can provide cleaner power then the sabertooth? (I'm wondering because if I save a little on the mobo then I'll have more to spend on my GPU

 

[S_I_N]

well yes and no sorry its not that clear cut. In theory the straight answer is yes but each handles power differently (same power output) the Asus Sabertooth is an upper end board as the UD4 is a little more mainstream. But both have very similar features for the 20$ difference I'd go UD4 as it says the pci-e slots are 16/8 if using 2 gpus' and the sabertooth says 8/8 if using 2