Intel Core i7-3930K and which motherboard?

The Tourist

The Tourist

The Tourist

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Hi everyone, I'm looking for a top of the range motherboard to go with a 3930 K.

I've been browsing through the OCUK shop reading some customer reviews.

One of the reviews for the Asus Rampage IV Extreme Intel X79 said that they could not really tell the difference between it and the Asus X79 Sabertooth. However one of the reviews for the Sabertooth mentioned that they had stability problems with this board until they flashed the bios.

I'd really like to hear what motherboards you think would be best for this chip :)
 
I've got an Asus X79 Sabertooth and have to agree with what you read. When I first built the computer I was having constant issues with things until I flashed the BIOS. Now that I am running the latest version of the BIOS though things seem to be OK. There is only one issue that pops up from time to time which is somewhat annoying is that when the system starts the BIOS reports a fan error even though all the fans appear to be working correctly. I've yet to discover if this is because I have set the fans up incorrectly or whether it is an issues with X79 Sabertooth board itself.

I hope that helps.

Edit: I have to say that flashing the BIOS was extremely easy compared to older PCs I have owned in the past. I wouldn't be put off that much as it is literally a 5 minute job to flash the BIOS to the latest version.

Edit 2: I've found a couple of issues since updating the BIOS to the latest version. The first one appears when you try and enter the BIOS on system boot. This may not work. If it does fail to work then you need to switch your keyboard and the mouse to the other USB 2 ports. I have no idea why this changed. I was able to use the BIOS correctly before the update with keyboard and mouse in whatever USB 2 port I wanted but the update seems to have borked that. Not a huge problem though as you simply need to change the ports. The other is that not all hard drives appear in the boot menu. I'm still looking for a solution to this although Windows 7 seems to be working well.
 
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I have RIVE and Sabertooth among many ASUS boards. Both are great performers. What are you looking for out of the system??? What are your other components and cooling options???
 
8 Pack said:
I have RIVE and Sabertooth among many ASUS boards. Both are great performers. What are you looking for out of the system??? What are your other components and cooling options???
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Hey guys, thanks for the replies. Well, to give you a bit of background here's a wall of text :p

I'd like to build a very powerful but also very quiet system within an Antec 902 case. Realistically I probably won't use this new system to its full potential straight away, but may do so in the future.

I'd like a motherboard that's reliable, stable, really helps me get the most out of the 3930 K and allows me to overclock this chip as far as safely possible.

I've been reading about various issues that some motherboards have and have even seen some people post that their recently bought 3930 K's do not seem to be as good as the older batches. So I thought I ask around here to see what other people have to say :)

I haven't decided on my other components yet, again I was hoping to hear what other people have to say. As I've previously mentioned, I want the system to be really quiet, but I also want to be able to keep the CPU as reasonably cool as possible when under load.

I've never fitted water cooling to a PC before and wasn't sure if there'd be much difference between a high end air or water cooler. It feels like I'd be asking for trouble to have water flowing around inside my PC! :p

Anyway, please feel free to recommend me CPU cooling options (water or air) even though we're in the motherboard section!

One of the things that I'd really like to know is what impact my cooling choice will have on my ability to fit other components onto my motherboard.

Depending on the motherboard I end up choosing, I want to avoid the scenario where my CPU cooling option blocks access to e.g. RAM or PCI -E slots. I'd like to be able to use all available slots, although if I was forced to make a sacrifice I would probably choose to lose access to a PCI-E slot than RAM slots.

Looks like the motherboard I choose will also determine the type of RAM I need, therefore I haven't decided on this yet either, although please feel free to offer suggestions in this area as well :p

With regards to power supply, I'm looking at the Corsair Professional Series AX1200, what do you think?

Also, I have an msi nVidia lighting GTX 580 with 1535 MB memory and I'm probably going to buy another one for SLi. However I cant find the same card in the ovcerclockers shop anymore, so I may go for the new 6 series cards.

I have an optical drive already, so I'll use that in this new build.
I am however planning on buying a large capacity solid state drive, probably the Crucial RealSSD M4 512GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s although it's currently sold out. Good choice?

Lastly, I currently have windows vista 64 bit and I'll probably buy a copy of windows 7 ultimate. I thought about waiting for windows 8, but it looks like it's designed more for tablets and smart phones than desktop PCs.

Also, there's a significant difference in price between the Asus Rampage IV Extreme and Rampage IV Formula, is this reflected in a clear difference in performance between the 2?

Thanks again for the input guys, looking forward to hearing some more advice :)
 
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Looks like the Asus Rampage IV Extreme and Sabertooth are on offer at the moment.
Any thoughts with regards to my previous post?

I've also read some good things about the Asus P9X79 WS motherboard, however there are no user reviews for it in the OCUK shop. What do you guys think about this board?

It seems that the RIVE is one of the best boards out there at the moment and it should be, considering the asking price. Can any of you tell me whether this board will fit inside an Antec 902 case?

Thanks :)
 
If you dont need 8 DIMM slots are not using quad graphics and don't bench on Xtreme cooling then you should go for the Formula board. The Xtreme is as it suggests feature packed for the xtreme with LN2 mode, slow mode etc.

I can say nothing bad about the Sabretooth either its a stable performer for me too but does not quite clock as well as the formula in my experience.

As for your PSU Corsair 1200w will be fine.

Cooling go for water cooling for a build such as this as air cooling will definitely limit your overclock with the heat output of a 3930K.
 
Alligatorblood said:
Rive or rivf? whats that?

and iwant Intel 3rd Generation Core i5-3570K CPU gaming pc.

and my cooling options are the H100 or a water loop, (be my first loop)

and the switch 810 case :)
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3570 is a totally different socket CPU so would not be compatible with any board discussed here.
 
8 Pack said:
If you dont need 8 DIMM slots are not using quad graphics and don't bench on Xtreme cooling then you should go for the Formula board. The Xtreme is as it suggests feature packed for the xtreme with LN2 mode, slow mode etc.

I can say nothing bad about the Sabretooth either its a stable performer for me too but does not quite clock as well as the formula in my experience.

As for your PSU Corsair 1200w will be fine.

Cooling go for water cooling for a build such as this as air cooling will definitely limit your overclock with the heat output of a 3930K.
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Thanks for getting back to me 8 Pack :)

Do you know if E-ATX boards like the RIVE would fit in an Antec 902 case?
I know that the Asus formula will fit as that is only ATX and I know my case can definitely take ATX form factor.

Do you know if water cooling will block access to some of the RAM or PCI-E slots on the RIVE board? If some of the RAM slots are blocked then there's no point getting an 8 DIMM board, seeing as I won't be able to access all of them.
 
In regards to the newer 3930k CPUs, yes it does seem that they're worse than the older chips.
C2s have been reported to degrade very quickly over 1.2v VTT and generally don't click very well compared to the older chips, especially on air.

Though as always, not every chip is the same, some still hit 4.8-5 GHz on air, some (like mine) can only hit 4.5-4.6GHz. It's really hit and miss, the best you can do is try and get a certain batch that is know to be good.
 
The Tourist said:
Thanks for getting back to me 8 Pack :)

Do you know if E-ATX boards like the RIVE would fit in an Antec 902 case?
I know that the Asus formula will fit as that is only ATX and I know my case can definitely take ATX form factor.

Do you know if water cooling will block access to some of the RAM or PCI-E slots on the RIVE board? If some of the RAM slots are blocked then there's no point getting an 8 DIMM board, seeing as I won't be able to access all of them.
Click to expand...

I have water on mine at this second and it blocks nothing at all. I have a C2 3930 and it clocks very well in both mhz and RAM. The best in terms of both these factors I have had. My C1 3960 did better mhz but not as good memory controller by far.

Its a silicon lottery with the chips these days it really is as everything is now on the chip its self they may be great in one area but **** in another.

Its the same with Ivy too.
 
Rossi~ said:
In regards to the newer 3930k CPUs, yes it does seem that they're worse than the older chips.
C2s have been reported to degrade very quickly over 1.2v VTT and generally don't click very well compared to the older chips, especially on air.

Though as always, not every chip is the same, some still hit 4.8-5 GHz on air, some (like mine) can only hit 4.5-4.6GHz. It's really hit and miss, the best you can do is try and get a certain batch that is know to be good.
Click to expand...

Is there any way you guys can help me make sure I get the best CPU possible? I don't know which batches are the 'good' ones.

Will OCUK sell them? How do I make sure they sell me one of the 'good' ones?

By the way 8 pack, how quiet is your watercooled setup?
 
The corsair H100 is a good off the shelf cooler that looks and works well on a RIVE and does not get in the way of anything. Its not as good as a custom water cooled set up but its still pretty good. If you think about using it just make sure there is room in your case to mount the radiator.
 
The Tourist said:
Is there any way you guys can help me make sure I get the best CPU possible? I don't know which batches are the 'good' ones.

Will OCUK sell them? How do I make sure they sell me one of the 'good' ones?

By the way 8 pack, how quiet is your watercooled setup?
Click to expand...

Depends which one!!! One is silent the other is quiet!!!

You cant be sure of evan batch numbers being a certain quality these days its totally a silicon lottery.
 
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