FoxConn vs Asus vs Gigabyte (x58)

[Chronictank]

Hi all,
I am having real problems deciding between the following boards, they all have their relative benefits and drawbacks but i just cant decide which to get, i made this thread as i suspect like myself the current threads out there didn't really make the decision for me so it would be nice to have all the info in one place.

This is for a £1.5k to £2k build so money isnt really that much of an issue but i would like to get value for money
I am a novice overclocker and haven't really played with the i7's before but am willing to learn and fiddle.

Foxconn Blood Rage GTi Intel X58 - £139.99 inc VAT

- Supports the newest Intel Core i7 and Core i7 Extreme (Bloomfield) processors
- Supports QPI 6.4GT/S
- Triple DDR3 1800(OC)/1600/1333 3x DIMMs (Max. 12GB)
- 4x PCI-E x16, 1x PCI-E x1 & 1x PCI
- 1x ATA133, 6x SATA-II & 2x eSATA
- Sonar X-Fi Audio Card (Realtek ALC889) 7.1 channel Audio
- Dual Gigabit LAN support (Realtek 8111C)
- 12 USB 2.0 ports


Advantages
- Comes highly recommended (example here
- Proven track record in reliability
- 4x PCI-E x16 lanes
- Very high build quality
- Force Reset Button (like clear bios but only wipes overclocking settings)
- Good overclocker for money, i have seen people on other forums hitting 4.6Ghz


Disadvantages
- Only 3 memory slots (will you ever really use 6 when 4Gb dimms are around the corner?)
- Possibly needs additional cooling for northbridge based on user comments
- No SAS connector
- Does not overclock as well as a rampage under air

Gigabyte GA-EX58-Extreme Intel X58 - £227.99 inc VAT

- QPI 4.8GT/s / 6.4GT/s
- Chipset North Bridge: Intel® X58 Express Chipset
- South Bridge: Intel® ICH10R
- Memory 6 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 24 GB of system memory
- Dual/3 channel memory architecture
- Support for DDR3 2100+/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules
- Audio Realtek ALC889A codec
- High Definition Audio
- 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
- Support for Dolby® Home Theater (Note 2)
- Support for S/PDIF In/Out
- Support for CD In
- LAN 2 x Realtek 8111D chips (10/100/1000 Mbit)
- Support for Teaming
- Expansion Slots 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16
- 1 x PCI Express x8 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1) (Note 4)
- 1 x PCI Express x4 slot
- 1 x PCI Express x1 slot
- 2 x PCI slots
- SLI Support with latest Gigabyte BIOS


Advantages
- Built in water cooling, but very nice heatsink included for northbridge
- Nicely spaced PCI-E slots (3x 2slot cards)
- Good on board audio (although not discreet)
- Clear CMOS button on back of board so no need to open case
- Ability to add hard drive without opening case (eSata+Molex connector on the back)
- Triple SLI and Crossfile brackets included
- Very thick PCB

Disadvantages
- Crazy array of overclocking features may be overwhelming for a new platform, not recommended for novice overclockers
- No SAS support
- Expensive

The gigabyte UD5 extreme is eol, the new revision is due shortly. However the UD5 is the same board, just with littler heatsinks. I'm yet to see any indication that the bigger heatsinks make any difference but they can't hurt

Asus Rampage II Extreme - £244.98 inc VAT

- Intel® X58/ICH10R
- Triple-channel, DDR3 1800(O.C) Support
- TweakIt
- ProbeIt
- Extreme Engine with ML Cap Design
- SLI/CrossFire On-demand
- SupremeFX X-Fi
- BIOS Flashback

Advantages
- In windows tweaking ability (TweakOI?)
- Asus OS for emergency driver searching (not needed as there is never a pc far away)
- Thick PCB
- Stable board
- Very good cooling
- Very good discreet sound card
- Clear CMOS on back, no need to open case
- rich software suite
- LCD poster for troubleshooting
- Backlit back panel
- SAS connector (but will you really use it?)

Disadvantages
- Effectively only 2 x PCI-E 2 slot, 3rd is only 1 slot
- Reports of driver issues with windows 7
- Reports of build quality issues <- this worries me a lot
- Expensive
- Poor after sale support
Confirmed

The RMA process isn't something you should worry about for ASUS anymore. If you buy a board from Overclockers and it is faulty, you'll have a replacement within 5 days as long as the board is in warranty.

Sorry for this confusion there is 3 years warranty on Asus motherboards if purchased from us this RMA will be created if you have purchased a motherboard and have the order number there is no problem, please call 0871 910 910 2 to arrange this,

Regards,

Asus P6TD Deluxe Intel X58 - £201.99

- True 16+2 Phase Power Design
- ASUS TurboV
- ASUS Express Gate SSD
- SLI and CrossFireX on Demand
- ASUS Xtreme Design

Advantages
- Clever cooling design for northbridge
- More novice friendly overclocking
- Usual ASUS trimmings
- express gate like the xtreme for emergencies
- Good value for money
- Room for 3 pci-e cards, but only able to run 2 cards at full speed

Disadvantages
- Reports of build quality issues <- this worries me a lot
- Power connector very close to the ram slots
- Poor after-sale support
confirmed

The RMA process isn't something you should worry about for ASUS anymore. If you buy a board from Overclockers and it is faulty, you'll have a replacement within 5 days as long as the board is in warranty.

Sorry for this confusion there is 3 years warranty on Asus motherboards if purchased from us this RMA will be created if you have purchased a motherboard and have the order number there is no problem, please call 0871 910 910 2 to arrange this,

Regards,

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 Intel X58 - £188.99 inc VAT

- QPI 4.8GT/s / 6.4GT/s
- Chipset North Bridge: Intel® X58 Express Chipset
- South Bridge: Intel® ICH10R
- Memory 6 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 24 GB of system memory
- Dual/3 channel memory architecture
- Support for DDR3 2100+/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules
- Audio Realtek ALC889A codec
- High Definition Audio
- 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
- Support for Dolby® Home Theater
- Support for S/PDIF In/Out
- Support for CD In
- LAN 2 x Realtek 8111D chips (10/100/1000 Mbit)
- Support for Teaming
- Expansion Slots 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16
- 1 x PCI Express x8 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1)
- 1 x PCI Express x4 slot
- 1 x PCI Express x1 slot
- 2 x PCI slots
- SLI Support with latest Gigabyte BIOS

Advantages
- Very highly recommended for overclocking (better than P6T in some reviews)
- Good non-intrusive cooling solution
- Very good value for money
- 3 x PCI-e 16 slots with room for 2 slot cards
- On board LED for error detection
- Practically the same as the Exteme version

Disadvantages
- heat sinks pinned rather than screwed down
- Cold Boot issues, rumoured to be fixed in a later BIOS


Comparisons
The following graphs are for relative comparisons only (as they are done by the same reviewer on the same test set of components), they are in no way real world reflections of the potential over clocking ability of these boards

Overclocking

Power

Heat

 

[Chronictank]

on the verge of making a giant thread full of pictures, reserved for pics of the boards in peoples cases when i dig through a few threads

 

[setter]

Heres a few pics of the p6t dlx v2 (identical layout on p6td) in my akasa eclipse 62.

Cooler is a TRUE black, ocz reaper 1600mhz c7 ram

 

[reygjabla]

Chronictank
Comparisons

Overclocking

Power

If you check my signature, you will notice that the comparison is somewhat flawed.

 

[Chronictank]

If you check my signature, you will notice that the comparison is somewhat flawed.

I did it based on the (probably very big) assumption the person clocking them is going to use the same approach using the same test kit giving better comparative results rather than reflections of their full overclocking potential

 

[JonJ678]

Please, the graphs were too silly to be shown once. Don't need to quote them.

The gigabyte UD5 extreme is eol, the new revision is due shortly. The first revision had a useless waterblock, hopefully the second has dealt with this problem. However the UD5 is the same board, just with littler heatsinks. I'm yet to see any indication that the bigger heatsinks make any difference but they can't hurt. Consequently I'm using the UD5. The bios isn't very friendly but it's a lot nicer than it looks at first.

The Asus is friendlier to the novice, and I'm considering changing my UD5 for one as I miss the Asus bios. However their rma support is shameful, by reputation and by personal experience. Lovely board unless it dies, after which you're in for a very long wait at the end of which you may or may not have a working motherboard.

Foxconn I know nothing about.

 

[setter]

My main gripe with the p6t deluxe is the layout of the sata ports, theyre really poorly positioned, out of the 6, 4 are set at right angles right below where the graphics card sits, can be a curse for geting the cables connected.

 

[-VK-]

The RMA process isn't something you should worry about for ASUS anymore. If you buy a board from Overclockers and it is faulty, you'll have a replacement within 5 days as long as the board is in warranty.

The Rampage II Extreme is a very good board and so is the P6TD Deluxe (Custom PC current issue for a review of it).

 

[Chronictank]

The RMA process isn't something you should worry about for ASUS anymore. If you buy a board from Overclockers and it is faulty, you'll have a replacement within 5 days as long as the board is in warranty.

Opened a webnote to confirm this

 

[Random Guy]

Bloodrage GTI has been great so far for me. Still need to confirm how far I can push the i7 920, but from what I know/have read, the board is very good VFM at its price point.

The plan for me is to go SLI /Xfire in Dual-GPU config later, and to push the CPU up to 4 to 4.2 Ghz when I need it. Right now running at stock is good enough for me in terms of the games I play. I would like to confirm a 4 GHz OC, and if I do I will report back.

 

[JonJ678]

The RMA process isn't something you should worry about for ASUS anymore.

If this turns out to be true I'll be thrilled, however I am definitely going to wait for experiences of this to filter through the forums before I put faith in it. My last Asus rma took two months and ended up with me getting a gigabyte board from the retailer. I'd advise others to be similarly cautious for the time being.

I'd be interested in what the webnote says, it seems odd to me that no one from the ocuk staff has confirmed this yet.

 

[ETNiES]

setter, where did you get your extra fan clips for your TRUE? I can't any sites with them pm me your answer if you cant say it here

 

[setter]

I bought the black version which is supplied with 2 sets, as an alternative you can use cable ties.

 

[ETNiES]

doh :< the search goes on, don't wanna use cable ties :<

 

[capriboy1978]

I was in a similiar postion to you but with the budget spread over a few months. Choice for me was between the extreme (this was mid this year) bloodrage and r11e. Went with the bloodrage at the time as it was the cheapest, technically saved me money on a soundcard and the colour scheme matched my project exactly. I will also go full custom water and so the bundled waterblock was a plus.

Fwiw the gti will be fine in a good case on air. Other than the h50 the rest of my rig is air cooled. I've run the board upto 4.5 (not very stable but didn't have time to fiddle) on air just using the little whiny fan on the 'northbridge'.

I've learnt to OC using this rig and the BR has done me well. Buying now I would probably choose the gti because of price. Some pics of the board (crappy phone pics) in my build log.

 

[Chronictank]

Looks like -VK- is spot on

Pre-sales enquiry being bounced around the houses
Hi,
Could someone respond to my query please as when i replied as a RMA as requested by the ocUK representative i just get webnote failed messages as i do not have a RMA number (since this is a pre-sales query)


Dear ******,

Thank you for your webnote.
You have sent this webnote using our Presales Enquiry Webnote form, and it has come through to the wrong department. Please resend it using our RMA Webnote system where it will get through to our technicians. This can be found here...
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/webnote.php#rma

Regards,

Simon Bagshaw


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In reply to
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Hi,
I would like to know what the warranty situation with ASUS motherboards is, It is well known asus have an atrocious support department but reading the forums it was suggested OcUK would take the RMA instead of ASUS if the board was to die within warranty.

Looking at the support section of the site it states they are not covered for any Asus product over 12 months old (except motherboards),
Could you please confirm if this means in the event the motherboard breaks within warranty OcUK will replace it instead of the arduous process of going through Asus directly?

Thanks in advance
.

Sorry for this confusion there is 3 years warranty on Asus motherboards if purchased from us this RMA will be created if you have purchased a motherboard and have the order number there is no problem, please call 0871 910 910 2 to arrange this,

Regards,

 

[setter]

Thanks for posting this up chronictank.

 

[GigaMan]

Hi All,
I would just like to also add my bit

I have my doubts about this, but then again, I work for Gigabyte, so you may assume I would say this anyway
We know motherboards and we also understand that repairs/returns are never easier said than done.

Gigabyte UK has a LOCAL branch where all repairs get done locally in Milton Keynes.
We also have a technical department where we can help with any technical queries.
We work very closely with our partners, like OcUK plus we available to talk directly to you, the end-user.
I doubt Asus can do such a thing!
Sometimes it’s good to know that the manufacture is available to talk to in case something goes wrong.

Gigabyte has always taken this very seriously and we continue to do so.

Also, do you know that we can organise spare parts, like I/O shields, missing cables etc…

Anyway, I just wanted to highlight our RMA procedure in the UK.

 

[thevet]

have not had any trouble with my rampage 2,i have had it 1 year now and it works great,no problems with win 7 and i have been running it for about 6 months now RTM,i have had 1 crash due to gta4 running in quad sli but that is it,1 crash in 6 months(touch wood)

 

[-VK-]

Tempting to take the bait!

It's really not a competition in that respect and I think it's great that both companies can co-exist and offer good products to our respective customers.

Though I will have a poke, Gigaman - 8 posts, -VK - Considerably more!

Welcome to the forums. =)