Difference between different motherboards

[Steveydvee]

So I have a old i7 950 cpu, an Asus 6870 graphic card and a broken Gigabyte mobo. I'm looking to replace the motherboard.

They fit into 1366 sockets and as I was looking up on Google the best motherboards for this chip results like Asus Rampage 3 and Sabertooth x58 came up but their in a total different price range compared to the other 1366 mobo's. Whats the difference between these expensive mobo's compared to the one that I listed below? Will the cheaper one work fine or vice versa?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Genuine-Dell-Precision-Workstation-T3500-LGA1366-Motherboard-XPDFK-9KPNV-/231254625990?pt=Motherboards&hash=item35d7d98ec6

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-RAMPAGE-III-EXTREME-Intel-X58-LGA-1366-DDR3-Motherboard-/271622735323?pt=Motherboards&hash=item3f3dfa05db

 

[clutchc]

Unless you have a Dell system that uses that exact MB, I would stay away from proprietary boards.

The Rampage is a high end board designed for overclocking. Since your i7-950 doesn't have an unlocked clock multiplier, you would not benefit from the expensive features of the Rampage.

Stick with Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, Asrock, Intel... in no specific order. I.E. stay with a retail brand name, or (if you have a proprietary system) get the board they recommend.

 

[Tradesman1]

The 950 is OCable, with the 1366 mobos it's done via a combo of the base multiplier and the BCLK, i.e. I believe right at 4GHz is a combo of 22 or 23x175, been awhile

 

[clutchc]

@ Tradesman1
I thought it was locked. At 22X max. I mean, every CPU is OC'able if you want to mess with the bclk, right?

 

[Tradesman1]

Believe it's like 23 maybe even 24 w/ turbo boost, but don't remember off hand, but remember it was either 22 or 23 X 175 for right at a hair over 4GHz, as I said, it's been awhile...The BCLK was the primary OC factor, base is 133, and saw a few headed up and over 200, was never really thrilled with 1366

 

[Steveydvee]

Now that you guys mentioned it. Should I look into overclocking my setup for higher performance? I'm a gamer and I want the best performance. Will it be worth it? Cause I know overclocking will shorten the lifespan of the cpu/gpu. And also, which mobo do you guys think is the best for the i7 950?

 

[Tradesman1]

If done corrrectly, it still 'MAY' shorten the lifespan, but I've still got a bunch of rigs from 7 and more years ago out there running fine, have a couple Q6600s still in the family that are OCed to about 3.6 and 4 that run 24/7 (Q6600 has a base clock of 2.4). Just do a good OC and monitor temps and you should be good for year to come