Quality 1366 Mobo for extreme overclocking

[stillmatic07]

Ive been searching and reading reviews for the past 2 months on quality components for my next i7 920 build. I have absolutely everything ready to order, but this x58 motherboard is KILLING me. The reason i'm getting a 920 is because I want to overclock to 4 ghz. I had my eyes set on the Asus p6t deluxe v2, and had good recommendations from a few people.. but i'm still not budging until I know for sure this will be a quality board.

I do most of my shopping at newegg.com, and on every x58 board ive seen with the exception of the EVGA E760 CLASSIFIED, has a fluctuation between 1 egg and 5 which bothers me to no end. How can these boards have such awful quality control? I just want a ROCK SOLID board that won't give me issues down the road on a 4ghz overclock.

Can anyone lead me in the right direction? It would also help if it had good NB and SB cooling, but that's just icing on the cake at the moment.

EDIT: Price is negotiable, but definitely under 350 until the CLASSIFIED becomes my last resort.

 

[flyin15sec]

Newegg reviews are full of idiots who think they are "high" on the tech scale, but knows crap. Take those reviews with a grain of salt.

I have an EVGA X58, non classified and I'm on 4ghz no problems. The trick with i7 920 4ghz OC is not the motherboard, but the processor itself.

Article that confirms this: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3502

 

[stillmatic07]

Alright, so I guess i'm just in the market for a quality x58 motherboard?

 

[flyin15sec]

If you haven't purchased your i7 920 yet, make sure you pick up D0 revision, then choose a motherboard that has the expansion slots that meets your need. Some folks go by the color scheme of the board, others choose it by manufacturer. It's really up to you, I only chose EVGA because I've had good experience with their RMA support.

 

[Grnkjr0]

"Alright, so I guess i'm just in the market for a quality x58 motherboard? "

And get the best air cooler on the market (if not water cooling), that is just as important if you wanna go for 4.0 GHz. Read the latest reviews on those.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

If you haven't purchased your i7 920 yet, make sure you pick up D0 revision, then choose a motherboard that has the expansion slots that meets your need. Some folks go by the color scheme of the board, others choose it by manufacturer. It's really up to you, I only chose EVGA because I've had good experience with their RMA support.

I'm not a fan of EVGA as the only product I purchased from them, a recertified 8800 GTS 512 crapped out 30 days after 90 day warranty expired. If they tested it and recertified it, why only 90 days warranty? XFX has recertified video cards on Newegg with a one year warranty.

My point is this - stick with the manufacturer that you and your computer crowd have had the best experience with, ie products don't fail or have issues. Why pick EVGA because they have good service with RMAs? It's like buying a new car because you're anticipating returning it for problems? Isn't it better to buy something than you think will be problem free from a manufacturer that has so much confidence in that product they give you a "double lifetime warranty"? My last two videocards are from XFX because of this warranty.

For motherboards, I've had the most satisfaction with the Asus brand.

 

[micky_lund]

too true... from what ive read, its not the Mobo so much as the batch (stepping)

btw psycho: what cooling r u on? and what temps?

 

[micky_lund]

haha.... thats epic temps... what do u reckon about air cooling at 3.6-3.8? with noctua hh-u12p

 

[one-shot]

I'm going to reuse my Xigmatek HDT-S1283 for my i7 920. It should do well as it is one of the best air coolers. The Xigmatek also scored higher than the "fabled" Thermaltake Ultra 120 Extreme. Here is a list of best coolers according to Frostytech.com http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm . The Xigmatek is probably has the best performance for the dollar. I also replaced the fan that came with the Xiggy, although I'm sure it would have been sufficient.

 

[flyin15sec]

I'm not a fan of EVGA as the only product I purchased from them, a recertified 8800 GTS 512 crapped out 30 days after 90 day warranty expired. If they tested it and recertified it, why only 90 days warranty? XFX has recertified video cards on Newegg with a one year warranty.

My point is this - stick with the manufacturer that you and your computer crowd have had the best experience with, ie products don't fail or have issues. Why pick EVGA because they have good service with RMAs? It's like buying a new car because you're anticipating returning it for problems? Isn't it better to buy something than you think will be problem free from a manufacturer that has so much confidence in that product they give you a "double lifetime warranty"? My last two videocards are from XFX because of this warranty.

For motherboards, I've had the most satisfaction with the Asus brand.

I think your just nit picking about EVGA. Part of the risk of buying a Recertified is the 90days only warranty. That's the risk of getting 25% - 40% of the retail price. You knew that when you bought the recert right? If you didn't want to risk the 90days, then you should've bought a new retail box video card.

Just because someone chooses a manufacturer for it's warranty doesn't mean they anticipate a return. Its like warranty on any new car. You don't want anything to happen, but when something does happen, you are well covered.

 

[cjl]

Sub 200 dollar water setup. Triple 120mm Rad, DD pump, Frozencpu res, frozencpu waterblock, 1/2" tubing

At 4.3Ghz idle's were at 30C and she wouldn't go above 48-49C under load at 1.425v

It seems the early and late batch's of C0's were the great overclockers. The middle's were HORRIBLE and wouldn't go over 3.9Ghz for anything.

I'm still trying to figure out how a 2.66GHz CPU overclocking to 3.9 is considered "HORRIBLE". That's a 47% overclock.

 

[Faust X]

I'm not a fan of EVGA as the only product I purchased from them, a recertified 8800 GTS 512 crapped out 30 days after 90 day warranty expired. If they tested it and recertified it, why only 90 days warranty? XFX has recertified video cards on Newegg with a one year warranty.

My point is this - stick with the manufacturer that you and your computer crowd have had the best experience with, ie products don't fail or have issues. Why pick EVGA because they have good service with RMAs? It's like buying a new car because you're anticipating returning it for problems? Isn't it better to buy something than you think will be problem free from a manufacturer that has so much confidence in that product they give you a "double lifetime warranty"? My last two videocards are from XFX because of this warranty.

For motherboards, I've had the most satisfaction with the Asus brand.

You are the only person I have heard from who seems to have had problems with EVGA, and if you felt confident enough to buy a recertified one then that was on you guy. As for XFX I had 2 of their 9800 GX2s and both crapped out on me at different times. Thankfully they had a double lifetime warranty but that means *** when it takes them 2 weeks to reply to you. I can understand not working weekends but it was ridiculous. Which is why when they sent me both of them back I quickly sold them both and bought 2 evga 285s because of their great programs like the step up and nothing but high praise from everyone i have talked to.