What LGA1366 board - $250 price range

708 Views 16 Replies 10 Participants Last post by -iceblade^, Nov 29, 2009

NETio

Discussion Starter · Nov 28, 2009

I am going to go i7 over the holidays and I would like to know what the best board I can get in the $200-$250 price range is. I have very good watercooling and I would like to OC the 920 as high as I can go without being limited by the board. I also want to be able to go with dual Crossfire (probably 2x4850) and I don't want to be limited in graphics by bandwidth.

Basically, I want the most affordable board that will OC very well and will not be a bottleneck with dual Crossfire. It will be a 920 going in this now, but I'm going with LGA1366 now so it will be more upgradeable.

EDIT:
This board both looks rather nice and I would like some opinions on it. I'm not brand loyal and ASUS, Gigabyte, EVGA, DFI, and others are all just as good to me.
EVGA E758-A1 3-Way SLI (x16/x16/x8) LGA 1366 Intel X58

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

the3lement

· #2 · Nov 28, 2009

a used bloodrage if you can find one, or a bloodrage gti?

NETio

Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 28, 2009

I do not want any used board because you never know what the v-regs or anything else on that board has seen temperature or voltage wise.

INFAMYBLADE

· #4 · Nov 28, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by NETio

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I do not want any used board because you never know what the v-regs or anything else on that board has seen temperature or voltage wise.

hard to find one new in the range you're wanting to spend though as well, take that into account.

maybe dfi/gigabyte/some foxconn like the flamingblade possibly.

maybe an asus gene, otherwise check ebay.

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greydor

· #5 · Nov 28, 2009

EVGA E757 LE.

I just purchased this board. Reviews show that the x16/x8 does not bottleneck at all, and it works with Crossfire. It's one hell of a good looking board. I can't wait to get it.

greydor

· #6 · Nov 28, 2009

Double post. I hate that.

M3T4LM4N222

· #7 · Nov 28, 2009

Guys a new bloodrage is $240..He doesn't need a used one.

greydor

· #8 · Nov 28, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by M3T4LM4N222

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Guys a new bloodrage is $240..He doesn't need a used one.

It's a sick looking board. The only things that kept me from this board were a lack of 1394 (the spot is there on the motherboard, they just didn't add the part), and only 3 DIMM's. i7's can handle 12GB easily, and RAM prices will drop here in the next 6 months. It's overkill, I know, but a little more "future resistant". Still, it's a great purchase in your price range.

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NETio

Discussion Starter · #9 · Nov 29, 2009

Lack of Firewire doesn't bother me (I've yet to use it for anything) and 3 DIMM slots is fine, too. I think you can only run one DIMM per channel for triple channel, right?

Also, from what I can tell, the Bloodrage GTI runs at least the two primary PCIe x16 slots at full speed? The Bloodrage GTI is a nice looking board and I think I'll go with it. It does everything I need it too for only $215. And if you even read my post, it said $200-$250. The EVGA board I linked to is $250 after MIR and it runs 1 slot at x16 and the other at x8.

Hickeydog

· #10 · Nov 29, 2009

The Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R is a great budget 1366 board. I think I got it for $170 on Newegg and I couldn't be happier with it. It's a little short on voltage control, but it won't stop you from cranking 4.5+ ghz. It's got all the features I could ever need. It is a little funny about RAM speeds and RAM overclocking, but it's not a huge issue.

greydor

· #11 · Nov 29, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by NETio

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Lack of Firewire doesn't bother me (I've yet to use it for anything) and 3 DIMM slots is fine, too. I think you can only run one DIMM per channel for triple channel, right?

Also, from what I can tell, the Bloodrage GTI runs at least the two primary PCIe x16 slots at full speed? The Bloodrage GTI is a nice looking board and I think I'll go with it. It does everything I need it too for only $215. And if you even read my post, it said $200-$250. The EVGA board I linked to is $250 after MIR and it runs 1 slot at x16 and the other at x8.

Just keep one thing in mind before you throw some change down on that board. They never update the bios and Tom's made note of some changes that could be made (fixed) with a BIOS revision. You might want to go for a board where the company will update the BIOS.

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gbrilliantq

· #12 · Nov 29, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by skitzogreg

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Just keep one thing in mind before you throw some change down on that board. They never update the bios and Tom's made note of some changes that could be made (fixed) with a BIOS revision. You might want to go for a board where the company will update the BIOS.

Foxconn has had 4 bios updates since I've had my Bloodrage. 2 beta's and 2 final's.

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sch010

· #13 · Nov 29, 2009

if you don't mind micro atx, a rampage ii gene is quite nice

NETio

Discussion Starter · #14 · Nov 29, 2009

I'd really prefer standard ATX or even E-ATX. I'm really considering that EVGA I linked to in my first post or the Bloodrage GTI.

coopsman1

· #15 · Nov 29, 2009

Gigabyte UD-5

NETio

Discussion Starter · #16 · Nov 29, 2009

I've decided, I'm going for the Bloodrage GTi. It has gotten some very nice overclocks and is basically a Bloodrage with little, unneeded features removed. It has 2 x16 slots and two x8 slots. On a side note, I'm going with the 5770 over a 5850 right now and I'll get another 5770 (or two) later on. The 5770 supposedly scales very well and ATI has came a long way with drivers. And two 5770 cards should be more than enough for a single 1920x1080 monitor.

So it's pretty much decided:

i7 920
Foxconn Bloodrage GTi
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 @ 8-8-8-24 (stock)
2x ATI Radeon HD 5770 in CrossfireX

-iceblade^

· #17 · Nov 29, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by sch010

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if you don't mind micro atx, a rampage ii gene is quite nice

or an eVGA Micro ATX.

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