High-End Intel Motherboards
AMD really can't compete at the upper echelon of performance, so when we move into the high-end range we currently only have Intel recommendations. To further complicate matters, we have two platforms that we need to address: the old guard Core 2 boards, and the shiny new X58 offerings. It is hard to justify the high-end Core 2 options with the recent introduction of the i7 and X58 products, but if you have already invested in a Core 2 processor and DDR2 these boards still make sense. Any of these boards provide excellent performance and some recent price drops have made a couple of boards more interesting than the mid-range selections.
Core 2
Now priced at $170, the X48 based DFI DK X48-T2RS is great "bargain" at the upper end of the S775 market. This board offers an excellent feature set, great overclocking performance, and is just an extremely stable platform to utilize for a gaming rig or personal workstation.
At the other end of the X48 spectrum is the ASUS Rampage Formula board based on the X48 and ICH9R chipsets. The feature set is almost endless and the board is extremely solid and overclocks like a cheetah on steroids. This is one of the best boards we have utilized in a long time and if it were not for the i7/X58, it would be at the top of our list.
Honorable mention goes to the ASRock X48TurboTwins-WiFi for a unique combination of features, performance, and price in an X48 platform. Foxconn contacted us today and told us they are running a web special on their X48 based BlackOps board that received an Editors Choice award from us earlier this year. The price has been reduced to $229.99 and an additional $60 rebate is available bringing the price down to$169.99. This board is for the tweaker at heart (we mean tweakers) and based on the price reduction we recommend it.
Core i7/X58
We recently reviewed several X58 boards and still have a few additional boards to report on. We are working on a separate i7/X58 performance guide, but in the meantime we recommend the ASUS P6T-Deluxe, Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5, and after a BIOS update this weekend, the EVGA X58 SLI. The Biostar TPower X58 looks like a winner in early testing and we think the DFI X58 and Foxconn Bloodrage boards will appeal to the upper-end enthusiasts.
Wrap-Up
That takes care of our motherboard recommendations for the time being… ah, but what should you then install in your bare motherboard? Stay tuned for additional coverage this week of various computing components and peripherals. In fact, we have a memory gala planned for tomorrow.
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bob4432 - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
this is the board to use if overclocking is of prime importance to you. Our only knock against the board is that it does not overclock quad-core processors as well as the Gigabyte or ASUS boards.in the first sentence you say this is the board (biostar) to get for o/cing, but then state that it won't o/c quads, so imho, this would not be the board to get for o/cing????
the way i read it, you contradict yourself in the whole midrange intel area. why not just recommend the gigabyte or asus boards since they o/c everything well, not just dcs?
zebrax2 - Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - link
if you read the whole paragraph you could easily understand that this board is recommended because of its ability to overclock dual cores and anyway both the gigabyte and the asus board are also recommended anywaysymbul - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
It's a bit late to buy for Christmas I think. The best deals were on Black Friday and the Thanksgiving weekend. I got a brand new Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P for 100$ during that time. At that price point, everything else is moot, unless you really need a x48 chipset motherboard.djc208 - Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - link
I jumped on that one as well. If anything it was nice to see it recommended to re-affirm my purchase. Should have gotten a second one for my Sage server with all the ports on it, but it'll get that as a hand-me-down when I finally go to something with DDR3.Noya - Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - link
I gotta say the best deals were on eBay thanks to Microsofts Live Cashback. From Black Friday to that Sunday, they were offering 30% cashback. And if you were smart, you bought from a buyer that combined the shipping in the price and claimed "free shipping".I was on a budget as usual, but bought a Gigabyte UD3p for $84.50 and a Q8200 for $119 (e8400 was $121, but I wanted a quad as I only upgrade every 2 years). Besides, the UD3p overclocked my Q8200 to 3.3ghz without even trying. Fry's had 2x2gb Ballistix DDR2-800 for $20 with rebate, though their site was laggy for a few days.
Mwave.com was selling tons due to valid rebates also as the invoice was from mwave.com.
Graphics cards were crazy cheap- 4870 1gb @ $165, gtx260 core 216 @ $175, gtx280 @ $240-250 and the 4870x2 @ $300-315.
Wesley Fink - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
Where were motherboard deals on Black Friday? CompUSA is gone from retail, Circuit City and Best Buy were never real motherboard players, and Fry's is only in the West.Etailers have been running special pricing all along and you can buy through early next week and still get a motherboard in time for Christams from Newegg, ZipZoomFly, mwave and others.
Still others will get cash or gift cards for Christams that they will use to buy motherboards, video cards, memory, and other computer components AFTER Christmas. This article and the other guides that will appear this wekk will be very useful to many potential buyers, if not all.
strikeback03 - Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - link
I thought Black Friday was very weak this year. Maybe CompUSA leaving the market is to blame, but there wasn't anything I though was worth getting up very early for. My brother-in-law and I went to Circuit City around 8AM, he bought a wireless keyboard/mouse, I bought a USB TV tuner, we both would not have cared much if they were sold out. We then swung by Sears to pick up a My First Craftsman set for a friend's kid and went home. Unless you were looking for a TV or still chasing a Wii this was not a good year.JeBarr - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
Yes an article such as this is a tad lat for christmas anyways. Not just here but most all review sites seem to have gotten lazy this year when it comes to holiday-type buying guides. I guess too much time was spent beta testing all those x58 boards, didnt leave much time for anything else.Elvis2 - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
I like the layout :)flipmode - Monday, December 15, 2008 - link
With that $170 price of the DFI x48 mobo, I am surpised with the recommendation of the $160 Biostar P45 mobo. I am curious, what is the thinking there? Is there something wrong with the DFI mobo? Because if not, how could it *not* be the *only* recommendation in the $150 and above range? Even for people that don't want to spend more than $150 I'd say save up the extra $20 to get the x48 fer cryin out loud.