Which one would you suggest for gaming?

[FrostByte]

Which of these two boards will give me better gaming/OC potential with at Q9550? Price isnt a concern.

ASUS Maximus II Formula

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P

[Kayin]

I'm going with the UD3P, but I'm biased.

[RedRaider]

Slappy seems to like the Giga board.

I don't own either, so I'm of no help...

[Hondacity]

+1 kayins' gigabyte

i had two gigabyte boards....excellent bios .. i'm biased too..

excellent choice with the q9550

[Silverion77]

U probably cant go wrong with either....

Personally i love the bling of my Maximus 2...so my reply is Biased. Its probably more money than the blings worth. Havent OCed yet...thats gonna come after some help from u guys...:D
I had a P35 Gigabyte which i did not like for OCing, but from what i hear, they've completely changed their BIOS

[Kayin]

I ran right up on 4 GHz with almost no tweaking on air (Q6600) and underwater I'm sure it has more.

[FrostByte]

then ill stick with the gigy.

[Septim]

U probably cant go wrong with either....

both boards sounds good.

am using gigabyte board now, their ep45 series are good.
unfortunately here, asus don't have stock... so bought a gigabyte and so far am enjoying it...

:welcome2: silverion77

[Jtrain]

Personal preference just because its my board is DFI DK X48 T2RSB Plus
I'm using it in my system i paid $200 at the time i think its going for ~$160 at newegg atm in the first 5 minute i had my C2D e6600 to 3.2Ghz without a sweat its really stable and i personally like the colors but again its just me. Only real thing that upsets me is my IDE port for DVD drives dosent work oh well

[Xilikon]

Maximus II Formula FTW because the Gigabyte use clown colors :(

Seriously, both are great contenders and you will be happy with either.

[Silverion77]

:welcome2: silverion77
ty...been sort of a ghost here and awhile for xtremesystems (which imo died....). And i think im gonna make the plunge soon and will be asking questions once i get the "go":D. The Thermochill PA.3 at NCIX for $80 is looking real nice about now.

Maximus II Formula FTW because the Gigabyte use clown colors :(
Its not clown....its fruitty tutty :p

[Septim]

hmm, press stock availability, they're all gone i think... (pa120.3)

gigabyte seriously has to get their color scheme fixed... blue and white... We can't always have Red and Black...

[Silverion77]

yea sadly they're all out :(
Maybe ill get lucky and theyll get more stock. Does NCIX ship to US?

Imo, Gigabyte definitely did better with their new Blue and White color scheme...much better than sky blue, pink and yellow...

[Baleful]

I've built a few rigs that contained both the boards mentioned here, and both are great boards. Personally I love the Asus because it looks good, and just seemed to be better built.

As far as OCing goes, that's a crap shoot man, not all hardware is built the same. If you are looking to trick your board out with watercooling blocks, the Asus would probably be the better choice.

[Septim]

there is also bios programming, which i think Asus has it easier to understand, vs gigabyte's bios which for me is kinda harder to grasp, but am learning with experience...

i'd like to add, that any board you get thats good for gaming is also good for crunching and folding while you're not gaming...

[iandh]

Just in case you haven't purchased hardware yet, the Phenom II 940 is now $235 at newegg and the combo with Biostar CF board is $294. Just sayin. :)

[FrostByte]

havent purchased anything yet. Still kind of leaning towards gigabyte, but yes, i will venture into the WC arena again very soon, so i might have to go with the asus board.

[FrostByte]

Would i do a tad bit better by getting this? The DDR3 version and use some DDR3-1600 memory.

GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-UD3P

[Silverion77]

Absolutely not...its a waste...

DDR3 on the 775 gives like 3-5% performance boost....

[FrostByte]

oh, btw, i know its OT but my thread, just wanted to let you guys know what i scored for my case mod project. C&P from my email.

joab ryan
to me

Reply


I might take the trip.

Ya anything you want done ill laser it.

Joab Ryan
Mechanical CAD Designer,
Network Administrator &
Military Aircraft Sim Builder
North Texas USA

[Langer]

Absolutely not...its a waste...

DDR3 on the 775 gives like 3-5% performance boost....

It also prepares you for an i7 upgrade down the road.

Later on you may be tight on funds, so if you can swing it now that extra bit for RAM could, instead, upgrade a GPU down the road.

[Silverion77]

It also prepares you for an i7 upgrade down the road.

Later on you may be tight on funds, so if you can swing it now that extra bit for RAM could, instead, upgrade a GPU down the road.
I thought about that right after i posted
But X58 leaves u with tri channel...so ud need sets of 3 (so 1 extra 2GB stick). i5 and P55 though i think go back to dual channel DDR3 so u could go there

They didnt change anything between Tri and dual channel?? Always wondered

[FrostByte]

but the i7 uses different voltages on its DDR3, as in lower than what the other stuff normally is.

[Septim]

well, if you want to be a pioneer with i7 and ddr3, its good...

but if you want tried and tested, stay with s775 and ddr2 for now...