High-end Intel motherboard round-up disappoints
With Intel's Core 2 Quad able to better the performance of
AMD's
also-quad-core Phenom, whilst also offering huge overclocking headroom,
the choice of
CPU if you're looking for the highest levels of performance is not that
tough. Choosing the components to fit around the CPU is a little more
difficult, however.
Do you want to go for faster DDR3 system memory, or the far
cheaper DDR2?
ATI or NVIDIA graphics? Single- or multi-GPU. Integrated or discrete
audio? PCI or more PCIe?
All these choices have to be made before you can
look
for the motherboard that's right for you. To make it (a little) easier
for you to make a decision, we look at four high-end
motherboards that cover the main options.
For CrossFire support we have
two Intel X48-based boards, DFI's LANPARTY LT X48-TR2 for DDR2 and
Intel's DX48BT2 for DDR3, whilst for SLI support we
have the DDR2-supporting, nForce 780i-based MSI P7N Diamond, and the
DDR3-supporting, nForce 790i based
EVGA CK-NF79.
Let's look at the contenders in a little more depth.
Conclusion, awards and where to buy.
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We can't help but feel both frustrated and disappointed when
testing
high-end motherboards.
Considering the costs involved we hope for better performance over mid-range offerings. Unfortunately all the tested
boards fail
in these regards. Few, if any, motherboards are trouble-free from day
one, but uncovering compatibility and BIOS issues on a board costing
£160 upwards - £230 for the 790i! - certainly
grates
somewhat.
the premium pricing clearly hasn't gone into
quality control
and bug-testing, so we move onto performance and features. In general
use you see
slight gains over mid-range chipsets, and our overclocking
tests resulted
in lower maximum FSBs than many boards using mid-range chipsets. In the
end, though, it's only additional provision for multi-GPU setups that
distinguish
the high-end boards from the mid-range. Even if you're a proponent of
multi-GPU configurations, having to
pay serious money for a distinctly average motherboard purely to
facilitate connecting up your hideously-expensive SLI or CrossFire
setup, will leave you feeling a little short-changed.
We'd be more inclined to spend the money on a well-appointed
mid-range motherboard with a good heritage and great overclocking
potential, paired with a single GPU as opposed to a high-end
motherboard and
multi-GPU configuration, purely as it provides far greater value for
money. But we're sure many of our readers would not be dissuaded from a
multi-GPU setup by such trivial things as maximising value for money
especially when the carrot of increased performance is dangled before
them.
The sad truth is that if you want to run a multi-GPU setup you're
forced
to look towards the increasingly expensive high-end boards, and there
are enough
people willing to put up with motherboard 'peculiarities' to allow
manufacturers to release uncooperative motherboards that in many cases
require a good
deal of work to setup and have features crippled or limited by
niggling issues. Memory support on the Intel and MSI boards
tested, or questionable profile support on
the DFI and EVGA boards, for example.
There are a few ways to try and make a prudent choice with your
high-end
system, though. Going for a DDR2 as opposed to DDR3
board will allow you to save a good chunk of change on your memory with
very little detriment to performance, and choosing a
motherboard that allows the greatest overclocking headroom can push
your
CPU's performance up to, or exceed that of, more-expensive chips.
As such, of our Intel chipset-equipped boards the DFI LANPARTY LT
X48-TR2 fares far better than the Intel DX48BT2. With both boards
available for a similar price the Intel board can't really be
justified, despite some nice features (Dolby Home Theatre and a good
bundle, to name but two).
On the NVIDIA side it's less clear-cut. The nForce 780i benefits from
its use
of DDR2, yet the tested MSI board offers only limited overclocking
potential, especially when paired with a 1,333FSB CPU. The nForce 790i
Ultra, however,
is massively more expensive - both for the motherboard and memory - but
does offer a decent degree of overclocking.
We wouldn't outright recommend
either board; the MSI due to its lack of overclocking and the EVGA due
to the
cost, but if you have to have that SLI setup, the EVGA is the
better solution if you can swallow the cost.
The choice of a high-end LGA 775 board ultimately depends wholly on
whether you wish to run CrossFire or SLI. Other than these features
there is little to really distinguish the boards over mainstream
offerings. If you're satisfied with
a single card then a mid-range board will offer virtually the same
performance and a much more
attractive
price-point.
If you're going to run CrossFire, the DFI works very well, assuming
you can put up with the issues involved with tweaking a board with such
a steep learning curve. Certainly a DDR2-equipped X48 system offers the
same kind of performance as a DDR3-equipped one, so it's worth saving
the
extra money you'd have spent on RAM, or reinvesting it elsewhere in the
system.
For SLI, the nForce 780i-based MSI P7N Diamond offers the
majority of the performance of the nForce 790i-based EVGA 132 CK NF-79
for a
considerably smaller outlay. It comes, however, with more of an FSB
limitation so its appeal is somewhat limited to those looking to
overclock for greater performance. At stock speeds, given the price, we
would recommend it over the nForce 790i Ultra, yet on balance, if
you've shelled out
for a high-end SLI setup you are probably willing to spend a
disproportionate
amount of money for a small performance increase (in regards to
running DDR3), and the additional overclocking headroom offered by the
790i would somewhat
make up for the costs.
No board is perfect - far from it, but a case, no matter how
tenuous, can be made for each. This shouldn't be how it is, because
these boards are the present culmination of engineering
excellence....or so we're led to believe.
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