Any Core I7 users yet?

Ken Steadman · February 20th, 2009, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

Thanks Mark. I like the UD5 on paper and the EVGA. The EVGA i7 is among the highest rated i7 board on Newegg, definitely higher than most of the ASUS or Gigabytes...but all of them have shockingly high DOA rates.

I think the rating are biased towards unhappy people. If your mobo goes kaput in the first 2 days you can bet you are gonna flame post on newegg about it; on the other hand if it works you are unlikely to post anything about it. I was skecthed out when I was picking one too, I think in the ratings numbers are very skewed towards failed items.

Jeff Harper · February 20th, 2009, 03:53 PM

Yeah, I know...I look for consistency, and there have been consistent complaints on the LAN with it. Right now I'm waiting for reviews to come in for the new ASUS to see if that is an option...V2 should have some bugs worked out.

Andy Todzia · February 20th, 2009, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

Thanks Mark. I like the UD5 on paper and the EVGA. The EVGA i7 is among the highest rated i7 board on Newegg, definitely higher than most of the ASUS or Gigabytes...but all of them have shockingly high DOA rates.

I built my I7 with an Asus P6T. I did not want the SAS controllers so I didn't consider the deluxe version a month ago. With the V2 it may be a consideration, but only if they added additional SATA ports.

My P6T has been rock solid. When I put it in a new case this week I seem to have introduced a feedback loop into the onboard audio so I just picked up a Sound blaster Titanium PCI-e card at CC's going out of business sale and it sounds great and background noise is much less than it was with the onboard audio.

I also bought 12GB DDR3 OCZ Gold series 1600 speed memory for stability and overclocking head room and I have not been disappointed. Have been running the I7-920 on Vista 64 bit at 3.6 GHz. With the new case, which has better cooling, I can probably overclock higher now but I haven't tried. Cooling is important and I purchased a Monsoon CPU fan. All parts from Newegg except the memory came from Amazon because it was less expensive at the time.

That was the easy part. The harder part will involve learning Vegas this year to edit HD video :)

Andy

Jeff Harper · February 20th, 2009, 07:20 PM

Actually Andy V2 of the Deluxe version ASUS has fewer ports (6) and they lost the SAS controller altogether which was reportedly useless for SAS. I would add an Adaptec controller to make up for the fewer ports, and actually prefer to run 4 drives from a non-onboard controller anyway. Also has an e-sata port on the rear panel, and that is something I'd like.

Glad to hear your experience is good. I'm glad to hear the good reports on the Gigabyte from Ken also, but that one issue is of concern to me.

Norm Rehm · February 20th, 2009, 08:51 PM

Jeff
What does V2 stand for and what is your interests in it?

Norm

Ken Steadman · February 20th, 2009, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

Yeah, I know...I look for consistency, and there have been consistent complaints on the LAN with it.

I do remember you had to load the LAN drivers off the install disc before it would work I wonder if there were bad discs...

Jeff Harper · February 21st, 2009, 03:31 AM

Don't know Ken...I was just at the Gigabtye forum last night and found a thread of a "bunch" of people (not sure how many, but more that a few) that were finding that there LANs just disappeared; internet stopped working, the device was gone from device manager. The thread was a few days old and I just stumbled across it. This was a compaint I first found voiced at Newegg.

What was troubling was that the solution for one person usually did not work for another...and as of my last reading one person still has not found a solution. One solution was to shut down and and disconnect the plug, restart up to 3-4 times to get it back. Another had to reinstall their audio drivers, and neither of those solutions worked for others. And no, none of it made sense to me either.

Overall as you say, most seem VERY happy with the board, and all in all it is my favorite on paper. I love Gigabyte boards, and have been very happy with my X48.

I hate to throw this out there, and muddy up a nice impression of a great board, but I'm concerened because when I go to swap out my components I will be between editing jobs, and I don't have a backup (other than a nice laptop) to fall back on.

Jeff Harper · February 21st, 2009, 04:01 AM

Norm, my interest in the ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 is that it is a second, updated version of itself. The first version of the board had bothersome issues with the SAS controllers, etc., and while that may or may not have affected regular SATA performance, it bothered me anyway. I had recommended the board to someone based on other's experiences here and only hope they are not having issues. Since most with it are fine, just as with the Gigabyte, I'm sure they will be OK, but I'm not taking any chances.

One thing about the new ASUS V2 is it has only 6 SATA ports. Since I run 8 internal HDs, I would need to add a controller card, but I've been wanting to do that anyway. I don't like the MOBO controllers running all of my HDs, I prefer to spread out the workload.

ASUS is not my preferred brand of MB. Gigabyte boards, are to me, just nicer. When I overclock with my current GB board (which I no longer do), if I screw up a setting the PC will reboot anyway to a default safe setting allowing me another chance to get it right. This is such a nice feature I can't imagine why all motherboards don't do this.

I don't care for the ASUS support, not that Gibabyte is necessarily better, I didn't have good luck with my last Asus board. But the ASUS P6T does have a large following of happy users, so I'm hoping V2 is a better more consistent version of itself. We'll see. Oh, V2 costs $10 less BTW, which is not nearly as much of a price drop as you would expect for losing four ports.

Lorinda Norton · February 21st, 2009, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Harper

I had recommended the board to someone based on other's experiences here and only hope they are not having issues.

If you are referring to me, dear Jeff, I am getting along just GREAT. Still love my new PC! :)

Norm Rehm · February 21st, 2009, 03:51 PM

Jeff, Thanks for the reply on the V2 board. I guess I will sit this dance out for awhile and see what the future brings.

Norm

Jeff Harper · February 23rd, 2009, 04:26 AM

Settled on the P6T V2. Decided the P6T Deluxe V1 would be fine, but V2 supports more RAM configurations. The Gigabyte was the one I would prefer, but the LAN issue is kept me away. For additional SATA ports I'm adding an adaptec controller, and hope it doesn't conflict with my eSata controller.

Roger Shealy · February 24th, 2009, 07:48 PM

If I want to change my out my AMD6600 and motherboard with an I7, do I have to reload all my software (Vista 64, Vegas 8, CS4 Prod Prem) or will the system work when I connect my old hard drives and perphs to the new motherboard/processor?

Is there an easy way to switch out the MB/Processor on an existing system?

Jeff Harper · February 24th, 2009, 08:22 PM

No. With a new MB you must reinstall windows. Processor or ram only, not necessary. Wish I could tell you differently.

Roger Shealy · February 24th, 2009, 08:59 PM

Thanks Jeff. I'll probably just build a whole new system then when Windows 7 comes out. Hopefully Dual-i7 quads or better will be out by then.

Jeff Harper · February 25th, 2009, 07:30 AM

Roger, something totally different than i7 and better is in the works, I have read.

February 21st, 2009, 03:31 AM	#172
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Don't know Ken...I was just at the Gigabtye forum last night and found a thread of a "bunch" of people (not sure how many, but more that a few) that were finding that there LANs just disappeared; internet stopped working, the device was gone from device manager. The thread was a few days old and I just stumbled across it. This was a compaint I first found voiced at Newegg. What was troubling was that the solution for one person usually did not work for another...and as of my last reading one person still has not found a solution. One solution was to shut down and and disconnect the plug, restart up to 3-4 times to get it back. Another had to reinstall their audio drivers, and neither of those solutions worked for others. And no, none of it made sense to me either. Overall as you say, most seem VERY happy with the board, and all in all it is my favorite on paper. I love Gigabyte boards, and have been very happy with my X48. I hate to throw this out there, and muddy up a nice impression of a great board, but I'm concerened because when I go to swap out my components I will be between editing jobs, and I don't have a backup (other than a nice laptop) to fall back on. Last edited by Jeff Harper; February 21st, 2009 at 04:03 AM.

February 21st, 2009, 04:01 AM	#173
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Norm, my interest in the ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 is that it is a second, updated version of itself. The first version of the board had bothersome issues with the SAS controllers, etc., and while that may or may not have affected regular SATA performance, it bothered me anyway. I had recommended the board to someone based on other's experiences here and only hope they are not having issues. Since most with it are fine, just as with the Gigabyte, I'm sure they will be OK, but I'm not taking any chances. One thing about the new ASUS V2 is it has only 6 SATA ports. Since I run 8 internal HDs, I would need to add a controller card, but I've been wanting to do that anyway. I don't like the MOBO controllers running all of my HDs, I prefer to spread out the workload. ASUS is not my preferred brand of MB. Gigabyte boards, are to me, just nicer. When I overclock with my current GB board (which I no longer do), if I screw up a setting the PC will reboot anyway to a default safe setting allowing me another chance to get it right. This is such a nice feature I can't imagine why all motherboards don't do this. I don't care for the ASUS support, not that Gibabyte is necessarily better, I didn't have good luck with my last Asus board. But the ASUS P6T does have a large following of happy users, so I'm hoping V2 is a better more consistent version of itself. We'll see. Oh, V2 costs $10 less BTW, which is not nearly as much of a price drop as you would expect for losing four ports. Last edited by Jeff Harper; February 21st, 2009 at 09:44 PM.

February 20th, 2009, 03:53 PM	#167
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Yeah, I know...I look for consistency, and there have been consistent complaints on the LAN with it. Right now I'm waiting for reviews to come in for the new ASUS to see if that is an option...V2 should have some bugs worked out.

February 20th, 2009, 07:20 PM	#169
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Actually Andy V2 of the Deluxe version ASUS has fewer ports (6) and they lost the SAS controller altogether which was reportedly useless for SAS. I would add an Adaptec controller to make up for the fewer ports, and actually prefer to run 4 drives from a non-onboard controller anyway. Also has an e-sata port on the rear panel, and that is something I'd like. Glad to hear your experience is good. I'm glad to hear the good reports on the Gigabyte from Ken also, but that one issue is of concern to me.

February 20th, 2009, 08:51 PM	#170
Norm Rehm Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Keizer, OR Posts: 66	Jeff What does V2 stand for and what is your interests in it? Norm

February 21st, 2009, 03:51 PM	#175
Norm Rehm Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Keizer, OR Posts: 66	Jeff, Thanks for the reply on the V2 board. I guess I will sit this dance out for awhile and see what the future brings. Norm

February 23rd, 2009, 04:26 AM	#176
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Settled on the P6T V2. Decided the P6T Deluxe V1 would be fine, but V2 supports more RAM configurations. The Gigabyte was the one I would prefer, but the LAN issue is kept me away. For additional SATA ports I'm adding an adaptec controller, and hope it doesn't conflict with my eSata controller.

February 24th, 2009, 07:48 PM	#177
Roger Shealy Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Fayetteville, GA Posts: 772	If I want to change my out my AMD6600 and motherboard with an I7, do I have to reload all my software (Vista 64, Vegas 8, CS4 Prod Prem) or will the system work when I connect my old hard drives and perphs to the new motherboard/processor? Is there an easy way to switch out the MB/Processor on an existing system?

February 24th, 2009, 08:22 PM	#178
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	No. With a new MB you must reinstall windows. Processor or ram only, not necessary. Wish I could tell you differently.

February 24th, 2009, 08:59 PM	#179
Roger Shealy Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Fayetteville, GA Posts: 772	Thanks Jeff. I'll probably just build a whole new system then when Windows 7 comes out. Hopefully Dual-i7 quads or better will be out by then.

February 25th, 2009, 07:30 AM	#180
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Roger, something totally different than i7 and better is in the works, I have read.