Need P55 1156 motherboard suggestion

[jtcb]

Hi there.

I am planning to build a quiet PC. I have all the parts except for those with a ?. I don't intent to overclock and very limited gaming. I won't be running mutli GPU. I want to futureproof with USB3 and SATA6 on ATX form factor. All I have left to decide are motherboard and ram. I was leaning towards the ASUS P7P55D-E for its bridge chip for true USB3 and sata6 until I read some bad comments here My second choice is Gigabyte but they downgrade the lane and they have so many models to choose from. What are some other choices I have.

Regarding the ram, is Kingston HyperX any good?

Silverstone Fortress FT02-W
i7 860
NH-NH-D14D14
motherboard?
ram?
Intel X-25M 80GB
1TB WD Green or Samsung F3?
Powercolor Radeon HD 5750 Scs 1GB 4.6GHZ GDDR5
Seasonic X-650
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit OEM

[MarkOne]

Originally Posted by jtcb

I was leaning towards the ASUS P7P55D-E for its bridge chip for true USB3 and sata6 until I read some bad comments here .

Welcome to the forum JTCB

They are nothing on that forum page that will stop me to buy it. All true I just read the tittle of the post
You will find the same kind of trouble on every manufacturer forum. Will bet that I will not have 99% of them. you have all kind of people who build computer, some are at their first experience, they encounter some time problem .. that are not problem at all...

As for the Usb3 and SAta3 , you can buy a card latter to add the USB3 ( anyway they are just onboard third party chips ) the USB3 is not build in the Intel chipset. as for the sata3, you rig will became obsolete before you need such power for your drive.

[jtcb]

Do you think I should forget about the new stuff alltogether? I don't think I will be upgrading again in a few years and I already have a SSD that isn't sata6. What do you suggest for a reliable motherboard if I don't go for those new tech?

[MarkOne]

You don't have real bad motherboard with 1156 chipset, the Asus one you name is ok
choose a Gigabyte, Asus, EVGA , that fit your need.

edit : just notice than you have already the noctua

I have the same Intel SSD than the one in your list . I install windows on it, Office, Photoshop, and few other program, I use a black WD , for other program . look I paste the property it will give you an idea how large is a 80 SSD in capacity. when you take care of what you install on it

[crazyhorsejohnny]

If you go with G.Skill Ripjaws you shouldn't have any clearance issues with that Noctua heatsink. But keep in mind that it's huge and weighs a ton. If you don't intend to OC there's nothing wrong with the stock fans as they perform good and are quiet.

[MarkOne]

just to have an idea , fom back to front of the motherboard

[MarkOne]

and here some temps when folding. the CPU is 100% load , I7-860 mild OC at 3,5 ghz voltage set on auto. ( was to in a hurry to fold , to even try to adjust)

don't know why the PHC and CPU temp never move from a single 'c ( giga ep55-ud3r )

[Raserei408]

For a cooler I like to recommend the Hyper 212 Plus; it's cheap as hell, it performs great (up there with the big dogs) and it's dual-fan capable.

As for the motherboard, I'd try to get at least the P7P55D-E Pro, but if you're sure you won't need SLI in the future (or the third GPU slot at x4) the P7P55D-E is a solid buy. The entire series OCs great, almost always it ends up CPU-limited in the OC.

I'd take the G.Skill Ripjaws for RAM, since the 4GB set tend to be nice and cheap, and perform great too.

For the HDD, the Caviar Green (slow but quiet) is in a totally different league than the F3. I'd recommend the F3 for speed, since it's the fastest 1TB drive I know of on the market. While you'll have an SSD, it's still really nice to have a fast HDD since you likely won't be able to fit EVERY program on the SSD.

Speaking of which, for an SSD I'd recommend the OCZ Vertex or G.Skill Falcon. They're both very well-performing. The OCZ tends to have better firmware support, I believe, and may be a mite faster, but the G.Skill tends to be cheaper. I swore I'd never get an Intel SSD a long time ago, and because there are better performing ones for less money.

You mentioned you're not interested in OC. Why is this? It's free performance and while risk is involved if you're not blindly raising your voltages to dangerous levels the chance of any real damage is nil.

What is your primary use for this PC, if you're only doing limited gaming?

[MarkOne]

Originally Posted by Raserei408

Speaking of which, for an SSD I'd recommend the OCZ Vertex or G.Skill Falcon. They're both very well-performing. The OCZ tends to have better firmware support, I believe, and may be a mite faster, but the G.Skill tends to be cheaper. I swore I'd never get an Intel SSD a long time ago, and because there are better performing ones for less money.

Just a question here.... from what I ear you never own a SSD. and I quote you " they are just icing on the cake" you base the recommendation on what ?

and a side the OP have already an Intel

[Raserei408]

Sadly I'm far too poor to own an SSD. As for them being icing on the cake, yes. They don't make your game run any smoother, so sacrificing other hardware to get them isn't practical. However, I recognize that they're great at making the machine feel VERY fast compared to mechanical HDDs.

As for my recommendation, I base it on benchmarks. The Intels were only worth it if you wanted great performance back when the JMicrons were the only competitor. Since the Samsung and Indelinx controllers have been released they're much better price/performance options than the Intels.

As for him already owning the SSD, yeah, I missed that he owned everything without a question mark.