Choosing Motherboards

[solthegreat]

Ok so i am currently in the process of gathering parts for my new computer and have come up to a bit a hurdle. As far as motherboards are concerned i am looking at getting one of the new X79 boards. As far as choosing one goes im utterly in the dark, my knowledge of MoBos extends to you plug
everything into them. So my question is, is it worth spending a little bit more money and getting Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 or save that extra $40-70 and get a Gigabyte GA-X79-UD5 instead?

[kidsafe]

Will you be running 3-way SLI or CrossFire? If yes, then Sandy Bridge E + X79 makes sense.
Will you be running 2-way SLI or CrossFire with an HD 7970 or Nvidia 'Kepler?' If yes, then Ivy Bridge + P77 or Z77 makes sense
Will you be running a single GPU configuration? If yes, then Sandy Bridge + P67 or Z68 is probably good enough.

[Nellah]

Do you need the two extra PCI-E x16 slots?

Do you need eight RAM slots?

Do you need two more fan headers?

Those are questions we can't answer for you.

Also, what programs will you be running that take advantage of that many cores/threads?

[skrump]

Get the UD5

Having the Pci expansion slot is worth it, (while running 4 way crossfire is not)

Also the ram slot configuration on the ud7 is just bad, not only does their separation slightly slow down performance but the placement shown will actually cause airflow issues with the processor itself "especially if you plan on using anything other than a gigantic heatsink.

The Ud5 of course still has the split Ram slots however the chances you will use the extra 4 are pretty slim, at least for a few years until somebody makes a game that can benefit from that much ram.

[Fostus]

Is there a reason you are going with the X79 and not something like the Z68. The 2011 socket processors are about $300 bucks more than the 1155 as well as the mother boards being more expensive.

Without know exactly what your doing hard to say what you need but because you say you're completely in the dark, I'm going to guess your fairly new to build a computer. I would hazard a guess you don't need an I7 3930K and a 2500k (most popular for gaming and for good reason) with a Z68 board would do you just fine, or even up to the 2700k (still saving probably $300 over socket 2011 mobo CPU combo)

I am by no means an expert, just from what I've read about socket 2011 it's not for your average user. I'm sure many other people here would know far more than I do. I just know it was nice to be talked out of more expensive parts that I didn't need and didn't know anything about