Considering new mobo

[Drunkenvalley]

So I've got two bent pins on my P8P67 (which I received only yesterday after sending it in).

The sheer amount of time I expect them to waste on fixing it (it should still be covered by warranty, I hope) means that I'll be heading to college before then. Rather than bring a big pile of loose parts I'd prefer to put everything together into a build again.

For this I'll need a new mobo. Any recommendations? Looking at z68 boards from Gigabyte, in particular the ga-z68x-ud3p-b3. (Silly long number I admit.) This is ca the pricepoint I'm considering at the time being, but I'm willing to swing either way.

Additionally, I can order it or a range of other mobos for about the same price or cheaper on dustinhome.no, but in the event of hardware failure the mobo is not the part I want to test the waters with them with. :<

[Fuzzykins]

Yeah, where do you have a bent pin on your motherboard? O.o Your CPU uses pins... Not the motherboard. (At least in regards to the CPU socket AFAIK.)

[Deleted]

Yeah, where do you have a bent pin on your motherboard? O.o Your CPU uses pins... Not the motherboard. (At least in regards to the CPU socket AFAIK.)

Don't the new intel series have pins on the motherboard rather than on the chip? (I use AMD, but I heard intel is different)

Couldn't you just bend the pins back yourself?

[Saithes]

Intel has pins in the socket rather than on the CPU. If you bend the pins in the socket you're screwed because they come out at an angle rather than straight. Pretty much, you'll either break the pins off attempting to fix them or they will never make full contact to the CPU's grid array.

[Fuzzykins]

Bah. Stupid new-fangled computers.

[Drunkenvalley]

--which brings me to my current dilemma. Thoughts on new mobo?

[Fuzzykins]

--which brings me to my current dilemma. Thoughts on new mobo?

Well, Drunken. This probably isn't helpful, but I'm fully confident in your knowledge of computers. You're going to see some of us recommend Asus, GByte, MSI, and AsRock. It's really up to you. :S

[Drunkenvalley]

I was more meaning if there was any particular quirks I should know about with Gigabyte, etc.

I'm brought to understand that the issues I had with Asus were "intended" behavior, which I was of course informed of ca 15 minutes after delivering my mobo to begin with... :'D So I'd rather try and steer clear of Asus if it's an issue it'll always have. MSI and AsRock just about don't exist here in Norway.

[Fuzzykins]

I was more meaning if there was any particular quirks I should know about with Gigabyte, etc.

I'm brought to understand that the issues I had with Asus were "intended" behavior, which I was of course informed of ca 15 minutes after delivering my mobo to begin with... :'D So I'd rather try and steer clear of Asus if it's an issue it'll always have. MSI and AsRock just about don't exist here in Norway.

Hm. As far as Gigabyte, they don't use or didn't use UEFI as far as I know. Not a big issue for experienced users, but for newer users, BIOS can be a bit daunting.

[Drunkenvalley]

...I can't decide whether that's a good or bad thing. Haven't used BIOS in literally years. (Since on this laptop there was never a need to touch it.)

[Saithes]

Honestly just choose a motherboard that has all of the features that suit your needs. The motherboard has very little to do with how Sandybridge overclocks so it mostly comes down to what features you want.

[Fuzzykins]

...I can't decide whether that's a good or bad thing. Haven't used BIOS in literally years. (Since on this laptop there was never a need to touch it.)

The pin bending issue really isn't a "consistent" thing with Asus. It's one of those "Son of a bitch, shit happens," things.

[Drunkenvalley]

The pin bending issue really isn't a "consistent" thing with Asus. It's one of those "Son of a bitch, shit happens," things.

No, not that issue. That's not supposed to happen.

I mean the cold boot issue I had.

[Fuzzykins]

No, not that issue. That's not supposed to happen.

I mean the cold boot issue I had.

BIOS flash should solve that. .-.

[Drunkenvalley]

It didn't solve it. /shrug
Should I check that I've plugged it in properly? /trollface

[naadra]

I have the Gigabyte board you mentioned, nice board no problems at all. Recognized everything at correct speeds and sizes timings, only thing I have touched in the bios since I built it was the drive to install from. Nice looking board, has dual bios, and of course all the typical z68 stuff as well. Currently running crossfire, no problems at all with that. If ya have any questions about it that I can answer let me know. I have not done anything fancy with it so far, but I can say I have not had a single problem at all from build to now, which has been about two to three months now.

[Sephiracle]

It didn't solve it. /shrug
Should I check that I've plugged it in properly? /trollface

For some people it has, others hasn't. +1 for MSI. No issues here, and mine was an open box from Newegg. >_>

[Uggorthaholy]

I love the MSI series of boards. UEFI included, nice design, solid build, good quality.
Just grab the Z-68 version if you want a Z68 board :-p

[Drunkenvalley]

I would have if it hadn't had such a short selection of Z68 boards. >>
In the end, I got tired of waiting for the responses here earlier and ordered already. Though I can probably cancel till like late tomorrow...

[Yohassakura]

Seems like a solid board to me... My Gigabyte board is doing fine... It's an x48 though
Gotta love how they have it posted on their main page (on the UK site at least) that Toms Hardware recommends it in a recent comparison.