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If you'll go back several posts you'll note that I was one of the first saying that I wouldn't wait and wouldn't regret it :)

 

With the Gigabyte board you get dual LAN and a better audio chipset. Other than that (and the fact that the Gigabyte is the "latest greatest" Z77 chipset) not much.

 

Just throwing it out as a suggestion, however I'm not going to take the time to argue or debate one way or another.

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Defroad - want a good buy on the latest technology wrapped onto a solid motherboard?

 

Buy this one;

Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128545

 

You won't find a better value and I predict that this is going to be a sweet spot type of board. Jump on the bandwagon early :)

 

Great find :thumbsup:

@OP: Even ASUS boards would fail. Both the P8Z77-V and GA-Z77X-UD5H have 3 years warranty so why pay $20 more?

Both have 8+4 power phase so they should perform nearly identical but the UD5H has more features for $20 less.

 

UD5H vs P8Z77-V

3 PCI-E Gen3 + 3 PCI-E x1 vs 2 PCI-E Gen3 + 1 PCI-E x4 + 2 PCI-E x1 (makes no difference really)

Realtek ALC898 vs Realtek ALC892 (again no difference)

1 Intel LAN + 1 Atheros LAN vs 1 Intel LAN

5 SATA 6Gbps port vs 4 SATA 6Gbps port

On board Switch vs No on board switch

m-SATA vs No m-SATA

Dual BIOS vs Single BIOS

3 Internal USB 3.0 vs 1 Internal USB 3.0

2 Internal USB 2.0 vs 4 Internal USB 2.0

No Wi-Fi module included vs Wi-Fi module included

This is getting ridiculous.. I'm stopping here

 

Point is, I really don't see why you'd spend $20 more on the ASUS board. It's not that you have RMA issues in the States, unlike other parts of the world.

If you want reliability and an ASUS board, go with the Sabertooth Z77 with it's 5 years warranty and long life components (or at least what ASUS declared it as)

 

This is purely my opinion.

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vandreadstriker if you were buying a board right now would you snag a X77? Which one would you purchase and why? I have never owned a Gigabyte board, however I have owned 4 Asus boards and never had an issue. Do you feel the boards are stable enough to purchase one?

 

I did line the boards against each other and compaired, Thank you for pointing out the differences, there does not seem to be much variation between the boards. Honestly I am very nervous about this part of the purchase. Everything else is pretty straight forward. I know a motherboard can make or break a system. I really appreciate all of the sound advice.

 

Defroad

Edited by defroad

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Most no one is going to lurk around here and "convince" you to buy a Gigabyte board, ASRock board, Biostar board, MSI board, eVGA board or any other brand if you already have your mind set on Asus and have convinced yourself that is what you want. All we are doing is offering suggestions. Every one of the m/b manufacturers I mentioned earlier has produced some outstanding cream of the crop motherboard models through the years, and some duds too.

 

I'll tell you the same thing I'd tell someone who said they had never used an Asus board before - and that is "your missing out". For the most part Asus makes GREAT motherboards, but lately their service and support has been lacking (for me any way). On the other hand I can tell you that Gigabyte makes some great motherboards too. Furthermore (and as I stated before) I really think that the Z77-UD5 board is going to hit a sweet spot in price, performance and features. They took everything that was great from the Z68 UD3, UD4 and UD5 boards and improved on it. Upped their game several notches and still brought the product to market at a very competitive price point. IMO several months from now (and maybe even years down the road) this particular board will become the subject of legend and lore.

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One thing to note is that the Asus supports DTS connect/interactive and the Gigabyte doesn't. Since my computer outputs to a receiver I am forced to get the Asus (or buy a discrete sound card). Just an FYI.

 

I think it's a licensing issue as the Gigabyte ALC898 is capable of DTS connect.

 

EDIT: I got in touch with Gigabyte and they said the UD5H and Sniper 3/M3 supports DTSconnect/DDL

Edited by viperk1

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Defroad - want a good buy on the latest technology wrapped onto a solid motherboard?

 

Buy this one;

Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128545

 

You won't find a better value and I predict that this is going to be a sweet spot type of board. Jump on the bandwagon early :)

 

Buy this board. It beats Asus board in many ways.

 

P.S. I think Asus have messed up with their pricing point of Z77 boards, compared to Gigabyte & MSI.

Personally, I like the features provided by MSI Z77A-GD65 board.

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vandreadstriker if you were buying a board right now would you snag a X77? Which one would you purchase and why? I have never owned a Gigabyte board, however I have owned 4 Asus boards and never had an issue. Do you feel the boards are stable enough to purchase one?

 

I did line the boards against each other and compaired, Thank you for pointing out the differences, there does not seem to be much variation between the boards. Honestly I am very nervous about this part of the purchase. Everything else is pretty straight forward. I know a motherboard can make or break a system. I really appreciate all of the sound advice.

 

Defroad

Just to be clear, you meant Z77 right?

Honestly, if I had the money, I would. I'd be lying if I don't have any concerns but the Z77 chipset are very similar to the Z68 chipset, thus in my own way of thinking, I think Intel would've made sure there aren't major bugs/flaws, especially after what happened with the P67 B2 stepping. If not, I think that Intel is somewhat a douche for not trying to repair their mistakes and that I'm a bigger douche for believing that everything would be fine.

My reason in recommending a Z77 board is simple: Warranty & Support. I think you should be familiar how quickly Intel announce EOL of their old products. Should history repeat itself, then the Z68 chipset wouldn't have very much time until Intel announce an EOL date. Should you get a Z77 board, you'd have full warranty and support from Intel for at least another year or so which will be the time Intel releases the new Haswell, instead of the half-year old Z68 chipset.

Furthermore, it wouldn't make sense for someone with a Z68 board upgrade to a Z77 board since they have very similar features with the Z77 having an updated version of those features. But for someone who do not own a Z68 board, why settle with something older really? Some may prefer something older since they're usually cheaper or other various reasons but I personally want to get 'new and better' parts instead of 'old' parts when I'm building a whole new rig.

As for what I'd buy, I'm thinking of the ASUS Z77 Sabertooth. I want to know if the active cooling towards the power phase would really aid in overclocking. Plus the Thermal Armor and dust defenders would really help me co-op with my climate and the 5 years warranty would let me have a peace of mind :thumbsup:

 

As for Gigabyte, I personally had some bad experience with their GPUs some time ago. Twice I ordered and twice it DOA. I've read some similar reports but I've also hear from numerous people that they have good luck with their Gigabyte boards. Some of the rigs I built for my friends uses Gigabyte boards and they haven't had any complains to me. So I consider my case as a 'bad coincidence' and would still recommend to people (Although I haven't had the chance to use one since).

 

It's true that the motherboard is kinda like the backbone of a System but it wouldn't break your system entirely should it fail. Worst case scenario, it'd take your CPU with it, which is really rare. I've only read a report of it twice and that's from a long time ago.

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