Please input your thoughts

[EANeuspeed]

Which is better, and which should I NOT go with?

Asus P7P55D PRO i5 i 7 P55 1156 Motherboard
http://www.frys.com/product/6030448?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG


MSI P55-GD65 LGA 1156 i5 i7 P55 Motherboard
http://www.frys.com/product/6012718?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG


EVGA P55 Motherboard Socket LGA1156 132-LF-E655-KR
http://www.frys.com/product/6022818?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

[JustMeBF2]

I personally haven't even built either of the 1156 or 1366 socket motherboards.

Games and apps seem to becoming more video intensive and with the e5200 duo core at $65 and the q9400 at $190, both using the very stable and more compatible lower cost socket 775 motherboards. So I haven't seen a need for i7s and i5s.

I was going to build an i7 when they first came out and all my research showed compatibility problems. So I finally found a build review and was just going to copy their shopping list but didn't do the build.
From what I have seen so far on the i5s, they do have much less compatibility problems.

I just built a customer a budget screamer with a e5300 $70 oced from 2.6 to 3.2 so easy. Put it on a $50 Gigabyte G31 that had so many bios options I never did test them all.
I haven't even looked at DDR3 ram lately, but about 2 months ago DDR2 took a 50%+ price jump and DDR3 was already at a higher price than DDR2.

To some up, the only option I would have is to start going thru google and reading all the socket 1156 board reviews.
and you may consider sticking with a socket 775 and spending the money saved on more video power.


I am curious at to what is motivating you to start your build with one of these motherboards?
I am seeing a price range of $400-$500 for MB, CPU and Ram.

[Shadowryche]

I'm partial to going with a Socket 1366 system. Have read a few reviews that are less favorable for the Socket 1166 system when in comes to gaming in comparison to the Socket 1366. Don't know if you plan to ever use SLi or Crossfire, but based on what I have read the 1366 boards scale better. The Core i5 750 is limited to 8x bus speed in SLi/Crossfire reguardless of what motherboard you use. A majority of the 1366 motherboards are compatible with both.