Which Motherboard to Choose ?

[Ironman]

ASRock Z77 Extreme6/TB4

ASUS Maximus V Extreme

ASUS P8Z77-V Premium

ASUS P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT

Gigabyte Z77X-UP4-TH

Gigabyte Z77X-UP5-TH

Gigabyte GA-Z77MX-D3H-TH

Intel D77RE-75K

MSI Z77A-GD80


Among them i am confused

My Needs:
USB 3.0 - more than 2
Thunderbolt port atleast one
USB 2 - More the Merrier (Currently use 6 simultaneously for diff things)
Sata 3


above all i wont be buying a PC for say 4 to 5 years or more So Durabilty , and
so it should not fail

And my PC runs almost 18 hours a day
365 Days

So it should be able to withstand torture

if you want to know about my usage , just post i will tell you
but please give me some advice

 

[topgear]

ASUS Maximus V Extreme should be the ultimate choice but if you can sacrifice ThunderBolt then think about SABERTOOTH Z77 for great durability.

 

[Ironman]

ASUS Maximus V Extreme should be the ultimate choice but if you can sacrifice ThunderBolt then think about SABERTOOTH Z77 for great durability.

why arent these as durable as SABERTOOTH

 

[sumonpathak]

^^they are equally durable...if u know how to use it
get any one of the two
or take a look at the P8Z77 V premium or maximus V Formula

 

[topgear]

why arent these as durable as SABERTOOTH

may be I'm over Influenced by TUF armor and who can deny the sweet 5 years warranty.

 

[sumonpathak]

TUF is for 24/7 stability.....ROG is for well...for goin nuts.....

 

[The Incinerator]

Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H Minus Thunderbolt!
Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH Plus Thunderbolt!

Somehow among all I like the former for its extreme stability under extreme load and working conditions and temperatures, but since thunderbolt is important I would have got the latter.

 

[sumonpathak]

ummm...so you are comparing UD5 with the likes of Formula and sabre-tooth?at least give some better alternatives...like sniper 3 maybe...
and Thunderbolt devices are so few in the market u can safely call it a hype...

 

[The Incinerator]

ummm...so you are comparing UD5 with the likes of Formula and sabre-tooth?at least give some better alternatives...like sniper 3 maybe...
and Thunderbolt devices are so few in the market u can safely call it a hype...

How do you reach to a conclusion so fast that Im comparing? Have you even read what his primary requirements are? He is more for Stability Connectivity and Performance. Sabretooth and Maximus has been suggested so theres no point suggesting them ones more.Suggestion for a better credible alternative is the point here.

Hmmmmm Im sure you are not aware of this board..Z77X-UD5H. You are more taken in by fancy names and even fancier looking boards with very high price tags and almost redundant features in this scenario. If you want I can provide you with links proving its credibility against even fancier boards.He wants to Torture and this board loves it.

Thunderbolts aint gimmick man....if you need it you need it ,thats simple.Lets not get in to that,cause I really dont see getting in to who requires what ,what might be useless to me might be of high importance to you.

 

[sumonpathak]

actually i did read his requirements....Sabretooth is used by people all around the world for 24/7 Folding.u cant really go more extreme than that.So i think the discussion should stop there as there are no other alternatives available in the market..sadly...because the other companies ATM do not bother

 

[The Incinerator]

A sabretooth doing folding 24/7 cant be the last word because,yes it is durable but have You actually seen it doing without BSODs at some point of time? So it cant be taken for granted. For e.g at one point of time the P5N-E SLi was hailed as the best and performance and value board,but people who actually lived with it knows that It had heating ,Lan and Ram issues.Just an example. For torture testing or Work Load Stability check this out for the very Gigabyte board Im talking about........HARDOCP - Overclocking & Conclusion - Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H LGA 1155 Motherboard Review

 

[Cilus]

I have checked the link you have posted but didn't find much about load testing, only thing they have talked abut stable overclocking but not anything else like running it all the time or running some load testing software like Prime95 or LinX. So could you enlighten me how the conclusion about the load testing is inferred?

Asus Sabertooth and Formula boards are not just meant for high overclocking, for that there are plenty of cheaper boards available. But there are other things like build quality , VRM quality (not the no. of VRMs), advanced Heat and voltage resistance technologies, used to survive long run with extreme overclocking, voltage protections, heat resistance etc. Those Asus boards I've mentioned earlier do have some other features like advanced Ceramic Coating for heat and voltage surge resistance which actually increase the tolerance level of the boards under extreme loads.
I know Sabertooth might not be best overclocking boards around but in terms of build quality and tolerance, it is one of the bests.

I have used both Gigabyte and Asus top end boards, obviously in the AMD field. Now I run my computer with 3 GPUs and 8150 @ 4GHz almost 9 to 10 Hrs in a day and my works are highly demanding ones like Video Encoding in H264, folding, AES Encryption decryption and AVX Vector related works, which keeps my 8 cores extremely busy. I can tell you the difference from my personal experience. Only the UD7/UP7 boards come closer or might be equivalent to Sabertooth in terms of Stability under extreme load.

 

[Skud]

Generally, every HardOCP motherboard review ends with comments on incubated stress test and here are the results for Z77X-UD5H:-

The GIGABYTE Z77X-UD5H did shine when it came to workload stability however. I ran a 3 day incubated stress test with a 2600K processor successfully. I then followed that with a 1 day 3770K incubated stress test. We were trying to find out the issues behind the Sandra software compatibility problems is the reason for switching around the processors. Finally once we got a handle on those, I ran another incubated stress test for 5 days, which all accounted for stress testing lasting much longer than we normally would. The system finally Blue Screened after 5 days. I find it hard to fault the motherboard after weathering so much high temperature abuse. Considering I had it locked in a hot box at 45C for well over a week running 100% CPU, RAM, and GPU loads the Z77X-UD5H did a great job.

My vote for Sabertooth provided OP has the budget.

 

[The Incinerator]

^^ that bold quote is exactly my point. Its honest. You know exactly where the buck stops. And no sane person is gonna push it there,incubate it. It can take quite a lot, a lot that we wont generally provide it with. Thats why I put up that link. It is a potent stable board and at a great price point.

Edit : The Gigabyte at that price is still one of the best stable options out there.
*www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/p...77x-ud5h-1077252/review/page:2#articleContent
*www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/p...ooth-z77-1075395/review/page:2#articleContent

off topic : While working for a company in Jeddah I had come across HP pcs (Z220) which were never turned off (cause they were always connected to the HO in Kuwait) from the day they were commissioned for a year and half and they were still running without a hang or BSOD. I would call that reliability too, in a different context. Honestly now I reallly want to see what they had inside.

Only the UD7/UP7 boards come closer or might be equivalent to Sabertooth in terms of Stability under extreme load.

Since he is not gonna over clock to the teeth going for the Gigabyte Z77X-UD7 is a waste,albeit a reliable board but in that case and price bracket being wise and going for a UD5/Sabertooth is the best option.