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Best X79 motherboard - P9X79-E WS, X79-Deluxe or other?


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I'm looking into motherboards for my new i7 4930k CPU and I've shortlisted these 2 motherboards. What do you think will be better quality? I'll be overclocking the CPU to at least 4.2-4.3 Ghz so stability is of a great importance.

 

On one hand the WS model is marketed as workstation grade so I presume it's better suited for high workloads. So I presume it's built tougher? On the other hand the Deluxe is a newer motherboard and supports Ivy Bridge-E processors (i7 4930k) out of the box (without BIOS flash unlike WS). Does that mean that the Deluxe handles i7 4930k more stable?

 

I've also noticed quite a lot negative reviews on Newegg for the WS model compared to Deluxe:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131971

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132047

Is it right to think that there's something wrong with this model or is it just a plain chance that so many people have been giving negative reviews?

 

Also, what are your views on the gaming oriented motherboards (rampage IV Formula/Extreme). Do these boards provide more features/ build quality / sturdiness for 3D work over the WS and Deluxe?

 

I'd really want to hear your thoughts. Thanks! :)

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I did a build a few months ago with a 4930k, went with the sabertooth x79 and so far it has been great. I highly recommend it. The first mobo I was interested in was the rampage formula but I guess they have discontinued it with the new rampage black. Formula extreme is a nice board but the added features weren't worth the price for me since gaming took a backseat for workstation performance. The sabertooth also carries a 5 year warranty vs I believe 3 on the other asus x79 boards minus the ws probably. Honestly you probably can't go wrong with any of them, if you look at the bad reviews there are a lot referring to doa boards but that is actually people not understanding that they need to update the bios before the board will post with a 4xxx chip. If you discount those reviews then the outcome is a lot more favorable.

 

The sabertooth seems popular among overclockers, has been nothing but stable for me but I haven't taken the oc plunge yet mostly because the 4930 is so damn fast already.

 

Good luck, should be a great build I know I am very happy with mine other than how empty my wallet got haha.

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I have 3 (well 5..) LG2011 boards, P9X79-Pro, P9X79-WS, and recent 3 computers are all X79-Deluxe, as shown in forum :- )

The WS is identical to regular P9X79, but it's large eATX board supporting up to 4 cards and some small gimmicks, but I am not aware it's any sturdier or higher quality than regular P9 boards.

It's the Sabertooth range that is sturdier and has longer warranty, but also much less features. All of them are overclocking friendly to a point, but I would say there is no difference between Regular, Pro and WS or Deluxe when it comes to P9X79.

X79(without the P9) Deluxe is what I bought most recently and although 4930k is not such a overclocker as 3930k, from outside reviews the board holds up to much better than P9 and is overall superior. I don't stress my cpus much, they are all at 4,2Ghz, which is hardly a point where any motherboard would be limiting factor.

Rampage Black is pretty high-end but also quite much more expensive that X79-Deluxe and without dual Gbit port, which is very nifty feature if you use link aggregation on your network.

 

Out of all the boards, I consider the X79-Deluxe to be the best and also has the best price tag/features ratio.

Edited by RyderSK
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Thanks for chiming in, guys. Then maybe I should go with the Deluxe? The problem is that there are no X79-Deluxe boards on our market currently and no one knows when deliveries are expected (I've called numerous large retailers). I've been waiting for a month now and still no X79-Deluxe boards in stock here. :( Is it worth waiting for another week or two or should I just buy another MB?

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It might not matter much at all to you in the end, neither is bad at all. I like the X79 mostly because of its novelty (to me it makes sense to pair it with 4930k instead of older revision, even if differences aren't big by any means) and the dual-Gbit LAN, which I find much handy in networking to NAS.

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IMHO there is very little difference between the 2 models to warrant the price difference.

The overclocking you are trying to achieve (and higher) , is easily attainable - rock stable - with the vanilla P9X79 or LE and just $230~245.

 

The Deluxe adds lots of features, out of which the most prominent one is the dual NIC and the WiFi, which counteract each other ofc.

The dual NIC is useful if you are using a NAS, but is more important if present in the NAS itself (or your storage server board), and not the clients.

 

And an intel Gbit NIC doesn't cost $200.

 

For low overclocks (as yours) there are little to no advantages with either the Deluxe or the WS.

The port layout with the WS also doesn't help a lot, tho definately is better than that of the deluxe if you wish to go for more than 3x GPUs.

 

Other than that, you are paying for tons of probably completely unused USB and SATA ports, and ofc the novelty of owning an "upper end" product.

Edited by dtolios
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I just received information from a large retailer that they are going to stock up with lots of new X79 boards next week. If X79-Deluxe is in their inventory I might grab that one. I know that there is no great difference between this and the vanilla X79 model but the additional features and better build quality justify the higher price in my opinion. Sabertooth looks good indeed but I really don't like the fans it comes with. I prefer a silent operation.

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It is not that noisy, and you can leave them out to begin with.

That said, most serious "enthusiast" boards do have active cooling for the X79 north bridge, so I guess it is a "good thing" ?

My P9X79 Pro doesn't (shares the same layout with Sabertooth X79).

It can push my 3930K to 4.9GHz, so I don't think it is "sub-par" really. Maybe a RIVE (or RIVE Black

 

Juraj, the $200 were referring to the WS (I think, or I am mad, lil difference).

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