Motherboard Recommendation

[Bad boy Warrior]

Ive been looking at some motherboards for i7 Sandy Bridge processsor. Ive seen a few ASUS but wondered if anyone has any recommendations on what could be a competitive model but reliable without spending crazy money on it? I should be able to suport HyperV, USB 3, SATA etc etc.

Thanks

[CoffeeFiend]

Ive been looking at some motherboards for i7 Sandy Bridge processsor

By that, I assume you mean a processor with a 1155 socket.

ASUS wise, indexpensive and decent would be the P8H67-M. H67 chipset, 4 DIMM slots, 2 PCI-e x16 slots, 6 SATA ports (2 of which being the 6Gb/s kind), 2x USB 3 ports, good build quality, etc. Not bad for about $120.

Gigabyte wise, there's the GA-H67MA-UD2H, which for about $5 more than the ASUS, will also give you an eSATA port and a DisplayPort output (not that I really see a point for that one). The main difference left between the 2 is the ASUS has 2 PCI slots, whereas this one has 2 PCI-e x1. But overall they're quire similar.

Still at the same price, Gigabyte has a P67 board: the GA-P67A-UD3. H67 is the choice if you want Intel's onboard video. P67 does away with that, and gives you some extra possibilities like using 2 video cards at x8 (assuming the board is designed for that). This board has a bunch more USB ports, an extra digital output for sound, and a few more slots (it has both PCI and PCI-e x1).

ASUS wise, if you want P67, then for 5$ more, you can get a P8P67-M. It has a couple less slots and USB ports than the Gigabyte and no spdif out, but it has a firewire if you have a use for it. It uses a UEFI BIOS but I'm not completely confident in that yet (not "mature" enough IMO).

Most of the cheaper boards are either missing stuff I consider critical (like having only 2 DIMM slots), or don't have USB3, or are of questionable quality, or only save you like $5. There might still be some good picks though.

[puntoMX]

Both brands bring indeed perfect boards, however I like to add, the Gigabyte has some pros over the ASUS; CPU voltage section uses a more expensive design and is superior to the ASUS (cheap motherboards (think about the G31/G41 S775 chipsets) use the same setup as the ASUS board), Gigabyte brings Dual BIOS (virtually impossible to kill it by flashing it wrong) and the ASUS has 2 USB ports less at the back. Other brands lack the support of socket 1155 at the moment.