EVGA classified or ASUS P6T7 WS?

[Barso]

Which of these 2 boards are the better board to buy?
The EVGA X58 classifed or the ASUS P6T7 WS.
All advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[RNeon]

EVGA Classified !

Because:

It looks better.

It runs a higher BCLK

[Barso]

What is the E760 and how will I know that that this is the board the retailer is selling?

[loc.o]

E760 (141-BL-E760-A1) is the version without NF200 chip.

[JackOfAll]

EVGA Classified !
Because:
It looks better.
It runs a higher BCLK

Of course, you own a P6T7 as well as the Classified and are stating a fact, that you can run a higher bclock with the Classified and your particular CPU? ;)

[Barso]

I have found 2 retailers selling the classified but their manfacturer codes are different, 141-BL-E760-E1 and the other is 141-BL-E760-A1.
Which is the one to buy?
Also Jackof all, which would you buy?

[JackOfAll]

Also Jackof all, which would you buy?

That rather depends on exactly what you want to achieve, which you haven't told us. If you want to overclock to the limit - probably the Classified. But the P6T7 is no slouch. I've had a stable 4.2GHz on the P6T7. We've built several CUDA rigs on a P6T7 platform. It's a good board.

[Barso]

I am aiming for overclocking but the heat of the classified has me worried.

[Korduo]

I think the heat on the chipset and VRMs are ok, I read its the EVGA X58 vanilla and maybe the LE (sorry if I'm wrong)that has hot temps. I saw ur post on Nova and want to say their boards have the 'B3' revision chipset (not sure if it makes any difference in OCing). I bought mine from them, but having issues at the moment (non technical).
Also read on another forum the that P6T7 runs cool even tho it has the NF200chip (not sure if 1 or 2).

I think in the end its more then likely you'll be OC limited due to cooling or CPU rather then motherboard, from what I read if you want to get most from your CPU then its the Classified (providing you have good cooling).

I have Classified and Asus R2E and both clock about the same for me as reason above.

[zanzabar]

u dont want the nf200, just ignore anything that has it. it wont help with gpus and it just adds latency to the slots.

[JackOfAll]

I am aiming for overclocking but the heat of the classified has me worried.

I just read your post on the "other" forum. You've indicated you're going to WC the CPU. So you've always got the option of adding the EK board waterblock to the Classified and your loop if you want to go the extra mile.

P6T7 - the heatsink over the 2x n200 and X58 chips is cooler than you'd expect. I've certainly not seen any heat issues with a board populated with 4x vga cards.

As to the other comment about avoiding any board with a n200 chip. YMMV. Yes, it does add latency. After all the n200 is only a switch. But again, depends on what you use the board for. 16 lanes via n200, as opposed to 8 native PCIE lanes (direct from X58) does make a difference in CUDA applications where a large amount of data needs transferring to/from a card. A positive difference! I have numbers to back that. But I'm not sure that is appropriate for this thread and your likely use of the board.

At the end of the day, if you want a 'tweekers' board, then go with the Classified. Watercool the CPU as you already propose and consider adding the EK board waterblock if you can budget the additonal £100. ChilledPC had the EK block in-stock when I checked their site earlier today.

[Barso]

What does the B3 revision chipset have over the B2?
I do like novatech, I think the CS is fantastic.
What issues are you having? Compatibility?

[Korduo]

I think it was some minor updates, but now and again you'll see post asking if they are out. Don't think it makes any difference in OCing tho, Experts will have better input.

The mobo I received appears to be used, So its going back.

[JackOfAll]

The mobo I received appears to be used, So its going back.

"patches of sticky/glue stuff" .......

This might just be flux residue. I've seen a couple of boards recently where it appears that flux has not been completely removed, leaving patchy cloudy/white areas on the underside of the board. I actually cleaned up the underside of a P6T7 with isopropyl alcohol rather than send it back.

[nge769]

P6t7

1. layout of chips
2. rock stable (workstations usually are)
3 Fast
4. excellent layout of cooling pipes + fins ( 3pipes ,4 fins)
and very good temps for me!
5.It says supercomputer on heat sink lol,not the reason why i bought it.

Cons ... price,board is new,waiting to see how the bios updates play out.


Classified
1. Clocks high
2. looks nice

cons....for me, it was the heat issue that made me not buy it (i was close to pulling the trigger too)but if your water cooling the board , thats a different story.

If i had to do it over again,i would buy the p6t7 with no hesitation.:)

[zanzabar]

how exactly is the classified running hot, it has a nice set of heatpipe coolers and the PWM is a voltera so its rated for a higher temp as apposed to the analogue classic ones, and u have a 3" space for 10 phases as opposed to 2 3-4" sections, and with some active cooling they wont have a problem. also im not sure on the fine points of the i7 but on the x38 the voltera drops by 10c if u have proper gtls

[burningrave101]

The eVGA Classified has some compatibility issues that you should be aware of prior to purchasing it so you don't run into any problems. Power supplies is one of them so you need to make sure your PSU is compatible. I bought an Enermax Galaxy EVO 1250w and it was not compatible. I've RMA'd my PSU to Enermax though because they say they have a newer revision that possibly fixes the problem with the Classified board. The Classified also has a problem with running drives larger than 2TB in a RAID configuration. I don't know if that's just RAID0 or not but someone was posting about it on the eVGA forum. The Classified also has issues with using higher than 1.45v QPI voltage so if you were planning on running 2000Mhz memory you may run into a problem there. And I'm sure there are some other things I'm not thinking of at the moment since I don't frequent the eVGA boards that much but you should go over there and make yourself aware of anything you might run into prior to deciding which board your going with.

I have the P6T7 as well and have been testing it out for a few days with a W3520. It seems to be a real stable board but I haven't been able to get real high overclocks on it due to my CPU and cooling. I can get 4Ghz stable but past that the board starts thermal throttling on me using a TRUE because temps reach around 80C. I think it also thermal throttles based on higher CPU voltage as well because at times my temps were only mid 70's load and I still caught the throttling kicking in. Hopefully Asus will release a BIOS update soon like they did with the P6T that disables thermal throttling.

[Andrea deluxe]

Which of these 2 boards are the better board to buy?
The EVGA X58 classifed or the ASUS P6T7 WS.
All advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

wait an buy this:
Gigabyte
GA-EX58A-EXTREME

http://global.hkepc.com/database/images/20090602131020201799611585.jpg

[NaeKuh]

I have found 2 retailers selling the classified but their manfacturer codes are different, 141-BL-E760-E1 and the other is 141-BL-E760-A1.
Which is the one to buy?
Also Jackof all, which would you buy?

the more expensive one is the one with the life time warrenty. (im guessing its gonna be the A1, because thats usually the code that means life time warrenty.)

so if that matters to you, then i would get the lifetime warrenty one since its usually only 20-30 dollars more expensive.

wait an buy this:
Gigabyte
GA-EX58A-EXTREME

http://global.hkepc.com/database/images/20090602131020201799611585.jpg

24 phase... very nice.. :D

however i'll take my classy over it any day.

24 phase vs 12 phase voltera...

[bluehaze]

wait an buy this:
Gigabyte
GA-EX58A-EXTREME

http://global.hkepc.com/database/images/20090602131020201799611585.jpg

Any idea when this board is being released? Probably gonna upgrade from my Classified when this board hits the stores! 6gbps Sata and 24 phase power plus I heard rumors they have implemented the "mod" that people are doing on the UD5 to boot over 222bclk. This boards gonna be hard to beat.

[zanzabar]

Any idea when this board is being released? Probably gonna upgrade from my Classified when this board hits the stores! 6gbps Sata and 24 phase power plus I heard rumors they have implemented the "mod" that people are doing on the UD5 to boot over 222bclk. This boards gonna be hard to beat.

sata 6 has been delayed since the marvel chip dosnt work properly, the board has virtual 24phase and it has parts of the mosfet on the back of the board so it will be a pain to keep cool.

and i think that the voltera is better still its better than 16phase to have an 8phase voltera so i dont think that the classified has anything to worry about

[RNeon]

Of course, you own a P6T7 as well as the Classified and are stating a fact, that you can run a higher bclock with the Classified and your particular CPU? ;)

ok, so show me a high bclk run on the P6T7 Please!

[bluehaze]

sata 6 has been delayed since the marvel chip dosnt work properly, the board has virtual 24phase and it has parts of the mosfet on the back of the board so it will be a pain to keep cool.

and i think that the voltera is better still its better than 16phase to have an 8phase voltera so i dont think that the classified has anything to worry about

Yea I did a bit of looking around seems Sata 6 is supposed to be on all the new p55 boards coming out as well. It has been pushed back to September. So looks like at least another month before we see this board. Not such a bad thing though, gives me time to sell my old UD5 and I can just use the Classified until this is released :D

[Star_Hunter]

I think the 10 phase digital pwm will still be better than 24 analog phases. (someone should photoshop a board and put like 100 phases on it :rofl: )

[JackOfAll]

ok, so show me a high bclk run on the P6T7 Please!

Me show you numbers? I didn't say, "It runs a higher BCLK".

Question was asked - which board to buy. You said Classified because, "It runs a higher BCLK". Where are your own numbers to back that statement?

P.S. I'm not picking on you, but too many people are "advising" others based on third-party hearsay and not their own personal experiences.

[nge769]

My opinion , if your running only 1 video card , then i don't see the point spending that much for either board (p6t7 or classified)unless you like the way it looks or money isn't an issue.

On another note ,when i was considering buying the classified , the 1st place i went for advice was the evga forums to ask about NB heat issues ,and almost everyone said it ran hot ,then i went and saw a review on you tube
addressing the NB heat issue ,and turns out the NB was 72c stock and 52 or so with fan on it,That was a deal breaker for me, and i really wanted that board too.Do some more research.:)

[JackOfAll]

My opinion , if your running only 1 video card , then i don't see the point spending that much for either board (p6t7 or classified)unless you like the way it looks or money isn't an issue.

That's a good point.

TBH, the original poster never really gave much of an inkling of what he wanted to achieve, so offering advice as to which board is "better"...... Better for what? Making coffee? Benching?

[nge769]

That's a good point.

TBH, the original poster never really gave much of an inkling of what he wanted to achieve, so offering advice as to which board is "better"...... Better for what? Making coffee? Benching?

:rofl::ROTF:

[RNeon]

Me show you numbers? I didn't say, "It runs a higher BCLK".

Question was asked - which board to buy. You said Classified because, "It runs a higher BCLK". Where are your own numbers to back that statement?

P.S. I'm not picking on you, but too many people are "advising" others based on third-party hearsay and not their own personal experiences.

yes i own a classified and no a P6T7. But i´ve read many Threads about the P6T7 that you cannot run a higher BCLK than 215 at the moment. So the Classified and the P6T7 have almost the same price. So wich MoBo he should buy?

[GAR]

Classified all the way! Enless you need all those PCI-E slots

[JackOfAll]

So wich MoBo he should buy?

Neither, or either, based on the information he has given us.

I want to run 4x double slot width PCI-E cards. Which of the two boards is "better"? (The answer to that question has nothing to do with looks or max BCLK.)

You are making an assumption about the guy who asked the original question. Yes, I know this forum is xtreme, but xtreme what? xtreme BCLK? xtreme guessing?

For all you know he just wants a motherboard to water cool his i7 920, run a single graphics card and will be happy with a stable 24/7 @ 4GHz, 20x200. In which case, either board should meet the requirement. For all you know, he has no interest in benching or dropping the multiplier and finding out what the highest BCLK is. So fine, say that you've read third-hand that he should be able to obtain a higher BCLK on the Classified, but is that a reason to advise someone to buy a board if you don't even know whether BCLK is his primary consideration?

P.S. I've run a P6T7 @ 20x210. Yes, the Classified can go higher BCLK. Even watercooled do I want my CPU running > 85 deg C? No. Why? I'm not benching. I want a stable 24/7 overclock for a folding machine. I don't want stupid temps. Does the max BCLK on either of these boards stop me doing what I want to do? No.

[zanzabar]

My opinion , if your running only 1 video card , then i don't see the point spending that much for either board (p6t7 or classified)unless you like the way it looks or money isn't an issue.

On another note ,when i was considering buying the classified , the 1st place i went for advice was the evga forums to ask about NB heat issues ,and almost everyone said it ran hot ,then i went and saw a review on you tube
addressing the NB heat issue ,and turns out the NB was 72c stock and 52 or so with fan on it,That was a deal breaker for me, and i really wanted that board too.Do some more research.:)

most intel chipsets run 60-75c with no fan for the high end, just look back at the x38/48 it had a mandatory need of liquid since it needed 1.55-1.6V and with active cooling it still got to 65c+

the board also im guessing has bad thermal paste on the NB/SB like every board that ive ever had with paste the stock stuff is not up to snuff and u can get 10c+ lower with a change and remount

and i agree with jack that its over kill but the p6t7 is a terrible board for how much it costs and i would still recommend staying away from the nf200 at all costs unless u are building a crunching farm

[JackOfAll]

but the p6t7 is a terrible board for how much it costs

And in contrast, the Classified is superb value for money? I don't think so. ;)

Neither board is a winner in the value stakes. And TBH, they are targeted at different market segments. The Classified is for the tweakers/overclockers/benchers/enthusiasts, or those stupid enough to just want to believe they own the "ULTIMATE" X58 board. The P6T7 is a WS board, targeted at CUDA applications.

[nge769]

most intel chipsets run 60-75c with no fan for the high end, just look back at the x38/48 it had a mandatory need of liquid since it needed 1.55-1.6V and with active cooling it still got to 65c+

the board also im guessing has bad thermal paste on the NB/SB like every board that ive ever had with paste the stock stuff is not up to snuff and u can get 10c+ lower with a change and remount

and i agree with jack that its over kill but the p6t7 is a terrible board for how much it costs and i would still recommend staying away from the nf200 at all costs unless u are building a crunching farm

Yeah , but were not talking about the x38/48 , were talking about the x58Chipset,and how do you explain the huge temp difference between the p6t7 and classified , when the p6t7 has 2 nf200 chips + CS under the same roof
opposed to 1 nf200, or no nf200 (760 model) for the classified?:rolleyes:


Layout, and quality stock cooling.

Also the original posters main concern was heat from what i can tell,and I'm addressing that.

[Ketzer7]

This is rather ironic, since I am currently in the middle of trying to make the same decision between both boards for a new build using water cooling. My goal is to try and hit a 4 GHz+ 24/7 stable overclock.

My main requirement was for at least 3 properly spaced x16 PCIe slots to run Tri-SLI (yes, I have a need for it), and have at least one slot left over for an X-Fi sound card. Both these boards fit that requirement.

It will be almost 99% used for gaming exclusively. Not much for anything else that I can think of ATM.

I was originally leaning towards the P6T7 due to the 7 full x16 bandwidth slots and prior good experiences with a P6T6 board (it was rock solid, so I would expect the same from the P6T7). The other selling point for me on the P6T7 is the on-board SAS controller since I do have some SAS drives I could use. The downsides are obviously the NF200 latencies, no available chipset waterblock for it, and potentially limited overclocking headroom. I was also concerned about the possible high temps with this board because of those chips as others have mentioned but also said it didn't seem bad on the P6T7.

I've now been going somewhat more back towards the Classified. The CPU power section seems to have the advantage over the P6T7, there are some handy overclocking features on the Classified, there are a couple of different nice aftermarket chipset waterblocks available for it (or even eVGA's own version), eVGA support is good, etc. Positive or negative, depending on how you look at it, is the deletion of the NF200 chip on the Classified which aids in reducing the temps on the board, but at the expensive of now not getting full x16 slots. The argument to that I guess is that, yes, various testing has shown that most games ran faster slightly without the NF200 in play.

Both boards get docked points by me for using Realtek networking chips versus something nicer from say Broadcom or Intel.

Which one? Still not sure :shrug:

Would love to still hear some more opinions either way given my parameters above. Not that I am trying to :horse: or anything :)

[nge769]

This is rather ironic, since I am currently in the middle of trying to make the same decision between both boards for a new build using water cooling. My goal is to try and hit a 4 GHz+ 24/7 stable overclock.

My main requirement was for at least 3 properly spaced x16 PCIe slots to run Tri-SLI (yes, I have a need for it), and have at least one slot left over for an X-Fi sound card. Both these boards fit that requirement.

It will be almost 99% used for gaming exclusively. Not much for anything else that I can think of ATM.

I was originally leaning towards the P6T7 due to the 7 full x16 bandwidth slots and prior good experiences with a P6T6 board (it was rock solid, so I would expect the same from the P6T7). The other selling point for me on the P6T7 is the on-board SAS controller since I do have some SAS drives I could use. The downsides are obviously the NF200 latencies, no available chipset waterblock for it, and potentially limited overclocking headroom. I was also concerned about the possible high temps with this board because of those chips as others have mentioned but also said it didn't seem bad on the P6T7.

I've now been going somewhat more back towards the Classified. The CPU power section seems to have the advantage over the P6T7, there are some handy overclocking features on the Classified, there are a couple of different nice aftermarket chipset waterblocks available for it (or even eVGA's own version), eVGA support is good, etc. Positive or negative, depending on how you look at it, is the deletion of the NF200 chip on the Classified which aids in reducing the temps on the board, but at the expensive of now not getting full x16 slots. The argument to that I guess is that, yes, various testing has shown that most games ran faster slightly without the NF200 in play.

Both boards get docked points by me for using Realtek networking chips versus something nicer from say Broadcom or Intel.

Which one? Still not sure :shrug:

Would love to still hear some more opinions either way given my parameters above. Not that I am trying to :horse: or anything :)

The classified 760 doesn't have the nf200 and is still a lot hotter than the
p6t7. (if your water cooling the board, heat shouldn't be an issue)

The p6t7 does 4.2g rock stable 24/7, and board still new, and we don't know its full potential yet,if any.:)

[JackOfAll]

My goal is to try and hit a 4 GHz+ 24/7 stable overclock.

My main requirement was for at least 3 properly spaced x16 PCIe slots to run Tri-SLI (yes, I have a need for it), and have at least one slot left over for an X-Fi sound card. Both these boards fit that requirement.

It will be almost 99% used for gaming exclusively. Not much for anything else that I can think of ATM.

Would love to still hear some more opinions either way given my parameters above.

A 4GHz overclock is achievable on either board. Neither board will hold you back getting there. Heat is a concern with the Classified, but again if you are going to setup a water loop anyway and can afford to add the EK chipset waterblock - go for it!

3 way SLI, that's not my forte. Have a look at the article at Toms Hardware, MSI Eclipse Plus: Does nForce 200 Boost 3-Way SLI? (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/eclipse-plus-n200,2332.html). It's an interesting read.

[Ketzer7]

Jack-

Yes, I think I saw the Tom's article once before. HardOCP also did a similar article when the P6T6 first came out, comparing it against an EVGA X58 vanilla. Tom's and HardOCP's results show that at most resolutions and settings, the X58 vanilla without the NF200 is slightly faster, but not by a huge or noticeable amount. So it's kind of a toss up between whether considering the NF200 chips on the P6T7 as assets or detractors.

It'd almost be interesting to see another mobo comparison review where the P6T7 is evaluated against other X58s are again to see if the benchmarks stay the same or go slightly lower again due to the second NF200 chip. As some mentioned though, there are some applications where the full x16 slots on the NF200 help versus hurt.

Confusing! :shrug:

[JackOfAll]

Tom's and HardOCP's results show that at most resolutions and settings, the X58 vanilla without the NF200 is slightly faster, but not by a huge or noticeable amount. So it's kind of a toss up between whether considering the NF200 chips on the P6T7 as assets or detractors.

Well, I personally wouldn't discount a motherboard just because it has a n200 chip on it. Yes, the chip does add heat, but if the motherboard (and its cooling solution) has been designed to dissipate that heat, then I don't see the problem. Some of the blanket statements - "stay away from the n200 motherbaord" - are just ill informed.

It'd almost be interesting to see another mobo comparison review where the P6T7 is evaluated against other X58s are again to see if the benchmarks stay the same or go slightly lower again due to the second NF200 chip.

P6T7 reviews are a bit thin on the ground at the moment. I could speculate that the second n200 would add a little more latency...... Reality is that even with the best implementation in the world there will always be a little latency introduced. If that costs a frame or two in a triple SLI gaming config, so be it. Personally it wouldn't concern me a great deal, but them I'm not a gamer.

As some mentioned though, there are some applications where the full x16 slots on the NF200 help versus hurt.

Yes, I think that was me. Processing data on the GPU is fast. Getting it to the graphics card memory before it can be operated on by the GPU is a very expensive (slow) operation. There are cases in CUDA apps, (ie. large amounts of data needs shuttling to/from GPU memory), where the extra lanes provided by having the n200 chip does make things faster. But still the n200 isn't voodoo. Data transfer is still speed limited by the total number of lanes you put into the n200 chip to start with. As soon as the lanes are shared, (ie. both cards connected to a n200 require them at the same time), it's going to compromise data throughput.

[Ketzer7]

Jack-

Thanks for the reply, and food for thought.

I will say I am not all that unfamiliar with the NF200 to some degree as my current build is an i7 system based on the P6T6, which has been rock solid. It has traded off duties between tri-SLI and quad-SLI. Quad was nice because I got two PCIe slots back that I used for an X-Fi and Intel dual-port NIC (the onboard Realtek gave me some problems at one point). However, tri-SLI actually ran better and 'smoother' I guess you could say, but obviously I lost use of all the slots on the P6T6 with tri.

So, thanks to an opportunity at work footing the bill, I'm looking to start over again and build a new i7 system that at least has 7 slots available for use and that basically narrowed down to the P6T7 and the Classified.

Anyways, I'm still figuring out other parts at this point, so I have to think on it some more before deciding.

Thanks again! :up: