Week 9 Winner of a GIGABYTE X58A-UD7 Motherboard Announced

Lord Hypoglossal (Karthik Krishnan) is this week’s winner of the Search for GIGABYTE’s #1 Biggest Fan Contest on Facebook. This week’s question was: What is the most important feature(s) on a GIGABYTE X58 motherboard that would make you consider getting an upgrade for? For example, multiple graphics support, high performance, energy savings, motherboard cost...etc.

Karthik’s answer:

Lets be honest. We're talking about an upgrade here, we're not talking about what is affordable. I possibly can't represent the masses because I do not mind paying the premium if it leads to exclusivity and added performance over the average selection.
That said, personally for me, the criterion that interests me over selection are the following:

1) Stability
I'm an avid overclocker. Messing with the voltage supply to get that extra push. Stable motherboards are needed to push it to the extreme. Although voltage values are small, the difference from heat produced and the ability of the board to boot up successfully and stably is of great concern.

2) Performance
Why choose a gigabyte over any other offering? Obviously the tag meant for overclocking that gigabyte carries over enthusiasts and the fact that gigabyte motherboards top the overclocking charts ever so often is a simple sign.

3) Reviews
Before purchasing anything, I always read reviews from multiple sites. I tend to make my decision based on these reviews. If the reviews are good, it helps my decision making become that much easier. Of course some reviews become unrealistically bias and ridiculous, but having read reviews from multiple sites often help offset the difference.

4) Warranty
This is my main beef with most motherboard makers. Warranty is the most important thing to an overclocker, and especially warranty that is not voided by overclocking. There are so many motherboards in the market claiming to be "overclock ready" and the disclaimer claims that the warranty will be void if there is overclocking done? Cheap marketing tactics and unhappy customers won't let a business survive long.

Basically, those are my 4 important rules to upgrading. Note that pricing does not make a difference here because, if you're upgrading, you're expecting a boost in performance that is significant. Unless if your computer is 5-10 years old, an upgrade from an existing system won't come cheap. Multiple graphic card support for me is not a big deal because I fail to see a need to go beyond 2 cards. I personally do not believe there is any significant benefit for me for what I use my computer. Sure I fold, but I don't think I need 4 graphic cards for that.