SPCR

Tvil wrote:someone commented that decreasing the speed of the fans does make the system more quiet but that it might not be the optimal solution to guarantee enough airflow.

It's the basics of any wannabe silencer.

Tvil wrote:Again, perhaps the lack of Fan Xpert 2 will be a problem...

Unless it's SpeedFan compatible, it may be a drawback. But there are BIOS which are smart enough.
The lack of caching would also be a minus.

quest_for_silence wrote:The lack of caching would also be a minus.

H77 supports SSD caching. (If that's what you're referring to.) I've pretty much decided to go with H77 myself as I will not be overclocking and that seems to be the only feature missing on H77 vs Z77.

I'm trying to decide between the ASUS P8H77-M and the GIGABYTE GA-H77M-D3H. Any opinions?

toronado455 wrote:I'm trying to decide between the ASUS P8H77-M and the GIGABYTE GA-H77M-D3H. Any opinions?

Both build decent boards.
Fact: Asus has better fan control.
Fact: Asus uses a Realtek audio chip, Gigabyte uses a Via audio chip.
Opinion: Realtek owns the on-board audio market and will do a better job with drivers/updates.

CA_Steve wrote:Fact: Asus has better fan control.

Can you explain? The ASUS P8H77-M doesn't have the Fan Xpert 2, so how is it better?

CA_Steve wrote:Fact: Asus uses a Realtek audio chip, Gigabyte uses a Via audio chip.
Opinion: Realtek owns the on-board audio market and will do a better job with drivers/updates.

Yes, but anyone using it for DAW is just going to disable the on-board audio anyway, right?

toronado455 wrote:so how is it better?

It has a better BIOS.

quest_for_silence wrote:

toronado455 wrote:so how is it better?

It has a better BIOS.

ASUS has better fan control in the BIOS than GIGABYTE, or just a better BIOS than GIGABYTE in general, or both?

toronado455 wrote:

quest_for_silence wrote:

toronado455 wrote:so how is it better?

It has a better BIOS.

ASUS has better fan control in the BIOS than GIGABYTE, or just a better BIOS than GIGABYTE in general, or both?

I've answered about fan control, however, IMO "both".

toronado455 wrote:

CA_Steve wrote:Fact: Asus has better fan control.

Can you explain? The ASUS P8H77-M doesn't have the Fan Xpert 2, so how is it better?

CA_Steve wrote:Fact: Asus uses a Realtek audio chip, Gigabyte uses a Via audio chip.
Opinion: Realtek owns the on-board audio market and will do a better job with drivers/updates.

Yes, but anyone using it for DAW is just going to disable the on-board audio anyway, right?

The P8H77-M still has Fan Xpert. While it doesn't have all the features of Fan Xpert2, it's still better than Gigabytes feeble fan control s/w.

on-board audio: it was a general answer, not specific to whether you may use it or not.

Ok, that's enough thread-jacking. Back to the OP's system.

Thanks for all the opinions! I think I will downscale to ASUS PH77-V. About the assembly and the CPU cooler: quest_for_silence pointed out that I might be able to install Scythe Mugen 3 without taking the motherboard out of the case. The photo was from Fractal Design Define Mini, whereas I am going to buy Define R3. But it seems that this could be possibility even in R3.

Actually I now have all the information I need to buy the system. I will probably come back with some questions once the parts are here. Cheers!

Enjoy your build!