Which AMD3+ motherboard?

bssa · Aug 1, 2014

OK, I've been driving myself crazy trying to figure out which motherboard I should get. Here is the situation. Usually we have between 20 and 40 tabs open between ie, firefox and chrome. MS Word and Excel would be open. Photoshop CS4 open. Either Streaming Netflix or Hulu. Also reading emails using Windows Live. Will not be OC'ing and the only games we play are Solitaire or SimCity. Every once in a while we might Skype. We are upgrading the internals of our computer because it has been running really SLOW.

Buying:
CPU: AMD FX-8350
RAM: Not sure what to get. Any recommendations appreciated.

Own:
Monitor: ASUS PA246Q
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
PCI Card: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600
PSU: 500Watts
FANS: 3 x 120m
CASE: ATX Compatible
HD: 2 500GB HD's. Or if I have enough money left over, might buy either a Seagate or WD 1TB drive.

First I am not sure if I need the AMD 990FX Northbridge or if the AMD 970 would suite us. I am leaning towards the 970, because I don't see a need for a second Graphics card with what we do, but I could be convinced to spend the $$ on the AMD 990FX Northbridge if there is a compelling reason. Cannot spend more than $140. Of course the less I spend on the motherboard, the more I can spend on something else like the RAM.

So, here are the motherboards that I have gotten it down to:

AMD 990FX

GIGABYTE
1. GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514)

ASUS
2. ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131851)

AMD 970

GIGABYTE (Not sure what is the difference between the following 2 boards, besides $)
1. GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3P AM3+/AM3 AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128627)
2. GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3P AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128651)

ASUS
3. ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131873)

MSI
4. MSI 970 Gaming AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130790)

Calnin · Aug 1, 2014

Out of the 970 chipsets. the ASUS m5a97 r2.0 and the gigabyte ud3p are the minimums I'd throw into a system for a good stable performance.

If you have the money for the 990fx chipsets, then go for it. If you're on a budget, go with the ud3p.

bssa · Aug 1, 2014

Calnin :

From what I've been reading the 990FX chipset wouldn't really do anything for me since I'm not really a gamer or and OC'er. Am I reading that correctly?

Calnin · Aug 1, 2014

Even for a gamer/OC'er the asus m5a97 r2.0 and the gigabyte ud3p would still do fine for them. I would suggest going with the asus m5a97 r20 or gigabyte ud3p, whichever is cheaper. They're both good boards and are practically equivalent to some of the decent low end 990fx chipsets.

aaronfield · Aug 17, 2014

bssa :

Dont get that Asus board. It has issues when paired with an 8350. Its big brother (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131851) works perfect though

aaronfield · Aug 17, 2014

bssa :

For RAM I would suggest one off of the QVC list that is a kit of at least 16gb. Unsure if on list and it probably isn't but I've rarely had a problem with ram but Mushkin makes good RAM.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226388&cm_re=16gb_ram-_-20-226-388-_-Product

jeffredo · Aug 17, 2014

I have the ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0 and its great. Basically the same board as the Pro save for x8 dual PCI-E lanes. Great UEFI BIOS and a snap to OC with (gets my FX-6300 to a stable 4.6 Ghz on air). Solid, reliable board. Looks like the Pro is about the same price now so I would go for that.

T3PShooter · Aug 17, 2014

bssa :

OK, I've been driving myself crazy trying to figure out which motherboard I should get. Here is the situation. Usually we have between 20 and 40 tabs open between ie, firefox and chrome. MS Word and Excel would be open. Photoshop CS4 open. Either Streaming Netflix or Hulu. Also reading emails using Windows Live. Will not be OC'ing and the only games we play are Solitaire or SimCity. Every once in a while we might Skype. We are upgrading the internals of our computer because it has been running really SLOW.

Buying:
CPU: AMD FX-8350
RAM: Not sure what to get. Any recommendations appreciated.

Own:
Monitor: ASUS PA246Q
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
PCI Card: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600
PSU: 500Watts
FANS: 3 x 120m
CASE: ATX Compatible
HD: 2 500GB HD's. Or if I have enough money left over, might buy either a Seagate or WD 1TB drive.

First I am not sure if I need the AMD 990FX Northbridge or if the AMD 970 would suite us. I am leaning towards the 970, because I don't see a need for a second Graphics card with what we do, but I could be convinced to spend the $$ on the AMD 990FX Northbridge if there is a compelling reason. Cannot spend more than $140. Of course the less I spend on the motherboard, the more I can spend on something else like the RAM.

So, here are the motherboards that I have gotten it down to:

AMD 990FX

GIGABYTE
1. GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514)

ASUS
2. ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131851)

Get the Gigabyte and don't waste your time with 970.

aaronfield · Aug 17, 2014

T3PShooter :

bssa :

OK, I've been driving myself crazy trying to figure out which motherboard I should get. Here is the situation. Usually we have between 20 and 40 tabs open between ie, firefox and chrome. MS Word and Excel would be open. Photoshop CS4 open. Either Streaming Netflix or Hulu. Also reading emails using Windows Live. Will not be OC'ing and the only games we play are Solitaire or SimCity. Every once in a while we might Skype. We are upgrading the internals of our computer because it has been running really SLOW.

Buying:
CPU: AMD FX-8350
RAM: Not sure what to get. Any recommendations appreciated.

Own:
Monitor: ASUS PA246Q
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
PCI Card: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600
PSU: 500Watts
FANS: 3 x 120m
CASE: ATX Compatible
HD: 2 500GB HD's. Or if I have enough money left over, might buy either a Seagate or WD 1TB drive.

First I am not sure if I need the AMD 990FX Northbridge or if the AMD 970 would suite us. I am leaning towards the 970, because I don't see a need for a second Graphics card with what we do, but I could be convinced to spend the $$ on the AMD 990FX Northbridge if there is a compelling reason. Cannot spend more than $140. Of course the less I spend on the motherboard, the more I can spend on something else like the RAM.

So, here are the motherboards that I have gotten it down to:

AMD 990FX

GIGABYTE
1. GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514)

ASUS
2. ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131851)

Get the Gigabyte and don't waste your time with 970.

I also had troubles with the UD3 when using an 8350. I stay steady in suggesting the Asus M5A99X Pro Rev.2.0.

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Which AMD3+ motherboard?

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