AMD motherboard suggestion?

[alcattle]

I am looking for an AM2 MB with:
good overclocker
SLI yes I know
lots of bells and whistles like firewire and gigabyte ethernet
~$200 not firm

 

[Shadow703793]

Go with a DS3 and a E6300.

 

[rammedstein]

ignore the above poster, MSI K9n Diamond, very good board, should run Barc fine if/when it comes out and in the mean time will run a x2 3600 overclocked well too

 

[alcattle]

I already have a rig with that setup. Looking to try other things.

 

[hunter_green32]

Speed, price, quality, pick any two (or pay thru the nose)

I think you are an enthusiast. Furthermore, I think that a mainboard is possibly the most important decision when building a box. The mainboard is the computer...

For future proofing on an AMD box, I would strongly suggest you go with the nVidia 680a chipset. It currently has the most PCIe lanes of any single core logic chipset available at any cost, at 56 lanes.

Unfortunately, there is only one currently available mainboard sporting that chipset- the Asus L1N64-SLI WS. No firewire tho... Its a socket F mainboard, meaning 1207 pins, which is where AMD architecture is headed. With an AMD processor, the memory controller is on-die, why they dont have a front side bus architecture. When you throw four cores into this mix, for technical reasons they had to increase the pin count to be able to perform like an intel quad. Socket AM2 is on the way out, as I understand it.

This board has two sockets, as do all socket F arrangements. It's really a server arrangement, you wanna know the truth. The chips that fit it are sold in pairs, with the fastest ones pricing at $999 last time I checked. FX-70, FX-72 one or two more, I believe...

If you build on this board, be prepared for a power hungry monster. AMD is far behind intel in terms of performance per watt, so be prepared for a box that will make your neighbors lights flicker when you boot games. With a modern SLI setup, I would use a thousand watt power supply.

If Im not mistaken, there will be chips with the barcelona core for this board, so you maybe have some reprieve coming in late Q3 or early Q4... but I am not going to lie to you. This board did not review well, and there hasn't been much interest from nVidia board partners in this chipset, even tho it's downright awesome. It's not that the board sucks, per say- it's that a core 2 duo will stomp holes in it. There isnt an AMD offering that can compete, currently, and since this is a board pointed squarely at the enthusiast market segment, naturally they are gonna slam it. Enthusiasts are a very fickle bunch, and we seem to all want core 2 duos or core quads, at least for now. While we are in fact a very small market segment, other market segments are in some cases heavily influenced by our opinions, so AMD posted a 611 million dollar loss last quarter. Barcelona had better be good, very very good, or this fight between these two companies is going back to K6 days, in terms of market share.

Dark days for AMD... Rather a shame, because they did pull off the impossible seven quarters in a row by holding the CPU performance crown. They'll be back tho, I think.

Have you considered a Core 2 Duo? I know, I know, it just feels like selling out, but from a purely value point of view, thats the wisest choice for the consumer, at least for now and the near future. Whether or not barcelona can change that remains to be seen... There are a lot of really good technical people on both sides of that question. Time will tell.

Especially when you consider cost of ownership. If you are a serious wirehead, that thing is gonna break the electric bill.

Lemme know how it works out.

 

[alcattle]

I might not have made it clear. I have a E6300 and DS3 board being built now, just waiting on the last couple things. I want to try to build a AMD 64 X2 rig. I want SLI to test out what it can do. I won't pay $1k for the setup. I do have a +3600 now, and a +4x00, not sure. One of those id going in a build, other one I got the bioscape MB, cheap combo. Just looking for a couple options to push the bar a little, not erect a skyscraper. :?

 

[senor_bob]

Unfortunately, there is only one currently available mainboard sporting that chipset- the Asus L1N64-SLI WS. No firewire tho... Its a socket F mainboard, meaning 1207 pins, which is where AMD architecture is headed. With an AMD processor, the memory controller is on-die, why they dont have a front side bus architecture. When you throw four cores into this mix, for technical reasons they had to increase the pin count to be able to perform like an intel quad. Socket AM2 is on the way out, as I understand it.

Aaaggghhh!!! Anything but QuadFX / 4x4! (At least until K10 puts 8 cores on that beast - but it will still be severe overkill)

AM2 is indeed on the way out, but it will be replaced by AM2+, which will fit in AM2 boards.

Edit: by the way, AMD does indeed have an integrate memory controller (IMC) instead of putting it in the northbridge like Intel does. That isn't why they don't have the FSB though, the reason they don't have the FSB is that they have HyperTransport instead, which is faster. Not that the FSB hurts Intel desktops, but it is an advantage for AMD in servers.

 

[Sirfiroth]

Go with a DS3 and a E6300.

Bad Advice!!!!!
In real world applications(not games) there is little difference in performance between Intel and AMD.
I have the DS3 and E6300 combination and it "SUCKS" it is no faster than my old 4000 San Diego and I'm out $900 bucks. paid $900.00 for a 12% benchmark increase BFD.

Next time I'll go AMD regardless of what the Intel Fanboys on this site say! Core 2 E6300 has been a major disappointmet in speed.

 

[alcattle]

OK, the n590 looks good. I picked from 4 makers and would like your comments
Compare N590 MB
kind of leaning one way but that are so close, 1 thing can sway the pick.

 

[pat]

Man thats the first time Ive heard that here,lol! A C2D owner who hates and talks smack about his own system wow! Welcome back buddy! We are few and proud but we are still here!

Oh.. I know a few too that decided to waste lots of money for 5-10% increase when their AMD setup were really fine.. At least, I'm proud not to have follow them...

When peoples will understand that benchmark and real life are way different, they'll stop wasting money and get a better life..

 

[sprite]

Go with a DS3 and a E6300.

Bad Advice!!!!!
In real world applications(not games) there is little difference in performance between Intel and AMD.
I have the DS3 and E6300 combination and it "SUCKS" it is no faster than my old 4000 San Diego and I'm out $900 bucks. paid $900.00 for a 12% benchmark increase BFD.

Next time I'll go AMD regardless of what the Intel Fanboys on this site say! Core 2 E6300 has been a major disappointmet in speed.

I take it you don't encode movies etc then ?...

And yeah go for the 590 SLI

Gigabyte GA-M59SLI-S4/S5 or Abit-AN9-32 ?

 

[Shadow703793]

Go with a DS3 and a E6300.

Bad Advice!!!!!
In real world applications(not games) there is little difference in performance between Intel and AMD.
I have the DS3 and E6300 combination and it "SUCKS" it is no faster than my old 4000 San Diego and I'm out $900 bucks. paid $900.00 for a 12% benchmark increase BFD.

Next time I'll go AMD regardless of what the Intel Fanboys on this site say! Core 2 E6300 has been a major disappointmet in speed.

Did you OC the E6300??

 

[fender22]

Go with the GA-M59SLI-S5, or maybe the S4 if u wanna go a bit cheaper... A you may have noticed, I am running that board and it is great!

EDIT: The EVGA and FOXCONN 590 boards have shabby cooling with a teeny active cooling fan on one bridge and a teeny sink on another.. they have some heat issues with a nice OC... So I recommend moving away from those..

 

[miro84]

Go with a DS3 and a E6300.

Bad Advice!!!!!
In real world applications(not games) there is little difference in performance between Intel and AMD.
I have the DS3 and E6300 combination and it "SUCKS" it is no faster than my old 4000 San Diego and I'm out $900 bucks. paid $900.00 for a 12% benchmark increase BFD.

Next time I'll go AMD regardless of what the Intel Fanboys on this site say! Core 2 E6300 has been a major disappointmet in speed.

Priceless

 

[Shadow703793]

Well, if you really want a good AM2 motherboard go with the NF590, oc's well, stable, and has SLI. I have used this on 2 builds for a friend and it runs fine with a X2 5400 and a X2 6000. But you might have to do some thing about the heat tho. But what I still don't get is why you are building a X2 set up?

 

[fender22]

Well, if you really want a good AM2 motherboard go with the NF590, oc's well, stable, and has SLI. I have used this on 2 builds for a friend and it runs fine with a X2 5400 and a X2 6000. But you might have to do some thing about the heat tho. But what I still don't get is why you are building a X2 set up?

Maybe for a path to Barcy? In that case, I would still wait for Am2+ and ddr3 and all that mumbo jumbo