AMD Phenom II X4 965BE advice

[CYMREIG]

Hi im looking for a mobo to buy for an AMD Phenom II X4 965BE
im not to bothered about the price since im doing a full system upgrade.

Would like
1. Gigabyte, MSI, or ASUS
2. DDR3 support
3. SLI support
4. Not needed: on-board graphics

Im currently looking at 1600mhz Dominator Gt Dhx Memory Kit Cl7(7-7-7-20) for my ram so would like it if the mobo supported it

Thanks in advance

 

[saint19]

Hi newcomer and welcome to the Tom't hardware forum.

1- In other to the best options: Gigabyte, ASUS, MSI.
2- All AM3 mobos support DDR3
3- If you want a very good performance, don't get a mobo with nVidia chipset. Go for AMD chipset and ATI GPU
4- Agree, the best mobos don't comes with onboard video.

With that suggestions, this are your options:

1- Gigabyte 790FXTA
2- ASUS Crosshair III if you can find one, because the Crosshair IV comes out this year.
3- MSI 790FX-GD70, but this MSI 890FX-GD70 comes out in Q2 2010.

Choose the best for your budget.

 

[CYMREIG]

Hmm i was looking at all 3 boards before i asked the question, in your opinion what one would you say is the better of the 3, or should i wait another few months for Crosshair IV and MSI 890FX-GD70 to be released?

Im asking this cos the budget between the cheapest and most expensive board is less than £10 so doesn't really break my bank if i get the more expensive one

 

[saint19]

Hmm i was looking at all 3 boards before i asked the question, in your opinion what one would you say is the better of the 3, or should i wait another few months for Crosshair IV and MSI 890FX-GD70 to be released?

Im asking this cos the budget between the cheapest and most expensive board is less than £10 so doesn't really break my bank if i get the more expensive one

Well, the MSI 890FX wil be a monster, BUT if you want buy the mobo now I would go for the Gigabyte. The crosshair IV will support the X6, but until know I don't know when exactly comes out, the MSI comes out in Q2.

Now, the Crosshair III is one of the best mobos, but is expensive if you compare this with the Gigabyte 790FXTA that support SATA III and USB 3.0 for less price.

 

[CYMREIG]

Well I had a quick look around and the X6 is released in April or May but not 100% sure of that since its just speculation.

I'm not planning on getting everything right now I'm going to be getting everything in a month or 2 so I could wait for the 890fx or the Crosshair IV and it could also give me an opportunity to look at the X6 and see if I want to get that or stick with the X4 965BE

And in the UK you can get the MSI 890FX for £138.09 and the Crosshair IV for £145.09 so the price difference really isn't an issue with the 2 mobo's

 

[saint19]

Good, I'm waiting for the 890FX, and also upgrade my GPU and RAM.

 

[Mischief07]

My Asus mobo just crapped out on me and I need a replacement.
I'm thinking I may as well upgrade my cpu, however I've got a 8800GTX, and I would prefer not to replace it.

Will my video card work with a Gigabyte 790FXTA? Or do I need to go with an ATI card?

Also I've got a 3rd party CPU heatsink for my AM2 X2 6000+, do the AM3 sockets use the same heatsinks? It'd be nice not to have to replace.

 

[saint19]

Yeah, you can install you 8800GTX in that mobo wihtout problems, but you can't install a 2nd 8800GTX for SLI.

The AM2+ socket and AM3 use the same heatsinks, and you can use that heatsink on your AM3 processor, BUT you can't install and AM2+ processor in a socket AM3.

 

[CYMREIG]

Thanks saint19 you've made up my mind going to wait for the MSI 890FX before i start buying stuff

 

[saint19]

Any time, that's why we are here.