Motherboard for oc?

[Espada]

Okay i am getting a new comp and I wanna make the final thoughts about it now and need help with this certain motherboard.
I do plan on overclocking but not right when i get or i might just to do a stress test and benchmarks. but i play on doing in down the road and keeping it at that.
Getting either a phenom II x4 955be or 965be (hoping to OC it to 4.0GHZ)
i heard that its a good thing to overclock the northbridge on the motherboard.
either the GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128443
or
the msi 870A-G54
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130275
and of course the asus ASUS M4A87TD EVO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131647

which one will be the best in overclocking/heat?
and should either way put a new heatsink on the nb?
and can someone explain mosfet cooling? <-- and should i do that.
i have a 750W psu
either gonna wait to see the 6770 or get the 5850 if it isnt that much an imporevment. and use my 9600 gt for right now.

 

[Wolygon]

Hello.

The reason people say to OC the "northbridge" is because they do not have a BE processor. A black edition CPU has an unlocked multiplier meaning you can OC it without changing the FSB. This is how manufacturers sell high or lower clocked models of the same CPU, by changing the multiplier.

For example the 965 has a 1 higher multiplier then the 955. Which is silly because the user can do this themself. This makes the 965 not worth it for OCers.

4GHz is not an extreme OC and thus any old motherboard can handle it even without a BE CPU. So don't be too picky about it.

You should be more worried about crossfire performance. When running multiple GPUs the PCIe lanes are either x8/x8 or x16/x4. All the motherboards you have selected are x16/x4, this is a bad bottleneck when crossfiring any decent setup like 2 HD5770s. So if you think you may ever XFire then you should get a board which supports x8/x8.

Also you should worry about an aftermarket cooler, the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ is a very good one for your needs. Newegg is a little expensive for $38 though amazon has it for $30.

If you haven't bought your parts yet you could consider waiting for the AM3+ boards which will support the new Bulldozer CPUs. These should be out soon, they are known as AM3r.

Hope that helps.

 

[Espada]

yea i read about the am3+ and the 6000 series from amd. but not sure when the am3+ will come out? i know the 6000series should be out late this year or jan next year. and what about crossfire is there a difference from x8/x8 or x16/x16? and when i mean difference like a freaking good 10% or 15% difference. and im guessing the am3+ should come with the 9xx amd? and is 890gx vs 890fx a big difference?

 

[Wolygon]

The 67X0 series will be out in like two weeks, then the 68X0s will be out a month after that. I'm not sure when the AM3r (AM3+) will be out, though I thought it would be before the BD launch. BD launch is I believe Dec or Jan.

There is basically no performance increase with x16/x16 over x8/x8 with 2 cards. Though once going past two cards it is very important as the x8/x8 will become for example x8/x4/x4.

The FX has x16/x16 crossfire, whereas the 890GX has x8/x8. There is also the 890X which doesn't have the onboard graphics.

 

[Espada]

Best answer selected by Espada.