Crosshair iii vs M4a89gtd PRO/USB3

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Hmm...do you mean ASUS Crosshair IV by chance? If so then the ASUS Crosshair IV.

Taking it literally- If the 6-core is listed on the C3F then the C3F otherwise the M4A89GTD PRO/USB. Couple reasons: the 790FX isn't much slower and doesn't have an onboard GPU taking up resources including Physical RAM and PCIe bandwidth. Keep in mind the C3F is EOL.

Crosshair III Formula AMD 790FX/SB750 CF 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (@ dual x16) http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=2Y4dQFaJ6gPN18cQ
Phenom IIX6 1035T(HDT35TWFK6DGR),2.6GHz,95W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1602
Phenom IIX6 1045T(HDT45TWFK6DGR),2.7GHz,95W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1904
Phenom IIX6 1055T(HDT55TFBK6DGR),2.8GHz,125W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1602
Phenom IIX6 1055T(HDT55TWFK6DGR),2.8GHz,95W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1602
Phenom IIX6 1075T(HDT75TFBK6DGR),3.0GHz,125W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1904
Phenom IIX6 1090T(HDT90ZFBK6DGR),3.2GHz,125W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1602


ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX/SB850 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 support ATI CrossFireX™ technology(@dual x8 speed) http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=eCWbkolMf0DOW0IV

Phenom IIX6 1035T(HDT35TWFK6DGR),2.6GHz,95W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1301
Phenom IIX6 1045T(HDT45TWFK6DGR),2.7GHz,95W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1606
Phenom IIX6 1055T(HDT55TFBK6DGR),2.8GHz,125W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1301
Phenom IIX6 1055T(HDT55TWFK6DGR),2.8GHz,95W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1301
Phenom IIX6 1065T(HDT65TWFK6DGR),2.9GHz,95W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1606
Phenom IIX6 1075T(HDT75TFBK6DGR),3.0GHz,125W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1606
Phenom IIX6 1090T(HDT90ZFBK6DGR),3.2GHz,125W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1301
Phenom IIX6 1100T(HDE00ZFBK6DGR),3.3GHz,125W,rev.E0,SocketAM3,6-Core ALL
1606

This is my first build and I'm still learning. Is the Crosshair Formula IV vastly superior to the Crosshair Formula III?

Vastly - NO! Better yes.

Depending upon your budget, here's a few that I now run just fine - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submi...|13-131-644^13-131-644-02%23,13-157-196^13-157-196-TS,13-131-655^13-131-655-TS,13-157-188^13-157-188-TS,13-131-363^13-131-363-TS