AMD 870 chipset and above

[GloomyBear]

Hi Everyone,

I'm just starting to learn about what to look for in a motherboard, and this kinda popped out at me when looking at northbridges. I was reading up on the AMD 800 series northbridges, since the motherboard I'm considering buying has an 870. It seems that the main difference between the 870 and the 880G and 880GX is a lack of onboard video and crossfire support. Does this mean that if I'm planning on only using one video card I'd be wasting money by going with an 880? In the build I have planned that's the only PCI E device I'd be using, so I wouldn't even be approaching the 22 lanes. Is the only upgrade that I'd benefit from be the IOMMU on the 890FX, or is there a more subtle difference that I'm not seeing? Also, does unused onboard video cause any waste, either in power or performance?

EDIT: Sorry, I just saw that there's a whole chipset forum. My apologies for the miscategorization.

 

[o1die]

I like having onboard video for a backup in case the separate card fails. Never use multiple cards anyway. There's no waste or additional energy consumption leaving onboard video unused. I use the biostar A880G+, and can't recommend it enough for a low cost 2 slot ram board. It's small, but does everything I need. Your main call is whether to pay a little more for usb 3.0 and sata 6, two features you may want.