Motherboard and memory for Bulldozer

anatorax

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Mar 7, 2010
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Hi guys!

I am doing a lot of work with Matlab and since some stuff gets very computatioinally intensive I thought about switching from my Athlon II 635 and crappy Gigabyte 790XT-USB3 to Bulldozer. My semester has just started and I will be busy later, so I thought of putting a new motherboard in right now and adding the CPU and memory later. The question is what would be the best Bulldozer motherboard?

I intend to use it with some close-to-the-top Bulldozer CPU and overclock it. I am a total noob in OC'ing, but seems I will have to learn it to get my algorithms compile in 5 hours instead of 7 :sleep: Pretty much I could get even the ASUS Crosshair V, but first would like to know whether there are better options. Most importantly I don' want to have any issues with the mobo working unproperly later in time.

Thanks!
 


I think any of the 990FX boards would be suitable. I own the Gigabyte UD5 and I am very happy with that so far. It does not have the UEFI BIOS, but I am accustomed to the standard BIOS anyway. I have seen it for $175.
One thing of note, the UD5 has a reputation for Vdroop and I have noticed this as well. I haven't noticed that it is detrimental for overclocking but some folks will tell you it is important for a stable overclock. At any rate I am hoping a future BIOS update will fix these early adopter issues.

I certainly don't think you need a $250 mobo to reach the full potential of bulldozer. Other boards I recommend looking at are the ASUS Sabertooth, and msi GD80, which is on sale today for $175. And of course read as many reviews as you can before purchasing. Keep in mind these motherboards are fairly new and undergoing some growing pains.
 

anatorax

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Mar 7, 2010
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I took a lok at Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD* models and like the UD3 model a lot. The difference between UD3 and UD5 seems a bit obscure to me though. Could explain it in 2 words maybe?