Help me decide what MoBo to get

[siberian]

Hi guys, need help deciding which one to get with these 3 Mobos:

ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890FX
MSI 890FXA-GD70 AM3 AMD 890FX
ASRock 890FX Deluxe4 AM3 AMD 890FX

As you can see all of it is a 890FX chipset, but i dont know which one will be better with my chosen specs:

Phenom II X4 965 (3.4G) 8mb black ed
Kingston 2GB 1333 MHz DDR3 x 2
WDC Blue 500GB
FSP Epsilon 600w 80+
MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
AeroCool VS-9

If you have some advice with the other parts let me know. Thanks

 

[sportsfanboy]

The MSI and Asrock boards have better voltage regulation, you can tell by the 8 pin cpu power plug, as opposed to the 4 pin on the Asus.

Asus should have an eight phase or better board as well, but you will have to pay for it.

Out of the three on you list I would choose the MSI board.

All that said, I would grab this board over all three

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131655&cm_re=890FX-_-13-131-655-_-Product

 

[BenHarper87]

How important is voltage regulation? I've never come across it before!

 

[sportsfanboy]

It's more important if your going to overclock, but it helps when your not as well.

Better voltage regulation means you can set lower voltage values in bios. Effectively lowering heat and your electric bill.

 

[gordon_81]

read this http://www.anandtech.com/show/3877/asrock-890fx-deluxe-full-review-and-an-investigation-of-thuban-performance-scaling get an x6 and OC it, if you are not overclocking dont get an 890fx board its a bit of a waste

 

[Timop]

870FX boards are pointless for you, especially with a GTX460. Since you cant SLI anyways, you're paying more for a name.

I would suggest a HD6850/70 with the ASrock 870 Extreme3, you get better performance, room for expansion, great crossfire scaling if you plan to for less.

 

[gordon_81]

870FX boards are pointless for you, especially with a GTX460. Since you cant SLI anyways, you're paying more for a name.

I would suggest a HD6850/70 with the ASrock 870 Extreme3, you get better performance, room for expansion, great crossfire scaling if you plan to for less.

agree with you 100% i didnt see that he was getting a gtx 460, the ATI 6xxx series is a better choice a 6870 is better than a gtx 460 1gb by quite a bit and the 6850 fits right in between the gtx 460 786mb and the gtx 460 1gb , and of course you cant SLI on an amd board

 

[Timop]

agree with you 100% i didnt see that he was getting a gtx 460, the ATI 6xxx series is a better choice a 6870 is better than a gtx 460 1gb by quite a bit and the 6850 fits right in between the gtx 460 786mb and the gtx 460 1gb

Don't know what reviews you've been reading, but the 6850 is actually slightly better than the 460 1GB in most games (Obviously excluding Farcry2, and JustCause2), while the 6870 is more or less on par with the GTX470.

 

[gordon_81]

The radeon hd 6850 should slide in ahead of the Radeon HD 5830 for $180 or so. that was quoted from the toms hardware review. 5830 vs gtx 460 786 mb http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/156?vs=171 assuming the 6850 is a bit better than the 5830 it should slot in between the gtx 460 786mb and the gtx 460 1gb

 

[gordon_81]

also from the toms review "the radeon hd 6870 promises Radeon HD 5850-class performance at roughly $240."

 

[Timop]

The radeon hd 6850 should slide in ahead of the Radeon HD 5830 for $180 or so. that was quoted from the toms hardware review. 5830 vs gtx 460 786 mb http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/156?vs=171 assuming the 6850 is a bit better than the 5830 it should slot in between the gtx 460 786mb and the gtx 460 1gb

Well, heres the numbers from TPU's review. http://tpucdn.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6850/images/perfrel.gif

 

[gordon_81]

benchmarks

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-10.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-11.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-11.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-13.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-13.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-15.html


http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-16.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-17.html

in all cases the gtx 460 1gb is better than the 6850

but the 6850 is about $20 cheaper, on newegg the cheapest 6850 is $179 and the cheapest gtx 460 1gb is $199

 

[sportsfanboy]

I'm sure the 6850 uses less power than the gtx 460 as well, correct me if I'm wrong

 

[gordon_81]

I'm sure the 6850 uses less power than the gtx 460 as well, correct me if I'm wrong

you are right, im not saying the 6850 is a bad buy, im just saying according to the toms hardware benchmarks the gtx 460 1gb is better, if i was buying i would get the 6850 over the gtx 460 1gb though, apparently crossfires scaling has improved quite a bit, 2 6870s are on par with 2 5870s

 

[Timop]

benchmarks

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-10.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-11.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-11.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-13.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-13.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-15.html


http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-16.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6870-radeon-hd-6850-barts,review-32028-17.html

in all cases the gtx 460 1gb is better than the 6850

but the 6850 is about $20 cheaper, on newegg the cheapest 6850 is $179 and the cheapest gtx 460 1gb is $199

Did you just read how the cards are ordered and not see anything about the actual fps?

In 3 of the 6 benchmarks you linked, the 6850 out performed the GTX460 1GB while on the other 2, the 6850 won as you upped the resolution. Only in JC2, a very Nvidia-biased game (Hence its bundled with GTX460s at launch), the 6850 loses by a small margin.

 

[sportsfanboy]

I really don't like the naming scheme. It should be the 6750

 

[siberian]

870FX boards are pointless for you, especially with a GTX460. Since you cant SLI anyways, you're paying more for a name.

I would suggest a HD6850/70 with the ASrock 870 Extreme3, you get better performance, room for expansion, great crossfire scaling if you plan to for less.

How about ASRock 880G EXTREME3 is it better? If not, is there any Mobos other than ASrock 870 Extreme3 that would you say equal or slightly better like MSI mobos? or Asus perhaps?

And for the GPU, XFX HD-685X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6850 or SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850? Which one has your vote?

 

[Timop]

How about ASRock 880G EXTREME3 is it better? If not, is there any Mobos other than ASrock 870 Extreme3 that would you say equal or slightly better like MSI mobos? or Asus perhaps?

And for the GPU, XFX HD-685X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6850 or SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850? Which one has your vote?

The 880 is the 870 with an IGP, which since you're using a discrete GPU, have no use for. So you'll be just wasting money.

For boards other than the ASrock Extreme3s, you can look at the older MSI/ASUS/Gigabyte 790X boards, as well as newer (also more expensive) 890GX boards, But for the rpice, you cant really feat the features the ASRock 870 Extreme3 offers.

On the 6850, get the sapphire. The XFX isn't worth the $20 extra.

 

[siberian]

Thanks Timop, I think im going for ASRock 890GX Extreme3, im also considering crossfire as soon as i get my 2nd GPU

 

[siberian]

Best answer selected by siberian.

 

[sportsfanboy]

The extra 20 dollars on the xfx is probably for the 2x life time warranty. That way you can sell the card with a lifetime left on it.

 

[Timop]

The extra 20 dollars on the xfx is probably for the 2x life time warranty. That way you can sell the card with a lifetime left on it.

Lifetime warranty should be a plus, not a feature you pay for.
Also, after 2/3 years, the cards wont be worth much anymore, so I wouldnet say the XFX is a good deal.

However, since the Sapphire is sold-out too, wait for the Gigabyte instead, the windforce cooler is decent.

 

[sportsfanboy]

It's a "Double life time" warranty, XFX is the only country that I know of that does that. It has it's uses if your the type that upgrades every year or so.