Not sure which motherboard is the best foundation for AM3+

anxious_galaxyhopper

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Hey guys, I am in the process of a new build in a CoolerMaster HAF 932 Advanced. It's currently a Frankenstein, as I have a lame Foxconn Aloe mobo from a pre-built HP with a Phenom II X4 945 3.0ghz (not oc'd and with stock AMD cooler) with a Radeon HD 4850. I have upgraded the power supply to a Corsair 850W. My next purchase is the mobo+ram and I am a bit torn on the three boards below. I know Asus and Gigabyte are great, as I've used them in the past.

I considered switching to Intel, but I just don't think it justifies adding the cost of a processor, as I would like to buy a nice graphics card quite soon as well (hopefully in the Radeon 6000 family). So, my question is, which of these three boards do you think is the best value for the money? I don't mind spending money if it will land me a rock solid mobo that lasts for years. Also, I DO know they are all AM3+, as I want to prepare for the release of Bulldozer :ange:

For reference, I'm currently planning to put 8gb of Gskill Ripjaw ram on the board, but I wanted a consensus on the board(s) first.

ASRock

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157266

Gigabyte

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514

Asus

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131736

 
Solution
I'd go for the gigabyte board because I've had a few not-so-great experiences with asus in the past, and it looks cooler out of three too.

And yes the ripjaws will work fine on that board, any dual channel ddr3 kit up to 1866 will infact.

wiinippongamer

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I'd go for the gigabyte board because I've had a few not-so-great experiences with asus in the past, and it looks cooler out of three too.

And yes the ripjaws will work fine on that board, any dual channel ddr3 kit up to 1866 will infact.
 
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anxious_galaxyhopper

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I get ya. Does the Gigabyte board have the EFI bios like Asus? I've heard that new interface is glorious and really intuitive.
 

joe_newbuilder

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A quick google search would answer that one!
Gigabyte does use UEFI but it doesn't work the same as the ASUS. ASUS is supposedly a full UEFI. Gigabyte uses a 'hybrid-efi' It an EFI bootloader with a bios to handle the functions after the Power On Self Test. It allows the the use of drives larger than 2.2 TB, but doesn't have the full gui configuration interface.

[http://techreport.com/discussions.x/20941]
 

anxious_galaxyhopper

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Yeah, I was at a concert on my phone, so laziness took over!

I don't mind if it's a hybrid as long as the interface is intelligible. I am honestly more torn between Gigabyte and ASRock at the moment. For the money, I just don't really see the need to spend the extra $30 just for the ASUS board. Do you have any experience with ASRock?
 

anxious_galaxyhopper

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Sounds good. It's just been so long since I've built, I feel rusty and out of practice :heink: The last time I built a custom was when Intel announced dual core processors! So, this is my first AMD build. Is there another Gigabyte board you feel is better, or did I nail it pretty well with that one?
 

anxious_galaxyhopper

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That could lead to fantastic results. I decided to go with the Gigabyte motherboard. Apparently they are at revision 1.2 for the board. It seems as though Newegg might still have a stock of old revisions. seeing as It's a bit cheaper to drive to a microcenter, do you think they will have old revisions as well?
 

anxious_galaxyhopper

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I DO want the newest revision. I was saying I hear reports that newegg still has a batch of the old revisions and I was asking if you thought a local microcenter may have the newest revisions in stock.