Recommend me an AM3 Mobo! (No ASUS please!)

[DoubleEcho]

I'm looking for a replacement board for my Asus M4N75TD. I've been working with ASUS support and the support has been useless at best. The system will randomly freeze and then not POST with a red MemOK LED, even with RAM on their compatibility list. It's a crapshoot on hitting the MemOK button if it'll boot or not. I've even breadboarded the system and the same issue occurs, and I have no interest in RMAing this board due to the fact that I've found so many other stories of this occuring with this board. Asking me to reinstall Windows for an issue where the system will not even POST makes it seem like there's no reading comprehension going on (Note: When I did finally get it to POST I reinstalled Win7 and tada, the same issues occured again).

I'm saying this just so you realize WHY I'm not considering ASUS - I'm not interested in getting burned again!

I want a board that has decent overclocking capabilities. Must support at least a 125W CPU (AMD Phenom II 955 BE) and G.SKILL Ripjaws DRAM (4x2GB). Must be SSD friendly (60GB Crucial C300) - SATA 6GB would be nice but isn't a requirement. I'd like it to have a true PCI-E x16 slot but again this isn't a dealbreaker if it's only 2x8.

I don't need onboard video either - I have a Sapphire Radeon HD 5700 PCI card.

Please let me know what you'd recommend - the more user experience you have with the board, the better! I want to know not only the good stuff but any quirks you've learned about too.

 

[itzdanielp]

Before you flame me, know that I did read your *entire* post.

I understand your hesitation with Asus, but the Sabertooth 990FX I can personally vouch for being an extremely solid and reliable board.

I had an M5A97 (which like your board is one of Asus's 'Budget' boards) and had absolutely nothing but trouble from it. Which struck me as odd since I have never had trouble with them in the past.

I decided to get a new board, so I stopped by my local Fry's to see what they had, hoping for a solid Gigabyte board. They didn't have any in stock, so I was left with Asus and MSI. So, I decided that I would give Asus 1 more try, and went with the Sabertooth.

The quality difference between the boards is night and day. And I have not had a single issue with it. You are looking for decent OC'ing which is where the 10phase voltage regulator is going to shine on this board, and I have all 4 DIMMS populated with 4GB chips, and it is rock solid at a nice OC. I currently have my 980BE at 4.42 stable on air.

It has SATA 3 and SATA 2 ports. and SLI/xFire is 2x16


I have a good deal of experience with this board, and I can say that the M4N75 is nothing to judge Asus by. But if you absolutely can't stomach Asus, I would go with a good Gigabyte board.

 

[DoubleEcho]

Trust me I won't flame you I'll put some research into the 990FX with an open mind, I promise!

 

[itzdanielp]

Another option (Gigabyte) with 2x16

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

 

[DoubleEcho]

That's a slick looking board

Those are some good options, thank you! I'm going to do some comparison between those two - I don't want to rush into buying a board. And I think this is the last time I'll be paying less than $100 for a decent motherboard. My previous board was an ASRock 939 Dual SATA2 and I got the AM2CPU upgrade card for it - that thing was $120-130ish when I bought it and I loved it. I even bought another one with an AM2 card and gave it to my parents, and my original one to my sister. Both are still running flawlessly to this day!

 

[beenthere]

Having used all the major mobo brands over the past 20 years I never recommend Asus as IME they are RAM sensitive, less reliable than other brands and as you've witnessed their Tech Support is seriously lacking.

I recommend Gigabyte mobos for performance and reliability. They have a complete line-up to suit everyone's needs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007625%2050001314%20600138080&IsNodeId=1&name=AM3%2b

 

[scapegoat_44]

ASUS Sabertooth +1

You might wanna look at tis : http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sabertooth-990fx-990fxa-ud7-990fxa-gd80,3068-18.html

 

[megamanx00]

I'd say go with this

ASRock 970 EXTREME4 $109.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157262

or if you really want two 16x slots for CF

ASRock 990FX Extreme3 $129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157281

 

[jitpublisher]

My personal experience with Gigabyte and the last 3 AMD+ I had, I cannot in good faith suggest Gigabyte over an ASUS product. I have had my problems with both, but more so with Gigabyte. Although personally I have never had one, if I was buying new I may be inclined to give the ASRock boards a shot right now, they seem to be great boards with higher end features and value pricing.

 

[megamanx00]

ASRock has a pretty useful website. Personally I like their boards.