Which AM3+ MB To Get ?

[Uther39]

Just looking for opinions here, as im after an AM3+ MB and not sure what to get, or on the other hand do you chaps think that once BD is released they will bring out even better MB that will be able to utilize all BD features to the max, i was also looking for one with PCIe 3.0, but have failed thus far, below is what ive been looking at, what do you think?

LOW PRICE CHOICES
Asus M5A99X EVO AMD 990X AM3+ Motherboard

MSI 990FXA-GD65 AMD 990FX AM3+ Motherboard

HIGH PRICE CHOICES
Asus Sabertooth 990FX AMD 990FX AM3+ Motherboard

MSI 990FXA-GD80 AMD 990FX AM3+ Motherboard

 

[FinneousPJ]

Well, are you going for the high price ones or the low price? :lol:

I'd probably take MSI nevertheless, they have a good brand image in my mind.

 

[Uther39]

Exactly my point, is it worth paying the extra? Those boards are at the low to high end of my budget so any within that range is good. But like i said is it worth waiting for a better AM3+ MB once BD is released that will maybe for example have PCI3 3.0?

 

[mactronix]

Something i have been wondering myself actually. I came to the conclusion that waiting for actual benchmarks and testing was the only way to go. Unless you want the board now and wont upgrade to BD until the price drops a bit then your not gaining more than a few days ordering before the fact.
Once the chip is out i will make a decision, its going to come down to how the cores actually work and which BD compares to which SB etc. Are they really or at least do they perform like true cores is the point of what im saying just to be clear.
However unless there is a lot of potential for over clocking then i cant really justify the need for a Sabertooth over an EVO board for instance.
I'm in the UK and early pricing has the Sabertooth at~ £160 while the EVO is ~ £90.
The problem i have is im not going to want to run 2 graphics cards let alone 4 so im wasting money on PCIE slots when all i really want is a quality single PCIE MoBo witha full feature set as far as settings etc go.
It seems that if you want a really good board you have to have 3-4 GPU slots.

Mactronix

 

[Uther39]

Something i have been wondering myself actually. I came to the conclusion that waiting for actual benchmarks and testing was the only way to go. Unless you want the board now and wont upgrade to BD until the price drops a bit then your not gaining more than a few days ordering before the fact.
Once the chip is out i will make a decision, its going to come down to how the cores actually work and which BD compares to which SB etc. Are they really or at least do they perform like true cores is the point of what im saying just to be clear.
However unless there is a lot of potential for over clocking then i cant really justify the need for a Sabertooth over an EVO board for instance.
I'm in the UK and early pricing has the Sabertooth at~ £160 while the EVO is ~ £90.
The problem i have is im not going to want to run 2 graphics cards let alone 4 so im wasting money on PCIE slots when all i really want is a quality single PCIE MoBo witha full feature set as far as settings etc go.
It seems that if you want a really good board you have to have 3-4 GPU slots.

Mactronix

So were in the same boat then, i think i will wait, as with you i would just like a really good quality board with 1 x PCIe 3.0 slot, as i gave up on multi GPU set ups a long time ago and only now use high end single GPU set ups.

 

[beenthere]

The AM3+ mobos use all of the features of Bulldozer. The mobo companies develop the boards with AMD so they are properly designed.

For performance and reliability I recommend Gigabyte mobos based on my 20 years of building PCs and having used all of the major brands of mobos. For those wanting just one PCE-E slot the Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 or GA-990FXA-UD3 are good choices. If you need two PCI-E slots then the UD5 or UD7 would be the best choices.

You will notice that many hardware review sites use Gigabyte mobos for CPU, RAM and Vid card testing because of the performance and stability of Gigabyte mobos.

 

[Uther39]

Hmmm i hate gigabyte ive had lots of issues with them over the last 10 years.

 

[mactronix]

The AM3+ mobos use all of the features of Bulldozer. The mobo companies develop the boards with AMD so they are properly designed.

For performance and reliability I recommend Gigabyte mobos based on my 20 years of building PCs and having used all of the major brands of mobos. For those wanting just one PCE-E slot the Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 or GA-990FXA-UD3 are good choices. If you need two PCI-E slots then the UD5 or UD7 would be the best choices.

You will notice that many hardware review sites use Gigabyte mobos for CPU, RAM and Vid card testing because of the performance and stability of Gigabyte mobos.

Those boards look to me to be native AM3 boards that according to the Gigabyte web site need to be Bios updated to make them compatible with AM3+ CPU's.

These are the things i have read about when trying to find what constitutes a real AM3+ board and what the differences might be. http://www.techpowerup.com/144725/ASRock-Uses-Real-AM3+-Sockets-Lists-Out-Advantages-Over-AM3.html


Mactronix

 

[nforce4max]

This is what I got and is great for those who want the best all the away around connectivity such as legacy ports like ps2 while providing the most modern such as usb3.0 ect.

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

The only thing that I don't like is that the pcb is thin and the tabs at the end of the pci-e slots. The other minor thing is the push pins.