Affordable Phenom Motherboard?

[JimGoose]

Hi, i've been looking for an affordable phenom motherboard for use with future B3 stepping phenom, but have been having a hard time.

So far i've found MSI K9N Neo-F3 and Asus M2N-E, but have heard that the M2N-E is virtually unoverclockable and neither have firewire. I don't need SLi, just 1 PCI-e slot will do.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Gravemind123]

Asus M3A is socket AM2+ capable but lacks Firewire, same with the Biostar TA770 motherboard.

If you want to pay a bit more, the GigaByte GA-MA770-DS3 has lots of rear-panel ports, but is a bit pricey.

 

[JimGoose]

Thanks, i'll look them up.

I just found ECS A770M AM2+ at $70, i'm going to buy all this when B3 comes out, so maybe the more expensive AM2+ will drop by then.

 

[SEALBoy]

This one is good if you can afford it.

I have this one, it can support Phenom but you will have to flash the BIOS to the F4 BIOS.

 

[WazzaUK]

omg lol....... why AMD? current intel cpu's are much faster......

 

[JimGoose]

i think phenom 9550 will be better price / performance vs. q6600 when it comes out in march (B3 stepping / fixed TLB)

whereas q6600 has stayed the same, even come up a little since x-mas. it was $260 CDN around x-mas at local shops, now it's $295 CDN, phenoms just keep dropping.

either way, i will wait to see what's best price/performance when the fixed TLB phenoms are out.

also, i would rather not support Intel if i can help it because they are a big part of the economy in a particular apartheid state that i will not mention :/

 

[WazzaUK]

lol...... (roswell again lol....)

 

[Xtreeme]

Actually amd has the $ per performance segment has for a long while. A $99 5000+ BE will get you ALOT more for the $ then a intel right now.
Dont forget BE has unlocked multi and is made specifically for overclocking (something else intel doesnt do).

My 5000+BE is at 3.1ghz with no vcore bump, idles at 27c, Id be glad to share benches to intels and make a $ ratio for you! Not to mention a really good oclock board on amd is $80! How much for a Intel board that really makes the cpu clock?

I considered both this last time. And while intel was faster, not nearly by enough to justify the cost for me. Dont forget AMD has the best mem latency too.

have this one, it can support Phenom but you will have to flash the BIOS to the F4 BIOS.

Dont get THAT board, why for $15 or so more you can get a REAL phenom board. Those only partly support it, just enough to work. AMD has said many times to FULLY support phenom with HT3 (faster bus) and the ability to use the advanced power saving tech you need a AM2+ board. Am2+ compatable is NOT the same. Thats just a cpu micro code update to bios so it can run it- but not with all its features. Get a true am2+ board for the money. Right now that means the AMD/ATI chipsets nvidia doesnt have it out yet ALL theirs are just compat not fully support am2+. Only 770,790 that are true am2+ right now.

Wait for the B3 revision Phenom is has the TLB (Look aside buffer for L3) erratta fixed. The ones out now will have a micro update applied that will drop the speed a bit how much we dont know yet. Best to just wait for the already fixed cores to be out in a month or two.