AM3+ or AM3 mobo?

[tiboilou]

Hi everybody,

I'm looking for a low budget rig : AM3(+) mobo + X2 555 BE + radeon card 6770$.

My purpose is to watch online videos and play DX11 games at 720P with acceptable frame rate .

Even if I fail to unlock the cores, I'd like to overclock 😀 . And I prefer MATX since it's for my living room LCD 40" TV.

Mmmm which Mobo would you choose?

~110$ AM3+
ASUS M5A88-M (MATX)
MSI 970A-G45 (ATX)
GA-880GM-USB3 rev.3 (MATX)

~$70 AM3
ASUS M4N68T-M, Nvidia chipset (MATX, 7025/nForce 630a)
BIOSTAR A870 (ATX, 870/SB850 SATA 6Gb/s)
MSI 880GM-E35 (MATX, 880G/SB710)

Is it really worth it to get a AM3+ since Bulldozer is thumb down as I heard and Sata 3 might be useless without a really good SSD $$$?

 

[beenthere]

Definitely go for the AM3+ mobo as they are almost the same price and you have an upgrade path for awhile. Bulldozer is good for heavy threading apps. It may get better with Piledriver which might work on an AM3+ socket????

Based on building high end PCs for over 20 years I'd recommend Gigabyte mobos over Asus for performance and reliability. IME Asus is very RAM sensitive and they have little to no customer support.

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

 

[suteck]

I would go with the GA-880GM-USB3 rev.3. I don't like the MSI boards and my opinion of the biostar boards is worse. ASUS is ok but they seem to be having trouble lately with an increase in rma's. Gigabyte is reliable as beenthere says and evern though you don't plan on doing too much with it at first when the time comes you gonna want the best board already in place. AM3+ is the way to go.

 

[tiboilou]

I would go with the GA-880GM-USB3 rev.3. I don't like the MSI boards and my opinion of the biostar boards is worse. ASUS is ok but they seem to be having trouble lately with an increase in rma's. Gigabyte is reliable as beenthere says and evern though you don't plan on doing too much with it at first when the time comes you gonna want the best board already in place. AM3+ is the way to go.

I am tempted by this mobo. But 2 people mentions on Newegg feedback that FX series CPU is still not supported even if Gigabyte mentions it is. Ironically, when I take a look supported CPU list on Gygabyte web site, the FX ones are not there.

Asus supports CPU up to 140w so that give flexibilty for overclocking compare to the Gigabytes 125W.

I am wondering now if I want to deal with Asus memory support issues or unsupported futur CPU.

What is your opinion on that?

 

[tiboilou]

Anybody has a Bulldozer cpu and GA-880GM-USB3 rev.3 working?

 

[suteck]

If you like the asus board then all you need to do is go by their memory support list, (QVL), and you won't have any trouble with memory. They have already tested what they list and guarantee it to work. As long as you pick ram from that list that's supported in all memory slots you will not have any trouble - I never do, have trouble that is because I go by their list.

 

[joe_newbuilder]

Do you have a specific reason wanting an 880 based mother board? I have one and now that I have a discreet graphics card, the 6750, I have to say that I would have rather gone with 770,870,9X0 board.

If you don't need on-board graphics and $110 is in your budget why not something like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767
?

I'd also say you should get an AM3+ board. In the future the bulldozer chips will get cheaper and you can just pop one in, as opposed to needing a new motherboard. My thought is that you will want to replace your CPU long before your entire rig.

That is my 2 cents.

To directly answer your questions, of what you chose I'd say the MSI 970A-G45 is the best choice.

Though I'm getting keener and keener on ASUS products the more I read on them.

 

[tiboilou]

Do you have a specific reason wanting an 880 based mother board? I have one and now that I have a discreet graphics card, the 6750, I have to say that I would have rather gone with 770,870,9X0 board.

If you don't need on-board graphics and $110 is in your budget why not something like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767
?

I'd also say you should get an AM3+ board. In the future the bulldozer chips will get cheaper and you can just pop one in, as opposed to needing a new motherboard. My thought is that you will want to replace your CPU long before your entire rig.

That is my 2 cents.

To directly answer your questions, of what you chose I'd say the MSI 970A-G45 is the best choice.

Though I'm getting keener and keener on ASUS products the more I read on them.

The 880 would give the chance to wait for a good price 6770 or 6750 like yours. But it is not necessary.

Yeah, the Asus mobo your are showing me on Newegg is quite interesting but have issues too. I am wondering if New egg feedback really makes sense since none of them are perfects.

Talking about Asus, I forgot to mention Asrock (a cie that belongs to Asus) http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157244. It looks quite reliable compare to the others.

About MSI 970A-G45, I found this page and I got disappointed : http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/933301-help-phenom-ii-x4-b55-overclock.html. Briefly, I could kill the board by trying to overclock.

I will keep reading since nothing is perfect until I found one that will suit my needs.

Am i reading too much? lol

 

[joe_newbuilder]

Well I took the waiting route but the 880g really isn't enough to do any gaming. I only play StarcraftII even on the lowest settings the framerate could bog down to below acceptable. It was fine for everything else.

I only waited a month or two and think I could have wound up with a better overall system for less money If I just ponied up for a FX motherboard since the on-board graphics do nothing for me now.

As far as reading goes it seems good to do. I typically look for the feedback to see how many negative reviews vs positive ones and when they were posted. Actually based on the feedback for the ASUS board I posted the link to there are a lot of poor reviews in the past month or so, Basically DOA. The positive reviews are older so something may have happened to the build quality.

Most motherboards really should be fine. I own the a Gigabyte 880g board and it seems pretty solid. I only had one issue where if I OC to far the system wound not power on. I would have to unplug it from the wall and wait. Other than that issue I was able to over clock the built in graphics something on the order of 75%, even them it only provided modest performance in games.

Just make sure you get plenty of well spaced PIC-E slots,Sata III, USB 3.0, and you should be good for a few years.

 

[tiboilou]

Well I took the waiting route but the 880g really isn't enough to do any gaming. I only play StarcraftII even on the lowest settings the framerate could bog down to below acceptable. It was fine for everything else.

I only waited a month or two and think I could have wound up with a better overall system for less money If I just ponied up for a FX motherboard since the on-board graphics do nothing for me now.

As far as reading goes it seems good to do. I typically look for the feedback to see how many negative reviews vs positive ones and when they were posted. Actually based on the feedback for the ASUS board I posted the link to there are a lot of poor reviews in the past month or so, Basically DOA. The positive reviews are older so something may have happened to the build quality.

Most motherboards really should be fine. I own the a Gigabyte 880g board and it seems pretty solid. I only had one issue where if I OC to far the system wound not power on. I would have to unplug it from the wall and wait. Other than that issue I was able to over clock the built in graphics something on the order of 75%, even them it only provided modest performance in games.

Just make sure you get plenty of well spaced PIC-E slots,Sata III, USB 3.0, and you should be good for a few years.

So I am better off with something else that the 880 series. I got the same advice from a co-worker who always buy high end systems for gaming :" never buy any mobo with integrated gpu". But since GPU cards do most of the job, the fps might not have been much different. As for support for the futur components, this is a different story.

Thanks for reading Newegg feedback for me. Reading the last reviews make sense. I would take a deeper look on Gigabytes mobos. Seems to be a fair choice since Asus is not in the game.

Thanks for the input.

 

[drew455]

so the only reason you're suggesting something other than an 880G is because of the integrated graphics? or is there something else wrong with them?

 

[charon711]

I would probably go with a am3+ board just for the extra tweak features you can do. especially if the board has uefi

 

[drew455]

well i ask cuz i just bought an 880G am3+ board in hopes that it will work with an am3+ cpu in the future. bulldozer cpu's are on AsRock's support list so who knows. but i chose a phenom II for this build anyway. good decision?

 

[cyberkuberiah]

good

 

[charon711]

really good if those extra 2 cores unlock and are stable

 

[suteck]

As for the asrock board they have always in the past been a half baked economy board. It isn't until recently that they started producing a quality board that's reliable. I wouldn't put much stock in the older ones.

In rev 3.1 of GA-880GM-USB3 rev.3 (MATX) it has support for the FX series cpu's, (some of them). Just GO HERE and under "processor series" pick which FX series you're talking about and then click "choose model" and it will give you a list of motherboards that support that processor. Or just click through them and see what you like. Yours comes up under the FX 4100 - by yours I mean the one you specified on your first post.

If your budget is @ or just under $100 then I would go with something like this GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard. Newer tech so it's easier to upgrade when the time comes. As for support for the 140W cpu's for overclocking No manufacturer carries warrenties for overclocking errors. If you overclock and burn something it doesn't matter even if the board is marketed as "AWARDED BEST OVERCLOCKER OF THE YEAR" you overclock it messes up you're on your own. I own the X58A-OC,(Gigabyte) which is designed specifically for overclockers, but if I screw it up it's on me. If you only meant that you will want to upgrade down the road to a 140w cpu then I'm pretty sure bios updates will cover those in time like they did when the 6/12 core came out. And I'm with everyone else on the integrated graphics on the motherboard. You won't use it unless your card fries and it's just wasted space and power draw when you never plan on using it. You want integrated graphics??? I say go with Sandybridge

The reviews you're reading at newegg are a select few from hundreds if not thousands of people who buy boards from newegg. They are an equal opportunity opinion poll and they show mostly even complaints and likes so that 1, they are covered and not held accountable if something is wrong with the board and 2, don't try to sway you one way or the other so they not used as free, (or paid) publicity for any company.

 

[tiboilou]

well i ask cuz i just bought an 880G am3+ board in hopes that it will work with an am3+ cpu in the future. bulldozer cpu's are on AsRock's support list so who knows. but i chose a phenom II for this build anyway. good decision?

For the same price as 880g, I could get a 970 with no video on board. That is if you need the 970 extra features :
-Real crossfire (not hybrid)
-Support for 8 cores CPU
-"Full" support for FX series CPU
-Futur Hypertransport 3.1 (6400MTS/s rather than 5200MT/s).

Since 880G will support Bulldozer (black socket) and Bulldozer is cap at 5200MT/s, the only left interesting feature is real crossfire and 8 cores CPU support. Personnally, I don't believe 8 cores will be helpful at all in most of today's applications and games. Crossfire could be interesting if I plan to do it.

 

[suteck]

Personnally, I don't believe 8 cores will be helpful at all in most of today's applications and games. Crossfire could be interesting if I plan to do it.

That's true of today's uses but if you don't plan on upgrading the whole rig anytime soon then it's better future proofing when they will start using them. It's hard to believe the hardware has surpassed the software. But have no fear - the software will catch up. And the crossfire will be ready when you are cause it's already on the board.

 

[joe_newbuilder]

I would suggest not getting the 880 if you aren't using the integrated graphics. There are more slot options on boards that do not have built in graphics. If you keep this system around for a few years you may wind up wanting to add a sata IV, thunderbolt card or a PCI-E based SSD.

If you don't want to use it you are paying for something you don't need.

I wouldn't say asus is out of the running as they have a good reputation on other products. I think it may be a product to product thing. You may find a bad gigabyte board as well. It's a bit frustrating but the build quality is pretty variable product to product, even from good manufacturers.

we really need a consumer reports for computer parts.

 

[joe_newbuilder]

I would suggest not getting the 880 if you aren't using the integrated graphics. There are more slot options on boards that do not have built in graphics. If you keep this system around for a few years you may wind up wanting to add a sata IV, thunderbolt card or a PCI-E based SSD.

If you don't want to use it you are paying for something you don't need.

I wouldn't say asus is out of the running as they have a good reputation on other products. I think it may be a product to product thing. You may find a bad gigabyte board as well. It's a bit frustrating but the build quality is pretty variable product to product, even from good manufacturers.

we really need a consumer reports for computer parts.

 

[tiboilou]

If your budget is @ or just under $100 then I would go with something like this GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard. Newer tech so it's easier to upgrade when the time comes.

I finally bought the GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 you proposed. I compared the quality and features of different ~$100 mobos and I must say can not find better then Gigabytes for now.

Your X58A-OC mobo is aw some. This is server built quality! I was surprised to see that they put smt caps within the CPU sockets. The voltage must be really stable around there. You surely have no worries when overclocking!

Thanks for helping.

 

[tiboilou]

Best answer selected by tiboilou.