So I'm currently in a total deadlock between two mobos, the M5A97 and the M5A88-V EVO. The A97 is a little cheaper, and has UEFI bios, which is a major selling point for me. I'm a first time buyer and I'm a little worried about bios. However, the A88 has a GPU boost that could come in handy. I plan on overclocking and unlocking cores in the future.
The A88 seems to be a little easier to unlock cores with and boost my GPU, but bios worries me, and there isn't too much info out there on the board.
The A97 is a well known board that has great bios and good OC abilities. It does not advertise a GPU boost or Core-Unlocker, but I've at least read that it can unlock more cores if anything:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1078910/can-the-asus-m5a97-unlock-cores
How bad is the A88 bios? The UEFI reaallyy draws me to the A97. If you recommend any other boards, please know that I love the TPU/EPU switches ASUS offers, as well as the other auto OC and unlock features, so boards Sub $130 with those features would be awesome. I know auto OC isn't the best but it's good for newbies like myself
Here's my computer's specs if it helps:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 960T
GPU: XFX Radeon 6850
PSU: Corsair TX650 V2
RAM: G. Skills Ripjaws 8gb (4gbx2)
CPU Cooler: CM Hyper 212 EVO
HDD: Hitachi 7200rpm 500gb
Case: NZXT Gamma
**NOTE- all parts listed above are final
Links to the 2 boards:
M5A97:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767
M5A88-V EVO:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131733
The A88 seems to be a little easier to unlock cores with and boost my GPU, but bios worries me, and there isn't too much info out there on the board.
The A97 is a well known board that has great bios and good OC abilities. It does not advertise a GPU boost or Core-Unlocker, but I've at least read that it can unlock more cores if anything:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1078910/can-the-asus-m5a97-unlock-cores
How bad is the A88 bios? The UEFI reaallyy draws me to the A97. If you recommend any other boards, please know that I love the TPU/EPU switches ASUS offers, as well as the other auto OC and unlock features, so boards Sub $130 with those features would be awesome. I know auto OC isn't the best but it's good for newbies like myself
Here's my computer's specs if it helps:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 960T
GPU: XFX Radeon 6850
PSU: Corsair TX650 V2
RAM: G. Skills Ripjaws 8gb (4gbx2)
CPU Cooler: CM Hyper 212 EVO
HDD: Hitachi 7200rpm 500gb
Case: NZXT Gamma
**NOTE- all parts listed above are final
Links to the 2 boards:
M5A97:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767
M5A88-V EVO:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131733