Five AMD 890FX-Based Motherboards Compared

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Appreciate some advice. Am looking to build my own system with future upgrade-ability in mind and concluded that the AMD 890FX is a good platform to go, but my cpu/graphic needs are very, very modest for now. Simply need any speed x64 capable single core (Sempron 140 for $33 works!) to run a single-threaded application that I need 8GB of RAM. It's a serious technical trading application that I need to continue to run and yes it runs fine on my AMD Turon based work laptop in 64 bit mode; so, I'm quite confident about this, but I need more RAM as the application just quits once it reached the RAM limit in the laptop of 4GB.

For now, graphics and cpu speed/multi-core are not high on my list and I'm looking to error on being inexpensive, but with a minds-eye to making more upgrades in time as my finances improve; hopefully, within a year. So, I've scoured these forums/internet and it looks like the Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 (smaller form factor than the UD7 in this review) will support the Sempron 100 series as they're both AM3. So, I've decided for me to put my money in the motherboard and RAM, go cheap on the other components as I can live with that for now, BUT have the ability to upgrade in a year. When that comes, I have high expectations on upgrading the CPU, graphics and disk to support the higher end games and general purpose applications we use in our home.

I considering the UD5 given the ATX size and legacy support as I hope to just reuse my old Dell case, pci-based video card and an older ata hard drive I have. I doubt I can leverage the power supply/fans with this newer mobo. I cannot find anyone who has posted anything about a Sempron in this board probably as it's too new or just as likely no one's as cheap as me!

Call me crazy, but I don't like throwing my money away every year or 2; so, building on a solid base just makes good sense to me even if I have to sacrifice other games/applications and performance for now. Thoughts?

Thanks much in advance!
 
Seriously, I wouldn't care if these boxes had no SATA cables. Even over only a couple of mobo boxes over the past 5 years I have so many of these things I don't think I could use them all. If a new box was void of them to save money it would only save me money and give me an opportunity to utilize some unused stuff.
 
Curiously absent from this review is any mention of the Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5. This board provides essentially same performance and features as the UD7 in a standard ATX form and only at the expense of 4x crossfire and the clumsy NB cooling solution Keep in mind that for gaming rigs anything beyond a 2x crossfire makes minimal performance improvement and descends rapidly into diminishing returns relative to cost/benefit. The UD5 is also $70 cheaper.
Additionally, missing from this review is that the F2 BIOS has been out for both the UD5 & UD7 for a while now and the F3 BIOS Beta has recently been rumored to be around as well.
The UD5 has consistency turned in OC results on par with the UD7 and deserves at least an honorable mention as it is fully capable of trading blows with any board in this review.
 
[citation][nom]TA152H[/nom]890FX doesn't have USB 3.0, it has to be added with an external chip.But, I think what you're asking is the same thing I am curious about - are there any real changes to the Northbridge, or is it just an SB850 update.[/citation]
Only the biostar doesn't have usb3.0, look at the comparison chart.

[citation][nom]cangelini[/nom]http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 613-4.htmlCovered when the platform actually launched. In short, it's largely the same northbridge with an A-Link connection sporting twice the data rate (presumably for the SATA6Gb/s connectivity added to SB850).[/citation]
A 790FX vs 890FX is warranted and should have been included. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-890gx-radeon,2571-8.html
The 890GX is slower than the 790X. Your link only mentions the differences but shows no real world comparison.
 
[citation][nom]noob2222[/nom]Only the biostar doesn't have usb3.0, look at the comparison chart.A 790FX vs 890FX is warranted and should have been included. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-890gx-radeon,2571-8.html The 890GX is slower than the 790X. Your link only mentions the differences but shows no real world comparison.[/citation]

The only performance difference between 890FX and 790FX is in the SATA controller, something only revealed in PCMark. Great link for comparing 890GX to 890FX though, thanks!
 
I love my Gigabyte 890FX, it's awesome. Has the best layout for quad fire and has a LOT of USB and SATA connections. I'm not so into ASUS anymore however they do make good mobo's. I love the features of the Gigabyte 890FXA-UD7 especially the water cooling block and the packaging. MSI has let me down manytimes with their SO-SO software.

I had no problem setting up the Gigabyte for Linux or Windows Vista. Took about 30 mins. FYI it's a TALL board....
 
The conclusion didn't make a lot of sense. Gigabyte's mobo snatched about 3 1st places in a 20 or so tests, yet it came out 1st? It had one of the least attractive overclocking options of the pack, it didn't overclock very well, it didn't perform that great outside of 2560x1600, which most gamers won't play on.

Good article overall, but I think the ending was a little biased.
 
[citation][nom]Dan888735[/nom]The conclusion didn't make a lot of sense. Gigabyte's mobo snatched about 3 1st places in a 20 or so tests, yet it came out 1st? It had one of the least attractive overclocking options of the pack, it didn't overclock very well, it didn't perform that great outside of 2560x1600, which most gamers won't play on.Good article overall, but I think the ending was a little biased.[/citation]Biased by saying it had the highest average performance? Are you saying Microsoft favors Gigabyte? Because Microsoft wrote Excel, and Excel did the math.
 
[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Do the math. Say you were using two 5870's. The FX gives you 5% better performance. The system costs $1200. 5% of $1200 is $60 Now, can you buy an FX motherboard for $60 more than a GX board? Probably.[/citation]
I would spend the $60 in getting a better GPU which will probably have >5% gain where it matters.
 
How come Phenom II x4 965 only OC up to 3933 with Asus Crosshair IV formula? I can easy OC Phenom II x6 1090t to 4000 by only change the cpu multiplier to 20 with most of setting on auto.
 
[citation][nom]neversaynever[/nom]How come Phenom II x4 965 only OC up to 3933 with Asus Crosshair IV formula? I can easy OC Phenom II x6 1090t to 4000 by only change the cpu multiplier to 20 with most of setting on auto.[/citation]
Luck of the draw-this processor needs more voltage.
 
This review is missing one key piece of information:
The 890FX has IOMMU, but does the bios support it??

Key information for anyone wanting to do virtualization. Without bios support to enable IOMMU, the 890FX on these boards has little to offer KVM/XEN users.
 
Has anyone compared the 890FX results to the 890GX ones in the previous article? The GX marks are substantially higher with the same video card (5850), RAM settings, etc. for Crysis, like 3fps more. How can we account for such a difference? When the 890FX is supposedly the "flagship"? Does the 890FX catch up or suprass in Crossfire?
 
why wasnt the 890fxa-ud5 gigabyte included in this article? considering its closer to all these in terms of feature set and proper atx size
 
Just wanted to thank Tom's for doing power testing. Many people are concerned with power draw these days, and the full load difference between the lowest and the highest of these boards is 25 watts. This is a significant difference. Keep up the good work!
 
Great read. I was undecided between the asus and the gigabyte, but now i will be getting the gigabyte. the UD5 though, as im planing to do only a 2 way crossfire using 5970s.
Keep up the good work. thanks
 
[citation][nom]devrahul[/nom]LOL gave me good laugh, that is one reason i freaking enjoy reading comments so much.[/citation]
Lol if you want one with NVIDIA chipsets search microcenter.
 
just started my new build with this board, and found something curious?
What is the story with the 8 pin 12v EPS plug on this board? I have an
HX1000 Corsair PSU with 4+4 cable,and it does not match all 8 pins.
Also noticed that my board came with 4 of the pins blocked with a small
black clip. Am I to assume that only half of the connector is to be used?
Is this why my cable is not a full match? Will this board run with only
half the connector (ie... 4 pins ) or does it require the full 8 pins?

TIA

slomotion@live.com
 
[citation][nom]Anonymous[/nom]just started my new build with this board, and found something curious?What is the story with the 8 pin 12v EPS plug on this board? I have anHX1000 Corsair PSU with 4+4 cable,and it does not match all 8 pins.Also noticed that my board came with 4 of the pins blocked with a small black clip. Am I to assume that only half of the connector is to be used?Is this why my cable is not a full match? Will this board run with onlyhalf the connector (ie... 4 pins ) or does it require the full 8 pins?TIAslomotion@live.com[/citation]No.

The black cover is a "guide" that shows which 4-pins to use if you have a lame, 4-pin power supply. A 4+4 pin connector should fit all 8 pins perfectly, otherwise you're doing something wrong.

A 6+2 pin connector on the other hand, won't fit because it's for 8-pin graphics power.
 
For my first build i used an Asrock 890fx deluxe 4 motherboard. I did all the research and it had a lot of nice features. But it turned out to be a nightmare, especially for a first timer. They had the ram voltage defaulting at 1.65 in the bios. It kept freezing and couldnt get past the bios. I called and Wally told me to set it back to 1.5, then save and exit. After that i could work with it. Who in their right mind would set the ram voltage to 1.65? Then i still couldnt get it to post. You have to fire it up with one stick of ram in the slot closest to the cpu. IN fact, you should do that with any board. Thats why i will never buy another ASrock motherboard.
 
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