Good Older Gaming Motherboard

[majorghn]

The Asus Aura 970 Pro Gaming MB is extremely hard to find new, a few sellers are selling it for $300. What can I buy that is very similar to it? I don't want Intel and I am sticking with older DDR3 MB because I can not afford Windows 10, I have Windows 7 so Ryzen is out, need to stick with AMD FX series chipsets.

I heard that A series, Athelon, and FM3 series chipsets are not that great. I assume an AMD FX series chip will not work on an FM2 MB?

 

[Corwin65]

Exactly what components do you already have?

 

[jaslion]

The Asus Aura 970 Pro Gaming MB is extremely hard to find new, a few sellers are selling it for $300. What can I buy that is very similar to it? I don't want Intel and I am sticking with older DDR3 MB because I can not afford Windows 10, I have Windows 7 so Ryzen is out, need to stick with AMD FX series chipsets.

I heard that A series, Athelon, and FM3 series chipsets are not that great. I assume an AMD FX series chip will not work on an FM2 MB?

You can just use win 10 unactivated forever. The fx chips are pretty garbage nowadays in every use case since they are already 5 years old and weren't that good to begin with.

 

[bignastyid]

What's your budget for the upgrade? Finding a decent new AM3+ motherboard out of the few still available won't be cheap(~$200 according to pcpartpicker) and imho that's too much to dump into that platform.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: ADATA - 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $244.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-28 16:23 EST-0500

Then just run Win 10 unactivated till you can buy a license if you want the personalization features back.

 

[majorghn]

Exactly what components do you already have?

 

[majorghn]

I was thinking about getting these components

Ryzen 5 1400 with Wraith cooler
Amazon has it at $145.00

Zotac GTX 1050 TI 4 GB $165.00 on Amazon (rather get the 2 GB but not sure it has enough horsepower for newer games?

Hyper Fury X 2133 DDR 4 XMP $143.99

MSI Gaming AMD Ryzen X370 DDR4 VR Ready HDMI USB 3 SLI CFX ATX Motherboard (X370 GAMING PRO CARBON) $159.99 at Amazon

Windows 10 Home download on Amazon (I currently use Windows 7) $109.99
I heard it can be bought for $50.00 but don't know where.

I already have a Thermaltake Smart M Series 850 watt power supply

Already have a Thermaltake Chaser MK 1 gaming case that's been sitting in a closet for past 4 years, my neighbor gave me a used HP DC 7900 desktop PC 4 years ago when my old MB conked out that was in my Chaser case and I had no money to get a new one, long story.

Total cost for this upgrade is $724.00 I want to play fairly new games like Battlefield 4 and BF 1 and other games as they come out. If you guys have better recommendations on a comparable upgrade for a lot less I am all ears, thank you. Right now I only have $200 to go towards the upgrade.

 

[bignastyid]

With Ryzen you want fast dual channel ram. I'd get atleast ddr4 2666 with 3000 to 3200 being preferred.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/zgJkcf/gskill-memory-f43200c16d8gvk

 

[majorghn]

With Ryzen you want fast dual channel ram. I'd get atleast ddr4 2666 with 3000 to 3200 being preferred.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/zgJkcf/gskill-memory-f43200c16d8gvk

 

[majorghn]

That Ram has 288 pins not 240, I believe I will need the 240 pin Ram

 

[bignastyid]

That Ram has 288 pins not 240, I believe I will need the 240 pin Ram

Desktop DDR4 is 288-pin and Ryzen only uses DDR4. DDR3 is 240 pin and DDR3 is not compatible with Ryzen.

 

[majorghn]

That Ram has 288 pins not 240, I believe I will need the 240 pin Ram

Desktop DDR4 is 288-pin and Ryzen only uses DDR4. DDR3 is 240 pin and DDR3 is not compatible with Ryzen.

 

[majorghn]

Ok, didn't know that, never dealt with DDR 4 before, thanks for letting me know that.

 

[majorghn]

Is 8 GB enough Ram? What do you all think of my choice of motherboard?

 

[majorghn]

That Ram has 288 pins not 240, I believe I will need the 240 pin Ram

Desktop DDR4 is 288-pin and Ryzen only uses DDR4. DDR3 is 240 pin and DDR3 is not compatible with Ryzen.

 

[majorghn]

That Ram has 288 pins not 240, I believe I will need the 240 pin Ram

Desktop DDR4 is 288-pin and Ryzen only uses DDR4. DDR3 is 240 pin and DDR3 is not compatible with Ryzen.

Description of that Ram says it geared to Intel systems, I am building an AMD platform, does it matter?

 

[bignastyid]

That Ram has 288 pins not 240, I believe I will need the 240 pin Ram

Desktop DDR4 is 288-pin and Ryzen only uses DDR4. DDR3 is 240 pin and DDR3 is not compatible with Ryzen.

Description of that Ram says it geared to Intel systems, I am building an AMD platform, does it matter?

Should be fine it was made before Ryzen and the marketing wasn't updated.

 

[majorghn]

That Ram has 288 pins not 240, I believe I will need the 240 pin Ram

Desktop DDR4 is 288-pin and Ryzen only uses DDR4. DDR3 is 240 pin and DDR3 is not compatible with Ryzen.

Description of that Ram says it geared to Intel systems, I am building an AMD platform, does it matter?

Should be fine it was made before Ryzen and the marketing wasn't updated.

 

[majorghn]

Oh cool, makes sense