- Sep 17, 2014
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- 4,510
I'm looking for a motherboard for a computer I will be building, and I'd like some help in finding one that will meet my needs. I've been doing a lot of searching, but I'd like some help from people with more experience with recent motherboards; despite being only 20 years old (that is me, not my computer, thankfully), the last time I had anything to do with the construction of a computer was back when people were putting multiple Pentiums on their boards.
I'm looking for an ATX motherboard compatible with Windows 7 with AM3+ socket compatibility and a 990 chipset (I've read that the 970 doesn't utilize this processor to its full potential, however if I am misinformed, please let me know so that I can save some money) for an AMD FX 8350 4 GHz 8-core processor ($170).
I'll be using a EVGA GeForce GT 740 4 GB GDDR5 ($120) for video, this shouldn't be an issue but of course I want it to be compatible with the motherboard.
The motherboard will need at least 2 USB 3.0's with at least 4 total USB's. Preferably with at least one USB 3.0 accessible from the front, but this is not mandatory.
Obviously it needs the usuals such as 24-pin power, ethernet, etc; don't exclude something crucial just because it isn't mentioned.
I would prefer that the motherboard is capable of utilizing two or more graphics cards (By which I mean actually using them; I'm not interested in a board that supports multiple graphic cards with only 1 PCIe x16) for easy future upgrades, but depending on the price difference, I'm willing to sacrifice the potential of adding additional graphics cards in the future, for a cheaper price tag.
The motherboard needs to be able to support at least 32 GB RAM (I plan to use an 8GB + a 4 GB, but it's always nice to have flexibility for the future) with 1.6 GHz or higher bus clock for at least two of the slots for RAM.
A max data transfer rate of at least 4.8 GT/s is needed.
I plan to use air cooling with an average quality heat sink, but no water cooling, and, due to the tendency of AMD processors to run hot, I'd prefer to eliminate all motherboards that are also known for getting hot, since, as I said, I won't be using water cooling.
I don't plan to overclock, and especially don't want to overclock an AMD processor which will probably already be quite hot, so the motherboard's effectiveness at overclocking is not too important to me; the money needed to keep an overclocking AMD cool could just go towards a better processor. This is unless the motherboard is capable of overclocking without a dangerous impact on heat; then I'm interested.
Onboard sound is preferred, but not mandatory; sound cards are cheap.
Onboard video is not wanted, but if it comes with it, I'll deal with it. That is unless you can make a persuasive case for a motherboard with integrated video that is capable of using it efficiently while simultaneously taking advantage of a separate video card to boost performance. I saw some pretty neat ones while I was looking around, but they were a bit slow for what I want.
It should be able to mount at least 2 internal hard drives. Support for RAID is appreciated but not mandatory.
And, of course, reliability of both the physical motherboard and the BIOS in the long-term is appreciated; I want it to last for at least 5 years. If it comes with a good warranty, that's always great, but not mandatory.
I'm willing to spend up to $130 on the board, but I would prefer to spend as little as possible. If you can find something in the $60-90 price range with the essential features, that's great.
I can find my own PSU, RAM, etc, however if you happen to know of specific models which work well with the above combination of parts, for a good price, go ahead and let me know. Also feel free to provide different choices; don't feel like you have to narrow it down to one for me.
Thank you in advance for reading my lengthy post.
I'm looking for an ATX motherboard compatible with Windows 7 with AM3+ socket compatibility and a 990 chipset (I've read that the 970 doesn't utilize this processor to its full potential, however if I am misinformed, please let me know so that I can save some money) for an AMD FX 8350 4 GHz 8-core processor ($170).
I'll be using a EVGA GeForce GT 740 4 GB GDDR5 ($120) for video, this shouldn't be an issue but of course I want it to be compatible with the motherboard.
The motherboard will need at least 2 USB 3.0's with at least 4 total USB's. Preferably with at least one USB 3.0 accessible from the front, but this is not mandatory.
Obviously it needs the usuals such as 24-pin power, ethernet, etc; don't exclude something crucial just because it isn't mentioned.
I would prefer that the motherboard is capable of utilizing two or more graphics cards (By which I mean actually using them; I'm not interested in a board that supports multiple graphic cards with only 1 PCIe x16) for easy future upgrades, but depending on the price difference, I'm willing to sacrifice the potential of adding additional graphics cards in the future, for a cheaper price tag.
The motherboard needs to be able to support at least 32 GB RAM (I plan to use an 8GB + a 4 GB, but it's always nice to have flexibility for the future) with 1.6 GHz or higher bus clock for at least two of the slots for RAM.
A max data transfer rate of at least 4.8 GT/s is needed.
I plan to use air cooling with an average quality heat sink, but no water cooling, and, due to the tendency of AMD processors to run hot, I'd prefer to eliminate all motherboards that are also known for getting hot, since, as I said, I won't be using water cooling.
I don't plan to overclock, and especially don't want to overclock an AMD processor which will probably already be quite hot, so the motherboard's effectiveness at overclocking is not too important to me; the money needed to keep an overclocking AMD cool could just go towards a better processor. This is unless the motherboard is capable of overclocking without a dangerous impact on heat; then I'm interested.
Onboard sound is preferred, but not mandatory; sound cards are cheap.
Onboard video is not wanted, but if it comes with it, I'll deal with it. That is unless you can make a persuasive case for a motherboard with integrated video that is capable of using it efficiently while simultaneously taking advantage of a separate video card to boost performance. I saw some pretty neat ones while I was looking around, but they were a bit slow for what I want.
It should be able to mount at least 2 internal hard drives. Support for RAID is appreciated but not mandatory.
And, of course, reliability of both the physical motherboard and the BIOS in the long-term is appreciated; I want it to last for at least 5 years. If it comes with a good warranty, that's always great, but not mandatory.
I'm willing to spend up to $130 on the board, but I would prefer to spend as little as possible. If you can find something in the $60-90 price range with the essential features, that's great.
I can find my own PSU, RAM, etc, however if you happen to know of specific models which work well with the above combination of parts, for a good price, go ahead and let me know. Also feel free to provide different choices; don't feel like you have to narrow it down to one for me.
Thank you in advance for reading my lengthy post.
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