MSI 990FXA Gaming Versus ASRock 990FX Killer

[zhunt99]

Eh, I'd have a hard time putting down that money for an FX chipset. I went with a really cheap board when I put together my 8320 build which kept the processor and mobo cost to a little bit over what an intel motherboard alone would cost.

You are either looking at the most expensive Intel boards or are cheaping out on the board a lot. I paid $300 for my current motherboard, by choice, but I could have easily gotten a decent Z87/Z97 board for $100 at the time.

Either way it is hard to justify buying anything right now with Zen coming out shortly and it being a DDR4 setup with hopefully a new SouthBridge because the SB950 is just not that good. I have a 970 setup with the SB950 on my wifes machine and she has a Samsung 850 Evo. My older Intel 520 performs better than her Samsung 850 Evo and it is supposed to be the opposite.

My CPU and motherboard came out to about $165 in total after rebates and deals

 

[Calculatron]

I picked up an 990FX Extreme6 off of ebay, to tinker with. It is basically a re-badged Fatality board with some superficial cosmetic changes, although the VRM heatsink is (slightly) different. Overall it was a solid board, but taking it beyond the 4.4/4.5ghz limit, or above 1.4v, required some additional cooling to the board.

However "outdated" the AM3+ Socket may be, it was just recently that Gigabyte released their Revision 5 of their UD3 and UD5, and, subsequently, a Gaming series motherboard. Asus also put out a Pro-Gamer board. The Socket just has so many PCIe slots that they can keep adding on the newer features by utilizing some of those slots; It's quite interesting.

I hope that some more of these newer boards get thrown into the mix, just for funsies.

 

[rolli59]

What AMD really needs is new CPU's!

 

[koffeeshop77]

i agree, i would not spend another dime on an amd part until the zen comes out, ATI, also belonging to AMD failed for a long time and finally came through on a promise(they promised "better"but, so what) to at least be on par with nvidia and through hype, watching the market, and correct plethora a competitive slightly cheaper but better card in mid and high end section they made a lot happen. I did not go out and buy one of thiers cards because the real question is, is if they are going to keep up and improve and last for many years e.g. 660TI is still relevant the same card that ATI had at that point and time, I honestly think they discontinued the line of card, like windows discontinued XP but XP is a done product, when a card you have form 3y ago and paid 200$ should still run well and get regalar updates like i know my 970 will last for years to come. point being that the AM3 has been out toooo long with 4 o's calling it a gaming motherboard doesn't make it better, if the only people i know litrally that have invested in a AMD in the past years, are on a lookout for a cheap PC or did not know what they where purchasing on black friday sale.
and if any one say meh i can play the game i want ok on my AMD is
A) never played on an intel system
b)or is just saving up for an intel system themselves and dose not want to admit that no matter what you overclock that core (cause they are all unlocked anyway, are there actually regular editions anymore?) they will never reach above i5 grade stable speeds with any of their current cores lineup and a spray painter red / black cooler will not help you with that either.
it will just set you back another 150$.
And for 150$ there are some very very nice skylake boards out there. e.g asus pro , asus-a, fatality 7 , gigabyte gaming 6 rev1, all with features that way outweigh any of these board 2xnic and sound aside, you get PCIE 3.0 plus sli on all except asus-a+ usb 3.1 reg and micro, and m.2. so capable of u.2 adapter hookup. and all can oc any skylake from i3 to g4 ,i5 6400 all the up to 4.5 ghz. per fsb +DDR4 no waiting, the tech is out there amd has really just let the ball drop and im an hopping they dont delay the zen anymore / FM4+ because they cannot afford to lose more time or spend money gaining more ground when intel has just basically allowed what AMD has been doing for years, they still got the multi unlock, 7k and 5k but now they have the FSB unlock too which turns every chip you buyfrom skylake( http://overclocking.guide/category/intel-oc-guides/skylake-non-k-oc/ ) into a lottery and i just ordered myself a cryorig A40 hybrid WC to test it it out. on the mini ITX asus. if i had a fast steady date for when the zen was coming out instead of just a rumor mill,or at least a price for the foreseeable future i think it would help a lot of people decide about their buying decisions but its tax time and my money is going to go somewhere. snooze you looze
it easy to reaplace a GFX, a system buitlt around your eitire CPU is not and cost HUNDREDS of $$ dollars, they missed x-mas $ tax season so whats next? servers and milonars?
BTW guy lotorry tonight!! get some tickets i got like 40 !!!! 1.5bill plus power play rock on man!!

 

[Neat-O man]

I just built a system with a FX-8320 and a ASrock 970FX KILLER board (from Microcenter, CPU was $109 and Motherboard was $69 with a $40 instant rebate) and i noticed the best clock i could get out of it was 4.3GHz with a EVO 212 cooler. And i find this very odd, because i have a 3+ year old FX-8320 with a Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 rev. 3.0 and the same cooler (EVO 212) running 4.5GHz for the entire time 24/7/365 (and a HD 7950 @1.1Ghz/1575MHz) and use it as a file/media server, gaming, editing machine. Never does anything odd, never crashes, and hits 57c MAX after hours of gaming... i only restart it one or twice a month for security updates (manually, i check the error logs every time before i update my system).

Point is, "new" chips and "new" motherboards for AMD have been stagnant if not regressing in performance. Its might be that there not caring so much anymore for the (very) old AM3+ chips because there moving the teams over to ZEN architecture.

 

[koffeeshop77]

ok bower ball was won, (not by me) but by a hedge fund guy that bought 30000 tickets! and another couple of people, so much for that. so three all to gether.. just saying who cares about AMD ..

 

[Wisecracker]

The FX-8350 'technically' is a 'Piledriver' --- not a Bulldozer. There are minor core and microcode revisions (as there were with the newer 'E' versions of the FX chips that have arrived over the last 18 months).

I suspect you are over-volting the CPU with your OC'ing and should dial-back your voltage ---- An FX-8350 running 4.4GHz at 1.375v is the norm with an 8+2 phase motherboard.

 

[Onus]

Do the "E" versions offer any meaningful improvements to IPC, or are they essentially Piledriver chips that have been binned to run slower and on less voltage? Or, if you clock an "E" version like the standard version, how would it be different, if at all?

 

[utroz]

Do the "E" versions offer any meaningful improvements to IPC, or are they essentially Piledriver chips that have been binned to run slower and on less voltage? Or, if you clock an "E" version like the standard version, how would it be different, if at all?

They are just better binned to used less power I also think they are based on a slightly rev tweak (but all the new fx's are now). They tend to overclock a little better on air.

 

[Enuf]

Okay so I have a slightly different angle on why I just ordered this MSI 990FXA Gaming board on a Frys Electronics Promocode offer at $79.99 (after $50 Promocode and $20 mail-in rebate). I'm not really a gamer, maybe play a bit of this and that every once in a long while. When I do I only play against myself, not into online gaming.

But, I happen to have on the shelf, new in the boxes parts to make a good machine for home office, movie watching, maybe some CAD work:

AMD FX8350 Black Edition processor
Patriot Viper DDR3 1866MHZ, four 8 GB DIMMs
Windows 7 Pro 64bit disc and license

CPU and Memory were near to half price online in the last six months. Likewise on the Win7-64Pro.

So I figure this deal is an opportunity to replace the now elderly AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core BE-2300, 1.9GHZ, 2GB RAM WinXP-HE SP3 machine I built after my last Intel build cooked the top clean off the processor.

So now to shop for drives and a graphics card ... back to watching the deals, the promocodes, the email special sales ... etc etc etc.

 

[TheTerk]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128859
what is the diffrnce and why are thay not compared to alredy exsiting mobo of the 990fx line?

that product is fairly similar to the MSI board. they have different fan header placement, slower memory OC support (on the spec sheet), and other Gigabyte features.

And I got some new DDR3 RAM in the mail and will be updating this article with ddr3-2133 sticks. Thanks for the feedback guys!

 

[Michael_A]

I would have liked to see the GIGABYTE GA-990FX-Gaming board been included in the AMD shoot out. I recently picked up this board and it is the best AMD based board I have ever owned.

 

[johnniedoo]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128859
what is the diffrnce and why are thay not compared to alredy exsiting mobo of the 990fx line?

i have a 990FX board from gigbyte, with dolby digital and the same 950southbridge, (that i got for free from a friend) and i absolutly hate its guts, so much so i cant bare to look at it i buit it into a on of those "back screen projected TV's" from like the 70's. and use it as a streaming/storage device.
now why on earth would anyone invest in a new outdated AM3+ system just cause it has 2 lans now and better sound " amp " is not worth it. they didnt even try to upgrade the PCI slots to 3.0.
how is sound suppost to win anyone over?
you can buy a better chip and cheaper board from intel (that is not outdated) and still be better off have dual nic and prolly even better sound.
e.g skylake 6400 and asrock p4s board TTcost 393.
and the 990fx chipsets overheat horribly when you try to OC i would prefer a 970cs over a 990fx... thoughts please explian how this changed anything over say the last 2 years with amd? and 990fx

i have a 990FX board from gigbyte, with dolby digital and the same 950southbridge, (that i got for free from a friend) and i absolutly hate its guts, so much so i cant bare to look at it i buit it into a on of those "back screen projected TV's" from like the 70's. and use it as a streaming/storage device.
now why on earth would anyone invest in a new outdated AM3+ system just cause it has 2 lans now and better sound " amp " is not worth it. they didnt even try to upgrade the PCI slots to 3.0.
how is sound suppost to win anyone over?
you can buy a better chip and cheaper board from intel (that is not outdated) and still be better off have dual nic and prolly even better sound.
e.g skylake 6400 and asrock p4s board TTcost 393.
and the 990fx chipsets overheat horribly when you try to OC i would prefer a 970cs over a 990fx... thoughts please explian how this changed anything over say the last 2 years with amd? and 990fx

I am a long time AMD user but have not bought or built anything new since 2012-13. I have the 990FXA UD3 with an FX cpu and 7950. I think everything amd has stalled. My 3plus yr old build is still current in AMD terms. even the 8150 cpu is ok compared to the current upgrade path.
I am looking to build something new and only have Intel to look at for "better' systems. better meaning more up to date and more likely to stay viable for more years ahead than the AMD side. at least as of April 2016.
problem is that i do not know much about that whole slew of boards and processors that seem to overlap with all kinds of ways to soak up money.
I read these posts here and have become resigned to waiting another quarter to see how AMD looks with ZEN . maybe pcie3, usb 3.1 and m2 , all those things ,ddr4, too, that intel has on the market nearly a year already . I liked AMD's approach to offer lower price points , reliable parts with those black editions for tweaking fun. I have been using amd/ati for many years pretty much exclusively since i left the MAC/Apple camp because there were such limitations on tweak options and hard to come by discounted one option parts.
I have never had any amd/ati part -board, cpu, gpu , ram fail on me yet. all well past warranty dates. still reliable .
I appreciate the observations of others with the notions of continuing to build next boxes with these parts. I hope amd continues to support the enthusiasts who build their own rigs and supply them for others from htpc, new gamers and extreme gamers who cant spent $1000 for a cpu and another $600 for a board.

 

[jimmysmitty]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128859
what is the diffrnce and why are thay not compared to alredy exsiting mobo of the 990fx line?

i have a 990FX board from gigbyte, with dolby digital and the same 950southbridge, (that i got for free from a friend) and i absolutly hate its guts, so much so i cant bare to look at it i buit it into a on of those "back screen projected TV's" from like the 70's. and use it as a streaming/storage device.
now why on earth would anyone invest in a new outdated AM3+ system just cause it has 2 lans now and better sound " amp " is not worth it. they didnt even try to upgrade the PCI slots to 3.0.
how is sound suppost to win anyone over?
you can buy a better chip and cheaper board from intel (that is not outdated) and still be better off have dual nic and prolly even better sound.
e.g skylake 6400 and asrock p4s board TTcost 393.
and the 990fx chipsets overheat horribly when you try to OC i would prefer a 970cs over a 990fx... thoughts please explian how this changed anything over say the last 2 years with amd? and 990fx

i have a 990FX board from gigbyte, with dolby digital and the same 950southbridge, (that i got for free from a friend) and i absolutly hate its guts, so much so i cant bare to look at it i buit it into a on of those "back screen projected TV's" from like the 70's. and use it as a streaming/storage device.
now why on earth would anyone invest in a new outdated AM3+ system just cause it has 2 lans now and better sound " amp " is not worth it. they didnt even try to upgrade the PCI slots to 3.0.
how is sound suppost to win anyone over?
you can buy a better chip and cheaper board from intel (that is not outdated) and still be better off have dual nic and prolly even better sound.
e.g skylake 6400 and asrock p4s board TTcost 393.
and the 990fx chipsets overheat horribly when you try to OC i would prefer a 970cs over a 990fx... thoughts please explian how this changed anything over say the last 2 years with amd? and 990fx

I am a long time AMD user but have not bought or built anything new since 2012-13. I have the 990FXA UD3 with an FX cpu and 7950. I think everything amd has stalled. My 3plus yr old build is still current in AMD terms. even the 8150 cpu is ok compared to the current upgrade path.
I am looking to build something new and only have Intel to look at for "better' systems. better meaning more up to date and more likely to stay viable for more years ahead than the AMD side. at least as of April 2016.
problem is that i do not know much about that whole slew of boards and processors that seem to overlap with all kinds of ways to soak up money.
I read these posts here and have become resigned to waiting another quarter to see how AMD looks with ZEN . maybe pcie3, usb 3.1 and m2 , all those things ,ddr4, too, that intel has on the market nearly a year already . I liked AMD's approach to offer lower price points , reliable parts with those black editions for tweaking fun. I have been using amd/ati for many years pretty much exclusively since i left the MAC/Apple camp because there were such limitations on tweak options and hard to come by discounted one option parts.
I have never had any amd/ati part -board, cpu, gpu , ram fail on me yet. all well past warranty dates. still reliable .
I appreciate the observations of others with the notions of continuing to build next boxes with these parts. I hope amd continues to support the enthusiasts who build their own rigs and supply them for others from htpc, new gamers and extreme gamers who cant spent $1000 for a cpu and another $600 for a board.

What $1K CPU and $600 dollar mortherboard are you talking about? Even with LGA 2011 their top boards are about $400 but a good one with all the nice features can be had for $300 or less. And even then the LGA 115x boards are normally sub $200 for the nicer features with near $300 for the over the top boards.

And lest we not forget that AMD is a company and will profit when they can. Do you not remember the launch price of the FX 9590? $1000 bucks and it didn't include a cooler, you needed to buy one.

A company is a company. Unless they are a not for profit, they focus on finding ways to get you, the consumer, to pay them as much as possible for their products. AMD is no different from any of them. They have shown their pricing in the past and will again when they can.

 

[johnniedoo]

thanks,I am aware of all that. I got those prices today from New Egg as i did my first exploration into the world of Intel motherboards and cpus. I did pick the top of each, i believe. but the price of that $600 board and $1050 processor were not just released prices-which we all know are always very high the first time they hit the street and often go down by half or more with in a year
I was confounded by all the Intel sockets and boards in each and the numbering x, z, h, 79, 87 89 . 99 and i believe all are current and doing well in the respective niches. I just dont get it yet.. I have not looked at the intel side in 6yrs or so outside of the many reviews and comparisons i read ..
there is no doubt in my mind that Intel puts out top shelf products. and have a good bang for buck relationship to the amd positioned opposite. though , from what ive read, amd is no longer very competitive in the areas i was most interested so direct comps are tough to get.
I was looking at the many $100-$200 or so Intel boards and the many i5 or even i7 cpus that are not significantly higher than the last gasp amd fx products.. no way would i toss out more money on what is currently available in the enthusiast or higher level gamer products from amd. maybe a gpu but that is also a maybe. i had been looking at the nvidia gpus to replace my 7950 a month ago as well.
I have amd boards in 4 computer boxes i built for here. from the 790fx, 790x and 890fxa and 990fxa with the top cpus available at the time over the past 5yrs or so. each works well but a couple are beginning to show age with some things. i have 4, 6 and 8core amd processors as well. but i am not able to justify upgrading anything within the amd sphere just now. and looks like will be winter before the am4 boards come out maybe. there are other amd options and they are certainly worthy for what they do, just not up my alley at present.
the move over to Intel will take me a lot more reading and poking around before i am knowledgeable enough to pick the proper board and process without over spending -it is easy to do since each step up offers better performance to a point but i did get overwhelmed by the numerous options in the $100-$350 cpu area alone. there is a ton of information and assessing needs against options is just a more complicated process given the overlapping of performance and energy savings and price points. after running 125/140watt cpus and the amd hd5870 gpu i got used to running up a sizeable monthly electric bill and need to run the ac most of the summer to keep the rooms from heating up. not bad in winter. in other words. those 22nm 40watt things start to look good. or the even smaller ones i saw earlier today. smaller and lower watts with reported very high performance.