Need assistance with selecting motherboard for Athlon 860k

[KPD]

Hey Guys,

I've shortlisted two motherboards for my 860k build here are the two products:

Asrock FM2A68M HD+
Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2

Now, I was going through the specification of both the motherboards and they say PCIe 3.0 available with FM2+ APU's. I am planning to pair either of these motherboards with a GTX 750ti or R9 270. I want to know the implications of choosing either of these motherboards? Will this mean I will not be able to install my GPU on the PCIe 3 slot?

There is conflicting information available on the Asrock website. Can somebody please verify. Here is the link. http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A68M-HD+/

 

[Dave420]

Now first of all, at first sight, I'd go for gigabyte since I find their products more reliable and they have better service than ASRock.

Second of all, it doesn't really matter whether you use the PCI-e 2.0 slot or 3.0 slot, the performance difference is either minimal or non-existant.

Now, to actually answer your question, both GPU's will work with both motherboards and any FM2 or FM2+ CPU you choose, but if you for some reason really want to use PCI-e 3.0 slot you NEED a FM2+ socket processor, or else it will not work. But otherwise you can still put either card into the PCI-e 2.0 slot and be completely fine with either FM2+ or FM2 processor.

When going for the ASRock motherboard, I'd highly advise you to choose the AMD GPU since that way you can use crossfire whereas you couldn't using the Nvidia GPU.

 

[KPD]

Now first of all, at first sight, I'd go for gigabyte since I find their products more reliable and they have better service than ASRock.

Second of all, it doesn't really matter whether you use the PCI-e 2.0 slot or 3.0 slot, the performance difference is either minimal or non-existant.

Now, to actually answer your question, both GPU's will work with both motherboards and any FM2 or FM2+ CPU you choose, but if you for some reason really want to use PCI-e 3.0 slot you NEED a FM2+ socket processor, or else it will not work. But otherwise you can still put either card into the PCI-e 2.0 slot and be completely fine with either FM2+ or FM2 processor.

When going for the ASRock motherboard, I'd highly advise you to choose the AMD GPU since that way you can use crossfire whereas you couldn't using the Nvidia GPU.

Hey Dave,

Thanks for the clarification. I am going to pair either of these with an Athlon 860k which is an FM2+ CPU not an APU. The confusion was with that little footnote which said "PCI-e 3 available with FM2+ APU".

I haven't shortlisted a GPU yet, I am simply confused with all types of information available over the net. The price difference between the 750ti and R9 270 isn't much either. R9 270 has came out on top so far in my research however, the size of that GPU is about 24cm. I'm not sure I can accommodate that given my motherboard is micro ATX and a mid tower case. I'm worried it might interfere with other parts and it will be rendered useless.

 

[Dave420]

Now first of all, at first sight, I'd go for gigabyte since I find their products more reliable and they have better service than ASRock.

Second of all, it doesn't really matter whether you use the PCI-e 2.0 slot or 3.0 slot, the performance difference is either minimal or non-existant.

Now, to actually answer your question, both GPU's will work with both motherboards and any FM2 or FM2+ CPU you choose, but if you for some reason really want to use PCI-e 3.0 slot you NEED a FM2+ socket processor, or else it will not work. But otherwise you can still put either card into the PCI-e 2.0 slot and be completely fine with either FM2+ or FM2 processor.

When going for the ASRock motherboard, I'd highly advise you to choose the AMD GPU since that way you can use crossfire whereas you couldn't using the Nvidia GPU.

Hey Dave,

Thanks for the clarification. I am going to pair either of these with an Athlon 860k which is an FM2+ CPU not an APU. The confusion was with that little footnote which said "PCI-e 3 available with FM2+ APU".

I haven't shortlisted a GPU yet, I am simply confused with all types of information available over the net. The price difference between the 750ti and R9 270 isn't much either. R9 270 has came out on top so far in my research however, the size of that GPU is about 24cm. I'm not sure I can accommodate that given my motherboard is micro ATX and a mid tower case. I'm worried it might interfere with other parts and it will be rendered useless.

As long as your mid-tower case supports m-atx motherboards you should be completely fine, if you link your preferred case I could also check to make sure if the R9 270 will fit, altough I'm pretty sure that in a mid-tower case it will.

As for the difference between the two GPU's:
The 750ti will use a little less than half the power that the R9 270 will use, and will most likely also run a lot quieter and a lot cooler. You are right when you say that the R9 270 has better specifications though, especially because it has double the memory brandwith of the 750ti, and a little extra memory speed (200 mhz more). So you gotta see what matters to you most with your current setup: raw performance or power, temperature and noise.

 

[KPD]

Now first of all, at first sight, I'd go for gigabyte since I find their products more reliable and they have better service than ASRock.

Second of all, it doesn't really matter whether you use the PCI-e 2.0 slot or 3.0 slot, the performance difference is either minimal or non-existant.

Now, to actually answer your question, both GPU's will work with both motherboards and any FM2 or FM2+ CPU you choose, but if you for some reason really want to use PCI-e 3.0 slot you NEED a FM2+ socket processor, or else it will not work. But otherwise you can still put either card into the PCI-e 2.0 slot and be completely fine with either FM2+ or FM2 processor.

When going for the ASRock motherboard, I'd highly advise you to choose the AMD GPU since that way you can use crossfire whereas you couldn't using the Nvidia GPU.

Hey Dave,

Thanks for the clarification. I am going to pair either of these with an Athlon 860k which is an FM2+ CPU not an APU. The confusion was with that little footnote which said "PCI-e 3 available with FM2+ APU".

I haven't shortlisted a GPU yet, I am simply confused with all types of information available over the net. The price difference between the 750ti and R9 270 isn't much either. R9 270 has came out on top so far in my research however, the size of that GPU is about 24cm. I'm not sure I can accommodate that given my motherboard is micro ATX and a mid tower case. I'm worried it might interfere with other parts and it will be rendered useless.

As long as your mid-tower case supports m-atx motherboards you should be completely fine, if you link your preferred case I could also check to make sure if the R9 270 will fit, altough I'm pretty sure that in a mid-tower case it will.

As for the difference between the two GPU's:
The 750ti will use a little less than half the power that the R9 270 will use, and will most likely also run a lot quieter and a lot cooler. You are right when you say that the R9 270 has better specifications though, especially because it has double the memory brandwith of the 750ti, and a little extra memory speed (200 mhz more). So you gotta see what matters to you most with your current setup: raw performance or power, temperature and noise.

A little bit of noise is fine if it's justified with better performance. Since my case is about 5 years old, I could not find the exact link to that but I found the link to the closest product (same brand). FYI, just realised my case is micro ATX (per description on manufacturer website).

http://www.iball.co.in/Product/i303/815

 

[Dave420]

Now first of all, at first sight, I'd go for gigabyte since I find their products more reliable and they have better service than ASRock.

Second of all, it doesn't really matter whether you use the PCI-e 2.0 slot or 3.0 slot, the performance difference is either minimal or non-existant.

Now, to actually answer your question, both GPU's will work with both motherboards and any FM2 or FM2+ CPU you choose, but if you for some reason really want to use PCI-e 3.0 slot you NEED a FM2+ socket processor, or else it will not work. But otherwise you can still put either card into the PCI-e 2.0 slot and be completely fine with either FM2+ or FM2 processor.

When going for the ASRock motherboard, I'd highly advise you to choose the AMD GPU since that way you can use crossfire whereas you couldn't using the Nvidia GPU.

Hey Dave,

Thanks for the clarification. I am going to pair either of these with an Athlon 860k which is an FM2+ CPU not an APU. The confusion was with that little footnote which said "PCI-e 3 available with FM2+ APU".

I haven't shortlisted a GPU yet, I am simply confused with all types of information available over the net. The price difference between the 750ti and R9 270 isn't much either. R9 270 has came out on top so far in my research however, the size of that GPU is about 24cm. I'm not sure I can accommodate that given my motherboard is micro ATX and a mid tower case. I'm worried it might interfere with other parts and it will be rendered useless.

As long as your mid-tower case supports m-atx motherboards you should be completely fine, if you link your preferred case I could also check to make sure if the R9 270 will fit, altough I'm pretty sure that in a mid-tower case it will.

As for the difference between the two GPU's:
The 750ti will use a little less than half the power that the R9 270 will use, and will most likely also run a lot quieter and a lot cooler. You are right when you say that the R9 270 has better specifications though, especially because it has double the memory brandwith of the 750ti, and a little extra memory speed (200 mhz more). So you gotta see what matters to you most with your current setup: raw performance or power, temperature and noise.

A little bit of noise is fine if it's justified with better performance. Since my case is about 5 years old, I could not find the exact link to that but I found the link to the closest product (same brand). FYI, just realised my case is micro ATX (per description on manufacturer website).

http://www.iball.co.in/Product/i303/815

Ah, I see. With such cases you usually have about 31 cm video card length space, so it should be plenty for your R9 270 should you choose it. I'd like to present you with the exact specifications but since as you said it is old and it's from some (to me) unfamiliar indian brandname I failed to find the exact numbers.

 

[KPD]

Now first of all, at first sight, I'd go for gigabyte since I find their products more reliable and they have better service than ASRock.

Second of all, it doesn't really matter whether you use the PCI-e 2.0 slot or 3.0 slot, the performance difference is either minimal or non-existant.

Now, to actually answer your question, both GPU's will work with both motherboards and any FM2 or FM2+ CPU you choose, but if you for some reason really want to use PCI-e 3.0 slot you NEED a FM2+ socket processor, or else it will not work. But otherwise you can still put either card into the PCI-e 2.0 slot and be completely fine with either FM2+ or FM2 processor.

When going for the ASRock motherboard, I'd highly advise you to choose the AMD GPU since that way you can use crossfire whereas you couldn't using the Nvidia GPU.

Hey Dave,

Thanks for the clarification. I am going to pair either of these with an Athlon 860k which is an FM2+ CPU not an APU. The confusion was with that little footnote which said "PCI-e 3 available with FM2+ APU".

I haven't shortlisted a GPU yet, I am simply confused with all types of information available over the net. The price difference between the 750ti and R9 270 isn't much either. R9 270 has came out on top so far in my research however, the size of that GPU is about 24cm. I'm not sure I can accommodate that given my motherboard is micro ATX and a mid tower case. I'm worried it might interfere with other parts and it will be rendered useless.

As long as your mid-tower case supports m-atx motherboards you should be completely fine, if you link your preferred case I could also check to make sure if the R9 270 will fit, altough I'm pretty sure that in a mid-tower case it will.

As for the difference between the two GPU's:
The 750ti will use a little less than half the power that the R9 270 will use, and will most likely also run a lot quieter and a lot cooler. You are right when you say that the R9 270 has better specifications though, especially because it has double the memory brandwith of the 750ti, and a little extra memory speed (200 mhz more). So you gotta see what matters to you most with your current setup: raw performance or power, temperature and noise.

A little bit of noise is fine if it's justified with better performance. Since my case is about 5 years old, I could not find the exact link to that but I found the link to the closest product (same brand). FYI, just realised my case is micro ATX (per description on manufacturer website).

http://www.iball.co.in/Product/i303/815

Ah, I see. With such cases you usually have about 31 cm video card length space, so it should be plenty for your R9 270 should you choose it. I'd like to present you with the exact specifications but since as you said it is old and it's from some (to me) unfamiliar indian brandname I failed to find the exact numbers.

I visually inspected my case and it seems there is enough room for the R9270. However, my concern now is with the motherboard. I picked up the Asrock FM2A68M HD+ motherboard yesterday, solely because they did not have the Gigabyte board readily available at the store (Apparently, A68 boards are outdated). Anyway, since this is my first time with a micro ATX board, I wonder how the beefy R9270 would install on the board without interfering with the audio jacks which sit pretty close to the PCIe slot. I would put up a picture but I am out at the moment. I will put up a picture asap.

 

[Dave420]

So uh, got any updates until now?

 

[KPD]

So uh, got any updates until now?

Hey Dave,

Sorry for the delayed response, I have been assigned a new project at work and that's keeping me real busy.

Finished assembling my PC last weekend. Got the Asrock mobo finally. So I am inclined to pick the new GPU now and I have my credit card beside me while I write this. I have shortlisted the r9270 from Powercolor and I started wondering if this GPU will have "full dx12" support? Did some research but could not really answer the question I have. It seems that it will have partial support but full dx12 support. I have no idea what that partial support would mean in terms of gaming performance.

 

[huss987]

Any Updates?