Question Suggestion for MOBO replacement

[groovygoodwine]

Hi guys,

My mother boad is corrupt, I'm looking to get a replacement, just wondering if there are any alternatives to my current one that are cheaper,

My case is cooler master, I believe the legacy model is:
Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower Desktop Case


My current MOBO:
Gigabyte AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gbps USB 3.0 ATX AM3+ Socket DDR3 1600 Motherboards (GA-970A-DS3P)

Thank you!!

 

[CountMike]

Hi guys,

My mother boad is corrupt, I'm looking to get a replacement, just wondering if there are any alternatives to my current one that are cheaper,

My case is cooler master, I believe the legacy model is:
Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower Desktop Case


My current MOBO:
Gigabyte AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gbps USB 3.0 ATX AM3+ Socket DDR3 1600 Motherboards (GA-970A-DS3P)

Thank you!!

Which CPU do you have ?

 

[kanewolf]

Hi guys,

My mother boad is corrupt, I'm looking to get a replacement, just wondering if there are any alternatives to my current one that are cheaper,

My case is cooler master, I believe the legacy model is:
Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower Desktop Case


My current MOBO:
Gigabyte AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gbps USB 3.0 ATX AM3+ Socket DDR3 1600 Motherboards (GA-970A-DS3P)

Thank you!!

You will most likely have to buy a used board today. You are two generations ago for AMD.

 

[groovygoodwine]

Which CPU do you have ?

AMD FX(tm)-8320 Eight-Core Processor, 3500 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

 

[groovygoodwine]

You will most likely have to buy a used board today. You are two generations ago for AMD.

Yeah I see a few new ones still out there, but they're around 200-300, so I wasn't sure if there's a more recent generation that's interchangeable?

 

[kanewolf]

Yeah I see a few new ones still out there, but they're around 200-300, so I wasn't sure if there's a more recent generation that's interchangeable?

No. Any new motherboard requires CPU, RAM and motherboard.

 

[groovygoodwine]

No. Any new motherboard requires CPU, RAM and motherboard.

So my existing CPU ram are not likely compatible with a new motherboard essentially?

 

[CountMike]

So my existing CPU ram are not likely compatible with a new motherboard essentially?

Not in the least ad RAM to it too.

 

[groovygoodwine]

Not in the least ad RAM to it too.

Is there any potential legacy mobo that isn't the one I currently use, that may be compatible? Looking for cheaper alternatives if there's something closer in generation

 

[CountMike]

Is there any potential legacy mobo that isn't the one I currently use, that may be compatible? Looking for cheaper alternatives if there's something closer in generation

There's no new ones produced in last few years, if you want cheaper one it's second hand only as NOS are usually more expensive than when they were new. Last one I had was Ga-990FXA-UD3 which run my FX 8350 up to 4.9GHz and as far as I know still works.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Hi guys,

My mother boad is corrupt, I'm looking to get a replacement, just wondering if there are any alternatives to my current one that are cheaper,
...

For an FX8320 it's not advisable to go cheap as they need a pretty strong VRM. You're more likely to find that on a 990 chipset board. This Asus M5a99fx would be pretty good and not too expensive although a refurb:

https://www.newegg.com/asus-m5a99fx-pro-r2-0/p/N82E16813132172

 

[groovygoodwine]

For an FX8320 it's not advisable to go cheap as they need a pretty strong VRM. You're more likely to find that on a 990 chipset board. This Asus M5a99fx would be pretty good and not too expensive although a refurb:

https://www.newegg.com/asus-m5a99fx-pro-r2-0/p/N82E16813132172

Says out of stock, any other 990s you guys could link me that would work with my system/case ?

Thanks again for all the help

 

[groovygoodwine]

There's no new ones produced in last few years, if you want cheaper one it's second hand only as NOS are usually more expensive than when they were new. Last one I had was Ga-990FXA-UD3 which run my FX 8350 up to 4.9GHz and as far as I know still works.

Any other 990s you can suggest, I have an 8320 - most are saying out of stock

 

[kanewolf]

Any other 990s you can suggest, I have an 8320 - most are saying out of stock

You should be looking on E-Bay. You won't find a 990 board new, at a decent price. Or you should admit that you hzve to replace the entire system. Even if you find a 990, you may be required to do a clean OS install.

 

[groovygoodwine]

You should be looking on E-Bay. You won't find a 990 board new, at a decent price. Or you should admit that you hzve to replace the entire system. Even if you find a 990, you may be required to do a clean OS install.

I was looking at this same model off amazon for a direct replacement, they have some refurbished ones and apparently some new?? hard to believe:

https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GA-970A-DS3P-FX-6Gbps-Motherboard/dp/B00CX4MUCC?th=1

 

[drea.drechsler]

I was looking at this same model off amazon for a direct replacement, they have some refurbished ones and apparently some new?? hard to believe:

https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GA-970A-DS3P-FX-6Gbps-Motherboard/dp/B00CX4MUCC?th=1

Sorry about the other link...when I first looked it still had stock.

Here's this one though, hopefully it's still got stock:
https://www.newegg.com/asus-m5a99fx-pro-r2-0/p/N82E16813131851?Item=9SIAME0J5U3480

Keep in mind these refurbs come from China so it may take a few weeks to get delivery, and always look for free shipping.

I feel Asus made some of the better boards in AM3/AM3+, but then my son bought a Gigabyte GA-990FXZ-UD3 which we're running with an FX6300 OC'd to 4.6Ghz. Holds a steady VCore running P95 (at 4.6G) while the VRM is running cool: 60-65C as read by an IR thermometer around the FET's on backside and coils on frontside. FET's are good for over 100C so it seems to have a lot of room to handle an FX8320...although how much overclocking I'm not sure.

I agree, you'll not find a brand new AM3+ board except at an outlandish price. These things aren't made any more so you're looking at new-old stock which is pretty rare. I suppose there are some enthusiasts/collectors/whatever who would pay for it so they'll wait for that person to come along.

 

[groovygoodwine]

Sorry about the other link...when I first looked it still had stock.

Here's this one though, hopefully it's still got stock:
https://www.newegg.com/asus-m5a99fx-pro-r2-0/p/N82E16813131851?Item=9SIAME0J5U3480

Keep in mind these refurbs come from China so it may take a few weeks to get delivery, and always look for free shipping.

I feel Asus made some of the better boards in AM3/AM3+, but then my son bought a Gigabyte GA-990FXZ-UD3 which we're running with an FX6300 OC'd to 4.6Ghz. Holds a steady VCore running P95 (at 4.6G) while the VRM is running cool: 60-65C as read by an IR thermometer around the FET's on backside. FET's are good for over 100C so it seems to have a lot of room to handle an FX8320...although how much overclocking I'm not sure.

I agree, you'll not find a brand new AM3+ board except at an outlandish price. These things aren't made any more so you're looking at new-old stock which is pretty rare. I suppose there are some enthusiasts/collectors/whatever who would pay for it so they'll wait for that person to come along.

Thanks for the link, do you think my amazon link which would be the exact same replacement model, remains sufficient? I don't overclock or anything like that

 

[drea.drechsler]

Thanks for the link, do you think my amazon link which would be the exact same replacement model, remains sufficient? I don't overclock or anything like that

Well...it's only got a 3+2 phase VRM based on counting the coils. That's pretty weak, and it's Gigabyte. An Asus board I'd at least have confidence the VRM would throttle the CPU when it overheats to avoid burning up...Gigabyte I just can't be sure of. I ran my FX6300 OC'd to 4.4Ghz on an Asus M5a88m board for several years with the VRM frequently throttling the CPU as it overheated. It had a 3+2 phase VRM...with no heatsinks...but it never burned up.

But if not overclocking at all it might very well be OK. In full stock these FX processors used a lot less power than their reputation suggests. It's when overclocking they can burn up VRM's, something most people did because that was the way to get decent performance out of these (then) cheap processors.

 

[groovygoodwine]

Well...it's only got a 3+2 phase VRM based on counting the coils. That's pretty weak, and it's Gigabyte. An Asus board I'd at least have confidence the VRM would throttle the CPU when it overheats to avoid burning up...Gigabyte I just can't be sure of. I ran my FX6300 OC'd to 4.4Ghz on an Asus M5a88m board for several years with the VRM frequently throttling the CPU as it overheated. It had a 3+2 phase VRM...with no heatsinks...but it never burned up.

But if not overclocking at all it might very well be OK. In full stock these FX processors used a lot less power than their reputation suggests. It's when overclocking they can burn up VRM's, something most people did because that was the way to get decent performance out of these (then) cheap processors.

Alright and do you know if these mobos are compatible with the mounting points in the tower? I suppose the CPU isn't the only consideration, anything else I should be careful compatibility wise, RAM, GPU etc?

 

[drea.drechsler]

Alright and do you know if these mobos are compatible with the mounting points in the tower? I suppose the CPU isn't the only consideration, anything else I should be careful compatibility wise, RAM, GPU etc?

They are ATX boards and it appears that tower is also ATX compatible so I don't see a reason why they wouldn't fit.

As far as memory compatibility goes there's always a problem if you were overclocking it. Vishera processors (like a 6300 and 8320) were rated for DDR3 1800 but 1600 would work with greater confidence. Even so, there's never any guarantees on this sort of thing and it can be a challenge.

Sometimes you have to get clever working with older systems: I bought 16Gb of GSkill DDR3 1800 for my son's FX6300 system and it wouldn't even boot to BIOS. So I put in one stick of the original DDR3 1600 and booted to BIOS, manually set the voltage and timings for the 1800 kit then shut down and installed the 1800 kit. This time it booted to BIOS where I enabled XMP and it's been running great at 1800 speed without a hiccup. No idea why.