Three AMD 990FX-Based Motherboards For Enthusiasts

[thornh]

Since I am using 2 of the 3 boards reviewed here (the Asus and the Gigabyte) I will add my .02:

I first selected the Asus for my upgrade last summer, but found out after purchasing trhe boad that it does not support core unlocking (which I desired for my 960T processor). I used the board for 6 months and have absolutely no complaints, fast, overclockable and stable. I picked up the Gigabyte for 109.00 USD around Christmas and that board is also fast, stable and overclocakable. I moved the Asus to my WHS 20111 machine where it continues to shine serving up audio and video to multiple iOS android and DLNA devices.

I must add that for the money spent, 159.00 USD for the ASUS, vs 109.00 for the Gigabyte (which I say today for 129.00 after rebate, the Gigabyte is the clear winner in price vs performance vs features for me.

 

[nss000]

Lots of useless blabla about overclocking ... which only byteboi users (5%) do ... and **no damming criticism ** about the lack of hardware invoked ONE-BUTTON automagic BIOS updating ... which motherboard manufactures avoid like Ebola and for which omission they ought to be flogged.

 

[rojodogg]

Lots of useless blabla about overclocking ... which only byteboi users (5%) do ... and **no damming criticism ** about the lack of hardware invoked ONE-BUTTON automagic BIOS updating ... which motherboard manufactures avoid like Ebola and for which omission they ought to be flogged.

Most of all this topic is about the testing of 3 AMD motherboards, lets please stay on topic.

I OC, and I found this comparison very helpful with my future builds of AMD systems.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Running the Asrock 990FX Extreme 9 with my FX8350 at 5.1 ghz.,LOVE the board!

 

[boringpie]

Excuse me Moderator, are you able to provide me detail bios setting for the Asrock board. I have pretty much the same hardware as you with the G Skill 2400 4x8GB RAM. However, I can't get it any higher than 1333MHz. If I push it higher, the system won't boot. I am not even OC'ing, just want to get the RAM to run closer to its designed speed. BIG Thanks in advance!!

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]boringpie[/nom]Excuse me Moderator, are you able to provide me detail bios setting for the Asrock board. I have pretty much the same hardware as you with the G Skill 2400 4x8GB RAM. However, I can't get it any higher than 1333MHz. If I push it higher, the system won't boot. I am not even OC'ing, just want to get the RAM to run closer to its designed speed. BIG Thanks in advance!![/citation]
Where do you see 1333MHz? If it's in CPU-Z, a clock rate of 1333 is a data rate of 2666!

If you're running G.Skill RAM and an ASRock enthusiast-class motherboard, you should be able to choose the appropriate XMP-mode overclock for your RAM. If not, you should probably contact ASRock to find out why.

 

[boringpie]

Thanks Crashman, in the BIOS it detects 1333 (666 x2). Also, I have already chosen the XMP profile, but it only applies the latency settings not the clock speed. Whenever I tried to set the clock speed higher it doesn't boot.

 

[Guest]

I will be getting in my 3rd gigabyte 990fxa-ud3 board tomorrow. It has a know issue with the heatsink on the southbridge getting quite hot. its the one below the cpu. its attatched with pushpins and i think ill take it off and apply some as5 right from the start? Does anyone think thats a bad idea?

Also there are several comments over on newegg about the fx8350 throttling down because the vrms get too hot. someone, said they contacted gigabyte and was told there is nothing they can do.

I am planning on using a phenom quad core. I dont know what revision the board will be yet. I do know ill prolly be lost if its uefi.

the first board came with bios F5 installed. the second one came with F7. I think F7 is the minimun for an FX processor but im not sure. wont be using one anyway.

Why would the vrms get too hot with an 8 core? is it just cheap parts?

To me it looks great, and in sli, it will maintain about an inch between the 2 cards. Please comment. thanks

 

[lilcinw]

I will be getting in my 3rd gigabyte 990fxa-ud3 board tomorrow. It has a know issue with the heatsink on the southbridge getting quite hot. its the one below the cpu. its attatched with pushpins and i think ill take it off and apply some as5 right from the start? Does anyone think thats a bad idea?

Also there are several comments over on newegg about the fx8350 throttling down because the vrms get too hot. someone, said they contacted gigabyte and was told there is nothing they can do.

I am planning on using a phenom quad core. I dont know what revision the board will be yet. I do know ill prolly be lost if its uefi.

the first board came with bios F5 installed. the second one came with F7. I think F7 is the minimun for an FX processor but im not sure. wont be using one anyway.

Why would the vrms get too hot with an 8 core? is it just cheap parts?

To me it looks great, and in sli, it will maintain about an inch between the 2 cards. Please comment. thanks

I have had one for about 18 months and I have run into both issues; it originally throttled my OC'ed FX-4100. I haven't tried new paste on the SB but I don't think it would be a bad idea. The best solution I found was purchasing a massive fan to pull all of that latent heat out of the case (negative pressure). You could also try a SpotCool, I know of other forum members who have used them with success on different projects.

The reason I was sold on the board was the SLI spacing. I run Folding@Home on dual 560Ti's and an OC'ed FX-8320 and I hate to think of how much hotter everything would be if the were all crammed together

 

[jeffredo]

$5 is all it takes to negate ASUS's obviously better performance and BIOS? Please... Its obviously the best of the three and five bucks won't buy you a Micky D's lunch any more.

 

[Novuake]

Yes, rastaman357, we are just that stupid, spammer...

 

[Avro Arrow]

ASRock made a mistake here, if they had sent their 990FX Extreme3, they most likely would have won this contest because it's the least-expensive 990FX board on newegg and still has all the features that 90% of people need. Having said that, I have the Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 and it's a very solid and capable board. Flashback isn't really a big deal since I just flashed my BIOS with a utility that Gigabyte recommended without having to exit Windows. I flashed it so I could install my FX-8350 and it was a piece of cake. I really think that Gigabyte's dual-BIOS solution is the best feature on any of these boards.

 

[khadirabdo]

ASUS M5A99FX Pro R2.0

goo.gl/TsCLTw
goo.gl/jp9FXP