Three AMD 990FX-Based Motherboards For Enthusiasts

[lilcinw]

lilcinw, my friend had a similar problem. 2 ways to solve it:

1. move the GPU down to the second slot, which should drop NB temps by about 5-7 degrees C.

2. Replace the northbridge cooling solution with an active fan (10-15 degree drop). VRMs also get super-hot, 75C is not uncommon under load. Quite frankly, the NB/VRM colling solution on this board is terrible, and I cannot fathom how it got a recommendation at all given these grievances.

I have dual 560 Ti's in there now so that is not an option. I was considering pulling all of the sinks and applying some AS5 I have. It isn't an issue at the moment but when the room hits 80F this summer it could be.

 

[Onus]

Another thing you might consider is getting one of those Antec "Spot-Cool" fans and pointing that at the hot spot.

 

[RedJaron]

I do wish boards would have more PWM headers, and in more accessible locations. It's not just the CPU cooler fans I want spinning up and down as necessary.

 

[rojodogg]

Thank you for the article I was really suprised that the same 990fx boards could be so far apart in performance areas. I learned alot and that is what I appreciate from Tom's!!!!!!

 

[Stevemeister]

I can't believe the conclusion is worry over $5 differences in price - if you are that tight on $ then you can't afford to be an enthusiast . . . . either that or lay off the Starbucks for a couple of days

 

[Novuake]

I do wish boards would have more PWM headers, and in more accessible locations. It's not just the CPU cooler fans I want spinning up and down as necessary.

I agree fully! Geez, stupid molex power is just stupid...

 

[boulbox]

I do wish boards would have more PWM headers, and in more accessible locations. It's not just the CPU cooler fans I want spinning up and down as necessary.

Agreed, but i usually have most of my fans(except CPU fans) to a static rpm so all i would need is a PWM splitter

 

[nukemaster]

Is this a legit price for this?

http://www.amazon.com/*******

Looking to do gaming and use my desktop on it with my 7 series videocard..

Everyone of your posts is the same thing. Please stop that.

 

[Novuake]

Is this a legit price for this?

http://www.amazon.com/*******

Looking to do gaming and use my desktop on it with my 7 series videocard..

Everyone of your posts is the same thing. Please stop that.

I thought it was just me... I do not think he realizes you are a moderator...

 

[nukemaster]

Is this a legit price for this?

http://www.amazon.com/*******

Looking to do gaming and use my desktop on it with my 7 series videocard..

Everyone of your posts is the same thing. Please stop that.

I thought it was just me... I do not think he realizes you are a moderator...

I am a moderator......when did that happen......

 

[Novuake]

Is this a legit price for this?

http://www.amazon.com/*******

Looking to do gaming and use my desktop on it with my 7 series videocard..

Everyone of your posts is the same thing. Please stop that.

I thought it was just me... I do not think he realizes you are a moderator...

I am a moderator......when did that happen......

PLAY ALONG MAN!!! 😀

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]Onus[/nom]Hmmm, it seems to me someone considering a $160 board would readily choose the ASRock at $190. The bracket and extra cables and extra SLI Bridge are probably worth another $25 anyway.[/citation]But it's not going up against any $160 boards, it's going up against a $138 board and a $145 board. It might have won at $160 with a $22 price delta over the $138 board, but it wasn't going to win at a $52 price delta. Just to be clear, $52>$25.

 

[Aoyagi]

Aww, none of my beloved UD7 Gigabyte boards 🙁

Too darn expensive, eh. Worth it, I says.

 

[stoogie]

Asus M5A99FX Pro R2.0 has 892 not 992 for the reatek audio chip

 

[Onus]

All posts the same? Then it's a spammer; kill it with fire.

Fair enough on the price then; if it's that big a jump, then it's a different class of board and doesn't belong in this group.

 

[anonymouss]

Would be nice to see how low end mobos stack against these, like 760G or 880G based ones..
Every mobo review I watch is about things with same specs, I dont know why? For example I know exactly how a 7850 does vs a 7950 but with mobos there are no comparisons.

 

[Onus]

The mobo typically makes little performance difference, BUT older AMD mobos may very well suffer performance penalties due to much lower MT/s frequencies. I agree that it would be worth a short article, how much difference does it make?
Also, such older motherboards may also be limited to 95W CPUs, or simply not have the VRM capacity to support high overclocks.

 

[cravin]

Would any 970 boards work with a phenom 8320 or 6300?

 

[Onus]

Why wouldn't they? The 900-series chipset is all for socket AM3+, although ASRock has an abomination that they call a 970 even though the Southbridge is actually a 710 rather than the 950.

 

[cravin]

Ok let me rephrase that what one would work best for overclocking a fx 8320 or 6300. Only single gpu, and i'll overclock the ram as well.

 

[Onus]

For overclocking, I'd look for a board from Asus or Gigabyte, possibly ASRock. MSI has a history of using weak VRMs that pop under load. Find one that has heatsinks on the VRMs. It doesn't have to be a 990FX, but those are most often the "enthusiast" boards with more overclocking options. They're also the ones that support multiple geaphics cards, which from your perspective may add cost without adding benefits. There are a fair number of 970 boards that would be acceptable as well. This ASRock for $85 is probably the cheapest one I'd consider: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157280 although for only $10 more I'd expect this Asus to be better: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131873
Prices go up from there. The ASRock Extreme9 is back at $160 now.
Overclocking the RAM may not be worthwhile; I don't recall any article showing more than a few percentage points' difference.

 

[cravin]

For video editing with after effects overclocking ram is shown to help a lot, and plus why not?

 

[Onus]

Fair enough, "Why not" goes along with "Because it was there" and is sometimes the only reason anyone needs.

 

[michaelmouse]

Since I don't do gaming, I'm not interested in a separate video card, I just need the video on the motherboard. I am not seeing any 990 amd boards with HDMI out because they have no video on board, I guess. Is there such an animal? Maybe later...? Thanks Mickey

 

[michaelmouse]

Do you know if any company is making 990 AMD motherboards with video on board? I don't need the extra graphics and need the HDMI onboard out put. [HTPC build] Thanks Mickey