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What's a good MB for around $100

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cpyfx

Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2002
I have been checking reviews over at newegg but all the boards have mixed reviews. It's either a love or hate. I plan on getting the phenon 955 be and 4 gb pc3 and I have a msi 460 gx oc 768mg on the way. I would like to overclock as high as the cpu can go and still be stable. Is there any disadvantage to a micro atx as far as quality and the ability to overclock?
I know I shouldn't go too cheap for a mb but I figure the $100 boards today were probably the $150 boards 6 months ago.
Any suggestions?
 
The biggest disadvantage with mATX is the usual lack of MOSFET heatsinks. Of course, you can always add your own if need be.

In that price range you'll probably want an 890GX chipset since those boards generally have better quality components than lower grade chipset boards.
 
Like QuiteIce already mentioned (he helped me with pretty similar question in another thread) the only drawback with mATX is either lack of MOSFET heatsinks, lack of 8-pin power connector (although I question the importance of that unless you're into extreme OC'ing) or both.
Reviews show that 890 series chipsets don't perform any better than 790 ones, only benefit is the newer SB that you get (support for SATA3 and USB3.0 mostly).
Furthermore, in my own research I could find only two mATX boards that run on 890GX chipset. One is MSI 890GXM-G65, which also happens to be the only mATX board I could find that sports CrossFire and the other one is the ugly looking Biostar TA890GXE.
Only real difference between these two is the CrossFire on MSI, heatpipe connecting MOSFET heatsink with NB heatsink on MSI, and better colour scheme on MSI... what? You calling me biased? NEVER!! :blah:

Anyway, only the Biostar one is under $100, unless you're brave enough to get one of those open-box deals on newegg, then you can get the MSI for $95.
 
Keep in mind that I'm running a 1090T on a mATX board, and it's running at 4.1 ghz (12+ hours Prime95 stable) and I've been benching it at 4.2 ghz (but so far not Prime95 stable). My board lacks MOSFET heatsinks and can currently be had for under $100. It has an 8-pin CPU power connector, for whatever that's worth.

Also, there's a school of thought that says SLI/Crossfire is too expensive, too power hungry and too complex, and really isn't that beneficial unless you want to SLI/Crossfire the very best cards on the market. The better choice is to go with the single most powerful video card you can afford, which is better than using two lesser cards.

I love my mATX rig.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128445

This is not my board. It is a newer version of my board. Don't let the lack of MOSFET heatsinks fool you. This board would overclock anything you wanted, it does core unlocking and it fits your budget. Gigabyte is an outstanding motherboard manufacturer.

EDIT: I just realize that I've only been buying procesors with unlocked multipliers lately. So this board will easily overclock any unlocked chip you buy, but I don't know how far you could push a chip with a locked multiplier. I haven't checked to find the maximum frequency of my board; I haven't needed to.
 
I may have been a little unclear, I am not neccesarily looking for a micro board. I have the space for a full size and would probably prefer a full size. My main goal is to get the best mb in my price range.
 
Biostar TA890FXE

Full ATX size board with the latest AMD Chipset... It holds the World Record over at HWBot for the highest overclock on a 955BE (or at least it did until a few months ago)... And it's only $110 at TigerDirect.
 
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