Benefits of AM3 over AM2+ other than RAM speed

Are there any?

I currently have a Biostar AM2+ Mini ATX board in my server, but it has to have a Cisco USB Gigabit connector, and an extra SATA card to fulfill my needs. (CPU is an Athlon II X2 255)

I am thinking of changing boards, but not wanting to spend too much £ on this system as it is basically just an SBS server, but has XBMC on it too, as it is hooked up to the TV via HDMI in our living room.

If I go down the route of AM3, I am going to have to factor in the cost of DDR3 RAM too aren't I?

AM3 motherboards use DDR3.
AM2+ motherboards use DDR2.

That's it.

+1. And, AM3 CPUs will run in AM2+ boards but AM2+ CPUs will not run in AM3 Boards.

No real significant performance difference at all when running an AM3 CPU with AM2+ memory until you get into the highest end quads and 6 cores. For the AM3 CPUs on the lower end of the spectrum their bandwidth needs are easily satisfied by DDR2 ram.

Alternatively I go crazy and buy an AM3 board, put my Dominator 1600 MHz RAM from Webbstation and buy some Corsair 2000 GT RAM...

I need to do some serious work to get that...hmmmm.....

Which AM2+ board would you recommend that has at least 4 SATA - if not 6, Gigabit LAN, no need for onboard GPU, 4 RAM slots?

Well, IIRC, there aren't any Am2+ 8 series boards which means you get no usb3, no sata 3, no ddr3 and you're stuck with an old chipset (but who am I to say that if I'm on a 790FX too. Lol)

Edit: As for the board you specified in post #5, Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-UD5P.

ChanceCoats123 said:

As for the board you specified in post #5, Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-UD5P.

Click to expand...

I decided against treating myself to some new super fast RAM for my main machine and bought this: Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-UD2H

It has on-board GPU which I didn't use, but apparently it will work quite well with Hybrid XFire with the 4350 card I use for video playback, so we will see.

The 790 chipset is better, but was more expensive - I used to own the MA790XT-UD4P and then a 790XTA before upgrading to a Crosshair IV Formula in my main machine - they are good boards.

+1. Gotta love the Jigga-boards.