MSI 790FX-GD70 or Asus Crosshair III Formula

JonSimonzi · 08-15-09, 03:26 PM

Looking into a AMD setup for the first time in years. I can't decide between these two motherboards. I've used my Maximus II Formula for some time, and have been very impressed with Asus's P45 ROG board, best board I've ever used. So that does have me leaning towards the Crosshair, but the GD70 looks very nice as well. It would have a PII 955BE and 4890 CF in it if that makes any difference.

On a side note, where could I get mounting hardware for a TRUE on either of those boards? Don't want to make a 2nd thread

Metallica · 08-15-09, 03:41 PM

MSI ftw

AM2 is the same as AM3 I believe.

CharlieCS · 08-15-09, 05:24 PM

Certainly MSI , been giving AMD alot of love, got some great boards out , and GD70 is arguably the best 790FX board for air and water .

Marshmallow64 · 08-15-09, 06:52 PM

Go with the MSI

Suprchargd · 08-15-09, 08:37 PM

I like my Crosshair III, so far best I can do is get into Windows at 4.0ghz, run Firefox and WoW, but it's not stable yet, fails under Prime almost immediately. I'm sure the GD70 is also a great board (my purchase was biased since I got my Crosshair for $130).

ChanceCoats123 · 08-15-09, 11:54 PM

Giga-Byte 790FXT-UD5P hands down.

velozzity · 08-16-09, 01:34 AM

I have the 790fx-gd70 and am very pleased with it. With some quick testing I was able to boot at something like 325 reference clock, so for base clock and not multi overclocking it is great. I cannot properly comment on the crosshair III nor Chancecoats recommendation the Gigabyte 790fxt-ud5p (as I dont own) but the Gigabyte does get sparkling reviews and some oc'ers swear by it IIRC (Chew of XS for Example). Probably each board has it's own strengths and weaknesses but by quite a few reviews the MSI board edges out the others in the "Total Package" considering price per se.

SupR? was that a open box for 130?????????

ckool · 08-16-09, 06:12 AM

I am also very intrested in this topic as i am in the same dilemma as JonSimonzi.

icebob · 08-16-09, 08:40 AM

It really depends on what you want to do with the rig. I have the Crosshair III Formula and love it. I didn't buy it for a 24/7 rig, only for benching. There's enough setting in the bios to keep you busy for weeks! There's only 2 pcie slots,and only 5 sata, but for what I do with it it's enough. It is the funniest board Iever own to play with

JonSimonzi · 08-16-09, 09:34 AM

Well, this will be for a 24/7 rig. 2x PCIE slots would be plenty, around a month after this purchase a 2nd 4890 will be bought to run in CF, and I can't remember the last time I had anything in a card slot aside from a video card. 5 sata is fine for now, but I could see myself needing a 6th in the not too distant future. I'll have to mull it over a bit, just like hearing people opinions

Suprchargd · 08-16-09, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by velozzity

SupR? was that a open box for 130?????????

No, BNIB from Newegg few weeks ago. They had a combo with the 955 X4.

Porvalsh · 08-19-09, 04:27 PM

I bought the MSI board. The first one I had came with a smoking capacitor so I sent it back. This second one is fine. You get a lot of extra stuff with the MSI board that makes it a great "total package". I don't know much about the other boards though to really compare and I usually buy stripped down versions of mobo's because I don't have a lot of equipment to hook up so I can't compare to past experiences really either.

Some people swear by Asus and are customers for life with them. The only Asus board I owned though was an old socket A KT266 board. Been a while haha.

On air I've only been able to pull 3.6ghz stable & 24/7, limited by heat. I've gotten to 3.8 for a few benchmarks but it crashes during stability tests. I have the 955 and 4890 too. 3dmark06 scores are in the 17,000 range. Will go CF 4890's too when I get some cash, and hopefully water cooling of some sort so that I can run at 4ghz 24/7.

Edit: I went with the cooler master V8 instead of the True. If I could have a do-over I think I would. I don't know about mounting but it looks like the Rev C coolers come with it so you should be able to find it somewhere...

n|trox · 03-13-10, 04:16 AM

I was wondering on the same as you, and i went 4 the Crosshair III Formula. It is really a great board for oc'ing and gaming as well. I think it worth the little extra money.
- n|trox

08-15-09, 03:26 PM	Thread Starter #1
JonSimonzi Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Providence, RI	MSI 790FX-GD70 or Asus Crosshair III Formula Looking into a AMD setup for the first time in years. I can't decide between these two motherboards. I've used my Maximus II Formula for some time, and have been very impressed with Asus's P45 ROG board, best board I've ever used. So that does have me leaning towards the Crosshair, but the GD70 looks very nice as well. It would have a PII 955BE and 4890 CF in it if that makes any difference. On a side note, where could I get mounting hardware for a TRUE on either of those boards? Don't want to make a 2nd thread __________________ Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z - i7 2700K - Corsair H80 Diamond 7970 - 3x Dell U2412M 16GB G.Skill Sniper - 256GB Crucial M4 - 3TB Hitachi 7K3000 Corsair AX850 - Corsair 600T Heatware
	QUOTE Thanks

08-15-09, 03:41 PM	#2
Metallica Member Join Date: Jan 2007	MSI ftw AM2 is the same as AM3 I believe.
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08-15-09, 05:24 PM	#3
CharlieCS Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: New York Forum Points:4576	Certainly MSI , been giving AMD alot of love, got some great boards out , and GD70 is arguably the best 790FX board for air and water .
	QUOTE Thanks

08-15-09, 06:52 PM	#4
Marshmallow64 Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: California	Go with the MSI __________________ :: Gaming Desktop :: CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T @ 3.9 Ghz 1.4v \| MOBO: MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 570 (732/1464/1900) \| RAM: 4 GB G-Skill DDR3 1600 SSD: OCZ Vertex 120 GB \| HD1: WD Black 640 GB \| HD2: WD Black 2 TB SC: Xfi Titanium Fatal1ty \| PSU: Corsair HX 620 W KB: Saitek Eclipse \| MOUSE: Logitech MX 518 CASE: Antec 1200 \| OS: Windows 7 x64 :: Laptop :: MOD: Macbook Pro 13” 2011 \| CPU: Intel Core i5 @ 2.3 Ghz RAM: 4 GB DDR3 1333 \| OS: OS X Lion 10.7.2
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08-15-09, 08:37 PM	#5
Suprchargd Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Chicago, IL	I like my Crosshair III, so far best I can do is get into Windows at 4.0ghz, run Firefox and WoW, but it's not stable yet, fails under Prime almost immediately. I'm sure the GD70 is also a great board (my purchase was biased since I got my Crosshair for $130). __________________ \| Rig 1 \| Silverstone FT03B \| AsRock Z77 Pro4-M \| 3770K @ 4.2 ghz [CM Hyper212 Evo] \| 2x4 G.Skill RipjawsX @ 2133mhz 10-10-10-30 1.6v \| HD4890 @ 975/999 \| Rig 2 \| Antec P182 \| Gigabyte X58-UD3R \| 920 D0@ 4.4 ghz [Venomous X] \| 3x1 Corsair XMS @ 1760mhz 8-8-8-24 1.66v \| HD3850 [T-rad2 GTX] @ 765/909 stock voltage Heatware
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MSI 790FX-GD70 or Asus Crosshair III Formula

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Tech Hardware

08-15-09, 11:54 PM	#6
ChanceCoats123 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Illinois	Giga-Byte 790FXT-UD5P hands down. __________________ Ed - "Aight it's pulling down... Thing is really tuned for LN2 though." This is the team you are looking for... 1EeNkR3VPihwHCGt2VKSjJHetiKHZt9U1e
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08-16-09, 01:34 AM	#7
velozzity Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Athens, Georgia	I have the 790fx-gd70 and am very pleased with it. With some quick testing I was able to boot at something like 325 reference clock, so for base clock and not multi overclocking it is great. I cannot properly comment on the crosshair III nor Chancecoats recommendation the Gigabyte 790fxt-ud5p (as I dont own) but the Gigabyte does get sparkling reviews and some oc'ers swear by it IIRC (Chew of XS for Example). Probably each board has it's own strengths and weaknesses but by quite a few reviews the MSI board edges out the others in the "Total Package" considering price per se. SupR? was that a open box for 130????????? __________________ MSI P55-GD80 I7 875k @ (160 x 25) 4ghz @ 1.336 (load) 4GB (2 x 2) Patriot Gamer Edition 1600mhz ddr3 (8-8-8-25 2t) Prolimatech Megahalems with Gentle Typhoon 1850's push/pull Antec 900 custom painted with S-Flex throughout WD Caviar Black 1TB ~ Zotac Gtx 580 Antec Signature 850
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08-16-09, 06:12 AM	#8
ckool New Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Sydney,Australia	I am also very intrested in this topic as i am in the same dilemma as JonSimonzi.
	QUOTE Thanks

08-16-09, 08:40 AM	#9
icebob Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Cahokia, Il	It really depends on what you want to do with the rig. I have the Crosshair III Formula and love it. I didn't buy it for a 24/7 rig, only for benching. There's enough setting in the bios to keep you busy for weeks! There's only 2 pcie slots,and only 5 sata, but for what I do with it it's enough. It is the funniest board Iever own to play with __________________ "Woe to you, Oh Earth and Sea, for the Devil sends the beast with wrath, because he knows the time is short... Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast for it is a human number, its number is sixteen hundred megahurtz!
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08-16-09, 09:34 AM	Thread Starter #10
JonSimonzi Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Providence, RI	Well, this will be for a 24/7 rig. 2x PCIE slots would be plenty, around a month after this purchase a 2nd 4890 will be bought to run in CF, and I can't remember the last time I had anything in a card slot aside from a video card. 5 sata is fine for now, but I could see myself needing a 6th in the not too distant future. I'll have to mull it over a bit, just like hearing people opinions __________________ Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z - i7 2700K - Corsair H80 Diamond 7970 - 3x Dell U2412M 16GB G.Skill Sniper - 256GB Crucial M4 - 3TB Hitachi 7K3000 Corsair AX850 - Corsair 600T Heatware
	QUOTE Thanks

08-19-09, 04:27 PM	#12
Porvalsh Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Colorado	I bought the MSI board. The first one I had came with a smoking capacitor so I sent it back. This second one is fine. You get a lot of extra stuff with the MSI board that makes it a great "total package". I don't know much about the other boards though to really compare and I usually buy stripped down versions of mobo's because I don't have a lot of equipment to hook up so I can't compare to past experiences really either. Some people swear by Asus and are customers for life with them. The only Asus board I owned though was an old socket A KT266 board. Been a while haha. On air I've only been able to pull 3.6ghz stable & 24/7, limited by heat. I've gotten to 3.8 for a few benchmarks but it crashes during stability tests. I have the 955 and 4890 too. 3dmark06 scores are in the 17,000 range. Will go CF 4890's too when I get some cash, and hopefully water cooling of some sort so that I can run at 4ghz 24/7. Edit: I went with the cooler master V8 instead of the True. If I could have a do-over I think I would. I don't know about mounting but it looks like the Rev C coolers come with it so you should be able to find it somewhere... __________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ i7 3930K @ 4.5Ghz \|MSI x79A-GD65 8D\|4x4gb Corsair Vengence DDR3\|Palit GTX 460 SP 1GB\|Water Cooled\|Corsair 750TX PS Intel i7 860 @ 3.54ghz \| Asus P7P55D Pro \| Corsair 2x2GB XMS3 DDR3 \| Radeon 5850 1GB\|Antec 750W PS \| Cooler Master Hyper 212+ Watercooling Setup (Old)\| Folding With Team 32 \| Thermaltake Element G Build __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Last edited by Porvalsh; 08-19-09 at 04:43 PM.
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03-13-10, 04:16 AM	#13
n\|trox New Member Join Date: Mar 2010	I was wondering on the same as you, and i went 4 the Crosshair III Formula. It is really a great board for oc'ing and gaming as well. I think it worth the little extra money. - n\|trox
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