Cheapest and Bestest Am2+ Mobo

Hey there everyone.

Looking to upgrade soon.

What's the best and cheapest AM2+ mobo with full bios options out there?? Do I even need bios options with a Black Edition processor and software??

What's the difference between AM2+ and AM2??

Thanks for the help.

Best and cheap dont go together.

Yes you would need good bios options with a BE processor.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131381 not the best but pretty good for the money

Whats you budget ?

Anything with a 710/750 south bridge really is good. Just read reviews on newegg.

87dtna said:

Just read reviews on newegg.

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Please dont. Newegg advice/reviews are absolute crap (90% of them anyway).

gigabyte: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard

I ordered one and am using it right now, setup was really easy, runs cool and quiet, only issue is my power supply, sometimes on power-up the fans "rev-up"3 times then run at full speed and no post screen, have to pull the power a couple-few times to get it to boot at the right setting (when the fans run at normal speed)

everything else is fine, has SLI, supports AM2 and AM3, DDR2 memory up to 16GB, onboard sound and networking works great.

for 109.99 its a good solution, oh and the sb750 chipset will allow you to unlock a BE 550 processor if it is "de-activated"

cheers!

SoulStar said:

Hey there everyone.

Looking to upgrade soon.

What's the best and cheapest AM2+ mobo with full bios options out there?? Do I even need bios options with a Black Edition processor and software??

What's the difference between AM2+ and AM2??

Thanks for the help.

Click to expand...

to OCF!


Besides a whole slew of BIOS options with the 7xx chipsets the main difference between AM2 and AM2+ is the increased HT Link speed - assuming you have something newer than an AM2 CPU (Phenom or newer).

Also, if you are planning on dual video cards you'll need to decide up front whether you're going SLI (nVidia) or CrossFire (ATI) and buy the appropriate chipset.

My vote is the same as Ahgemon's. The Gigabyte 790X-UD4P has been a consistently good OC'er for a reasonable price ...

Does the mobo really matter for Deneb ?
It is not as AMD mobos were FSB limited.

But I also wonder what would be the best DDR2 mobo (regardless of price) for deneb OCing when the new stepping comes. Is this GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P really the best ?

Thanks in advance for opinions.

The biggest variation is the BIOS. BIOS options, usually voltage settings but also cpuNB multiplier options, are critical for a good OC. BIOS implementation seems to vary wildly between manufacturers.

Power regulation also varies a lot from manufacturer to manufacturer and is the main reason I haven't been recommending any but the most expensive (790FX) ASUS and DFI boards for AM2+. Gigabyte seems to have all the bases covered at a reasonable price using the 790X chipset.

Is the 790X-UD4P the best at any price? NO. All 790FX boards seem to have slightly better power regulation and, therefore, OC slightly better then their 790X cousins (from the same manufacturer, if available). So the Gigabyte 790FX-UD5P is slightly better but, IMO, unless you need the added features (more than 2x16 PCIe and two Ethernet ports) it's not worth the added price. The ASUS and DFI 790FX offerings are also better then the 790X Gigabyte but, IMO, again not worth the added cost unless you're willing to invest in better RAM, cooling, and PSU as well ...

or this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138140

check green sig, mucho bios options but is mATX.

i may be going back to full size because i kinda like the idea of 2 GPUs again

EarthDog said:

Please dont. Newegg advice/reviews are absolute crap (90% of them anyway).

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I've found 90% of them are OK and the 10% are the idiots posting. I've never had a problem going off of reviews on newegg. Obviously you have to read more than just a couple reviews to get the general opinion, but if and when 6 out of 10 people are receiving DOA products, I'm not gonna order that one....and if I see a trend of DOA's from the same manufacturer, than I won't order anything from them. Or something else, like cases. There was several reviews saying certain hardware wouldn't fit in a case, and I had that hardware, so I didn't order that one. And a multitude of other examples I could give. Reviews can be a good thing.