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GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 vs. ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0

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Mixednutt

Member
Joined
May 27, 2002
Location
Oregon
Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3

VS.

ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0

This is the system:
*MSI N650TI TF 2GD5/OC BE GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST 2GB 192-bit GDDR5
*G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series (2 x 8GB) DDR3 SDRAM 1866 F3-1866C9D-16GXM
*AMD FX-6350 Vishera 3.9GHz Socket AM3+ 125W

I want stability. Which one would you get? I like the Asus one because it's newer. But I like the Gigabyte one because it's more tried and true. And popular. The raid sucks on the Asus, and I don't plan on using raid, at least not for a while. I just don't really want a board from 2011, you know?
 
The question is like asking how long is a piece of string, in other words what are you planning to do with it? You say stability, i say overclocking etc, i say what size PSU! Why because on the face of it Series 6*** and series 8*** Chips draw quite a bit of power overall. And really need a strong VRM Section on a Motherboard to that point i would humbly ask you to consider the top part of this list i posted for you! AJ. ;) :thup:

1, http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7404903&postcount=5

I would say no lower than the Gigabyte UD5 or UD7 Maybe as you can see for these CPU's there is not much choice! :shrug:
 
The 990FX UD3 is on there. It has a 8+2 VRM IIRC...also, the 99 Evo is a higher/newer model and has powerful VRMs as well. Both boards he listed were in that link so the OP is in good shape! :)
 
Wonderful list. So based on your list and my price range, it looks like you would suggest the ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0. I was hoping that would be the case. This is my PSU. It is older, but it has been a champ, and it's 500W.
 
IIRC, that Xclio was a CWT build (not sure) and fell into a midrange solution. Assuming its not beat/tired, it should be fine. However, if you have BSODs/resets when under heavy load, that would be the first part I would look at being older and not of the highest (but still plenty passable) quality.
 
I will keep that in mind throughout the life of this new build. These are my use priorities:

Photoshop>HTPC>Light Gaming>Storage>Fruityloops

I just want a motherboard which will make it easy setting my ram timings and speeds, allow me to lightly overclock sometime in the future(later than sooner), work correctly with my peripherals(GPU, 1866 RAM, 840 pro SSD, Barracuda 3TB, PSU, etc.) be stable and have some decent longevity. That's how long a piece of string is :D

Edit: So looks like that Asus fits the bill. I'm going to go ahead and hit the "Purchase" button in a couple of minutes. I will wait for a bit in case anyone has to jump in and say, "Wait! You are making a terrible mistake!"
 
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The fruityloops are going to KILL you... :p

Have you bought these parts yet? I ask as memory clocking, to me, is easier on Intel. That said, there isnt a point in overclocking ram for the most part unless you are using the onboard GPU on the AMD. I THINK, and those that know AMD better will assist here, that like Intel, you have 'memory profiles' (in Intel its called XMP), that you set and forget. Sure beats playing around with them for some people. :)
 
The fruityloops have been weighing on me 0_0 Well Earthdog, those are some great questions. I have only bought the 840 pro SSD so far, but I still feel confident about my choice in AMD. In the end I decided that the AMD cpu has a better bang for the buck for Photoshop. And i3 was the other option, and it has better single core performance from what I understand, but photoshop really works well with the mutliple AMD cores and the cuda cores and the larger L2/L3 Cache. It was pretty close, but I choose AMD.
 
Well, if I did switch to an i3 build, which I'm not saying I'm going to yet, but if I did, what motherboard would you suggest? He he he.
 
The tests that Anandtech did were using CS4, which a rather old version now (CS6 is the latest).

For the i3 build, since they're not overclockable, basically the cheapest Intel B75 board you can find.
 
Thanks Knufire. I was also reading about the photoshop performance in CS6. Apparently photoshop communicates a lot better with AMD as of CS6. There are different functions in photoshop, some of which work better with single core performance, and some of which work better with the AMD configuration. In delving back in I can remember why I chose AMD, and it's because of the specific functions I need to use.
 
Dang chaps, I knew I came here for a reason. You guys just saved me some money, helped me pick a good mobo, and had a photoshop chat. Your expertise, gentlemen, is humbling. OK, I'm going to look over the parts again, check back here for any "WAIT! STOP!"s then hit purchase :D
 
If you plan on going SLI, make sure the board can run dual x16 slots. If not, disregard this post :)
 
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