• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

M5A97 R2.0 change with Crosshair V

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

lumx

Registered
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Location
Kosovo
Hi to all,

I am building a new system and i wanted to get some opinion whether i should buy ASUS Crosshair V because M5A97 can not handle FX-8320 it gets too hot and it downclocks sometimes my CPU.

Most probably after New Year i will water-cool my PC.

Also im going to buy R9 290 and 3 Noctua fans.

Thanks in advance
 
You wouldn't need to go all out for the CHV a good Sabertooth R2 non Gen3 will do just fine and save you $50
 
Do you already have the CPU or do you need both mobo and CPU?


If you need both you might want to consider flipping over to Intel depending on what you use your PC for. If it's mostly gaming and you need to purchase both motherboard and CPU then Intel would be a better choice for you.
 
lumx, I see you 'already' have the FX-8320 with a CM 212 EVO as your cooler. And I too agree with "johan45" that it is necessary to go to the CHV-z board but that the Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 would be plenty and much better than the M5A97 R2.0 and should run the power hungry FX-8320 much better.

Know one thing though. When you go to watercooling you will "lose" the overflow air now cooling the VRMs and NB. Then you have newer better board and suddenly you may find that the watercooling has let another issue show up. W/Cooling takes away the air the air-cooling cpu cooler was providing to the VRMs. Be advised. Air flow cooling will have to be added back to the VRM circuit and heat sink.
RGone...
 
I need only the motherboard. I have all the hardware that i have posted at signature and i might sell the M5A97 for 50-60 euros.

OK let me tell another thing.

I live in Kosovo and I will buy the motherboard only and the GPU. I will buy them at Greece because i will get the tax Free price. For ASUS Crosshair V the price is 197 Euros from 260.

So more ore less this is the price list of all the items that im planning to buy except for GPU. I have to chose between 290x and 290. Most probably i will go for 290 and save money from watercooling.
Item Price Tax 23% Price-Tax
ASUS CROSSHAIR V FORMULA-Z 254.9 58.627 196.273
R9 290x 660 151.8 508.2
R9 290 464 106.72 357.28
NOCTUA NF-F12 PWM 120MM FAN 22.56 5.1888 17.3712
NOCTUA NF-A14 PWM FAN 140MM 26.79 12.3234 20.6283
G.SKILL F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR 82.9 19.067 63.833

 
@RGone: I know about airflow but I plan to put the LED fan that came with the case on the side to cool the motherboard. I will post later a pics of what im planning to do with water-cooling.

Also as for Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 it might not be that easy to find it without TAX.

EDIT: @Zebodog I want to buy AMD stuff this time in a way to help them and keep the competition up Between AMD vs Intel and NVIDIA and AMD. I might be wrong thought.

Ok In brief the watercooling setup. the flow will be Res>Gpu>Radiator 2> CPU > Radiator 1> Res
XSPC LOW PROFILE EX120 is under consideration if the whole setup is not enough to keep the system cool. If i buy also the low profile then the flow will be Res>Gpu>Radiator 2> Slim Rad> CPU > Radiator 1> Res

Sorry about the messy picture. When the time comes i will plan it better
l1hz.jpg

Legend:
Brown: Noctua Fans,
White: Stock Fans,
Black: Radiators,
Red: Heat Generator,
 
Last edited:
I'd keep an eye out for the Sabertooth might be cheaper even with tax. The water loop should go pump>CPU>GFX> RAD> RES> back to pump.

If you get a GFX with a good aircooler you really don't need to put water to it. IMO
 
I will see i will buy these in 2 weeks. Hope some good air-cooled 290 will be out by then.

EDIT: Ok i Cant find alone a Sabertooth but i will ask a friend to see if he can find one for me. The good news is that R9 290 is in offer untill 13th of this month. The price is 396 Euros with TAX without tax the gpu will be about 310 Euros. If i cant find a Sabertooth with the money i saved from this offer i will get CHV.

290x is 659.00 with Tax and without tax about 510. Not worth the price. I can get 2 for the same price of a 290x.
 
Last edited:
Not enough radage for such hungry cpu/gpu...

You want at the very least 4x120.
 
Not enough radage for such hungry cpu/gpu...

You want at the very least 4x120.

That is what im worrying, The plan for rads is like this

A slim 30mm X 280mm rad to fit it on top and the fans at the bottom for push config
A 120mm sumo fat rad at the front and,
A 120mm (most probably again slim) rad at the exhaust place.

I believe that is enough.

As for taxes yes in Greece taxes 23% electronic items, but since i can get them without tax it is cheap enough i believe.
 
Yep, radage looks good.

How do you get free tax?:D

I studied at Greece and I am from Kosovo. You get Tax Free if you purchase more than 120 Euros per bill and you take the goods outside EU. Greece is in EU Kosovo is not in EU and only few shops have this option.

Then i ether send the bills back and a Greek friend pretends that he is me or he says that i had things to do blla blla or i go myself to take the money back at the shop.

I want to have all the things ready before i get a job and buy the water-cooling things. I have my PC on the desk and i want a quite PC.

I will post the pics after i buy the parts and mount them. Then i must start thinking for water-cooling. it will be my first time to throw water inside the pc.
 
Ahh..OK!

I am with Caddi Daddi: Sabertooth R2.0 is a great board and in no way will limit your overclock.
 
Well i order Crosshair V because i could not find Sabertooth in stocks. if i wanted to wait i would loose the offer for the Gpu :(. I will get that 290 for 310 euros. :)

I hope i will be able to post some pics this weekend and some benchmarks.
 
I hear ya! :D

I like the underdog myself.

Fingers crossed for better competition from AMD. Hope they will improve a bit single thread performance a bit because multitasking is just great. I don't really care about cache latency and other small things that AMD is behind Intel.
Multithreading is the feature. :attn:
 
Ok some pics of my final build. Now i am thinking about water cooling. :D
There are some problems with the CPU fan and the RAM. Not a big deal for now.

CPU and RAM
lkwx.jpg

d6bh.jpg


Final Look
4x52.jpg

tejq.jpg
 
Back