9XX motherboard

[Bluefalcon13]

I'm looking at breathing a bit of new life into my old desktop. I already picked up a 955BE (which is terrible with my mobo in sig, as the CPU is not supported), and some DDR3 ram, but I am looking for recommendations as far as motherboards are concerned. My budget caps at 130 for the board, and I am looking at running one GFX card total. It would be nice to leave the 260 in as a phys-x card, but it is by no means required... TBH I have been thinking about waiting for 7770/7870 depending on price anyways....

So now to the question... should I go with a 990FX from Biostar, or would I be better off with a 970 from someone else? I'm not willing to shell out more than 130 for the motherboard total, so that is the hard upper limit.

Edit: I should add I want a 9XX series mobo, so I can support the newest CPU down the road if I ever feel the 955 is not up to snuff.

 

[ssjwizard]

Go for a 990Xa. Ive got an AMD FX-8120 @ 4.6ghz on mine with 460s in SLI. It rocked my 955 up to 4.4ghz sorta stable, and my sempron 140 @ 4ghz solid. Core unlocking worked great. The latest beta bios is super solid and made the board even better. Its running 129 at the egg right now. If you really dont need more than one x16 slot then go for a 970 from one of the better manufactures.

 

[RGone]

When you lock yourself down to a very low price for a mobo in the AMD boards today, you can really limit yourself. IMO.

For a year or so now the boards for SandyBridge have had little effect on an overclock no matter the price. Price just bought more bling. But that will again change when people really go for the newer very high dollar SandyBridge-E setup.

AMD depending on the cpu still can depend on some clocking by FSB and that generally requires a good mobo for stability if pushed hard. If you are not going to push hard then of course that is another story altogether but too many come in the forum with an elcheap0 mobo and wonder why it will not clock.

If you click that link to ssjwizard's mobo (green gorilla) in his sig that has the 990 board he bought listed, then you can price it. He seems pleased.

 

[Bluefalcon13]

Tbh, I'm just planning a multiplyer OC...notying for land speed records, but I really just want to upgrade my desktop to perform better than my G73 @1080p

Basically, planning on a 256gb ssd + mobo+ gfx card... The less I spend on the mobo, the better gfx card I can get. I'm guessing 3.8ghz on a 955BE on a simple sealed-loop water cooler can push a 6870/7870 along fine

 

[ssjwizard]

With a working budget of $129 these are the AM3+ boards I would recommend. Either of the 970s will serve you well unless you want more x16 slots for other stuff you might add in later. Then you should go with the 990x or the asrock 990fx which is much better than that biostar.

Asrock 970 board
Gigabyte 970 board
990XA Imo the only really pollished 990x.
Asrock Extreme 3

 

[Bluefalcon13]

I was pretty much sold on the 990xa you recommended but now that im about to pull the trigger, im having second thoughts...

I really only need 1 gpu slot, what is the general opinion on the Asus 970 @ $95?

Edit: should add I would like UEFI, which is kinda steering me away from the gigabyte board, and the ASRock board only has 4+1 power vs the Asus having 6+2 (unless I misread everything...)

 

[RGone]

AS I understand it there are features out there in O/S that will only be usable with UEFI. Nailing down a really cheap price for a mobo can get you in trouble as already stated. That said the 4+1 of the Asrock against the 6+2 of the Asus should not be an issue really. Go for UEFI is my suggestion.

 

[Bluefalcon13]

AS I understand it there are features out there in O/S that will only be usable with UEFI. Nailing down a really cheap price for a mobo can get you in trouble as already stated. That said the 4+1 of the Asrock against the 6+2 of the Asus should not be an issue really. Go for UEFI is my suggestion.

I was wrong about the Asus mobo, as it was not the EVO model. I went with the Asus M5A97 vanilla model (4+2), cause, lets face it, its a hold-me-over board, till I get something worth-while (probably going to wait for the 10XX models to come out). I just don't trust the ASRock boards, plus adding in shipping, they cost more than the 95+free shipping on the Asus board. It will get my computer up and running, but not set any land-speed records, which I am fine with. Thanks for all the advice everyone. It definately gave me alot to think about, and mull over before deciding, as there are alot of options across the whole 900-series chipsets

 

[RGone]

mull over before deciding, as there are alot of options across the whole 900-series chipsets

I heard that man. Glad you got something and now naybe you can get to doing some happy computering.