Gigabyte AM3 Board Opinion?

[Bigsmooth1081]

Has anyone had any luck with this board, or for 79.99 should I look in a different direction? Price is large dictator here!

 

[ChanceCoats123]

You didn't give a link. Most Gigabyte Amd boards are solid though.

 

[Bigsmooth1081]

My apologies..

Sorry this one here!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128451

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Well it wouldn't be my first choice for an overclocked quad core, or a hexacore, but for daily usage, I'd say that board will treat you nicely.

 

[Bigsmooth1081]

and if you were to stay in that price range for a overclockable board, your choice would be?

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Well... To be honest. I'm a huge Gigabyte guy, and the 790FX and 890FX boards are really the best for overclocking. If I were to buy in that price range, I would buy a used 790FX board because I would get the most features without paying the new premium.

 

[Bigsmooth1081]

It appears that those boards new were or still are in the $140 dollar range, I am going to try and possibly hunt for one

 

[fat jez]

Having used an 890FX chipset on both an Asus board and a Gigabyte, the Gigabyte wins hands down. On the Asus (M4A89TD Pro/USB3), the board kept throttling the CPU at 4.2GHz as the cooling was not adequate on the power circuitry (which muppet sticks power circuitry chips on the reverse side of the motherboard where they roast with no cooling?). The Gigabyte (GA-890FXA-UD7) has been solid at 4.2GHz since the day I installed it into my rig. I keep saying I'll never buy Asus again, maybe this time I learnt my lesson?

 

[jstutman]

If you could afford a few $$$ more, the Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Oh god no... I would highly recommend against buying a UD7...

Do you happen to know the differences in the UD7 and the UD5? The UD7 supports four-card crossfire instead of three on the UD5, and it is E-ATX meaning it takes more space up. More money for few new features, and none of which are necessary for the OP.

 

[Bigsmooth1081]

Ok, so you guys would definitely suggest going with the Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5?

 

[Apht3rThawt]

I run the Gigabyte 890gx and 890fx. They are both good boards and oc well with forgiving bios. The GA 890fx running a 1055t has taken it to 4424Mhz on air and run a pair of 5770's crossfire, themselves oced. The 890gx with 740/x3 has done well also, 4202Mhz. Both will run AData 2000Mhz ram at 2000Mhz at 9 9 9 24. My Gigabyte P35 has been oced 24/7 for over 3 years, still strong. Both boards have earned boints. Gigabyte 890gpa ud5 best for crossfire.

 

[fat jez]

Ok, so you guys would definitely suggest going with the Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5?

It would get my vote, although I went for the GA-890FXA-UD7 (There was little difference in the price where I bought it from and my case is big enough to take it - most aren't). The UD5 is a good, solid board that has a lot of fans across the forums I read, I don't think you'll go wrong with it.

 

[Bigsmooth1081]

This is the best thing about this forum, and when your spending this much money you can find out all the truths prior to making a mistake or not. So If I go with the UD5, with the phenom II x4 the rip jaws 1066 ddr3 and 2 WD , where do you guys think my bottleneck would be?

 

[fat jez]

If I go with the UD5, with the phenom II x4 the rip jaws 1066 ddr3 and 2 WD , where do you guys think my bottleneck would be?

Probably you Joking aside, I'd maybe look at some 1333 or 1600 RAM, as I don't think it will cost much more. It may help a bit if you are planning on overclocking and give you a bit more bandwidth.

 

[Bigsmooth1081]

Thinking of something like this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231419

 

[fat jez]

This is the stuff I use (I so wish it was this cheap in the UK, I paid the price you pay in dollars, in pounds).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231278

If you drop the latency a bit (the CAS value), you can get cheaper stuff. Or go for 1333 with tighter timings.

But the link you posted would do, it's just rated at 2000 instead of 1333 or 1600 (i.e. it's probably faster than you need). Actually for $5 difference, it's not worth going for the 1600 stuff!

*edit* I'd probably go with this stuff

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

It's rated for 1600 but the timings are pretty tight (AMD stuff likes tight timings over higher RAM speeds)

 

[Bigsmooth1081]

But going with the faster memory prior to OC'ing, that would certainly not leave the memory as the bottleneck one I get that dude to 3.6ghz correct?

 

[Apht3rThawt]

The G. Skill Ripjaws work fine. The heat spreaders are high so a wide hsf may get in your way. On my GA 890fx ud5 I can't swap mem from the first slot with a Zalman performa hsf. I can swap 2nd and 4th with hsf installed, which are the slots I use anyway. I use G. skill ripjaws1600 and Adata2000Mhz, both work great. Get the lower latency.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

 

[Bigsmooth1081]

Ok....so if someone had to choose....would it be better to go with lower latency or tighter timings if you had a choice?