Great mobo, except 1 thing...

[ThatGuyNick]

Looking for a good Mobo to go with the 955 I'm going to get. I'm getting a 5850 and will probably SLI in the future w/another 5850 to upgrade graphics when needed.

While looking for a mobo I found this guy, ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard. He's got USB 3.0, core unlocker, and easy overclock button, and... ATI Hybrid Graphics Technology Support? Would merging a 5850 and the HD4290 do anything like SLI would? If not, then can someone suggest a great other mobo alternative (under $150)?

 

[velozzity]

First I need to mention SLI is what Nvidia calls their Multi GPU setup and Crossfire is the ATI equivalent, they are not interchangable and you can't do SLI on a AMD chipset board (without some SLI hack) and Vice Versa under normal circumstances unless you are going with some Intel Boards that support both or some of the Hydra boards that are being released like the Asus CHIV extreme...Also that I know of you can't pair a Hd5000 series card with a HD4000 series card, however you can mis-match for example a 5870 and a 5850 but performance is limited by the slower card and it ends up being no faster that 2 of whichever that card may be in Crossfire. Also that board looks fine as long as you want to Crossfire ATI cards (or is it AMD now im so behind the times) and the easy overclocker is more of a gimmick that a real feature, you really should learn the bios and its settings and get some people here to walk you thru setting up the overclock if you don't know how already, also most Gigabyte boards are pretty solid so you may want to look at a 890FX/GX board by them. Also depending on how long it will be until you update processors a 790FX/GX board is just a good for Phenom II Quads with exception of supporting sata 6gb/sec and usb3 (which may or may not be that big of a deal if you are'nt using solid state drives any time soon) and you might get the 790 board slightly cheaper since they are no longer the new kid in town. If you are going Thuban sometime in the near future and not going to wait until bulldozers release to see if in fact we all need new boards I would go the 890FX/GX route.

 

[ThatGuyNick]

First I need to mention SLI is what Nvidia calls their Multi GPU setup and Crossfire is the ATI equivalent, they are not interchangable and you can't do SLI on a ATI board (without some SLI hack) and Vice Versa under normal circumstances unless you are going with some Intel Boards that support both or some of the Hydra boards that are being released like the Asus CHIV extreme...Also that I know of you can't pair a Hd5000 series card with a HD4000 series card, however you can mis-match for example a 5870 and a 5850 but performance is limited by the slower card and it ends up being no faster that 2 of whichever that card may be in Crossfire. Also that board looks fine as long as you want to Crossfire ATI cards and the easy overclocker is more of a gimmick that a real feature, you really should learn the bios and its settings and get some people here to walk you thru setting up the overclock if you don't know how already, also most Gigabyte boards are pretty solid so you may want to look at a 890FX/GX board by them.

Right, I keep mixing up crossfire and SLI, forgive me, I still have a bit of the flu. Would you suggest the ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard instead as a mobo? IT doesn't have an integrated graphics card and supports crossfire.

 

[velozzity]

Right, I keep mixing up crossfire and SLI, forgive me, I still have a bit of the flu. Would you suggest the ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard instead as a mobo? IT doesn't have an integrated graphics card and supports crossfire.

I'm going to let someone with more experience with ASUS ...Quietice where are you....chime in on that but both look pretty good however the 890gx chipset will overclock a processor better on average from what i understand than a 880g chipset. Also that link you provided does have onboard graphics just it is a lower end chipset than the 890gx.

 

[ThatGuyNick]

I'm going to let someone with more experience with ASUS ...Quietice where are you....chime in on that but both look pretty good however the 890gx chipset will overclock a processor better on average from what i understand than a 880g chipset. Also that link you provided does have onboard graphics just it is a lower end chipset than the 890gx.

Which gigabyte mobo would you suggest that has crossfire? I don't know of any difference between the two so suggestions are fine. Also, I notice when looking at details, a lot of the memory standards don't mention DDR3 1600. They mention DDR3 1866(OC)*/1333/1066 often and skip over 1600, which is what I have selected. Does this mean it won't work with that RAM?

 

[velozzity]

All the 790 and 890 boards should at least support 2x crossfire, so the main question is do you want a x board without video, a Gx board with integrated video, or a FX board that does'nt have video but supports up to 4x crossfire in the future and maybe better overclocking on the top end....besides that i would suggest any of the 3 depending on your needs, in fact the Asus board you originally picked out looks good at first glance, I just don't have any on hand experience with it so any issues particular with that one i am oblivious to....the Gigabyte boards are all solid depending on your budget, but If I were replacing my board i would probably get this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128441 however it is slightly over your budget judging by the first boards price, in that case you may wish to go with this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128435

 

[trents]

Which gigabyte mobo would you suggest that has crossfire? I don't know of any difference between the two so suggestions are fine. Also, I notice when looking at details, a lot of the memory standards don't mention DDR3 1600. They mention DDR3 1866(OC)*/1333/1066 often and skip over 1600, which is what I have selected. Does this mean it won't work with that RAM?

It'll work with that ram okay. Ram is capable of running at any speed up to its max rated speed, which in this case is 1600, and probably a little faster than its factory rating, actually. You can adjust the ram speed in bios. If nothing else, you could set the starting speed of the ram at 1333 and clock up to 1600 with the fsb /HT Reference/CPU frequency adjustment found in bios.

 

[ThatGuyNick]

That's good to hear. The mobo you suggested looks great velozzity, you've helped a ton, thanks! Also thanks for the info trents, that's good to hear.

 

[QuietIce]

As velozzity has said the 790X, 790FX, and 890FX chipsets are all more suited to overclocking than any of the GX chipset boards. The problem is the price range. There are a couple of 790FX boards below $150 if you include the MIR. Of course, I prefer ASUS but the MSI has shown good numbers as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130223
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131363

Also in the 790 chipset family is the 790X and Gigabyte still sells a couple of those (and they're virtually the same board):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128416
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128438

Both of these boards original version have very good overclocking records and I would expect them to be the same but with the more modern updates like SATA III and USB 3.0.

At the top, and over the $150 price tag, are the 890FX boards. Both ASUS and Gigabyte have great offerings here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131655
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128441

If I had to pick between them I would probably flip a coin.

Hopefully in that mix you can find something you like. All should provide solid performance and great OC's ...

 

[soulwatch5]

If your planning on getting a motherboard and crossfiring later I'd differently get a 890fxa board. If you don't you'd be robbing yourself to run both cards at pci express x16 speeds. Getting a 890GX you'd end up crossfiring at x8 speeds. (Correct me if i'm wrong but I'm pretty sure those boards dont run 2 video cards at the x16 speeds.)

Anyways cant comment on the ASUS card but I love my GA 890fxa ud5.

 

[ThatGuyNick]

As velozzity has said the 790X, 790FX, and 890FX chipsets are all more suited to overclocking than any of the GX chipset boards. The problem is the price range. There are a couple of 790FX boards below $150 if you include the MIR. Of course, I prefer ASUS but the MSI has shown good numbers as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130223
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131363

Also in the 790 chipset family is the 790X and Gigabyte still sells a couple of those (and they're virtually the same board):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128416
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128438

Both of these boards original version have very good overclocking records and I would expect them to be the same but with the more modern updates like SATA III and USB 3.0.

At the top, and over the $150 price tag, are the 890FX boards. Both ASUS and Gigabyte have great offerings here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131655
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128441

If I had to pick between them I would probably flip a coin.

Hopefully in that mix you can find something you like. All should provide solid performance and great OC's ...

Wow, thanks for the help! I'm probably gonna go with the ASUS 890FX, the gigabyte has a lot of bad reviews and feedback >_<.

 

[velozzity]

I will jump back In and respond that in general Gigabyte is equal in terms to ASUS in quality and their PCB design is first rate (its called ultra durable for a reason if you see it you know why) In fact the 2 top boards that QuietIce linked have essentially the same rating and the problem with one board or the other may be attributed to immature bios but i feel that either one are very good products.