MSI 970 Gaming vs GA 990FX UD3 (rev4)

[jcpangs]

Need some help here. so my asus mobo finally died after 4years of awesome service and this two are currently and the only available boards in my area.

MSI 970 Gaming http://www.msi.com/product/mb/970-GAMING.html#hero-overview

GA 990FXA UD3 http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3894#ov

so I currently have an 8gb Ripjaw Gskill ram, HD6950 2gb and an AMD Phenom X3 2.8ghz B.E that was overclocked to 3.4ghz using Deepcool IceBladePro. Im planning to upgrade to an FX6300 and will only use it for just gaming. so which board will suit me best? a few things I have in mind.

1. Overclock: I know that the 990fxa will overclock better but do I really need it? does games now-a-days really need it? isnt my video card enough? I dont mind playing in medium as long as the frame rate is smooth. is the perfomance of an overlocked 990fxa be noticable to an overclocked MSI 970? Im not planning in going for a liquid cooling setup.

2. is the MSI 970's audio and nic really better to the 990fxa? I have a logitech z906 and a G35 headset. again if the sound noticable?

3. Msi 970 is about $112 and Ga990FXa is $140. I could use the extra money to get maybe a keyboard or some stuff.

4. MSI somehow has a bad reputation on boards. (as per google) but Im not afraid to give em a chance. If you guys could share some personal exp that would really help

 

[Woomack]

For me it's like to choose lesser evil. Both boards are not really good, more like average. If you have no other choice then for Phenom X3 I would pick cheaper so MSI in this case.

 

[jcpangs]

For me it's like to choose lesser evil. Both boards are not really good, more like average. If you have no other choice then for Phenom X3 I would pick cheaper so MSI in this case.

actually theres a few more boards that are available but this two has all the things that I need (10usbports 6audio ports 4ram slots am3+ socket) I also wouldnt like to spend more than at least $140 dollars for a board..but if theres anyboard that you could suggest that fits my needs and if the price is reasonable I could be tempted.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Link where you will be shopping so we can take a look at whats available. The Gigabyte UD4 Rev 4 board isn't a bad board from what we have seen. The Msi board is new and I haven't seen a single on come through here, that said Msi AMD boards in the past have been known to have issues.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

You'll be better off with a GA-970A-UD3P for your usage than that MSI.

 

[Itachiii]

You'll be better off with a GA-970A-UD3P for your usage than that MSI.

If he wants to OC, I wouldn't recommend it since I had a hell of a week trying to OC a FX-6100 on a 970A-ud3p

 

[rayraysfunhouse]

I have my 6350 at 4.8 on the ud3p on a 120mm AIO cooler...

The UD3P is one of the better budget boards for overclocking. 8-2 power phase is great on this board for OC.

...it's also the board I use for benching as well...

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Yeah, I'm going to have to disagree here Itachiii.
It's not a top-tier board, but it sure can hold its own.

My board was the predecessor (GA-970A-UD3 Rev. 1) and I've run my FX-6300 into the 5GHz range with it.
http://url.hwbot.org/1pd6VFL It's no slouch by any means.

Now, it runs my server at 4GHz. 24/7/365.
I think I'm on a ~2 month uptime right now.

 

[Itachiii]

Yeah, I'm going to have to disagree here Itachiii.
It's not a top-tier board, but it sure can hold its own.

My board was the predecessor (GA-970A-UD3 Rev. 1) and I've run my FX-6300 into the 5GHz range with it.
http://url.hwbot.org/1pd6VFL It's no slouch by any means.

Now, it runs my server at 4GHz. 24/7/365.
I think I'm on a ~2 month uptime right now.

Tough luck with the one I worked with I guess ;/

 

[jcpangs]

Link where you will be shopping so we can take a look at whats available. The Gigabyte UD4 Rev 4 board isn't a bad board from what we have seen. The Msi board is new and I haven't seen a single on come through here, that said Msi AMD boards in the past have been known to have issues.

well..im from the philippines asia, we use this famous site www.tipidpc.com where we just search an item and all stores/person who sells that item shows up. im not sure if its going to work on your end.



unfortunately the GA-970A-UD3P is not available in my country

 

[Mandrake4565]

well..im from the philippines asia, we use this famous site www.tipidpc.com where we just search an item and all stores/person who sells that item shows up. im not sure if its going to work on your end.



unfortunately the GA-970A-UD3P is not available in my country

Yeah that's not going to be helpful. Here is a link that may help you find a board.

 

[jcpangs]

Yeah that's not going to be helpful. Here is a link that may help you find a board.

great.. so I guess its a matter of overlocking. I guess if im gong to overclock I'd go for the 990fxa.. if not then 970 will do.. hmmm right now Im not really interested in overclocking,but I might be in the future.. oh well I'll just get the 990fxa in case I'll overclocked. thanks a bunch guys.

 

[rayraysfunhouse]

If you get the 990 UD3 try to make sure that it is revision 4. Heard rev. 3 and earlier were complete junk by a few of the members.

 

[Theocnoob]

OP- this is a perfect opportunity for a CPU upgrade. Go Intel. You only need a $50-$60 board. Combine it with a low end i5 like a 4440 or 4460 and you have a much better, faster system. Sure, it'll jack your price up by about $180, but the performance increase will be significant.

Why extend the life of an obsolete part?

 

[jcpangs]

OP- this is a perfect opportunity for a CPU upgrade. Go Intel. You only need a $50-$60 board. Combine it with a low end i5 like a 4440 or 4460 and you have a much better, faster system. Sure, it'll jack your price up by about $180, but the performance increase will be significant.

Why extend the life of an obsolete part?

Im not really familiar with any intel products. what would you recommend?

 

[rayraysfunhouse]

Before you decide to go Intel what is your budget? Intel will increase your budget then it also depends on what all you can get over there. For gaming I personally wouldn't go lower than an i5. But IMO the price for performance ratio isn't worth it just yet. My 6350 with my GTX 670 runs everything I have thrown at it and holds a constant 60FPS on high/ultra settings.

 

[Theocnoob]

Im not really familiar with any intel products. what would you recommend?

To replace what you have now and have a noticeable upgrade I would look at a higher end locked i5 or a lower end Xeon personally. That way you can run on a $60 motherboard.
What are the specs of the DDR3 sticks you have right now? They can be re used.

If you want Intel and the ability to overclock (Most intel chips easily make it to 4.4Ghz or so these days) you will want an entry level Z97 board ($100-120) and a decent aftermarket cooler (Hyper 212 or better) ($30-140)

Honestly, given the minimal gains you will get in most applications with modern Intel chips by overclocking, it probably is not worth it to you to spend the extra $40 on the CPU, the extra $60 on the mobo, and another $40 on a cooler. But it's an option, so I had to mention it.

Something along the lines of an i5 4460/ ASRock B85 Anniversary motherboard would work. Those go for about $180-190 and $50-65 respectively.

Also, I just noticed in your original post you noted that MSi has a bad rep for motherboards. Indeed they do. Especially for high end AMD motherboards. You'll get better value and quality out of ASRock/ASUS/Gigabyte than you will out of MSi. There are even brands that are inferior to MSi like Biostar and ECS. Just avoid all 3. (Anybody with an MSi/Biostar/ECS board reading this please don't shoot the messenger).

 

[Alaric]

My M5A99FX Pro Rev. 2 (Asus) mobo was $139.99 USD and it is a pretty good board. For the money it's a great board. It handles overclocking (within reason) of a FX 6350 to 4400 MHz with no voltage bump and it will overclock my card until the card quits. It may be an option to consider.

 

[Theocnoob]

My M5A99FX Pro Rev. 2 (Asus) mobo was $139.99 USD and it is a pretty good board. For the money it's a great board. It handles overclocking (within reason) of a FX 6350 to 4400 MHz with no voltage bump and it will overclock my card until the card quits. It may be an option to consider.

Your results with that board are not indicative of anything really. They can't be applied to others because most 6350s won't do 4.4 on stock volts, and the fact that you have the chip on stock volts means you haven't really pushed the VRM very hard, so you can't really say whether its a good overclocking board or not based on your experience. You got a good chip and a mediocre board (no disrespect intended) and you lucked out with your chip being a power sipper rather than a chugger. I usually am all about ASUS, but those M5A boards don't really get recommended on this forum.

 

[Mandrake4565]

My M5A99FX Pro Rev. 2 (Asus) mobo was $139.99 USD and it is a pretty good board. For the money it's a great board. It handles overclocking (within reason) of a FX 6350 to 4400 MHz with no voltage bump and it will overclock my card until the card quits. It may be an option to consider.

When you say "stock voltage" are you saying that it's still on Auto or did you manually set the stock voltage. There is a big difference between the two, if left on Auto the motherboard will add voltage accordingly to the Cpu's as the Oc is increased, to a point. Therefore, it is not what would be considered stock voltage. That said the M5A99X Evo/M5A990Fx Pro are both good motherboards for a Fx 63xx chip.