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Need a mobo for a X3 440 cpu please

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maxima88

maxima88

Member
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Joined
Jan 24, 2002
I'm going to be putting a new rig together for my son. Don't want to spend too much so i'm not going to go top end on components.

I haven't built a pc in the last 5 yrs so I need a lot of help here with the newer technology.

I'm looking to spend up to $70 for a mobo that I can o/c a little. I will use a aftermarket HSF like zalman. I want to get it up to at least 3.2ghz. I know all about cooling the case and ambient temps so that's something I don't need help with.

I also want to use a separate vid card for it so onboard vid and audio is not a must.


Thanks in advance for your help.
 
thanks for the suggestion. looks like a nice mobo.

Anyone else with any other suggestions?
 
I think Biostar is about the best you'll get in that price range, the other options are not nearly as good. Try to get a 790GX chipset board if you can afford it, a 785 chipset if you can't. IGP chipsets, oddly enough, tend to be the cheaper chipsets nowadays so expect to have built-in video whether you use it or not.

There are other, cheap chipsets out there but most don't OC so well - usually because of a very limited BIOS. Most manufacturers now publish motherboard manuals on-line so if you see a board you like you might want to look over the BIOS (in the manual) before committing to it. Having an adjustable cpuNB speed and voltage (sometimes labeled VDD or VID) are the biggest items to look for. If a BIOS has those options, or just the adjustable cpuNB speed, then you should be good for a mild OC ...
 
Little warning, every Biostar Board I have had has been memory picky! Never gotten a board to do what the memory is rated.

However one in my sig does 275fsb no problem and been a great clocker for $60 with a free computer case.
 
I have had no problems running my ram at 1600 or even above. The TA790GXB3 is solid and OC's well. And it can unlock cores. Of course I'm running Corsair 1600 ram which doesn't have the best timings but is very compatible. My ram currently runs at 1500 with timings of 9-9-9-25 and the CPU sits at an OC of 3.37. I dropped it down to 1333 speed so I could up the CPU farther. Before the CPU was at 3.1 and the ram was at 1656.

You can't go wrong with this board. Solid.
 
Well the TA890FXE is Biostar's high end offering so you may not need all those extra features...but for the money it simply cannot be beat. Biostar is a funny company...they never advertise, make very few high end components, and always get overlooked. That said...when they do offer up a high end component it usually pulls down a few world records. I started using them when they came out with the T-Power i45 for Intel...that motherboard was epic. I abused that motherboard, bad, and it's still kicking. I have been buying Biostar and Biostar alone since then. At 75% of the price and %100 percent of the performance of most other manufactures I have become a "fan boy" lol. Their customer service is top notch too...I thought I had killed one of my 4890s, I shipped it to them and while they were testing it I got daily e-mails from "Nate" (one of their techs) asking me questions and such so he could recreate my issues. Once solved the card was on my doorstep 3 days later...which is really fast because I live in BFE.

My second choice would be a micro offering from Gigabyte, they are usually cheap, reliable, and a great bang for the buck.


Just looked over the thread again...I personally have never had a RAM issue with Biostar, but then I have only really used a few brands...normally Mushkin of Geil, never had issues with them. I'm running 4x2gb (four sticks/full load) of Geil at 1600 right now with no issues, from what I hear thats decent on an AM3 mobo with an overclock.
 
Last edited:
I haven't heard of any issues although you never know until you try. If you want to try to unlock the fourth core you should set ACC to Auto and HT Link speed to 1600. Install Windows first before you try any unlock. The only adjustment that I had to make was to boost the CPU-NB voltage up by 0.05.

If you are going to OC you want to first set the ram at 1333 speed. I run my unlocked X2 545 at 3.37 which puts the ram at 1500 speed.

Make sure that HT Link speed stays around 2000.

You should easily be able to hit 3.2 and higher.
 
Last edited:
coonmanx said:
I haven't heard of any issues although you never know until you try. If you want to try to unlock the fourth core you should set ACC to Auto and HT Link speed to 1600. Install Windows first before you try any unlock. The only adjustment that I had to make was to boost the CPU-NB voltage up by 0.05.

If you are going to OC you want to first set the ram at 1333 speed. I run my unlocked X2 545 at 3.37 which puts the ram at 1500 speed.

Make sure that HT Link speed stays around 2000.

You should easily be able to hit 3.2 and higher.
Click to expand...

thanks for the advise. I certainly am going to o/c it.

I'm going to use this case and a Zalman 9500A HSF:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133062

Will the Zalman be able to keep my temps down?
 
I took a look at your scythe katana on newegg, it also got great reviews but it looks like it's a little bit louder than the Zalman.
 
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