Need help. 880g vs 890GX

[v1ks_]

As you might have guessed from the title of the thread I am looking for some advice on mATX boards...

I am building a budget build that would still pack enough punch to do some gaming (rts/rpg/mmo some driving, not a fps kind of guy).

So far I've ordered everything save for the CPU and MB. While the CPU choice has been already made (555BE in hopes to unlock it, or to squeeze all the juice it has with OC) I have a dilemma with picking a MB.

Over here, in the middle of nowhere Eastern Europe the choices are somewhat limited and I've pretty much need to pick between three boards.

A MSI 890GXM-G65, ASUS M4A88TD-M/USB3 or GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H.

Now, I'm pretty much leaning towards the MSI board because it runs on 890GX NB which makes 8x/8x CFX an option (although not planned anytime soon, still a nice option to have), it has MOSFET heatsink which should help with OCing and gives me a slightly better IGP until I get the money for a discrete GPU.

Apart from that the boards are pretty much identical, a minor difference is the 8pin EPS12V connection that the Gigabyte board offers.

So, having read this and that from this site and knowing how many and knowing the members around here are, I turn to you for any comments, ideas or insights on this matter.

Is the 890GXM-G65 the way to go, or I'm better off getting a different board? Please keep in mind though that mATX is a must.


Here's what I will be running:

In-Win Dragon Slayer case
Corsair VX550W PSU
Phenom II 555BE
Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/4GX
WD Caviar Green 500Gb
Optiarc DVD RW

Planning to add a SSD drive for system and a dedicated GPU (or someday even two).

Thank you very, very much for the input!


ETA:
I will also appreciate any input on using more copper in the board... from what I've read so far it seems like pure marketing and the benefit when it comes to performance is almost non-existent. Comments?

 

[QuietIce]

to OCF!


My first thought would be the MSI board as well. My selling points are the same you listed, better chipset and, critical to me, MOSFET cooling - though you could easily add this to the Gigabyte board.

The one thing I do like on the Gigabyte is the 8X CPU connector but that's only going to be useful if you get a really nice CPU that not only unlocks to four cores but will also give you a high OC - and that rarely happens. Chances are the standard 4X will be plenty.

Given the requirements you have and the choices available I'd say go for the MSI ...

 

[v1ks_]

O

to OCF!


My first thought would be the MSI board as well. My selling points are the same you listed, better chipset and, critical to me, MOSFET cooling - though you could easily add this to the Gigabyte board.

The one thing I do like on the Gigabyte is the 8X CPU connector but that's only going to be useful if you get a really nice CPU that not only unlocks to four cores but will also give you a high OC - and that rarely happens. Chances are the standard 4X will be plenty.

Given the requirements you have and the choices available I'd say go for the MSI ...

Hi there and many thanks for the input! Yes, I did consider the possibility of adding after-market heatsink, but after looking at that board (no mounting holes) and the choices of heatsinks that can be glued on with thermal adhesive, I wasn't too impressed. Perhaps you have some suggestions what to look for? The only decent and fitting option I found was gpu vrm heatsinks...

 

[QuietIce]

That's one possible option. There are other options available here (all similar, just different sizes) but I have no clue what you might have access to there ...

 

[v1ks_]

That's one possible option. There are other options available here (all similar, just different sizes) but I have no clue what you might have access to there ...

Well, it's always an option to order them online and have em shipped. They don't weight much so shipping shouldn't be an issue.

Does anyone else has any input on the motherboard choice? I see views, but only QuietIce has been kind enough to reply

 

[v1ks_]

Just thought I'll let you all know I ended up getting the MSI board.
I just lined up the pros and cons for me and my build and that Gigabyte board just didn't make it.

So here they are!

MSI:
+ Newer chipset
+ Better overall cooling of the mobo (and the heatsinks are actually fixed to the pbc and not glued on, like on the Gigabyte board)
+ Good looks (colour scheme and heatsink design)
+ Connectivity (crossfire support, side facing SATA adapters)

- Only 4-pin power connector

Gigabyte:
+ 8-pin power connector
+ decent colour scheme
+ extra copper (I guess ?)

- No MOSFET heatsink
- Ugly chipseat heatsinks with a silly Turbo 3D badge, plus they are kept in place by just thermal adhesive
- Older chipset

Try as I might I could not find any source that would say that 4-pin is vastly inferior to 8-pin. In fact, all the sources I could find claimed that there shouldn't be any difference. (Which I guess should be true, since I'll be using a low-ish TDP CPU anyway...)

At any rate, thanks for the help!

 

[QuietIce]

The added copper can make a difference depending on your heatsink, case airflow, and overclock. At mild levels I doubt you'll see any difference.

The 4-pin thing has been discussed and it basically comes down to having enough power for the overclock and CPU you're using. A 125W CPU at high vCore and cpuNB can get starved with a 4-pin connector. For most OC's it never matters ...

 

[v1ks_]

The added copper can make a difference depending on your heatsink, case airflow, and overclock. At mild levels I doubt you'll see any difference.

The 4-pin thing has been discussed and it basically comes down to having enough power for the over and CPU you're using. A 125W CPU at high vCore and cpuNB can get starved with a 4-pin connector. For most OC's it never matters ...

I think there was a review at Tom's where they compared identical boards one with and one without the extra copper and came to a conclusion that there isn't much of a difference unless you take it to the extremes (which I obviously don't plan to do, heh).

Ayup, it might matter when OCing an x6, but I just couldn't see how I could push a 555 that high, given it's stock TDP is 80W. I'm obviously new to all this, but would I be wrong when thinking that a realistic number would be something like 100 - 110W when OCed?

 

[QuietIce]

Ayup, it might matter when OCing an x6, but I just couldn't see how I could push a 555 that high, given it's stock TDP is 80W. I'm obviously new to all this, but would I be wrong when thinking that a realistic number would be something like 100 - 110W when OCed?

Depends on how high the OC is. I doubt if anything you do will go over that ...