SOLVED Need recommendations for a new motherboard

[BoundByBlood]

Newegg doesn't have a very good selection at the moment and the jumps in pricing is pretty bad so I thought I would ask the community for recommendations. If anyone else also knows a good online marketplace throw those suggestions into this thread as well.

Here's what I'm looking for in a board:
[-] Socket AM3+
[-] AMD 9XX chipset. Not really necessary, but a decent board somewhere in the 970-990 series with solid 8 core support.
[-] 2600 MHz HyperTransport. I'll take 2400 HT if I can't find a fair priced 2600 board which meets all of my requirements.
[-] DDR3 1866 memory standard with a 32GB max memory supported.
[-] SATA III 6 GB/s. I need a minimum of three ports, but more is OK.
[-] I only need one (x1) PCI-e 2.0 x16 slot.
[-] USB 3.0
[-] Onboard video is not necessary.

I would like to find a decent mid range to higher end motherboard which meets as many of these requirements as possible, but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I have owned all of the big names - Biostar, MSI, Asus, Gigabyte - so manufacturer isn't important as long as it's a quality board which will last. Please don't recommend ASRock - I'm very disappointed with that brand right now.

 

[EarthDog]

Sabertooth...

 

[BoundByBlood]

Specific model number?

 

[EarthDog]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...31877&cm_re=Sabertooth-_-13-131-877-_-Product

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Other known solid boards:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128817
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128859

 

[Mandrake4565]

All good recommendations above, what are you planning on doing with the board? Will you be overclocking, to be more specific?

 

[ShrimpBrime]

- Biostar, MSI, Asus, Gigabyte - so manufacturer isn't important as long as it's a quality board which will last. Please don't recommend ASRock - I'm very disappointed with that brand right now.

I've killed Biostop, MSI and AsRock boards. Maybe one Gigabyte too. Killed a few Asus boards too.

I'd go with the Sabortooth just cause it's the most popular and known revision board out there.

 

[BoundByBlood]

All good recommendations above, what are you planning on doing with the board? Will you be overclocking, to be more specific?

I have had quite an inconsistent experience with overclocking so that really isn't too important to me atm. Having the ability to overclock would be nice, but I can do without it. This isn't too say though I won't get curious and try modding some settings in the future just for the hell of it.

I've killed Biostop, MSI and AsRock boards. Maybe one Gigabyte too. Killed a few Asus boards too.

I'd go with the Sabortooth just cause it's the most popular and known revision board out there.

I agree and that Sabertooth is a great looking board, but it is out of my desired price range for now. I can build a new system for not too much money if I price the components well.

Thanks for all the recommendations, the board I'm currently considering is the Gigabyte GA-970A-D3P:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128627

It meets all of the requirements except I'm making a bit of sacrifice on the 2600MHz HT which is no big deal. Still haven't made up my mind fully.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Thanks for all the recommendations, the board I'm currently considering is the Gigabyte GA-970A-D3P:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128627

The minimum I would recommend would be the UD3P.
The VRM is much better for very little more money.

 

[BoundByBlood]

@ATMINSIDE: On second look that Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 R5 is looking pretty great for not too much more than the 970A-D3P. We might have a winner lol.

 

[Mandrake4565]

If overclocking is only a possibility, I'll also suggest the Asus M5A99X Evo or 990FX Pro. I run my 8350 on the M5A99X Evo without any issues and the board is good for about a 4.5 Ghz Oc. Looking at Newegg the least expensive boards out of the recommendations are the M5A99X Evo and the Gigabyte 990Fx UD3, both would be a good choice. The 970A-D3P is just too under powered for a Fx 8xxx chip.

 

[BoundByBlood]

@Mandrake - I was gonna with the 8350 as well. I'm digging that Evo as well. Damn you, I thought I had it all figured out and then you had to come along to throw another nice looking board in my face! J/K. I do like it.

I also really like Asus and respect them as a company. I sent them a broken R9 280X and they ended up giving me a R9 390X. I have owned both Gigabyte and Asus and if given a choice between them I would have to go with Asus. Bottom line is I know for a fact if anything goes wrong then they are going to take care of me as a customer.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Well I can tell you this, as far as the two boards go. The M5A99X Evo is a really good mid range board. It has a 6+2 Vrm Power phase count it will run the Fx 8350 just fine at stock. All depending on how good the Fx 8350 you get is, you could see around a 4.5 Ghz Oc on one, also cooling dependent. Anything higher then 4.5 Ghz with my 8350, the board just doesn't have enough power to feed the 8350 enough clean voltage to remain stable.

The Gigabyte UD3 R5 has a more robust Vrm power section 8+2 and also seems to be a pretty good board. I will say I have never owned a 990Fx UD3 so all my information is based on what I've seen on this forum. I know Atminside has owned a Gigabyte UD3P board and has had good luck with it. Though depending on the different revisions that the 990Fx UD3P has gone through, some of them have had issues, especially the Rev 3 boards. My only issue with recommending these Gigabyte boards is specific to that, I have a hard time telling someone to buy one, not knowing what they're going to get. I do believe we have a regular on this forum running the 990Fx UD3P R5 without any issues but I don't recall exactly whom.

Either way you go I do believe you're getting a good board and when one is trying to run one of these Fx 83xx chips, you need a good board under it.

 

[BoundByBlood]

I think at this point I'm going to go for stability at first and if I do overclock I'm going to be conservative. The 8350 black edition I'm looking at is a 4.2GHz turbo so I should be able to push it that far safely. One day I might roll the dice for the 4.5, but from what you're telling me is for a few dollars less the 990FX UD3P R5 is an attractive option because of the 8+2 VRM. However, I doubt I would take a gamble above 4.5 with the luck I have had.

I would really be rolling the dice on Gigabyte for the quality of the board and the reputation of the company. Some of their boards are have been really solid while others were below mediocre, I have noticed a lack of consistency to where it pretty much is a craps shoot every time I have bought one. I still like them better than MSI or Biostar and now even ASRock though.

I'm still debating lol.

 

[Mandrake4565]

I really don't think either is a bad choice. The additional power from the gigabyte board is really only a difference maker if you're really looking to push.

Found the review one of our regulars put together for the UD3 R5
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/765208-Gigabyte-GA-990FXA-UD5-R5-mini-review

 

[BoundByBlood]

I ended up going with the gigabyte 990fxa-ud3 r5, It has been a really good board. I like it. My only qualm with it is that in order to run 32GB ddr3 at 1866 stable is to do a 2x16GB configuration and with a 4x8GB setup you are limited to 1600. I don't really care personally, but it is annoying.

 

[WhitehawkEQ]

I ended up going with the gigabyte 990fxa-ud3 r5, It has been a really good board. I like it. My only qualm with it is that in order to run 32GB ddr3 at 1866 stable is to do a 2x16GB configuration and with a 4x8GB setup you are limited to 1600. I don't really care personally, but it is annoying.

I have the 990FXA-UD5 R5, should not too much different from the UD3 R5, I have not had much problems with Gigabyte, 1 board I had to update the BIOS to fix the BIOS not seeing the keyboard until the OS loaded. I built PC's for my Mom and Dad using the 990FXA-UD3 and both are still going strong.
On the memory, I don't think the sockets will support 16GB, I could be wrong, download the manual for the board and see what the ram config is on it.

edit: I looked at the memory support list at Gigabyte and it don't show 16GB, plus I've not heard of a AMD MB that supports 16GB per ram socket.

 

[Bluefalcon13]

I ended up going with the gigabyte 990fxa-ud3 r5, It has been a really good board. I like it. My only qualm with it is that in order to run 32GB ddr3 at 1866 stable is to do a 2x16GB configuration and with a 4x8GB setup you are limited to 1600. I don't really care personally, but it is annoying.

TBH, this is more of a limitation of the FX series processors. They are notoriously weak when it comes to the IMC. What brand/model are you running for the 32gb memory? I am probably gonna go to dual 8gb sticks and would like to stay at 1866 myself and am curious what is working for you.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

I ended up going with the gigabyte 990fxa-ud3 r5, It has been a really good board. I like it. My only qualm with it is that in order to run 32GB ddr3 at 1866 stable is to do a 2x16GB configuration and with a 4x8GB setup you are limited to 1600. I don't really care personally, but it is annoying.

If you take the time to tweak this CPU and board, you should be able to pull off 1866 and 32GB of memory. Takes a little time and some adjustments here and there, but I think you could do it.

We'd all be glad to help with this if you give a good honest effort!!

 

[BoundByBlood]

What brand/model are you running for the 32gb memory?

I went G.Skill Ripjaws Z series DDR3 1866 in a 4x8GB configuration, but am currently limited to 1600.

Takes a little time and some adjustments here and there, but I think you could do it.

We'd all be glad to help with this if you give a good honest effort!!

Alright, lets hear it then, I'll give it my all. If anyone can help me pull off 1866 stable they would become my new idol.

UPDATE: I went into the SPD timings table in CPU-Z and wrote down all the timings and dram voltage needed for 1866. The memory will definitely support 1866, but it's a question of whether or not the cpu IMC / mobo will allow it in a 4x*GB configuration.

What I really need help with is deciphering the bios settings for this board. I didn't see options for RAS# to CAS# and the like, so if I knew what settings to specifically change I could be in business.