New board required for Phenom II X4 945 - Please advise

[Beansontoast]

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for some buying advice on the way forward for my Phenom X4 945 CPU.

My old(ish) GA-880GM-USB3 has developed a fault and I need to replace it.

Ideally, I want to use a board that lets me keep my CPU as I don't really want to splash a small fortune on a new CPU as well. I'm thinking that of I get a board that takes my X4 945 as well as much newer models I can swap the CPU when I have the need and the cash.

The trouble is, I've been relying on the integrated graphics on the 880GM-USB3 and I see that the latest AM3 compatible boards don't have integrated graphics.

The two options I need advise on are therefore -

1) Best 990 board + budget graphics card.
2) Best pre-990 board with integrated.

I'm not (yet) a gamer, so graphics have not been high on the list of my priorities.
I am more interested in general use and the running of a few vm's.
The extra features and bandwidth of the 990 boards looks appealing so I'm siding with that, but I need help with a graphics card.

Alternatively, if there is a pre-990 board which offers 6Gbps and integreated graphics then that could also be a great option.

Help appreciated.

 

[RGone]

Don't really care for these partial in the past and some in the future, but that seems where you maybe headed.


ASUS M5A88-M AM3+ AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

 

[trents]

What's your budget limit for the board alone? That's the first question to answer. You can probably get a very adequate video card for your purposes for $75-$100.

Lot's of good choices here in the 990FX category but the prices run from about $130 to about $230. I would stick with Asus, ASRock and Gigabyte. Stay away from MSI, ECS and Biostar. It's probably fair to say that Asus is the favorite of the overclocking crowd with Gigabyte right behind. ASRock is up and coming.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...600008296 600166242&IsNodeId=1&name=AMD 990FX

 

[loler coaster]

get this board
http://www.microcenter.com/product/385571/T_Overclocker_TA970XE_Socket_AM3_970_ATX_AMD_Motherboard

and this card
http://www.microcenter.com/product/...Synergy_Edition_2048MB_PCIe_20_x16_Video_Card

or this one if you only want 1gb instead of 2gb

 

[woboy]

GT610 is a warmed over GT 520, which did not (does not) equal the GT 430.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=56214&vpn=GV-N430OC-1GL&manufacture=Gigabyte&promoid=1219
Add a SATA Cable for free shipping
Much better cards for $55.
HD 6670 DDR3 start around $65

For $85 I like the Biostar (from microcenter, before $20 rebate) but the Asus at $100 is a good bet and includes video.

 

[trents]

get this board
http://www.microcenter.com/product/385571/T_Overclocker_TA970XE_Socket_AM3_970_ATX_AMD_Motherboard

and this card
http://www.microcenter.com/product/...Synergy_Edition_2048MB_PCIe_20_x16_Video_Card

or this one if you only want 1gb instead of 2gb

Not crazy about biostar but they do turn out some decent boards here and there. My bigger problem with the choice is the 970 chipset will not have the heavy duty power phase that the 990FX boards will have, like 4+1 instead of 8+2 which limits overclocking when using the power hungry chips like the 8 core bulldozers. I think the OP wants to future proof a little and the Piledrivers will surely suck a lot of juice too.

 

[woboy]

The price makes the difference, 8+2 boards are likely to start over $100, likely over $120.
The XE does well with 4+1 and a heatsink on the VRM. Do not know if no provision for onboard graphics helps.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138341

 

[RGone]

Beansontoast has not come back and said jack so we are talking to ourselves mostly. For me they would have to give me a late Biostar board. Some of their early 790FX boards were pretty good but lately all we have seen is issues with the later Biostar boards. I guess each has their own thoughts about what is good enough to get bye for them.

It surely makes a difference if one has good cpu VRMs to work with if they really want to overclock. There are far too many coming into the forums after they have had the board awhile and got the bug to get more speed since the new has worn off and their cheap stuff just runs like cheap stuff.

I have been overclocking for years and for 'play' I fully intend to overclock. I lost my good job Sept of 2010 and hated to spend the money to get an Asus CHV, but I got what I paid for. Performance and adjustable and holds up under heavy voltage loads to run 4.8Ghz with an FX-8120.

What hurts the most is people do not know what they would do best to have if they planned to push a cpu and ram. A working super-good board acts just like that when pushed. IF one is really never going to push the rig, then any old board can be made do with.

 

[Beansontoast]

Thanks everyone, plenty to think about.

I am trying to future proof where possible, so I can eventualy chuck a more powerful CPU on and make the most of 8Gig sticks of RAM when I can afford it (good to have stacks of memory for running vm's)

As of yet, I haven't overclocked, but I will be looking into that.

In terms of budget I don't want to go too much over $200 for mobo-graphics combo. The M5A88 looks good, other than only offerring 16GB's of ram (don't shout ..... I know I didn't mention that in the original post !)


Gigabyte have been good boards for me over rthe past 10 years, although the last one won't let me use the 2nd of the 4 RAM slots.

At the moment, I am now favouring the 990 boards with budget graphics as that will give more future proofing.

The M5A88 as recommended by RGONE looks like a great alternatve too, and would save me a wedge in the meantime.

Choices choices ...... will drop you dudes an update when research and decision completed.

Once again ..... advice appreciated !

 

[caddi daddi]

if your trying to future proof a little you need to spend a few beans.
look at the asus sabertooth or the asrock extreme 3 for a quad core extreme 4 if a 6 or 8 core is in your future, the sabertooh will push them all well. a little more spent here will save you further down the road.

 

[GamerMagnet]

For a graphics card I would say GTX 650 or above (also AMD equivalent, don't know much about there cards) anything less than that is just a waste of cash imho.

For a motherboard: What I do is make sure I have a decent quality mobo. It's the backbone of your computer and all components lead to it. If your looking for Future proof mobo then spend the money to get a well known AM3+ motherboard. Crosshair, Sabertooth, the gigabyte UD-5 or 7. I don't like MSI motherboards. I seen a chart the other day which confirmes my doubts with MSI mobos. They had so many on there list that had high failure rates. Maybe I'm just biased.

my 2 cents

 

[caddi daddi]

+1 gamermagnet, i saw that also, it's linked someplace around here.

 

[remy_415]

Aside from an issue I've been having getting dual channel to work on the RAM (which I'm working out in another thread), the M5A97 by asus http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131873 has done me well for only $99. Pair that with the NVidia card recommended by one of the posters (or an AMD 7750 if you like AMD/ATI cards, also around $99) and you're at that $200 mark.

 

[woboy]

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-M5A97-R2...=UTF8&qid=1348853198&sr=8-2&keywords=asus+970

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-M5A99X-E...=UTF8&qid=1348853198&sr=8-3&keywords=asus+970

Either of these does very well "future proof." Not sure there is such a thing.

$70 video card
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Computer-...e=UTF8&qid=1348853420&sr=8-10&keywords=hd6670

http://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GV-R...ie=UTF8&qid=1348853518&sr=8-2&keywords=hd6670

$90 with DDR5, better bandwidth/ performance
http://www.amazon.com/EAH6670-DIS-1...ie=UTF8&qid=1348853552&sr=8-3&keywords=hd6670

$95 for HD 7750 good choice, most powerful card without need of PCIe power
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007B5V614...e=asn&creative=395097&creativeASIN=B007B5V614
about 60% of HD 7770 Performance

$125 for HD7770 (best performance this price range)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00782U10W...e=asn&creative=395097&creativeASIN=B00782U10W

Nvidia
$105 GT640 DDR3 (not impressed at this price)
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-...e=UTF8&qid=1348854160&sr=8-3&keywords=GTX+650

$120 GTX 650 SC ( see reviews vs 7770)
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-...e=UTF8&qid=1348854264&sr=8-2&keywords=GTX+650

You should be able to find an HD 6850 or GTX 560 SE used around $90-100 shipped through one of the forums, if you expect to upgrade and would like better "now."

reviews
http://www.guru3d.com/news_story/geforce_gtx_650_msi_power_edition_review.html

 

[remy_415]

Well, except for the fact that the new trinity chips are coming out in socket FM2 and won't work in any of the socket AM motherboards. /sadface/

 

[woboy]

Used amazon as a sugguestion to shop severalsources. mwave and superbiiz are possibilities.
Would you consider a refurbished board?
I've had good luck here:
http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=MBB

 

[Beansontoast]

All done.

ASROCk 99FX Extreme4.
'Some' future proofing as it will take an 8 core, and 8GB sticks of RAM and very OC friendly if or when I go down that path

Had to compromise on a GT610 for graphics, so definitely no gaming for the time bieng, but overall this board, ram and CPU combination will see me through for some time. At some point I'll move to 8 cores (good for vm's) and if the kids ever sleep through, I might return to shooting the crap out of things.

(7750 as pointed out by WOBOY came close).

Help and advice appreciated.

 

[woboy]

Great board, enjoy.
Let us know what you think.