Thinking of an upgrade to Gigabyte GA-970

[Bidgbob]

Hey everyone
If you've checked the CPU forum you'll know that im having an absolute nightmare with my AMD 8120 atm, and the problem has not been fully diagnosed yet. However my current mobo is pretty trashy and i was thinking of going for a small upgrade to this:
http://www.ebuyer.com/349910-gigaby...7-1-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-ga-970a-ds3

Is it worth it or am i just wasting my money, bearing in mind the update is only small so that i can get my setup running smoothly without it crashing, i am not looking for an amazing mobo just something that will let the CPU run to its potential
Thanks,
Bidgbob

 

[RGone]

CPU to run at its' potential with another board with n0 heatsinks on the VRM's. Not so very likely.

 

[trents]

Let me suggest this one instead.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767

It has a heatsink on the mosfets and VRMs.

 

[Bidgbob]

Ive heard that a lot of Asus M5A97 have problems with the VRM's to or is that a load of cods wallop hahah?

 

[EarthDog]

Where did you hear that?

 

[RGone]

If you just must go Gigabyte then these two are the least expensive with heat sinks on the VRMs. SLI vs no true SLI noted. The two are available at that Ebuyer site you linked with the non-heatsinked VRM board.
Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 Socket AM3+ No true SLI
Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 Socket AM3+ Real SLI if needed.

 

[Bidgbob]

Im not set on anything tbh Rgone I just want this bloody evil contraption of an 8120 to run well of course i trust your initial opinion and ED after a uick google search for some reveiws it came up like once or twice but im starting to think that they were just faulty boards

B

 

[RGone]

Bidgbob, here is the problem in a loose description. You need a board and a power supply. A heat sink is an awesome idea BUT could be done without for a time since a 'stock' 8120 heatsink and the CPU left to work itself up and down the speed and power scale can work well for a time. HOWever when you start to overclock an FX-series, then you need a good heat sink to PUSH it. A mild full-time overclock that is n0t pushed to hale and back can work, but we seldom see anyone come in here that is n0t trying to go balls to the wall.

 

[EarthDog]

Bidgbob, here is the problem in a loose description. You need a board and a power supply. A heat sink is an awesome idea BUT could be done without for a time since a 'stock' 8120 heatsink and the CPU left to work itself up and down the speed and power scale can work well for a time. HOWever when you start to overclock an FX-series, then you need a good heat sink to PUSH it. A mild full-time overclock that is n0t pushed to hale and back can work, but we seldom see anyone come in here that is n0t trying to go balls to the wall.

+1... Lets get the horse back in front of the cart.

Lets pause this thread for a second until we figure out if the bios flash does it or not.

 

[RGone]

Lets pause this thread for a second until we figure out if the bios flash does it or not.

ROTFLMAO...hehehehe. I hear you man.

Edit: What was said in the post above just struck my ole booty some kind of funny and I could not even think well, but I need to testify on bidgbob's behalf. His board boots with an FX processor in it and most of those that had to have an FX bios would not boot and had to have an earlier AM3 cpu to boot to even flash the bios. His is not like that. I am RGone...again. End Edit.

 

[trents]

I think Bidgbob has posted the results of his bios flash over on the CPU side.

 

[rescuetoaster]

Just in case you do decide to get a different motherboard, so far I am loving the 970A-UD3. The board layout is very nice, and the heatsinks work very well.