Which mobo to get?

[Trypt]

I couldn't believe what I got in the mail today, two checks from two of my old jobs, one for just over 3G's and the other for 1.5Gs. Naturally, as you can see from my sig, it's time for and upgrade.

I will spend about $800 on a laptop, but also want a gaming desktop that will compliment the one I have now (which does the job, but hell, we all always want better).

I need some opinions.

I am going AMD, there is no debate about that.

However, after reading about 790FX and the new 890FX, I just don't see the point? What is the point of paying extra for the latter? The GB 790FX even has 3.0 USB ports and SATA 6GB/s ports, so I don't even know if there is any difference at all.

I will be running one video card, so no need for many x16 slots etc, no crossfire.

I will be using a 6 core chip, haven't decided yet, a good budget one that will overclock one, I was thinking of the 1055T but I may get the 1090T if you convince me it's the better choice.

Is the above mentioned Gigabyte the best choice? Similar Asus is at least 20% pricier so that's out, but I also don't want crap, so GB seems to be the best bang for the money, what you think?

Then I will run 4x2GB RAM, please recommend some for me, I prefer not to screw with latencies so I want to O/C it only to the point that it is stable with stock low latencies, I will not sacrifice latencies for a few MhZ (unless you convince me otherwise, again). Of course if I get the 1055T, that may be tough to do as it's locked so it will automatically screw around with my mem clock, and it may force me to relax the timings in order to stay where I'm comfortable with the 6core speed (I'm shooting for 3.5GHz everyday use, nothing crazy).

Basically, I just need an opinion on mobo/cpu/ram combo, with the "musts" that I mentioned above (6 core AMD chip, good mobo that has at least a couple 3.0 USB ports and SATA3 connectors and be of course overclocker friendly (I think most are now, I wonder what happened to DFI, they rocked in the dual core days, but I'm afraid to get the AM3 790/890FC one cuz of some scary reviews even tho it has an excellent price point))

The rest doesn't matter, I will throw in an SSD OS drive and 2 2TB storage drives, a good ATI video card that can play the latest games at 1920x1200 smoothly, and since my 3870 plays most games at that res already, albeit without AA or AF, I don't see why I would ever need crossfire or even a top of the line card, I'm thinking a 5700 series (top one), but I may get the 5800 if I can afford it.

PSU and case are taken care of, as are all the peripherals, so the above is all I need.

Oh, and a good aftermarket heatsink/fan combo for the chip, whatever I end up getting, if it is even necessary (I heard stock is pretty good now), ideas would be appreciated.

If I missed anything, please let me know. Remember there is a 40% price diff in 790fx and 890fx and I can't find any diff in specs, and also a 40% price diff between the 1055t and 1090t and again, not sure if that is worth it.

Thank you very much, I hope I didn't bore you with the long post, but I really NEED to make a right decision here because this is going to be with me for a while, I need it to be right.

 

[Theocnoob]

I realize I'm in the AMD section. I've asked Mr Worf to draw power from the life support systems to boost forward shields.

Build an Intel 1155 system. AM3 has very little time left to EOL. 1155 is brand new. 4 Sandybridge cores smoke 6 Opteron cores. Price difference is FORTY dollars to go from a 1090T to a 2500K. The 2500K will clock to 5Ghz. Easily.

Gigabyte P67 UD3
8GB (as you wanted) CL7 2000Mhz RAM
AMD 6950 or GTX 570. 5700 series? ..

 

[Trypt]

In a response to Theocnoob (you're no noob man, change that name will ya)..

The problem is, the last Intel I had was a Pentium 90, and although I'm a computer hardware whiz, it is truly limited to AMD, as I have been working religiously with AMD since my first chip, I think it was a K5 or something, I forget, but it came after I upgraded my P90.

So I'm afraid I won't be able to tweak and full around as much and have as much fun.

TO THE REST:

I forgot to mention, why the FX at all? What is the advantage of GX or only X or whatever else there is? Read the first post for what I need, and remember X-fire is not something I'm interested in, even in the future, as I've never ever seen any game that comes even close to needing two cards, not to mention that I'm expecting dual and quad core cards to come soon in any case, so the whole dual card system will be ancient history.

I did just do some more research and found that the 890 is much better at overclocking, not by how much, but by power requirements, it needs way less cooling and power in order to reach the same level of OC. In any case, I can go with a 8 series, especially for future proof, but now I also want to know why I must go with the FX (everyone on here insists, but why?)

 

[QuietIce]

TO THE REST:

I forgot to mention, why the FX at all? What is the advantage of GX or only X or whatever else there is? Read the first post for what I need, and remember X-fire is not something I'm interested in, even in the future, as I've never ever seen any game that comes even close to needing two cards, not to mention that I'm expecting dual and quad core cards to come soon in any case, so the whole dual card system will be ancient history.

I did just do some more research and found that the 890 is much better at overclocking, not by how much, but by power requirements, it needs way less cooling and power in order to reach the same level of OC. In any case, I can go with a 8 series, especially for future proof, but now I also want to know why I must go with the FX (everyone on here insists, but why?)

Generally, the FX boards have the best components, which is why they are recommended so much, however, the better 890GX boards also perform well. The ASUS M4A89GTD has the 890GX chipset and seems to be a great overclocker. And I would stick with the newer (8-series) chipset becasue they've tweaked the power systems on those to run the X6 better. Don't know the details of the differences only that they're there. Older boards (7-series) that will OC an X4 well will sometimes struggle to handle an X6.

For RAM I'd look into DDR3-1333CL7 or DDR3-1600CL7. You're on the mark preferring lower lats over higher speed. A lot of people are using G.Skills and as long as you don't get the dirt-cheap Ripjaws they're not bad - but while I've noticed a few complaints about G.Skill I haven't heard anything bad about Kingston HyperX so you might look into those.

Lastly, the CPU is up to you but since you know what you're doing, and most good boards will go 300 MHz on the clock, I'd stick with the 1055T and save a little money. Most 1055T's will OC to 4.0 GHz on a fair vCore increase and will easily run 3.5 GHz, usually on stock vCore (1.35-1.40). Make sure you get a good cooler. Your old s939 cooler won't do at all. 120mm tower coolers are the best at this point. The Sunbeam CCT 120mm and Hyper 212+ are both good budget coolers and if you're sure you're going to have only a mild OC either of those will be plenty (with good case airflow). If you want something a little beefier I like the TRUE Rev.C and a good ~80 CFM fan. Others will suggest the NH-D14, but it's kind of pricey and really takes up a lot of space. If you do decide on the Noctua be carefull what RAM you buy - it tends to cover RAM slots, which can conflict with RAM that has high-rise heatsinks.


Keep us posted!

In a response to Theocnoob (you're no noob man, change that name will ya)..

The problem is, the last Intel I had was a Pentium 90, and although I'm a computer hardware whiz, it is truly limited to AMD, as I have been working religiously with AMD since my first chip, I think it was a K5 or something, I forget, but it came after I upgraded my P90.

So I'm afraid I won't be able to tweak and full around as much and have as much fun.

 

[Trypt]

Hmm.. well in that case, I'll be shooting for 4.0GHz for sure, I didn't know this speed was pretty much a given for C3s. And yes, I will be investing in good cpu cooling, and my case cooling is excellent as it is.

I was just hoping to spend less on the mobo because it seemed to me that the only advantage of the $200+ mobos is the crossfire and extra x16 slots, and I need only 1 cuz I never ever see myself running more then one video card, I don't see any point in it whatsoever, as the top cards run any game easily, and not to mention multi-core GPU's that are around the corner will only need one slot.

So, you sold me on the 1055T, since the unlocked multiplyer is not that important, and I'm used to it with my current setup which also has a locked multi. But that means it's very important to get good ram, I'll need 4x2gb (8gb is plenty, that's what I want). I'm used to OCZ, always used that, but I'm flexible.

Besides Gigabyte and Asus, any other FX boards that are cheaper? with less x16 slots maybe? What happened to DFI? Do they make a good 890FX board? MSI?

argh..

 

[coonmanx]

Just remember that the better boards have 8+2 power phase instead of 4+1 and also generally come with mosfet cooling for better overclocking ability. So a good motherboard is the base for a good system. It is a great time to buy ram right now as prices are cheap. I just bought 4 G of Crucial Ballistix Tracer ram (CL8) for $57 shipped from Tiger Direct. Impressed with its performance so far. Mushkin also makes some good ram. Tiger Direct has some good deals right now and prices that are cheaper on some things than Newegg. But it depends on what you want. Look around. And make sure that you get a good CPU cooler. And remember that overly tall heatsinks can interfere with a CPU cooler.

 

[Trypt]

I'm guessing that all of the 890FX boards have the 8+2 power phase, although I must admit i don't exactly know what that is..

 

[coonmanx]

All that I can tell you is that 8+2 is more stable power and less likely to blow up while OC'ing. Higher quality boards generally have it. I did once find a site which showed which boards have what power phases but I don't remember where. Might have been a Gigabyte site.

 

[QuietIce]

Hmm.. well in that case, I'll be shooting for 4.0GHz for sure, I didn't know this speed was pretty much a given for C3s. And yes, I will be investing in good cpu cooling, and my case cooling is excellent as it is.
Actually the X6's aren't C3's, that would be the Phenom II X4's.

I was just hoping to spend less on the mobo because it seemed to me that the only advantage of the $200+ mobos is the crossfire and extra x16 slots, and I need only 1 cuz I never ever see myself running more then one video card, I don't see any point in it whatsoever, as the top cards run any game easily, and not to mention multi-core GPU's that are around the corner will only need one slot.
As far as I know there are only three $200+ boards and none of them are needed unless you'll be playing with extreme cooling or want an AMD chipset with SLI (not Crossfire) ability like the Crosshair Fuzion.

So, you sold me on the 1055T, since the unlocked multiplyer is not that important, and I'm used to it with my current setup which also has a locked multi. But that means it's very important to get good ram, I'll need 4x2gb (8gb is plenty, that's what I want). I'm used to OCZ, always used that, but I'm flexible.
I guess a few people have had issues with OCZ RAM in AM3, though the Plats are still good ones as far as I know. An alternative that I've heard zero complaints about would be Kingston HyperX. Whatever brand you decide on, tighter timings are more important than speed for these systems. DDR3-1333CL7 is better than DDR3-1600CL9. Of course, DDR3-1600CL7 is the best but you still may have trouble running 1600 with a 4x2 Gb configuration. I've seen two 4 Gb sticks run 1600 without a problem but that's often a more expensive route.

Besides Gigabyte and Asus, any other FX boards that are cheaper? with less x16 slots maybe? What happened to DFI? Do they make a good 890FX board? MSI?

argh..

DFI just plain dropped the ball with AM2+ and AM3. They had a lot of BIOS issues and some hardware problems as well. ASUS and Gigabyte are the best (M4A89TD and 890FX-UD5) or even the ASUS M4A89GTD with the 890GX chipset. Biostar also seems to have come up with a winner with their 890FXE board. The Gigabyte 890GX-UD3 is another, cheaper alternative.

 

[coonmanx]

Just found this link on another site and it goes more in depth as far as power phases and how to tell how many a board has. good article.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/printpage/616

 

[QuietIce]

Nice read, coonmax.

It should be noted, since it was only mentioned indirectly in the article, that 8+2 is necessarily better than 4+1 if the 8+2 circuitry is of an inferior type - like regular (non-solid) caps or the three-transistor type circuits.