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AM3+ motherboard choices.
Hello people. I am upgrading my current system and have settled on purchasing an FX8320. However, I am trying to be as cost effective as possible so am looking at sub 100 pound motherboards I can use for overclocking in 4.5GHz range (or higher). I have already selected an adequately large HSF for the task so am now focusing on the motherboard.
Currently I'm looking at the Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 (6+2 phase) and the GA-990xa-UD3 (8+2 phase) as my choices. I am not interested in Crossfire performance and am leaning towards the ASUS board currently, as it is cheaper and some are suggesting its 6+2 VRM implementation could be better than the Gigabyte 8+2 phase implementation. If anyone has any suggestions as to which choice to make or if there is a completely different board I should pick please feel free to chime in.
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I am Xtreme
ROG Power PCs - Intel and AMD
CPUs:i9-7900X, i9-9900K, i7-6950X, i7-5960X, i7-8086K, i7-8700K, 4x i7-7700K, i3-7350K, 2x i7-6700K, i5-6600K, R7-2700X, 4x R5 2600X, R5 2400G, R3 1200, R7-1800X, R7-1700X, 3x AMD FX-9590, 1x AMD FX-9370, 4x AMD FX-8350,1x AMD FX-8320,1x AMD FX-8300, 2x AMD FX-6300,2x AMD FX-4300, 3x AMD FX-8150, 2x AMD FX-8120 125 and 95W, AMD X2 555 BE, AMD x4 965 BE C2 and C3, AMD X4 970 BE, AMD x4 975 BE, AMD x4 980 BE, AMD X6 1090T BE, AMD X6 1100T BE, A10-7870K, Athlon 845, Athlon 860K,AMD A10-7850K, AMD A10-6800K, A8-6600K, 2x AMD A10-5800K, AMD A10-5600K, AMD A8-3850, AMD A8-3870K, 2x AMD A64 3000+, AMD 64+ X2 4600+ EE, Intel i7-980X, Intel i7-2600K, Intel i7-3770K,2x i7-4770K, Intel i7-3930KAMD Cinebench R10 challenge AMD Cinebench R15 thread Intel Cinebench R15 thread
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Thanks for the suggestion Flank3r. I do have to ask one question though, given that both the m5a97 evo and the m5a99x evo have a 6+2 phase VRM and very similar heatsinks, what advantage does the m5a99x have? It's about 30 pounds more expensive.
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There are a limited number of AM3+ mobos with a properly designed VRM circuit to power an 8-core FX processor - regardless of what some mobo makers claim.
Specifically the only Gigabyte mobos that have a VRM circuit that won't overheat when you run an 8-core FX processor hard is the "FXA" series which was just recently released. Gigabyte has known for over two years that the other models they were selling would constantly overheat the VRM circuit with 8-core FX CPUs and reduce the CPU frequency and voltage to cool the VRM circuit which was never designed to handle the power that an 8-core FX CPU requires.
The number of phases in the VRM circuit is only part of the story. More phases tends to reduce voltage ripple which is good. The number of phases however does not guarantee that the circuit design uses the correct components to supply sufficient electrical power. More phases with plenty of power is the goal for power hungry 8-core FX CPUs.
I've used all the major mobo brands. I'm not a fan of Asus as the only two mobos that I have had fail in 20 years of building PCs were Asus. They use multiple companies to manufacture their mobos so you never know what you're going to get. Their tech support tried to give me a POS hand solder repaired mobo to replace a like new 2 month old mobo that died. I returned it and bought a new Gigabyte mobo and never looked back. Their tech support like Gigabyte's is just laughable. In many cases you can get better tech support from the forums than from either Asus or Gigabyte tech support, IME.
Make sure that whatever you buy properly supports the FX-8000 series CPUs and has the PCIe slots, etc. that you need.
Last edited by AMDforME; 02-04-2014 at 02:28 PM.
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Yeah I had heard that about the Gigabyte motherboards. I'm quite set on the ASUS one since the retailer I'm going to get it off has a favourable returns policy and is in driving distance, so when I've had stuff break I just pop it straight back to them. At this point I'm now wondering the difference between the 990 and the 970 version, given that I'm only interested in the VRMs and not the USB/SATA/PCI-E slots.
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The difference in 970 vs. 990 chipsets in mostly the PCIe lanes for use with Crossfire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_900_chipset_series
The Asrock E9 is a very capable mobo but it's more expensive than the Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0. It has the 12+2 phase VRM and even supports the FX-9000 series CPUs if you ever intend to run one or do extreme overclocking.
I have an Asrock Fatality Pro and an FX-8350 that runs 24/7 @ 4.6 GHz. and will run 4.7+ GHz. if I want to up the vcore higher. I have run 3x, 25 hour P95 durability stress tests without a single error or overheating...
The Asrock E9 is the successor to the Fatality Pro without some of the extras. The new Asrock Fatality "Killer" (dumb name), is an 8+2 phase VRM design and it supports the FX 8-core CPUs without issue. The Killer is closer in price to the Asus mobos and less than the Asrock E9. IME the Asrock highend mobos OC as good or better than the Asus and Gigabyte highend mobos.
These Asrock's are all quality mobos and Asrock customer support is by miles the best I have seen from any of the Asian mobo makers.
Last edited by AMDforME; 02-04-2014 at 08:32 PM.
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