Which 990FX Motherboard Help

[Sarquiss]

Seeing as my current AMD motherboard has died, I am currently looking at buying one of the newer 990FX motherboards for use with my Phenom x4 955BE, however am not sure which motherboard would be better, out of the following:-

Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7
Asus SABERTOOTH-990FX
Asus Crosshair V Formula

Not really concerned about money but want something that will have a good balance between features, performance and cost.

[fishnut1989]

defiantly sabertooth

[consumer]

Yeah I've been looking at the same deal, go for the saber-tooth. Asus boards tend to last longer and have way better bios support than gigabyte.

[fishnut1989]

I only got mine on friday but must say very impressed. Im not certain but i think the gigabyte are still using the old bios and not a EUFI...the asus has so many features. I was playing around and let it did the auto overclock and it got my x6 with stock cooler to 3.7 with no hassles at all. I also read that the gigabyte had voltage problems.

[Ice009]

Originally Posted by Sarquiss

Seeing as my current AMD motherboard has died, I am currently looking at buying one of the newer 990FX motherboards for use with my Phenom x4 955BE, however am not sure which motherboard would be better, out of the following:-

Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7
Asus SABERTOOTH-990FX
Asus Crosshair V Formula

Not really concerned about money but want something that will have a good balance between features, performance and cost.

The Gigabyte UD5 board is cheaper than the Sabertooth and seems to have more features IMO, so if you are considering the Sabertooth I think you should also look at the UD5.

It has a later version of the audio codec, two extra SATA 6Gb/s ports on the Marvell controller Vs two 3Gb/s on the JMicron controller, two eSATA 6Gb/s Vs two 3Gb/s on the Sabertooth, really I don't know why you guys are saying the Asus board is better, for the price it's a waste of money when you can buy the Crosshair V for about $25 more. Having said that, I did read about the issues with the Gigabyte boards in the other thread, which may have just been a couple of faulty boards.

btw A friend of mine wanted to upgrade from his Core 2 Duo E6550 setup and I suggested he get an AMD board with a 955 BE, and then upgrade the CPU again when Bulldozer is released. I've never run an AMD system before and just wanted to ask how good the 955 BE is? What kind of overclocks can you get on Air Cooling? What RAM can you run on these Motherboards?

[Sarquiss]

Thanks for the information

I will research some more and see how it goes.

Also, Ice009 with regards to the x4 955BE, I ran mine at 4ghz since the day I purchased it (I think it has almost been 2 years now) and it has run without a hitch.

I am using a megahalems heatsink with a push/pull fan config in the case and the temps usually hovered around the 45 degrees idle and approx 55-60 degrees underload.

I was thinking of upgrading to a x6 cpu but have decided against it seeing as the x4 has been serving me well (Will buy a bulldozer cpu once they are released)

[Cuddlesaw]

Don't be discouraged by a couple faulty motherboards, I'm running the UD5 and it has ran flawlessly, I OC'ed my PH II 945 to 3.6ghz on my first try 24/7 stabled through prime and everything, my only hassle was the jmicron RAID interface, the marvel RAID controller had a much better interface.

Like with all motherboards there will Be kinks to be worked out

[Mikio]

Originally Posted by Cuddlesaw

Don't be discouraged by a couple faulty motherboards, ....<snip>

Like with all motherboards there will Be kinks to be worked out

Thats quite true, to date I think my two boards are the only ones that have made it back to GBHQ

Seriously, look even at UD7, crossfire spacing is wicked, will keep your cards way cooler, or u can run 4x 8xPCIE, its got more room to move, and its sexy as... really are sweet boards.

When BD drops i will be grabbing another GA-990FXA-UD7, will play with SB and z68x-UD7 till then.

[fishnut1989]

The sabertooth has asus 5 ys warranty. Not sure bout gigabyte something like 1 or 2. Either way there all nice boards

[Chaffe]

Gigabyte offer a 3 yr warranty on there motherboards.....

[consumer]

Gigabyte doesn't offer very good bios update support, other wise I'd be ordering one now if they did.

[Ice009]

Originally Posted by fishnut1989

The sabertooth has asus 5 ys warranty. Not sure bout gigabyte something like 1 or 2. Either way there all nice boards

Where did you get 5 year warranty from? PC Case Gear lists 3 year warranty, which is the usual Asus warranty.

Originally Posted by consumer

Gigabyte doesn't offer very good bios update support, other wise I'd be ordering one now if they did.

What do you mean by this? How do you get better BIOS support from Asus? Do you know of a forum or something where you can talk to Asus people?

Originally Posted by Mikio

Thats quite true, to date I think my two boards are the only ones that have made it back to GBHQ

Seriously, look even at UD7, crossfire spacing is wicked, will keep your cards way cooler, or u can run 4x 8xPCIE, its got more room to move, and its sexy as... really are sweet boards.

When BD drops i will be grabbing another GA-990FXA-UD7, will play with SB and z68x-UD7 till then.

Thanks for the info. Looking at the prices on PC Case Gear I'm going to recommend the UD5 to my friend as it fits within his budget, and the slot layout is great on that MB too.

Originally Posted by Sarquiss

Also, Ice009 with regards to the x4 955BE, I ran mine at 4ghz since the day I purchased it (I think it has almost been 2 years now) and it has run without a hitch.

I am using a megahalems heatsink with a push/pull fan config in the case and the temps usually hovered around the 45 degrees idle and approx 55-60 degrees underload.

I was thinking of upgrading to a x6 cpu but have decided against it seeing as the x4 has been serving me well (Will buy a bulldozer cpu once they are released)

So the 955 BE should give him a good increase over his Core 2 Duo E6550 then? He's using a 4890 and said a lot of his games are starting to struggle, so that is the reason he wanted to upgrade. What's the average price of the 955 BE these days? PC Case Gear have it listed for $119. Can you get it cheaper anywhere else or second hand?

Originally Posted by Cuddlesaw

Don't be discouraged by a couple faulty motherboards, I'm running the UD5 and it has ran flawlessly, I OC'ed my PH II 945 to 3.6ghz on my first try 24/7 stabled through prime and everything, my only hassle was the jmicron RAID interface, the marvel RAID controller had a much better interface.

Like with all motherboards there will Be kinks to be worked out

Good to know, thanks.

Edit : btw what RAM are you guys using? I thought I saw PC Case Gear had RAM specifically for AMD systems, but it's all for socket 1155 these days. All those kits of RAM should work on these 990FX MBs right?

[fishnut1989]

The 5 yr waranty is on the actual site and on the boards box. Its at the bottom of the site. It's also covered in the new cermic and the military standard tested. Prob all hog wash but something to show off at ya mates over some beers

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD...ERTOOTH_990FX/

[Ice009]

Originally Posted by fishnut1989

The 5 yr waranty is on the actual site and on the boards box. Its at the bottom of the site. It's also covered in the new cermic and the military standard tested. Prob all hog wash but something to show off at ya mates over some beers

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD...ERTOOTH_990FX/

That's interesting, doesn't look like the Crosshair V comes with 5 year warranty, and I consider that the better board. Why did you choose that over the Crosshair V? The price is very similar. Was the price difference higher between the two when you bought it?

[mugginz]

5 Year Warranty
The ultimate reliability of TUF Series is not only based on advanced thermal design, military-standard components and strict reliability tests, but also on the 5 Years Warranty* which is proudly provided.

* This service will follow the local standard and service policy.
** This service only covers failures or malfunctions that occur during the warranty period and under normal use conditions, as well as any material or workmanship defects.

What the hell does "This service will follow the local standard and service policy" mean?

Does this mean 5 years warranty were supported by a particular distributor?

Do you have to send your board to Asus's main distributor overseas for warranty coverage in the last two years?