# AM3 Motherboard Choice



## eidairaman1 (Jan 11, 2010)

Ok guys Im getting geared for a motherboard choice for a 965BE machine

I am not sure if I really need a board with 2 PEG slots or just 1 will do, I mean I will be OCing this machine and was wondering if there were any single slot equivalents to these boards

Gigabyte 790FXT-UD5P and MSI 790FX-GD70


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## DirectorC (Jan 11, 2010)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128419

Single PCIE slot, USB3 & SATA3.

Also, earlier thread (almost) about this.


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## theonedub (Jan 11, 2010)

No harm in getting a dual now to future proof as there really is not a cost premium for dual or triple slot boards.


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## bpgt64 (Jan 11, 2010)

theonedub said:


> No harm in getting a dual now to future proof as there really is not a cost premium for dual or triple slot boards.



I used to think Dual VGA slot motherboards were overkill,  but there are some real performance gains in SLI/CF, if your gaming with a 1920x1080+ resolution monitor.


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## Super XP (Jan 12, 2010)

*MSI 790FX-GD70*
All the way, it's the best out right now for AM3 

Gigabyte has very weak bios support.


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## Rapidfire48 (Jan 12, 2010)

Super XP said:


> *MSI 790FX-GD70*
> All the way, it's the best out right now for AM3
> 
> Gigabyte has very weak bios support.



Out of the two boards you have posted the MSI board is the better of the two, but the best AM3 board hands down is the ASUS Crosshair III. Nothing can touch it. I would suggest holding off until April though with the 890 FX chipset coming out.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 12, 2010)

Just wish there was more OC data on it, i mean I hear people getting good clocks with the GByte board and my buddy hasn't had any problems with Gbyte.  I Personally have had a rocky past with Asus and an kind of unsure about useing them, besides they to me are lacking accessory options.  I have already discussed 890FX, and there really seems to be no reason for them unless if you really need USB 3.0 and SATA 6 (I dont need either).


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## SoulTribunal (Jan 12, 2010)

Although I don't doubt the MSI Board is good, at least with us up here in Canuck Land MSI has bar none the worst customer service on their gear. You're better off throwing it out than even attempting an RMA.

Where as Gigabyte is bar none one of the top tier for their support, and I have yet to find something 'weak' in their BIOS. Their EP45 board, and the client builds i've done with their AM3 board have worked perfectly.

That being said if you want bang for your buck performance.

ASUS M4T785TD-V EVO is hands down a monster. Manged to get a X2 550 Unlocked to 4.1Ghz stable.
That thing is a monster for dirt cheap.

ST


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## Super XP (Jan 12, 2010)

Rapidfire48 said:


> Out of the two boards you have posted the MSI board is the better of the two, but the best AM3 board hands down is the ASUS Crosshair III. Nothing can touch it. I would suggest holding off until April though with the 890 FX chipset coming out.


CPU Magazine rated the Asus Crosshair III 3 out of 5 where as they rated the MSI 4.5 out of 5. The MSI outperformed the Asus in gaming, video editing etc and is a lot more feature rich and costs cheaper. 

Anyway I have a the best AM2+ mobo and its by Asus, I think Asus makes the best mobo's but this MSI according to reviews is really that much better 


SoulTribunal said:


> Although I don't doubt the MSI Board is good, at least with us up here in Canuck Land MSI has bar none the worst customer service on their gear. You're better off throwing it out than even attempting an RMA.
> 
> Where as Gigabyte is bar none one of the top tier for their support, and I have yet to find something 'weak' in their BIOS. Their EP45 board, and the client builds i've done with their AM3 board have worked perfectly.
> 
> ...


That's funny here in Toronto, ON. its the other way around. What I meant about Gigabyte is there bios revisions and support stink plain and simple. I've had a really bad experience. Just to let you know how bad there bios support is, I purchases a mobo that was suppose to support the Phenom 950 BE and it did not. And there Dual Bios is completely useless because they told me I had to purchase another CPU, install it, flash the bios then re-install the 950 BE. They also said if for some reason the mobo went back to the back-up bios I would have to keep replacing my 950 BE with the other CPU, flash the bios then re-install my 950 BE over and over again. 

I had to do this more than 7 times in a row because it kept on telling me that my bios was corrupt everytime I tried to OC anything in the bios settings. The rediculous back-up bios could not be updated which is stupid lol, so I finally sold that junk and bought the AM2+ Asus M3A79-T Deluxe. And thank Goodness for that because it runs awesome! Gigabyte no more for me, it was my first time and it became my last.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 12, 2010)

Well its MSI 790FX-GD70 or the Gigabyte GA-790FXT-UD5P. Asus I do not trust As i have had issues with them amongst other users, It was that company that brought me to tech forums looking for help because Asus had crap service.

I just wish there were more PCI E 1x Sound boards out besides CL and Asus.


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## SNiiPE_DoGG (Jan 12, 2010)

My Auzentech X-fi forte works perfectly in my MSI 790fx GD70 with 4890 CF 

Auzentech = best soundcards around, perfect drivers in my experience with very high quality hardware.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 12, 2010)

Im thinking more on the Rounds of HT Omega or BGears


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## SoulTribunal (Jan 12, 2010)

Super XP said:


> CPU Magazine rated the Asus Crosshair III 3 out of 5 where as they rated the MSI 4.5 out of 5. The MSI outperformed the Asus in gaming, video editing etc and is a lot more feature rich and costs cheaper.
> 
> Anyway I have a the best AM2+ mobo and its by Asus, I think Asus makes the best mobo's but this MSI according to reviews is really that much better
> 
> ...




Your BIOS Troubles do not relate really to how GIgabyte stands. ANd it wasn't them alone American MegaTrends had Bad BIOS period. As for CHip support, I had an Old revision board that I popped a new 965 into (MA780G-UD3H) and I flashed the bios with @BIOS in WIndows. Worked perfectly, no need for another CPU. Then when the computer restarted, it automatically flashed my backup BIOS. No flaws.

As for MSI, Well, trust me mate I hope they make improvments on their RMA and customer Service ends. Gigabyte has my support along with ASUS for their end. I'm 20min outside of Toronto and I threw out my MSI 250 and a board because they were useless for Customer support. 

ST


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## MKmods (Jan 12, 2010)

Super XP said:


> CPU Magazine rated the Asus Crosshair III 3 out of 5 where as they rated the MSI 4.5 out of 5. The MSI outperformed the Asus in gaming, video editing etc and is a lot more feature rich and costs cheaper.


I have met the guys from CPU and like them but would take their reviews with a grain of salt
I have the Crosshair III and love it, (Asus CS sucks)

Auzen FTW!

I have had better luck with Gigabyte then MSI.


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## Super XP (Jan 12, 2010)

eidairaman1 said:


> Well its MSI 790FX-GD70 or the Gigabyte GA-790FXT-UD5P. Asus I do not trust As i have had issues with them amongst other users, It was that company that brought me to tech forums looking for help because Asus had crap service.
> 
> I just wish there were more PCI E 1x Sound boards out besides CL and Asus.


You can plug in PCI E x 1 in any available PCI E x 16 slot, so MSI has you covered. They both should not disapoint though I prefer the MSI myself. If you added a Dual Slot Graphics card, ask yourself how many PCIE slots would be available for you? And if you went Crossfire with Dual Stock Graphics, how many PCIE slots would be available to you after the fact?

That is something you should consider. Because ASUS has a bad habbit of offering 4 PCIE slots, and having them all blocked while going Crossfire. What's the point in that


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## Gyres01 (Jan 12, 2010)

I just put a 955 in this:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128397 and it rocks !!


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## Chicken Patty (Jan 12, 2010)

Super XP said:


> *MSI 790FX-GD70*
> All the way, it's the best out right now for AM3
> 
> Gigabyte has very weak bios support.



When was the last time you owned a GB board?  Just curious?


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## PaulieG (Jan 12, 2010)

Chicken Patty said:


> When was the last time you owned a GB board?  Just curious?



I hate to pile on, but I gotta back up CP here. I've had several Gigabyte boards in the last couple of years and they have ALL been solid, and the bios have been on par with DFI minus the obscure settings.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 12, 2010)

ack, i keep on hearing good reviews of both, New Egg unfortunately had a few with bunk SATA controllers on the GA, Now CP, how is the FXTA-UD5 in compare to the FXT-UD5P. I read on new egg that when that 3rd PCI E slot is occupied, the second slot shares the bandwidth it, resulting in a 16x8x8. the MSI i read does 16x16x8x8 or 8x8x8x8, or something like that.

I know a few things

MSI- Owned 1- great board
DFI- Owned 1- Great board
Asus- Owned 1, had several customers with them- problems
Gigabyte- Never Owned


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## Hunt3r (Jan 12, 2010)

M4a785td v-Evo


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## Chicken Patty (Jan 12, 2010)

I have the FXT, as I said in Pauls thread it has just the right things to do the job, and very well done.   IMO the BIOS is great, simple but has everything you need.  Not to mention, it's very easy to understand!

I speak from personal experience.  ASUS boards were solid boards, very.   I just didn't have them long enough to say on the long run.

This is the first high end GB board I have and I can out of all honesty say I'm in LOVE!


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 13, 2010)

eidairaman1 said:


> I know a few things
> 
> MSI- Owned 1- great board
> DFI- Owned 1- Great board
> ...



In my experience I have owned a few boards of each of those manufacturers, MSI makes questionable products but have good tech support, anda good RMA process. DFI, makes great products but their tech support is borderline incompitant. ASUS makes nearly perfect products, I have never had a bad tech support experience with them but I know people who have, and I don't know anything about their RMA services, I've never had to use them LOL. 
Gigabyte ( I feel the trolls and flamers coming ) is the second worst mobo manufacturer there is (ECS being the worst), I've had 1 mobo Gigabyte I bought be DOA right out of the box, I had 1 die after 2 months after I bought it, and I had one last a year and a half then die because the a capacitor exploded. Then you have their tech support, which is beyond the most incompitent set of people I've had the disspleasure of dealing with in tech related maters. And finaly we arive at their RMA service, my first time useing it was about 3 years ago, I used the phone, the person spoke reasonable english, but the process was unbelivably slow, took a month and a half to get the mobo back. My second time was about 2 months ago my first attempt was blocked by a broken RMA page I filled out a request for tech support, and they gave me a link that worked. I sent in the mobo, and got it back just shy of 30 days later, and the mobo I got back was the EXACT SAME mobo I sent in, still DOA >_<'. Called them and got someone that was totally indifferent about it and didn't give a damn about the fact I just wasted 12 dollars to RMA it, and was unwilling to compensate me for it, or allow me to mail it back at their expense. So I sent it back 3 weeks later, I got it back and this time the mobo worked, but I would get random BSOD's sometimes 3 hours after start up sometimes 3 days after start up. I don't recomend you buy any of their products, avoid them like the plauge!



SoulTribunal said:


> That being said if you want bang for your buck performance.
> 
> ASUS M4T785TD-V EVO is hands down a monster. Manged to get a X2 550 Unlocked to 4.1Ghz stable.
> That thing is a monster for dirt cheap.
> ...



I too had the exact same experience with my ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO , well except for the unlocking of the processor, the mobo unlocked the chip perfectly, but the chip wasn't stable beyond 80-90% load and would BSOD with all the cores unlocked, but has been runing 24 hours a day for the last 6 days and is rock solid even past 24 hour Burn-In and Prime95 @ 4.2 GHZ. But that is all about the chip I got, and not the mobo.

Their literally the exact same mobo, except the ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO is Micro ATX and only has 1 PCI-E slot.


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## Super XP (Jan 13, 2010)

Chicken Patty said:


> When was the last time you owned a GB board?  Just curious?


I would say about a year ago or a little less. I had the GA-MA790FX-DQ6 (rev. 1.0) And it was feature rich but ran like junk.

GA-MA790FX-DQ6 (rev. 1.0)
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2690


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## PaulieG (Jan 13, 2010)

[H]@RD5TUFF said:


> In my experience I have owned a few boards of each of those manufacturers, MSI makes questionable products but have good tech support, anda good RMA process. DFI, makes great products but their tech support is borderline incompitant. ASUS makes nearly perfect products, I have never had a bad tech support experience with them but I know people who have, and I don't know anything about their RMA services, I've never had to use them LOL.
> Gigabyte ( I feel the trolls and flamers coming ) is the second worst mobo manufacturer there is (ECS being the worst), I've had 1 mobo Gigabyte I bought be DOA right out of the box, I had 1 die after 2 months after I bought it, and I had one last a year and a half then die because the a capacitor exploded. Then you have their tech support, which is beyond the most incompitent set of people I've had the disspleasure of dealing with in tech related maters. And finaly we arive at their RMA service, my first time useing it was about 3 years ago, I used the phone, the person spoke reasonable english, but the process was unbelivably slow, took a month and a half to get the mobo back. My second time was about 2 months ago my first attempt was blocked by a broken RMA page I filled out a request for tech support, and they gave me a link that worked. I sent in the mobo, and got it back just shy of 30 days later, and the mobo I got back was the EXACT SAME mobo I sent in, still DOA >_<'. Called them and got someone that was totally indifferent about it and didn't give a damn about the fact I just wasted 12 dollars to RMA it, and was unwilling to compensate me for it, or allow me to mail it back at their expense. So I sent it back 3 weeks later, I got it back and this time the mobo worked, but I would get random BSOD's sometimes 3 hours after start up sometimes 3 days after start up. I don't recomend you buy any of their products, avoid them like the plauge!
> 
> 
> ...



The experience you had with gigabyte is similar to the experiences I've had with each of the motherboard manufacturers after owning almost 100 different boards through the years. All manufacturers have their problems at times, and all companies provide poor customer service at some point. I think you have a very small sample group for which you draw a conclusion. I personally have had less trouble with Gigabyte boards than any other manufacturer. To be fair though, most of my experience with Gigabyte is with Intel p55 and x58 boards.


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## SoulTribunal (Jan 13, 2010)

I run Both EVO Boards right now and wouldn't look back.

That being said I wish I could have had the MSI Suppport that is claimed from other people here. No love for the Canadian Customers sometimes. That being said Gigabytes customer support has been bar none excellent with me even with a board that was outside of warranty they still replaced for me.

I have used them for 3 years, Asus and their partner in crime ASrock for god knows how long. I still have an A-life 865D that is working flawlessly since the first day I bought it.


There is good and bad among manufacturers with certain products so it is really subjective, which is why there are multiple vendors out there. But Gigabyte is a Tier 1 manufacturer and the products I have tested to date work without a hitch minus one RMA.

ST


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## Super XP (Jan 13, 2010)

The same can be said for Toshiba, they have awesome products but customer support not so good. Kodak is by far the best for customer support IMO. As for mobo's I've never dealt with MSI, just Asus and Gigabyte. Gigabyte failed me but Asus was only average.

Gigabyte did replace the board for me with another one but "Woop's" they forgot to update the darn back-up bios though I do admit the board was a lot more stable with OC's than the 1st board I had. Perhaps it was a mobo problem but anyway I sold that off and got the Asus. 

I still have the taste of bitterness in my mouth from Gigabyte. The only way they can convince me to buy one of there mobo's again will be Super Positive Reviews and a lot of them. They maybe just maybe I might take the pill and go with them.


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## SoulTribunal (Jan 13, 2010)

Super XP said:


> The same can be said for Toshiba, they have awesome products but customer support not so good. Kodak is by far the best for customer support IMO. As for mobo's I've never dealt with MSI, just Asus and Gigabyte. Gigabyte failed me but Asus was only average.
> 
> Gigabyte did replace the board for me with another one but "Woop's" they forgot to update the darn back-up bios though I do admit the board was a lot more stable with OC's than the 1st board I had. Perhaps it was a mobo problem but anyway I sold that off and got the Asus.
> 
> I still have the taste of bitterness in my mouth from Gigabyte. The only way they can convince me to buy one of there mobo's again will be Super Positive Reviews and a lot of them. They maybe just maybe I might take the pill and go with them.



The key is to be properly objective (at least for me) is when I have a bad experience with something I give it time before I go back to them and see if the new stuff is better than the old.

I had some experiences with ASUS issues on my old A8N32-SLI board but I got over it and am glad I got my EVO's.

It all depends really but some of their boards (my 780G for example) aren't OC'ing boards so to give it a bad review on account of that is not fair IMO.
Mainstream is mainstream, performance is performance and should be kept as such.

I defend gigabyte only because I have had 1 fault out of 56 I think with the client builds on them. Same with Asus and Intel Boards themselves (which to be honest people don't give Intel the time of day on these types of Forums but their Customer support is 10/10 and their product is built to last). 

ST


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 13, 2010)

Its ironic that people have had trouble with ECS but ive had a board and several customers had them and never had trouble.


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## Chicken Patty (Jan 13, 2010)

That is why I recommend people to make their own decision based on their own research.  Sure getting opinions is great but can be somewhat misleading.


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## trt740 (Jan 13, 2010)

I would get the MSI in this case its the best board they have made in a long time. I have recently built 3 computers using A2+/Am3 Gigabyte boards. They are solid and have great support but usually they aren't the top overclocker, but not near the bottom. They are old reliable.  Msi isn't normally but this board from what I read is the exception.


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## trt740 (Jan 13, 2010)

eidairaman1 said:


> Its ironic that people have had trouble with ECS but ive had a board and several customers had them and never had trouble.



for basic computing they are great, but not at all for overclocking.


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## SoulTribunal (Jan 13, 2010)

trt740 said:


> for basic computing they are great, but not at all for overclocking.



Agreed. I use ECS for Corporate Builds Exclusively.
Excellent for that Genre , much like Biostar and ASRock. Just the OC leaves something to be desired.

ST


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## PaulieG (Jan 13, 2010)

SoulTribunal said:


> Agreed. I use ECS for Corporate Builds Exclusively.
> Excellent for that Genre , much like Biostar and ASRock. Just the OC leaves something to be desired.
> 
> ST



Asrock and Biostar have really stepped up their game. Certainly not my first choice for a primary rig, but I do have a Asrock x58 Extreme in the "family" rig. Very reliable and stable board.


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## MilkyWay (Jan 13, 2010)

Im surprised about ASUS i mean it was one time when all i heard was praise now i hear not so good.

Well my first and current ASUS board is fantastic, i really never noticed how a good motherboard would make a difference but it does. Its the M4A79XTD EVO, regularly gets mentioned as a top mid range board for AM3. Got a lot of features but to me there are the 800 series chipset around the corner so that kinda sucks.

My old MSI K9A Platinum crossfire board was solid but the feature set wasn't amazing and neither was the bios but it was reliable and that sometimes is all someone needs, hardware wise it wasn't anything special.

BIOSTAR and even ASrock are some of the best budget boards available.

EDIT: Personally i dont like Gigabyte i always think in that price range there are better boards, but they are a very popular brand at the moment!


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 13, 2010)

Paulieg said:


> I think you have a very small sample group for which you draw a conclusion. I personally have had less trouble with Gigabyte boards than any other manufacturer. To be fair though, most of my experience with Gigabyte is with Intel p55 and x58 boards.


Sigh I knew someone would take issue with my opinion. Are you saying I have to buy another board to have a good experience with Gigabyte? Three boards over about 3 years, is kind of a small sample group, but horrible service and disapointing products every time is beyond any kind of logic. Who the hell sends back the same DOA board a customer sent in for service, and then not want to compensate or help the customer. Maybe 3 is not their lucky number, or maybe their just a poor excuse for a manufacturer. Either way my opinion is the same, NEVER buy a Gigabyte product, nothing good can come of it.


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## PaulieG (Jan 13, 2010)

[H]@RD5TUFF said:


> Sigh I knew someone would take issue with my opinion. Are you saying I have to buy another board to have a good experience with Gigabyte? Three boards over about 3 years, is kind of a small sample group, but horrible service and disapointing products every time is beyond any kind of logic. Who the hell sends back the same DOA board a customer sent in for service, and then not want to compensate or help the customer. Maybe 3 is not their lucky number, or maybe their just a poor excuse for a manufacturer. Either way my opinion is the same, NEVER buy a Gigabyte product, nothing good can come of it.



No problem with your opinion. Just challenging it, which is part of what makes forums great.  I do think you have tunnel vision. Nothing like forming an opinion on one bad experience. To each their own.

Oh, DFI and Asus have sent me back the same broken boards before. I've sworn they never took them out of the box.


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## Chicken Patty (Jan 13, 2010)

And the above perfectly explains why you should do your own research.  If you look around for enough opinions, eventually every motherboard manufacturer would suck.


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## Super XP (Jan 13, 2010)

SoulTribunal said:


> The key is to be properly objective (at least for me) is when I have a bad experience with something I give it time before I go back to them and see if the new stuff is better than the old.
> 
> I had some experiences with ASUS issues on my old A8N32-SLI board but I got over it and am glad I got my EVO's.
> 
> ...


2 things. The board was a 790FX board graded for high OC's. I also had the board for about 6 months before I said the hell with it. Gigabyte told me they are going to release bios updates to resolve some board issues and after 6 months, absolutely nothing came out where as ASUS already released about 5 bios updates for there AM2+ boards at that time. Gigabyte is slow or they were slow with that board I had for some reason.


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## SoulTribunal (Jan 13, 2010)

Super XP said:


> 2 things. The board was a 790FX board graded for high OC's. I also had the board for about 6 months before I said the hell with it. Gigabyte told me they are going to release bios updates to resolve some board issues and after 6 months, absolutely nothing came out where as ASUS already released about 5 bios updates for there AM2+ boards at that time. Gigabyte is slow or they were slow with that board I had for some reason.



Must have been just a bad run, what specific issues did you have with it?
The FX boards I've had (DDR2 ones right?) did fairly well, but that was entry level OC'ing. The FXT was their DDR3 OC Monster. 

Every Manufacturer has had good and bad issues with board regardless however. Its not fair to make one bad board turn you away forever. As my experience has taught me, Time matures designs. Hence my EVO's even after being soured by poor performance in the past.

ST


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 13, 2010)

Paulieg said:


> No problem with your opinion. Just challenging it, which is part of what makes forums great.  I do think you have tunnel vision. Nothing like forming an opinion on one bad experience. To each their own.
> 
> Oh, DFI and Asus have sent me back the same broken boards before. I've sworn they never took them out of the box.




Yes 3 seperate problems with 3 seperate products as well as 4 calls and 3 posts for tech support, and 4 bad RMA experiences is clearly "1 bad experience" . I'm sure if I had the same problems with 6 or 7 boards or video cards, you'd iether claim I was lieing or say I hadn't had enough products to form a valid conclusion. I do belive you have tunnel vision on proving Gigabyte is nothing but bubble gum and rainbows. Nothing like forming an opinion on one good experience (I mean thats what were doing here is making broad generalization without knowing the other persons past). 

If Asus sent back boards dead that sucks, and as I stated I had never used their RMA service, as every product I have bought from them all woked until I sold them or still work now. Four video cards a GForce 3, and a ATI 9600 XT, and a ATI 2900, and a ATI 4670, the last 3 still work day, and the GForce 3 I sold about 4 years ago and it still worked when I sold it. Also 6 mother boards a Asus A7N8X Deluxe,  Asus K8N-E Deluxe, Asus P5K-E,  Asus M4A785-M, Asus M4A785TD-M EVO. All worked perfectly until I sold them the Asus A7N8X Deluxe still works till this day it streams music wonderfully, the others I have sold except for the Asus M4A785-M, Asus M4A785TD-M EVO.

As for DFI I have only owned 1 board from them, and I sent it in when it was broke, and I got a working one back. :shrug:

To each their own.


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## SoulTribunal (Jan 14, 2010)

[H]@RD5TUFF said:


> Yes 3 seperate problems with 3 seperate products as well as 4 calls and 3 posts for tech support, and 4 bad RMA experiences is clearly "1 bad experience" . I'm sure if I had the same problems with 6 or 7 boards or video cards, you'd iether claim I was lieing or say I hadn't had enough products to form a valid conclusion. I do belive you have tunnel vision on proving Gigabyte is nothing but bubble gum and rainbows. Nothing like forming an opinion on one good experience (I mean thats what were doing here is making broad generalization without knowing the other persons past).
> 
> If Asus sent back boards dead that sucks, and as I stated I had never used their RMA service, as every product I have bought from them all woked until I sold them or still work now. Four video cards a GForce 3, and a ATI 9600 XT, and a ATI 2900, and a ATI 4670, the last 3 still work day, and the GForce 3 I sold about 4 years ago and it still worked when I sold it. Also 6 mother boards a Asus A7N8X Deluxe,  Asus K8N-E Deluxe, Asus P5K-E,  Asus M4A785-M, Asus M4A785TD-M EVO. All worked perfectly until I sold them the Asus A7N8X Deluxe still works till this day it streams music wonderfully, the others I have sold except for the Asus M4A785-M, Asus M4A785TD-M EVO.
> 
> ...



Just to understand what you're saying.

So is it wrong then that I have so many builds with Gigabytes boards that work perfectly? Does that make them Bad still? What if I thought what you did of ASUS boards? Does that make me a liar?

I'm just trying to understand your mentality on this issue. There will always be bad experiences with any type of service. Just look at how much Sapphire has changed their customer support over the years.

To each their own really I suppose. But GIgabyte is still listed at Tier 1 Manufacurer and if you have ever toured their Facility you would see they are a no-nonsense high quality manufacturer. And for the Record, they Owned ASUS for a while, and a lot of Technology that is in your ASUS boards is thanks to gigabyte (Not now but for a period of time).

ST


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 14, 2010)

SoulTribunal said:


> Just to understand what you're saying.
> 
> So is it wrong then that I have so many builds with Gigabytes boards that work perfectly? Does that make them Bad still? What if I thought what you did of ASUS boards? Does that make me a liar?
> 
> ...



You missed the point completelly, I can not begin to understand why people who like Gigabye, can't grasp the fact some people don't like them, or why it bothers them so much. They work for you great, congrats, I don't care. I don't like them, they have been nothing but trouble for me, and countering my experience with "There will always be bad experiences with any type of service" while true and I accept that, and expect some bad service here and there from all companys, is not a good argument to explain why every time my interaction with them was bad. My point is Gigabyte is very consistent in my experience, consistently bad.


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## troyrae360 (Jan 14, 2010)

Ive had a good run with my gigabyte board and would recomend gigabyte to anyone


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## SoulTribunal (Jan 14, 2010)

[H]@RD5TUFF said:


> You missed the point completelly, I can not begin to understand why people who like Gigabye, can't grasp the fact some people don't like them, or why it bothers them so much. They work for you great, congrats, I don't care. I don't like them, they have been nothing but trouble for me, and countering my experience with "There will always be bad experiences with any type of service" while true and I accept that, and expect some bad service here and there from all companys, is not a good argument to explain why every time my interaction with them was bad. My point is Gigabyte is very consistent in my experience, consistently bad.



I can grasp Perfectly what you are saying I am just challenging your Mentality on it.

I can understand that you can be soured by that. I'm not trying to sell you on them either.
Sapphire has yet to be redeemed in my eyes like Gigabyte in yours.

Thats fine on your choices.

ST


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 14, 2010)

SoulTribunal said:


> I can grasp Perfectly what you are saying I am just challenging your Mentality on it.
> 
> I can understand that you can be soured by that. I'm not trying to sell you on them either.
> Sapphire has yet to be redeemed in my eyes like Gigabyte in yours.
> ...



My mentality is this, I feel that 3 chances to show me that you cna make a good reliable product and provide compitent and good customer service, is more than enough, I'm not willing to waste any more of my money and time to see if my experience would be different a fourth time. Soured is not even close to the word for it.
I dislike Sapphire as well.

Back to the OP's orginal question, you can't go wrong in my eyes with ASUS or DFI.


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## Super XP (Jan 14, 2010)

SoulTribunal said:


> Must have been just a bad run, what specific issues did you have with it?
> The FX boards I've had (DDR2 ones right?) did fairly well, but that was entry level OC'ing. The FXT was their DDR3 OC Monster.
> 
> Every Manufacturer has had good and bad issues with board regardless however. Its not fair to make one bad board turn you away forever. As my experience has taught me, Time matures designs. Hence my EVO's even after being soured by poor performance in the past.
> ...


Just instability. It would boot up when it wanted to. One day without OC it would pick and choose whether to support my new CPU or not. When it did not, clearing CMOS did absolutely nothing for me. Who knows, maybe the board was defective. I was bitter with Gigabyte due to the shipping also. I had to pay an arm & a leg just to ship the bloody think back. I don't know, I don't find them reliable anymore.

It was my first time ever to buy a gigabyte product and it will be my last. I'll stick with ASUS and DFI for now. Maybe sometime in the future I will consider Gigabyte, but until that time no thank U.


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## PaulieG (Jan 14, 2010)

[H]@RD5TUFF said:


> Yes 3 seperate problems with 3 seperate products as well as 4 calls and 3 posts for tech support, and 4 bad RMA experiences is clearly "1 bad experience" . I'm sure if I had the same problems with 6 or 7 boards or video cards, you'd iether claim I was lieing or say I hadn't had enough products to form a valid conclusion. I do belive you have tunnel vision on proving Gigabyte is nothing but bubble gum and rainbows. Nothing like forming an opinion on one good experience (I mean thats what were doing here is making broad generalization without knowing the other persons past).
> 
> If Asus sent back boards dead that sucks, and as I stated I had never used their RMA service, as every product I have bought from them all woked until I sold them or still work now. Four video cards a GForce 3, and a ATI 9600 XT, and a ATI 2900, and a ATI 4670, the last 3 still work day, and the GForce 3 I sold about 4 years ago and it still worked when I sold it. Also 6 mother boards a Asus A7N8X Deluxe,  Asus K8N-E Deluxe, Asus P5K-E,  Asus M4A785-M, Asus M4A785TD-M EVO. All worked perfectly until I sold them the Asus A7N8X Deluxe still works till this day it streams music wonderfully, the others I have sold except for the Asus M4A785-M, Asus M4A785TD-M EVO.
> 
> ...



From reading your post, I thought it to be one board with several RMA's. My bad there. However, I do not appreciate your tone in this thread, and I strongly suggest you change it.


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## SoulTribunal (Jan 14, 2010)

Super XP said:


> Just instability. It would boot up when it wanted to. One day without OC it would pick and choose whether to support my new CPU or not. When it did not, clearing CMOS did absolutely nothing for me. Who knows, maybe the board was defective. I was bitter with Gigabyte due to the shipping also. I had to pay an arm & a leg just to ship the bloody think back. I don't know, I don't find them reliable anymore.
> 
> It was my first time ever to buy a gigabyte product and it will be my last. I'll stick with ASUS and DFI for now. Maybe sometime in the future I will consider Gigabyte, but until that time no thank U.



Fair enough mate, wasn't trying to sell you on them. Just understand. 
I do sympathize with your experiences. I have had the same with MSI and Sapphire. It will be a while till I go back.
Oh, and BFG lol.

It happens to the best of us.

ST


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## xtaticego (Jan 14, 2010)

Those boards only accept ATI video Cards I want a AM3 with nvida chipset.  That is a rare Mother board to find any more.  asus and msi have the 980a thats the only board i found thats newer that has the newest nvidia chipset.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 14, 2010)

xtaticego said:


> Those boards only accept ATI video Cards I want a AM3 with nvida chipset.  That is a rare Mother board to find any more.  asus and msi have the 980a thats the only board i found thats newer that has the newest nvidia chipset.



Im sorry dude but im not talking about Nvidia based motherboards here, I am asking for recommendations on AMD Chipset boards. Sorry for your bad luck but Nvidia has been having a very bad rap when it comes to making any chipsets.

ok Ive made Partial Decision Gigabyte 790FXT-UD5P or 790FXTA-UD5.

the 790FXT-UD5P has been on the market for some time, has 2x PCI E16 several PCI E1 Slots and 2 PCI Slots. The FXTA has 3x Full PCI E16 slots, and 3 PCI Slots, SATA 6 and USB 3.0, However when a video card occupies PCI E16 Slot 3, Slot 2 and 3 share the same bandwidth, so both those slots reduce down to PCI E8 slots for a configuration of 16x8x8.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128415

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128377&cm_re=GA-MA790FXT-UD5P-_-13-128-377-_-Product


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## xtaticego (Jan 14, 2010)

I would recommend the gigabyte 790fxt-ud5p  my friend as one and is rock solid helped him build it .


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## xtaticego (Jan 14, 2010)

i wouldnt recomend any usb3 or sata 6 just yet since there tied into the pci-e wouldnt be bad if running 1 or 2 card i think .


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## werez (Jan 14, 2010)

the 790FXT-UD5P is ok . Do you really need 3 PCIE slots ?


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## xtaticego (Jan 14, 2010)

werez said:


> the 790FXT-UD5P is ok . Do you really need 3 PCIE slots ?



Only if you are doing phyxs ,


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## SoulTribunal (Jan 14, 2010)

xtaticego said:


> Only if you are doing phyxs ,



Or Folding Mate. The more PCI-e the Merrier when it comes to that.

ST


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## Super XP (Jan 14, 2010)

werez said:


> the 790FXT-UD5P is ok . Do you really need 3 PCIE slots ?


I don't get the question. The more PCIE x 16 slots you have the better. You can plug anything PCIE related for future expansion where it's PCIE x1, x4, x8 or x16.


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## xtaticego (Jan 14, 2010)

SoulTribunal said:


> Or Folding Mate. The more PCI-e the Merrier when it comes to that.
> 
> ST




Very true quad sli / quad crossfire would be great for folding


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## werez (Jan 14, 2010)

if you read his first post again , he said he is not sure about going multiple cards . And i did answer to his later post regarding the two GIGABYTE motherboards . GIGABYTE GA-790FXTA-UD5 has no real advantage over the GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P , performance wise . I asked if he really needs 3 PCIex slots , if not my opinion is that he will find better value in the cheaper board .

I know more and more people go Crossfire / SLI , but that you guys sound like having a crossfire setup is like a standard now . There are cheaper boards that deliver the same performance if you don`t need 2,3,4 videocards . That was my point ... and that is why i asked if he really needs 3 PCie slots .

wait for the MSI+890FX-GD70 , there you go 6 slots


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## Reefer86 (Jan 14, 2010)

i have the gigabyte GA-MA790FXT it may have 2 slots for crossfire but only have one card but there are other reasons for me buying this board....... true that you can buy lower motherboards that just give the same performance when running things stock, but they are not cooled as great for overclocking etc and the bios's are normally more enthusiast geared on the fx series boards. also with crossfire you get x16/x16 not x8/x8 in crossfire with the lower 790x boards.


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## Super XP (Jan 14, 2010)

Now I understand the original question. Well, you can still find boards at a good price with 3 or more PCIE slots. it don't really matter if you got 7 PCIE x16 or you got 2 PCIE x 16 and a bunch of 1x's. 
You can always utilize the other slots with SATA, SAS, SCSI etc controllers and/or install a sound card etc. If you already have a setup "Right Now" and you are not in a big rush in upgrading, I would wait just alittle longer (Maybe in around March/April) window for new upcoming AMD & Nvidia chipset based mobo's for Socket AM3. That would help drive prices down on current mobos


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## MikeMitchell (Jan 15, 2010)

werez said:


> wait for the MSI+890FX-GD70 , there you go 6 slots



I love it!


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## werez (Jan 15, 2010)

yep , my next board too


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 15, 2010)

Well it is decided the Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P will be my choice as it has enough power for what i will be using (965/955 BE C3) or the Athlon X4 with 4MB L2 BE (If that ever launches)


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## Chicken Patty (Jan 16, 2010)

eidairaman1 said:


> Well it is decided the Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P will be my choice as it has enough power for what i will be using (965/955 BE C3) or the Athlon X4 with 4MB L2 BE (If that ever launches)



Whether it was the best choice or not, only you know that.  The rest is just a matter of preference and what you really needed.  If you get a board that performs how it should, you won't be let down.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 16, 2010)

Well no Offense to MSI or Asus, but I dont like the Asus Designs, MSI designs are rockin, but Several Reviews have the Gigabyte boards with higher overclocks. and a few MSI reviews with lower or fails, and besides the MSI may have alot of slots but Id be wasting several.


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## Chicken Patty (Jan 16, 2010)

eidairaman1 said:


> Well no Offense to MSI or Asus, but I dont like the Asus Designs, MSI designs are rockin, but Several Reviews have the Gigabyte boards with higher overclocks. and a few MSI reviews with lower or fails, and besides the MSI may have alot of slots but Id be wasting several.



the UD5 is a good choice.  You won't be dissapointed.


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## werez (Jan 16, 2010)

If a mothetboard overclocks the same CPU 100MHZ higher that does not mean it's superior  . Remember that results may vary from board to board  . Performance wise that 100MHz bump won`t be that noticeable , that if your not a "numbers" freak. . And trust me a lot of reviewers bump the actual results one way or another . The most important thing to look for is a brand that uses high quality components and that has good customer support . That's why i recommend going for GIGABYTE or MSI . And ofc. you made a good choice .


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## SoulTribunal (Jan 16, 2010)

werez said:


> If a mothetboard overclocks the same CPU 100MHZ higher that does not mean it's superior  . Remember that results may vary from board to board  . Performance wise that 100MHz bump won`t be that noticeable , that if your not a "numbers" freak. . And trust me a lot of reviewers bump the actual results one way or another . The most important thing to look for is a brand that uses high quality components and that has good customer support . That's why i recommend going for GIGABYTE or MSI . And ofc. you made a good choice .



Very True. And of course it really depends on the chip as well. After all out of the 20 some odd Builds I've done with 965's using the same CPU Cooler, there are variences in the chips thermals as well one batch will differ from the next in Clocks which is why the D0 Stepping i7's become coveted over the C0 stepping ones.

That being said, I agree with Gigabyte. I just wish MSI had better support up in the great white north.

ST


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## BlackOmega (Jan 17, 2010)

Both are good boards. I actually was faced with the same dilemma when I was putting my rig together. I opted for the MSI board for a few reasons; first was the looks of the board. The GB colors are just horrible, I could definitely do without the light blue and such.
 Second was the overall layout, I personally think the MSI has a much better layout, even with 3 dual slot GPUs',I still have room for my XFi. 
 Then after getting the board I was even more pleased, 275 reference clock with no voltage bump, I actually stopped there since I didn't need it to go any higher. 
  The manual was actually pretty good and so was the install disc. The only gripe I have is the lack of RAM dividers, but from what I gather all of the new boards only have like 4 or 5. Guess they all can't have an overclocker friendly BIOS like the 939 DFI boards (even looks very similar). 

 Then there's Asus, while the boards are feature laden and have great accessories, they didn't seem to clock all that great. The model I had, A8N32SLI deluxe, hasn some pretty bad voltage regulation. And this experience wasn't limited to me as I know several others that have/had similar issues. When I switched to DFI I was able ton extract another 300MHz at the same voltage.
 Their tech support was competent and hassle free. Perhaps it was that I bought the top of the line product.

 DFI is great for 939, but it seems as though they've been lagging behind on the newer stuff. I was hoping that if I gave them enough time that they'd have a LP UT board out when I was ready to buy, they didn't. The DK boards aren't really that great for overclocking from what I've gathered. 

 I've personally never had a GB board so I can't comment on them.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 17, 2010)

Well I have went with the GA board due to the Numerous OCs users have achieved with it, the MSI Is nice but is not what I need at the moment. Perhaps later down the Line MSI will have finally perfected a board with a new slot design (Get rid of PCI E1 slots, keep 2 PCI slots that are not blocked by PCI E16 slots when dual slot cards are used) and have used Higher Quality ICs.


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## Hunt3r (Jan 17, 2010)

werez said:


> yep , my next board too



My next is also
hhe


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 17, 2010)

what board?


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## werez (Jan 18, 2010)

MSI 890FX-GD70
A little bit overkill for some people , but i'm waiting for the release for my next build .


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## Super XP (Jan 18, 2010)

werez said:


> MSI 890FX-GD70
> A little bit overkill for some people , but i'm waiting for the release for my next build .
> [url]http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3606/4175914936f2a3bccf67o.th.jpg[/URL]



MSI previews its 890FX-GD70 motherboard at CES 
http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/17167/1/


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## sinar (Jan 18, 2010)

Asus M4A79T Deluxe alaways performed, plus bios already mature.


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## Super XP (Jan 18, 2010)

ASUS M4A89GTD PRO (890G)





LINK:
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=21853

MSI 890FX - GD70


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