# Seriously confused as to which AM2+ motherboard to get!



## tancho.sanke (Aug 23, 2008)

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm currently in a bit of a pickle as to which motherboard to get for a new AMD system I want to build. I have a somewhat limited budget and was looking for some advice.

This is the spec that I have chosen so far to buy from ebuyer.com:

AMD Phenom X4 9950BE - £146.81
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 - £41.51

I will be using this with components I already have which are:

Arctic Cooling Freezer64 Pro
Thermaltake Toughpower 750W modular PSU
Antec Solo PC Case
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB (Will be upgrading this at a later date)

I have up to a maximum of £100 to spend on a motherboard and have been scouring the net looking for the right one. At first I was going to go for the Gigabyte 790X DS4 but I'm not sure how this will handle the power required for AMD's latest CPU. Another issue I have faced is that some motherboards require a BIOS flash before they will work with the latest Phenoms. This won't be an option for me as I only have a 3800 X2 (SKT939) so won't be able to flash anything. It may be worth mentioning I'm not very interested in cross fire but if a good board has more than one PCIe slot then so be it.

I would really appreciate some help with this as I just don't know what to do at the moment!

Thanks in advance!


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## alexp999 (Aug 23, 2008)

Everyone else will prob say this too, but why are you buying an AMD system? intel are much better atm. (and thats not fanboi, ask 99% of the people on here)


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## tancho.sanke (Aug 23, 2008)

I know what you're saying and I agree. Intel CPU's are better at the moment, but I just like AMD and want to stick with them... that's not to say I want to bash Intel though.


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## alexp999 (Aug 23, 2008)

Okay I'll leave you to it, if your sure you defo want AMD, leave it to someone else to recommend to you, havent kept up with the current AMD offerings.

Good luck finding what you want.


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## tancho.sanke (Aug 23, 2008)

Thanks mate. I'm sure there must be some people on here that have experience with these phenoms!


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## francis511 (Aug 23, 2008)

Yep ,I read there were definite issues that some older boards couldn`t meet the power requirements


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## BUCK NASTY (Aug 24, 2008)

Just threw together a Biostar TFORCE TA790GX A2+ for my son this weekend. Handles the 9950BE, but we put a 9850BE in it to save some money. Since April, I have built 5 rigs. Out of all of them, the Biostar was the least expensive and the most easy to install. No problems on boot up and running silky smooth.Plus, it has the AMD SB750 southbridge, which Phenom owners have been waiting for. I have had to RMA 2 Gigabyte AM2 boards about 2 months ago, so not the best experience with them.

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en-us/t-series/introduction.php?S_ID=374


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## WarEagleAU (Aug 24, 2008)

my gigabyte 790x ds4 has a bios update that handles the 9950 and all 125w/140 Am2 procs. It runs good, ocs really nice and is awesome. The FX version is pretty good too. The MSI K9A2 platinum and Asus M3a32 MVP Deluxe Wi Fi (thanks erocker) are awesome and give you access to quad crossfire, so it depends on your preferences really. the GX boards, as were mentioned are the ones that really squeak out performance of the Phenom BE chips with the ACC included with the SB750.


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## blueskynis (Aug 24, 2008)

You should check out ASUS boards marked with 140W CPU support, like M3A78-T, M3A78, M3A78 Pro or one from ASRock maybe?


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## Polarman (Aug 24, 2008)

tancho.sanke said:


> but I just like AMD and want to stick with them...



Your not the only one!

You can MSI out for your Phenom 9950. They have a list of boards that supports your CPU.

http://global.msi.com.tw/html/popup/MB/125w/p125w_e.html


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## blueskynis (Aug 24, 2008)

Look at this page also: http://products.amd.com/en-us/Recom...&f2=9950&f3=B3&f4=&f5=&f6=&f7=ATX&f8=140.000&


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## Lionheart (Aug 24, 2008)

hmmmm i was goin to save up for this phenom but still not sure.


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## newconroer (Aug 24, 2008)

tancho.sanke said:


> I know what you're saying and I agree. Intel CPU's are better at the moment, but I just like AMD and want to stick with them... that's not to say I want to bash Intel though.




To be fair (God I hate that British terminology and phrasing), you can't expect to come here for advice from people, when you ask them to 'recommend' something to you that's clearly not in the best interest of performance OR budget.

Intel chips like the E8400 can be grabbed for cheaper than this AMD one you're after, so it's a bit hard to feel comfortable about telling someone 'ya sure, pay more for less!'

You say you recognize Intel being better, but you 'just like' AMD. We're not talking about a car here, where you can feel the 'experience' so to speak, which would justify that you're ok buying a BMW, even though you can afford a Porsche etc. Unless you have a VERY specific reason, buying computer components should have nothing to do with which company it's from. And about the ONLY thing I can think of, that AMD has (or I should say had) that's architecturally appealing, was their Hyper Transport, but that's very old hat now, and doesn't do anything to help close the gap between them and Intel. To make matters worse, Nehalem will use similar architecture to HT, which leaves AMD with absolutley no design advantages.

My point is, 'I just like' is not very convincing, and sounds rather like you're saying 'I don't know.'

Thus leading me back to my comment, that it's hard for people to advise you with a free conscience.



Anyways, I believe Blue's suggestion of the Asus boards would be a good place to start and best wishes (dammit more British terminology) to you with your build !


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## peach1971 (Aug 24, 2008)

> This is the spec that I have chosen so far to buy from ebuyer.com:
> 
> AMD Phenom X4 9950BE - £146.81
> Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 - £41.51
> ...



In my oppinion, each mentioned component is *way too pricey in relation to  performance*!

My Gigabyte 780G/SB700 board + AMD 4850e + 2x1GB GeIL 4-4-4-12 RAM http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/ram/geil-ultra-plus-1gb-pc6400/5 
did cost me 154.39 EUR total = 123.27 GBP.
That´s cheaper than just the single stone-aged 140W(!) TDP Phenom.

I support your AMD interest for political reasons, but the people are right when they say that you can gain much more performance to buy a Intel system in that price range.
The Phenom is a bad nightmare hype, nothing more than that. They´ll pass it over soon, hopefully.

With a look at your specs + the X1950, I suggest you decide for a cheap energy efficient AMD system for now which will gain a lot of performance in comparison to your current system.


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## tancho.sanke (Aug 24, 2008)

Thanks everyone for your advice. I understand that Intel are better in terms of performance and it's not a case of me just not understanding. I like the way AMD conducts their business and even when they were on top they priced their CPU's very reasonably. I'm not anti-Intel... I'm just pro-AMD, if that makes sense. I'm afraid I don't agree with newconroer that choosing components has nothing to do with which company they're from. AMD has done some very good things for the CPU market driving down prices and always innovating as seen with 64bit processors and true quad core. That said, I don't think it's bad to choose Intel if that's what you want but for now I'll stick with AMD even though they're not on the bleeding edge. Phenoms may not benchmark as high as Intel quads but in the real world you will be hard pushed to notice the difference when playing games etc.  

There have been some good motherboard suggestions here but unfortunately some of the suggestions require a BIOS update which I won't be able to do as I only have a 939 3800 x2.

Thanks peach1971 for suggesting a set up that give decent bang for buck. I've always been a fan of more budget components that can perform well which is why my last three CPU's have been the excellent Athlon XP 2500(barton), A64 3200(venice) and A64 x2 3800(toledo). I will definately look into the setup you suggested.

Thanks as well BUCK NASTY, I have been looking into the GX range as I've heard some excellent things about the new 750 southbridge and how much they can help with overclocking. I did see the Biostar but have never used them before and was uncertain as to their quality. But it seems you have been having excellent results so I'll look into it further.

Thanks again for all your help, it's really helped!


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## blueskynis (Aug 24, 2008)

O boy, by looking at this thread someone can think that buying an AMD system is something like committing a crime


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## tancho.sanke (Aug 24, 2008)

Lol I guess to some people it probably is... but then there are also people think that buying Intel is a crime. Either way is a good choice for different reasons and neither are a crime!


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Aug 24, 2008)

buying an amd is a self-inflicted crime, assault of ur wallet among other things :|


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## blueskynis (Aug 25, 2008)

Try this boards: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_Model.aspx?ProductID=2887 and this http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_Model.aspx?ProductID=2859 they are supporting 9950 out of the box, but ensure very good cooling of onboard Voltage Regulators


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## tancho.sanke (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks! That first Gigabyte looks the job and I guess it's only £10 over budget. I can only find one UK outlet for it which is Tekheads.co.uk (they list it as a socket 775 motherboard ). Are they ok as an e-tailer? I normally buy from ebuyer, ocuk or microdirect. Also you mentioned the cooling which appears to be good on it so do you think it will need modifying? 

I've seen another board which looks good, it's the Foxconn A7DA-S AMD 790GX. It's available from scan.co.uk who I've heard is very reputable. Both boards seem very similar so I was wondering which one to go for.

Edit: Sorry blueskynis, I've just noticed your location so ignore the e-tailer question part and hopefully someone else will be able to answer that. I would still like to know what you think of the Foxconn compared to the Gigabyte though.


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## blueskynis (Aug 25, 2008)

tancho.sanke said:


> Also you mentioned the cooling which appears to be good on it so do you think it will need modifying?



I said that for the second uATX board. The first board is OK. 

That Foxconn board looks like a decent one. I have no experience with Foxconn though.


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## King Wookie (Aug 25, 2008)

Firstly, it's good to see someone who is willing to support the underdog.
As for the performance issue, if it's sufficient to play the games you like for the near future, that's all you need. From all my reading online, it seems that the gfx card is still the biggest factor in gaming performance. AS long as your processor is fast enough to not bottleneck it severely. 

I can't comment on that Biostar, but my brother's skt 939 Biostar board has been rock solid.

I look forward to seeing what you go with.


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## kyle2020 (Aug 25, 2008)

alexp999 said:


> Everyone else will prob say this too, but why are you buying an AMD system? intel are much better atm. (and thats not fanboi, ask 99% of the people on here)



100% true. I was an AMD thoroughbread until a week ago, I took the plunge and ordered a Q6600, and i must say im impressed, especially when you can get a Q6600 for £100 now.


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## ShadowFold (Aug 25, 2008)

For the price of a 9950BE alone you can get a E1280 and a ASUS P5Q-Pro P45. If you really want good performance OC-ability get a E7300 and a ASUS P5Q-Pro. And instead of a Freezer get a Xigmatek S1283 CPU cooler with some OCZ Freeze compound.


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## tancho.sanke (Aug 25, 2008)

I know what you guys are saying about Intel and it being better bang for buck... but it was AMD who helped me get into computing back in the days when AMD chips were much cheaper than Intel... it was a time when I could start to afford my own PC. Sure I have been using PC's much longer but they were expensive and belonged to my Dad and hence weren't allowed to be tinkered with (he blamed an installation of SWAT 2 messing up our 486 (he did get Sierra to pay for a guy to come around and fix it though )). Like has been said, sometimes it's good to support the underdog when they need it. I'd rather take an unnoticeable performance hit (in real world scenarios, not just benchmarks) than see my money go to an incredibly rich company with quite frankly 'shady' business tactics... but that's just how I feel and I'm not putting down people who choose Intel, it's their choice... just like my right to smoke (and yes I do know how 'shady' those companies are as well). 

There's been a lot of people who keep claiming Intel is better in this thread and although I appreciate your concern I think it's been established that I'm going to buy an AMD. 

That finished, I'm still really interested to see how people are feeling about motherboards with the new 750 southbridge. Does anyone know how overclocking might affect that Biostar board as it doesn't have the best of cooling on it.


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## miloshs (Aug 25, 2008)

tancho.sanke said:


> I know what you guys are saying about Intel and it being better bang for buck... but it was AMD who helped me get into computing back in the days when AMD chips were much cheaper than Intel... it was a time when I could start to afford my own PC. Sure I have been using PC's much longer but they were expensive and belonged to my Dad and hence weren't allowed to be tinkered with (he blamed an installation of SWAT 2 messing up our 486 (he did get Sierra to pay for a guy to come around and fix it though )). Like has been said, sometimes it's good to support the underdog when they need it. I'd rather take an unnoticeable performance hit (in real world scenarios, not just benchmarks) than see my money go to an incredibly rich company with quite frankly 'shady' business tactics... but that's just how I feel and I'm not putting down people who choose Intel, it's their choice... just like my right to smoke (and yes I do know how 'shady' those companies are as well).
> 
> There's been a lot of people who keep claiming Intel is better in this thread and although I appreciate your concern I think it's been established that I'm going to buy an AMD.
> 
> That finished, I'm still really interested to see how people are feeling about motherboards with the new 750 southbridge. Does anyone know how overclocking might affect that Biostar board as it doesn't have the best of cooling on it.



Being an AMD CPU/Chipset owner myself i get what you're saying, but sometimes it pays off better to invest a bit more... that is ofcourse if you're able....
Me, for instance, i didn't have enough money to buy Intel stuff so i wen't AMD, but that's not the only reason....  AMD is cool too 

Truth be as it is, Intel kicks AMD butt in performance, but be honest guys, it way more expensive...  and some people just can't afford that... 

Personally i doubt it's that big of a difference...  average user doesn't know crap (this comement not pointed to Tancho ) and cant tell a difference between AMD 6400+ and Intel at 3Ghz....  not to mention the difference between 2mb's and 4-6mb's cache...

To get back on the subject, as i have the DFI LP DK 790FX board (SB600) i can recommend it... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136044 ...  M2RS is around 120$ (should be around 60 UK pounds), and if you really wanna go nuts u can get the M2R (might be better if your sole purpose is to get  high overclock) version which is 100$ more...
U can always wait a bit more, and get the 790FX, SB700 (or SB750) version, as i've heard DFI will start selling the same M2RS versions of the boards but with upgraded southbridge...

The board is rock solid, and has loads of options, and tweaks in BIOS...  absolutely thinker with anything, you can actually burn everything up if you go berser on th BIOS 

Also any GA or Asus 790FX board gets recommended by me...  

And to relate what BUCK NASTY said, i recommend a bit slower Phenom CPU as they usually get you better price/performance ratio...  and they can be overclocked too 
Go with the 9850+BE, its literally the same as 9950+BE, but u save 20 pounds... just the freaking 100mhz difference for 20 pounds!!!


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## tancho.sanke (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks for the advice. If I was to get a slower clocked Phenom, which one would you recommend? I also had a look at the case you're modding. That's a really nice clean setup you've got going... good job


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## miloshs (Aug 25, 2008)

tancho.sanke said:


> Thanks for the advice. If I was to get a slower clocked Phenom, which one would you recommend? I also had a look at the case you're modding. That's a really nice clean setup you've got going... good job



Thanks mate....  that means alot, especially when i remmeber the tools i used ... Can't find the dam rubber U channel anywhere to conceal the metal edges!

I was a bit late with the update of my post...

9850+BE seems like a good choice since its all same as 9950+BE but for the 100mhz lower cpu speed... 
As i said above, 20pounds seems a little steep price for a 100mhz more


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## blueskynis (Aug 25, 2008)

I would buy 9550, it's a decent quad core 95W CPU. Here, in Serbia, it currently has the best price/performance ratio, the second place belongs to 9850BE. 9650 and 9750 have higher price/performance ratio.


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## miloshs (Aug 25, 2008)

Just checked...
For this baby:





LanParty DK 790FX M2R its 125 pounds (230$)


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## miloshs (Aug 25, 2008)

blueskynis said:


> I would buy 9550, it's a decent quad core 95W CPU. Here, in Serbia, it currently has the best price/performance ratio, the second place belongs to 9850BE. 9650 and 9750 have higher price/performance ratio.



I would agree...  if you don't mind HTT@3600mhz instead of 4000mhz go for it....  save ya bucks for a new GPU.
They are all good CPU's!

In the end it's "What you pay is what you get!"... well almost, if you don't buy the fastest the company's got (9950) = the it's "You pay more than you get!" 
If you want to save money, never buy latest stuff...


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## blueskynis (Aug 25, 2008)

What's with the power MOSFET's they seems different?


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## tancho.sanke (Aug 25, 2008)

Cheers guys. I may go for something like a 9550 and save a bit of money... then when the new 45nm Phenoms come I can pop one in as they should be backwards compatible to AM2 (I think )


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## blueskynis (Aug 25, 2008)

Yes, they should be AM2+ compatible because I recently read somewhere they will launch Deneb in AM2+ package and in 1H 2009 they should launch in AM3 package.


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## miloshs (Aug 25, 2008)

blueskynis said:


> What's with the power MOSFET's they seems different?



The board is serioulsy pimped for OC-ing... 
It has digital PWM, Bernstein audio module, and u can actually mount additional heatpipe (they call it transpiper) on the PWM heatsink.... 


Looks like a really serious board....  and a decent price too  

check it out at http://www.ocworkbench.com/2007/dfi/lanparty UT 790FX-M2R/g1.htm


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## suraswami (Aug 26, 2008)

tancho.sanke said:


> Cheers guys. I may go for something like a 9550 and save a bit of money... then when the new 45nm Phenoms come I can pop one in as they should be backwards compatible to AM2 (I think )



That 9550 might get you upto 2.9 and if lucky to 3.  Don't know if people get more.

But 9950 vs 9850 if you have the money go with 9950.  I think Anandtech in their SB750 review pointed that 9950 OCs better and requires less voltage.  So I guess they are superior to 9850.

I don't own any of those but I am proud owner of 9500 and completely happy with it.  I can startup and loadup 4 virtual servers at the same time while my friend went Intel route could buy only Dual-core cpu for the same money that I bought it for and it struggles to startup and load 3 virtual servers.  Mine rocks

And oh I would go with any premium SB750 board.


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 31, 2008)

Hi there Tancho.

to start off, that DFI board a few posts up holds the current Phenom (65nm) overclocking record that I know off.  Some guy got his 9850BE on water to do 3.7GHz.  However, if I were you, I would wait for the ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe to come out.  It's going to be the board to buy for the phenom.

CHeck out a link below:
http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=12238

Overall I think the phenom is a great processor.  Although a bit slower in real life that the competitor Q6600, overall still an amazing CPU to be honest.


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## tancho.sanke (Aug 31, 2008)

Thanks guys. I think I will go with the 9950 as from what I've heard, people are getting some good overclocks from them. 

I'm now just waiting for a motherboard with the 750SB to be released in the UK. There just don't seem to be any available at the moment. There's the Foxconn A79A-S 790FX available for about £195 ($355) which is too expensive to be honest. There is the Foxconn A7DA-S 790GX being advertised for £108 ($196) which seems quite reasonable but it has no ETA at the moment. It's a really annoying situation as I have the money and am ready to go... but don't want to be hasty and buy an available motherboard with less overclocking potential when there should be motherboards with the 750SB just around the corner


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## blueskynis (Aug 31, 2008)

What is ETA?


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## peach1971 (Aug 31, 2008)

Are you really sure to go for that -excuse me- _old_ 65nm Phenom?


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## blueskynis (Aug 31, 2008)

My Prescott is old...Phenom still isn't


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 31, 2008)

blueskynis said:


> What is ETA?



short for "when it will be released"


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 31, 2008)

tancho.sanke said:


> Thanks guys. I think I will go with the 9950 as from what I've heard, people are getting some good overclocks from them.
> 
> I'm now just waiting for a motherboard with the 750SB to be released in the UK. There just don't seem to be any available at the moment. There's the Foxconn A79A-S 790FX available for about £195 ($355) which is too expensive to be honest. There is the Foxconn A7DA-S 790GX being advertised for £108 ($196) which seems quite reasonable but it has no ETA at the moment. It's a really annoying situation as I have the money and am ready to go... but don't want to be hasty and buy an available motherboard with less overclocking potential when there should be motherboards with the 750SB just around the corner



Dude honestly if I were you and you want to build this now, then wait for the Asus board I linked you (M3A79), that board will be the best available for a Phenom when released.

The 45nm chips thats are supposed to outrun the current Kentsfield chips from Intel will be released very soon, however you can get your 9950 now and get the Asus board which should be out very very soon and enjoy it until the glitches get figured out with the new Phenoms FX that will be coming out.

Check this thread out, it is over 150+ pages of info for Phenoms.  I have posted a lot of pics and information about overclocking the current Phenoms and many more things.  Check it out, plus you'll have some fun in there.  Just go in and introduce yourself, everybody there is very friendly.  You'll notice the same people are always posting back and forth.  We have became like a family there hehe 


Hope to see you there soon 

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=58746


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## zithe (Aug 31, 2008)

blueskynis said:


> I said that for the second uATX board. The first board is OK.
> 
> That Foxconn board looks like a decent one. I have no experience with Foxconn though.



Foxconn rocks. My current board is a foxconn. It's a budget that's crap at overclocking but who said anything about overclocking an AMD?

47.99 USD for  45nm + quad support is pretty good.


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## Melvis (Aug 31, 2008)

Personally id go with a Gigabyte mobo or a MSI motherboard. AMD say that MSI is very good for there CPU's and i agree, (Auto BIOS updates) and my next build will be using a MSI Mobo.
And also goin AMD is better future proof really, if you go a intel now, in the next yr or less it will be useless, and cant be upgraded later on with new CPU's where as the AMD are offering the new 45nm CPU's to work with your older AM2+ boards.
Ive built many AMD machines, and there all Gigabyte, and they run flawless , but MSI looks real good also. O and also there prices are good, for your money you should be getting a good board.


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 31, 2008)

Melvis said:


> Personally id go with a Gigabyte mobo or a MSI motherboard. AMD say that MSI is very good for there CPU's and i agree, (Auto BIOS updates) and my next build will be using a MSI Mobo.
> And also goin AMD is better future proof really, if you go a intel now, in the next yr or less it will be useless, and cant be upgraded later on with new CPU's where as the AMD are offering the new 45nm CPU's to work with your older AM2+ boards.
> Ive built many AMD machines, and there all Gigabyte, and they run flawless , but MSI looks real good also. O and also there prices are good, for your money you should be getting a good board.




http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128352


So far this Gigabyte board has perfect ratings, not many, but all perfect.  I almost bought one just to try it out since its not very expensive where i'm at.  However I decided to just finish watercooling the rest of my computer (chipset), that should help me overcome the current problem with the Voltage Regulators that the M3A32 (790FX) board suffers from.


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## Melvis (Aug 31, 2008)

Chicken Patty said:


> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128352
> 
> 
> So far this Gigabyte board has perfect ratings, not many, but all perfect.  I almost bought one just to try it out since its not very expensive where i'm at.  However I decided to just finish watercooling the rest of my computer (chipset), that should help me overcome the current problem with the Voltage Regulators that the M3A32 (790FX) board suffers from.



yea id say that mobo would be great, ive built 3 on the DS3 gigabyte mobo's and i was surprised just how dam good they have been, easy to install parts on, and have no issues with anything ive put and run with them. Like ive had both ATI and Nvidia cards on that mobo and they both run with out a hitch. Ive used ASUS on a Skt A and a 939 and they were terrible =/, so sorry i stay clear of that brand. I dont over clock, or do much like that, and i find these mobo's real good. So no idea on how good they are for overclocking sorry.


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 31, 2008)

They are solid boards, but as far as overclocking, I personally like DFI a lot.  It holds the highest clock of a Phenom on water at 3.7GHz.

But the new ASUS M3A79 is one to see when it comes out.


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## blueskynis (Aug 31, 2008)

Chicken Patty said:


> short for "when it will be released"



Xaxaxa I thought it is a kind of a motherboard feature


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 31, 2008)

blueskynis said:


> Xaxaxa I thought it is a kind of a motherboard feature



hahaha, well my friend, you just learned something new.


, heres something for you too read if you want to be the most knowledgeable person and know more about "ETA" than anybody else lol.  The first one on the list is the one that applies to this topic:

http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/eta


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## Darknova (Aug 31, 2008)

Personally I'm waiting for the Biostar TA790GX3 (128mb side port display memory, and ALL solid capacitors), failing that I'll definately get that 790GX Foxconn.

And as to newconroers comment, yes it does matter what company it comes from. Performance isn't everything (unless you are a bench junkie), in the tech world, or anywhere else. That's why people by Prius's when there are much better cars out there for around the same money.

I'll be going back to AMD for my main rig, and keeping my intel to bench and piss about with. I like Intel, but I don't find it to be as stable as AMD. Possibly it's my rabid bad luck (3 different hardware revisions FFS!), or it's something unrelated, but for my main rig, it's AMD all the way.


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## X-Terminator (Aug 31, 2008)

*I would use ASUS*

I'm not a ASUS fanboy but I build about 4 to 5 custom builds a month for friends, family, and others and I have only RMAed 1 ASUS motherboard in 8.5 Years (The motherboard was split in half).  So I would look at ASUS.


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## tancho.sanke (Aug 31, 2008)

I think I'm gonna wait until all these motherboards become available and then assess it on price. I think it will either be an Asus, Gigabyte or MSI. The problem at the moment is that prices in the USA don't seem to have any bearing on what they will cost in the UK. Thanks to everyone for their advice though. It's been of great help!


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## tancho.sanke (Sep 4, 2008)

Good news all round I think! It seems Scan.co.uk (a reputable e-store) has a new motherboard in with the 750 southbridge. They have the Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H based on the 790GX chipset (Click here for Gigabyte website spec sheet). What's better is that it's only going for £102.10 inc. VAT (180.43 USD)! Furthermore it seems the Phenom X4 9950 BE has dropped a fair bit in price going now for £123.36 (218 USD) which is about £20 cheaper than just over a week ago! So it seems for the system I'm going to build I can get that stuff along with 2GB Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500 for only £276.74  (489.05 USD) inc. VAT and P&P. 

Is now the time to buy??? I need your advice as I'm being a coward... plus we've come so far together


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## Melvis (Sep 5, 2008)

tancho.sanke said:


> Good news all round I think! It seems Scan.co.uk (a reputable e-store) has a new motherboard in with the 750 southbridge. They have the Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H based on the 790GX chipset (Click here for Gigabyte website spec sheet). What's better is that it's only going for £102.10 inc. VAT (180.43 USD)! Furthermore it seems the Phenom X4 9950 BE has dropped a fair bit in price going now for £123.36 (218 USD) which is about £20 cheaper than just over a week ago! So it seems for the system I'm going to build I can get that stuff along with 2GB Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500 for only £276.74  (489.05 USD) inc. VAT and P&P.
> 
> Is now the time to buy??? I need your advice as I'm being a coward... plus we've come so far together



Good to see you go gigabyte  I have only ever had one die on me in the past 3yrs, and they seem to perform well out of the box, no need to update BIOS etc, just put parts in and go for it, no need to stuff arse around, and there so easy to build, its like reading a book left to right, that easy. That mobo you have showin looks fine to me, will do the job and support the new 45nm CPU's coming in the future, in my opinion will out perform the C2D's of now clock to clock.

How much more can you hold off is the question? are you itching to play games right now? or what? if you need the computer get it now, if not hold off and save money, up to you really.
The prices will only drop because of new tech coming out.

Sorry you might have to do a BIOS update for that board, wouldnt be sure tho since its Crossfire, my m8 had to do 3 BIOS updates for his SLI system (EVGA Mobo) till it started to run ok =/, but not really sure on the Crossfire ones, might be still ok out of the box  hope so


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## tancho.sanke (Sep 10, 2008)

Hi there guys. I thought I would give another update seeing as how you all helped me so much. I've got the PC running now with the Gigabyte 790GX, Phenom 9950 and 2GB DDR2 Crucial Ballistix PC8500. It's running really well and have already tried a bit of overclocking. I've got it to 3.1GHz at the moment but I haven't tried very hard yet. I did get it running at 3.3GHz in windows but it would fail under a stress test... but it gives me hope that with some additional tweaking this could be possible. Thanks again for all your help!


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## Chicken Patty (Sep 10, 2008)

tancho.sanke said:


> Hi there guys. I thought I would give another update seeing as how you all helped me so much. I've got the PC running now with the Gigabyte 790GX, Phenom 9950 and 2GB DDR2 Crucial Ballistix PC8500. It's running really well and have already tried a bit of overclocking. I've got it to 3.1GHz at the moment but I haven't tried very hard yet. I did get it running at 3.3GHz in windows but it would fail under a stress test... but it gives me hope that with some additional tweaking this could be possible. Thanks again for all your help!



Congrats bro.  With a bit mor tweaking you can the 3.3Ghz mark easy. Thats what I'm at now with my 9850 and SB600 board


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## Melvis (Sep 10, 2008)

tancho.sanke said:


> Hi there guys. I thought I would give another update seeing as how you all helped me so much. I've got the PC running now with the Gigabyte 790GX, Phenom 9950 and 2GB DDR2 Crucial Ballistix PC8500. It's running really well and have already tried a bit of overclocking. I've got it to 3.1GHz at the moment but I haven't tried very hard yet. I did get it running at 3.3GHz in windows but it would fail under a stress test... but it gives me hope that with some additional tweaking this could be possible. Thanks again for all your help!



Thats good to see 

Anytime dude.

Have Fun


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## 7mm (Sep 10, 2008)

blueskynis said:


> You should check out ASUS boards marked with 140W CPU support, like M3A78-T, M3A78, M3A78 Pro or one from ASRock maybe?



*Sure it's a very good suggestion here, but it's not my concern anymore, as your grafix is with x19xx series. This MB offered here (ASUS M3A78-T) has Radeon HD3300 as IGP. Now why you'll need an older part to replace much superior one .

Anyway, good luck for your machine, play well .*


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## blueskynis (Sep 10, 2008)

Why are you writing in *bold*? It hurts my eyes.


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