# Which motherboard for Phenom II



## PaulieG (Jan 4, 2009)

Any of you who have followed my "Say hello to Phenom II" thread will know that I killed my Biostar GX3 with a beta bios flash. I need a new board, and it has to be purchased today. I have it narrowed down to 3 choices. Please tell me which board you would chose, and WHY. Thanks!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813153125
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131331
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130190

I should note that I've left DFI boards off this list. It pains me to say it, but I'm concerned with the number of DOA boards that DFI has put out recently, so I think I may avoid them this time around.


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## kenkickr (Jan 4, 2009)

I would say to go with the MSI board since your not going with DFI.  Asus makes good boards but reviews I've read on the MSI 790GX shows pretty good OC results, http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/dka790gx/7.htm.  Why is Jetway on the list?


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## Raiderman (Jan 4, 2009)

Where is  the M3A79-T?? Are you wanting the GX chipset?


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## PaulieG (Jan 4, 2009)

kenkickr said:


> I would say to go with the MSI board since your not going with DFI.  Asus makes good boards but reviews I've read on the MSI 790GX shows pretty good OC results, http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/dka790gx/7.htm.  Why is Jetway on the list?



That Jetway board is getting good reviews over at XS.



Raiderman said:


> Where is  the M3A79-T?? Are you wanting the GX chipset?



If you look carefully, you'll see the M3A78-T is a GX chipset, but cheaper than the 79-T


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## PCpraiser100 (Jan 4, 2009)

You should go for motherboards with better power phase design. Most motherboards now for AM2+ have a 4+1 phase design, which is not good. This means that the phases have to work twice as hard which conducts a lot of heat creating severe instability issues when the CPU gets OC'ed. If these phases are cooled by a heatsink, it shouldn't be much if a problem. But don't go for motherboard with very minor hetasinks like the M3A78-T. The only 8-phase motherboard that I have seen for AM2+, and is AM3 compatible, is the M3A32-MVP Deluxe with the rather old SB600 south bridge.


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## ASharp (Jan 4, 2009)

PCpraiser100 said:


> The only 8-phase motherboard that I have seen for AM2+, and is AM3 compatible, is the M3A32-MVP Deluxe with the rather old SB600 south bridge.



The M3A79-T is also an 8-phase design though. It's pretty much the same board as the M3A32-MVP Deluxe as far as I can see aside from having the newer SB750 south bridge.


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## PaulieG (Jan 4, 2009)

ASharp said:


> The M3A79-T is also an 8-phase design though. It's pretty much the same board as the M3A32-MVP Deluxe as far as I can see aside from having the newer SB750 south bridge.



The phase design seems to be the only difference b/t the 78-T and the 79-T, but is it worth the extra $50. I found the 78-T at another etailer for $136.


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## kenkickr (Jan 4, 2009)

The Asus M3A79-T has a 8+2 phase design, http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=149&l3=789&l4=0&model=2503&modelmenu=1.


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## Raiderman (Jan 4, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> That Jetway board is getting good reviews over at XS.
> 
> 
> 
> If you look carefully, you'll see the M3A78-T is a GX chipset, but cheaper than the 79-T



I know the 78-T has the GX, I was asking if that is what you where set on?
GX or FX? I would personally spend the extra 50 bucks and get the 79-T.
I guess another question would be, is if youre going to keep this for a while or upgrade to the AM3 as soon as it comes out? My plan was to Keep this setup for about 10-12 months then upgrade to the AM3. If you are upgrading to the AM3 sooner, then I would probably go with the less expensive GX chipset(78-T).


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## PaulieG (Jan 4, 2009)

Raiderman said:


> I know the 78-T has the GX, I was asking if that is what you where set on?
> GX or FX? I would personally spend the extra 50 bucks and get the 79-T.
> I guess another question would be, is if youre going to keep this for a while or upgrade to the AM3 as soon as it comes out? My plan was to Keep this setup for about 10-12 months then upgrade to the AM3. If you are upgrading to the AM3 sooner, then I would probably go with the less expensive GX chipset(78-T).



Yup, 6 months max. However, I don't want to limit my overclocking with inferior phase design.


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## Polarman (Jan 4, 2009)

I see that you reconsidered my proposal by adding the DKA790GX Platinum on your list.


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## PaulieG (Jan 4, 2009)

Polarman said:


> I see that you reconsidered my proposal by adding the DKA790GX Platinum on your list.



Yup, it's not bad...but currently in 3rd place. Can you tell me if you're able to update the bios with a USB stick?


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 4, 2009)

look at your other topic for boards, also look at 790X boards as they are coming with 750 SB now


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## Polarman (Jan 4, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> Yup, it's not bad...but currently in 3rd place. Can you tell me if you're able to update the bios with a USB stick?




Of course.

All you need is here: (you may need to register to msi forum to get it)

http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=116721.0


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## LittleLizard (Jan 4, 2009)

in my opinion, go to the asus as one review of the msi said that the cpu mosfets burn because of the heatsink wasnt capable of keep low temps and jetway is not a well known brand (yet), so go with the old and trusty asus


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## Raiderman (Jan 4, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> Yup, it's not bad...but currently in 3rd place. Can you tell me if you're able to update the bios with a USB stick?



I know on my K9A2 Platinum, you could.  WinMe on mem stick duo, bios on usb flash drive, keep both in at boot, dos will see it as C; drive


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## FilipM (Jan 4, 2009)

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

Gigabyte GA-MA790GX


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## LittleLizard (Jan 4, 2009)

File_1993 said:


> How about this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128352
> 
> Gigabyte GA-MA790GX



yeah, that is pretty good too, if i remember, the oc on the phenom 2 was on this motherboard


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## department76 (Jan 4, 2009)

i would go with the MSI, mainly becuase of how much i've liked my current MSI board.  i wouldnt be nearly as worried about the power phases as other people are, but i guess it's something to be aware of.


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## PaulieG (Jan 4, 2009)

File_1993 said:


> How about this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128352
> 
> Gigabyte GA-MA790GX



Someone at XS was calling this board the "devil board" since he was having so many problems with it.


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## Gilletter (Jan 4, 2009)

Asus if you plan on throwing 3 gpu's into it... otherwise I'd go with what's cheapest  I like cheap


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## Castiel (Jan 4, 2009)

My opinion is #3. I so no to the first one, because if you stick a 2 slot video card in it, then you are going to be blocking the SATA ports. And the 2nd one is a maybe because if you stick a 2nd card in the 3rd PCI-E slot then you might be covering the bottom SATA ports.


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## LittleLizard (Jan 4, 2009)

go for the gigabyte or the asus, but if the gigabyte has that amount of problems, then go with the asus, unless u like gambling, then go for gigabyte


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 4, 2009)

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=149

http://www.asrock.com/mb/index.asp?s=AM2+

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en-us/t-series/

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Products/ProdMBModel.aspx?CategoryID=1&TypeID=43&MenuID=123&LanID=0

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/produ...t_id=en-us0000008&socket_name=Socket+AM2*/AM2

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products...x?VenderType=AMD&CPUType=socket+am2+#AMD 790X

http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=prodpage2&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=171

http://www.jetway.com.tw/jw/motherboard_socket.asp?platid=20

http://www.supox.com.tw/product/home.php

http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/products/browseproducts.php?pcat=4

even some 770/780 parts are getting the 750SB


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## Castiel (Jan 4, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=149
> 
> http://www.asrock.com/mb/index.asp?s=AM2+
> 
> ...



nice work


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## LittleLizard (Jan 4, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=149
> 
> http://www.asrock.com/mb/index.asp?s=AM2+
> 
> ...



what castiel said +1


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## aGeoM (Jan 4, 2009)

Hi

@Paulieg

Your *BIOSTAR* is recoverable, just ask to a friend whit on similar board with SPI eeprom socket to flash it back to an working bios. In 5 min you will have it again. 

If you don't know how, I sure some one ( including me ) can help you.

On topic, from the 3 ones you posted, ASUS.

But you should consider other offerings.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 4, 2009)

his board was a BIOSTAR


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## Gilletter (Jan 4, 2009)

Paulie... from Biostars website 



> "BIO-ReLife Technology let you to resume crushed BIOS data from a USB flash Pen Driver that put the new BIOS file. This considerate BIOS utility can restore your system and far from the BIOS Crush situation."



so you should be able to reflash it with a usb flash pen drive...?


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## PaulieG (Jan 4, 2009)

Gilletter said:


> Paulie... from Biostars website
> 
> 
> 
> so you should be able to reflash it with a usb flash pen drive...?



Yeah, but if you can't post, you can't flash.


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## aGeoM (Jan 4, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> Yeah, but if you can't post, you can't flash.



Yeap, but not always.

Some times when the bios is corrupted, the Recovery procedure try to read an floppy, USB Stick or evan the CD-Rom, without posting any image on monitor, and search for the bios file to be programmed.

@eidairaman1

Thanks, I know it, for some reason i wrote Gigabyte. Post edited.


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## suraswami (Jan 4, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=149
> 
> http://www.asrock.com/mb/index.asp?s=AM2+
> 
> ...



Supox is the then 'Epox' right?  Wow they have done most of the AMD board's Socket face the right way (Front to back airflow not the top to bottom or bottom to top).  Why are they not selling in the US?  I would defenitely try them out.


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## r9 (Jan 4, 2009)

Get rid of that BIOSTAR. Get yourself of those two nomination in PII thread ASUS and DFI one.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 4, 2009)

here is a method to possibly get your machine running again

http://www.biostar-usa.com/app/en-us/support/faq.php?S_ID=8

im not sure where to go for BIO-Relife.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/cpus-motherboards/10910-biostar-bio-life.html


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## suraswami (Jan 4, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> here is a method to possibly get your machine running again
> 
> http://www.biostar-usa.com/app/en-us/support/faq.php?S_ID=8
> 
> im not sure where to go for BIO-Relife.



Nice find. I thought they did have something like that.  Maybe if lucky can revive the bios.


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## Rebo&Zooty (Jan 5, 2009)

i would get the jetway "hummer" seen some good reports on a few sites about it.

and you could also just head over to RH and get poly to flash your bios chip back to working for you couldnt you?

I would love a gx3, been a board i been eyeing since it hit the biostar US site(tho i like the gx's sata port config better.......damn choices!!!!)


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## Gilletter (Jan 5, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> here is a method to possibly get your machine running again
> 
> http://www.biostar-usa.com/app/en-us/support/faq.php?S_ID=8
> 
> ...



Worth a shot paulie


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 5, 2009)

well apparently BIOReLife is a Software utility, i believe has to be installed into windows first and then follow onscreen directions, and i guess there is printouts on how to recover the machine.

http://maskwinter.co.cc/?p=117


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## Rebo&Zooty (Jan 5, 2009)

aGeoM said:


> Yeap, but not always.
> 
> Some times when the bios is corrupted, the Recovery procedure try to read an floppy, USB Stick or evan the CD-Rom, without posting any image on monitor, and search for the bios file to be programmed.
> 
> ...



exactly!!!

I have had a good number of boards you could blind recover after the bios got crupt, many u just slap the bios file on a floppy(flash drive these days) and power the board on, leave it be for a while, if possable it will recover.

worse case, polygon on rebelshaven WILL help you, hes got ZERO issue hotflashing chips for people, IF you havent gone over to RH then your missing out on alot of good info about biostar!!!(hell biostar's us site links RH as the biostar community site  )


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 5, 2009)

another website that does hotflashes

http://www.loggan26.aquiss.com/

more info

http://www.loggan26.aquiss.com/Bootable_USB_Stick.html

Hotflash basics

"Hotflashing? If you have a spare bios rom or a bios rom from another NF2 mobo then you can try and recover a ”dead” UI/LPB bios rom if you have hosed it. The theory is :- pull the dead Bios rom from your mobo. Place a piece of Dental floss (or Super Glue a Nail to the working Bios Rom for easier extraction) in the Bios socket and then insert your working Bios into the socket, boot the mobo to A:/ Prompt. Pull the working bios GENTLY with the aid of Dental Floss (Nail) etc and replace with your non working bios, Flash the non working Bios rom with the .BIN of your choice, reboot and enter your bios and load defaults (or follow procedures for flashing your bios here) hopefully you will have resurrected your ”dead” mobo. Obviously this whole procedure is very dangerous as your PC has to be powered the whole time while you are working around live components, a slip and you could get a nasty shock or at worse fry your PC. Extreme care should be taken when attempting any of the above."

Thanks loggan26 (DIYStreet-TMods DFI BIOS CD)

http://www.loggan26.aquiss.com/Custom_Flash.html


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## Gilletter (Jan 5, 2009)

I love how this has become a recover thread now, lol... I'd say it's worth a shot, save the $100+ if you can!


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 5, 2009)

ive been in this situation before, thats why i buy a new chip with a bios on it for recovery purposes.


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## aGeoM (Jan 5, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> ive been in this situation before, thats why i buy a new chip with a bios on it for recovery purposes.



And I run from a soldered bios like the Devil runs from an Cross.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 5, 2009)

there are services to get that changed.


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## aGeoM (Jan 5, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> there are services to get that changed.



Yes they are, but it will void the warranty.


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## PaulieG (Jan 5, 2009)

Thanks guys. I've hot flashed before, but I guess I didn't love the board enough to try it. Maybe later. As for now, I'm buying a new board. Just can't decide.


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## Gilletter (Jan 5, 2009)

lol well then hot flash it, and send it to me!  Again I say ASUS


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## Polarman (Jan 5, 2009)

Finding the right "insert anything here" is always hard.


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## aGeoM (Jan 5, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> Thanks guys. I've hot flashed before, but I guess I didn't love the board enough to try it. Maybe later. As for now, I'm buying a new board. Just can't decide.



You should know what is best for you, but don't give up, the choices for 790GX are no much more better than what you already have.

I just flashed to the latest bios supporting Deneb, and wow, there is a new debug option, it's just amazing ( even I don't know much about the new options ), gonna restart and take a photo for you guys.

Edit:


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## PaulieG (Jan 5, 2009)

aGeoM said:


> You should know what is best for you, but don't give up, the choices for 790GX are no much more better than what you already have.
> 
> I just flashed to the latest bios supporting Deneb, and wow, there is a new debug option, it's just amazing ( even I don't know much about the new options ), gonna restart and take a photo for you guys.



I suppose my biggest issue is that I love the DFI bios, and I've had a hard time finding another bios that compares. I think the DFI 790GX would be my first choice, except for the fact that there is no external DVI connector. WTF is that?


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## WarEagleAU (Jan 5, 2009)

Out of those three choices you narrowed it down too, the MSI seems to be the best. Maximum PC and CPU magazine and some other sites are using that to achieve nice OCs on the P2.


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## aGeoM (Jan 5, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> I suppose my biggest issue is that I love the DFI bios, and I've had a hard time finding another bios that compares. I think the DFI 790GX would be my first choice, except for the fact that there is no external DVI connector. WTF is that?



Yeap, I still have one DFI Expert running with an Opteron 165, is a 5* board, unfortunately my last DFI 790FX, I literally turned it in pieces after she killed the 3rd Phenom, my golden chip 9500.


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## sneekypeet (Jan 5, 2009)

*incomming fanboy statement*

Just go and buy the damn DFI already, and be happy with it!

you already spent once and it was a wash, now you are going to spend twice and still wish you had a DFI.......DO IT!!!11!!!!1


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## PaulieG (Jan 5, 2009)

sneekypeet said:


> *incomming fanboy statement*
> 
> Just go and buy the damn DFI already, and be happy with it!
> 
> you already spent once and it was a wash, now you are going to spend twice and still wish you had a DFI.......DO IT!!!11!!!!1



LOL. Almost did exactly that. However, I'm so puzzled as to why there is NO external DVI  connector, I haven't brought myself to do it.


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## PaulieG (Jan 5, 2009)

sneekypeet said:


> do you have the need to use onboard gfx?



No, but it's really convenient if a card goes bad or something. Not to mention that you are paying for it, so you should have access to it, right? I'm leaning toward the Asus right now. I'm giving myself an hour to make a decision.


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## sneekypeet (Jan 5, 2009)

Sorry which DFI board specifically again?


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## PaulieG (Jan 5, 2009)

sneekypeet said:


> Sorry which DFI board specifically again?



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136058


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 5, 2009)

WarEagleAU said:


> Out of those three choices you narrowed it down too, the MSI seems to be the best. Maximum PC and CPU magazine and some other sites are using that to achieve nice OCs on the P2.



gimme links to them dude


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## suraswami (Jan 5, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> No, but it's really convenient if a card goes bad or something. Not to mention that you are paying for it, so you should have access to it, right? I'm leaning toward the Asus right now. I'm giving myself an hour to make a decision.



hey one reviewer on egg says the new version came with a DVI interface.  Check the second guy who reviewed the board.  May be version doesn't have it.  Check with DFI before ordering it.


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## PaulieG (Jan 5, 2009)

sneekypeet said:


> You have fallen victim to Newegg typo's
> 
> Look here for specs on the mobo no mention of video on DFI's site.
> 
> ...



I didn't see that. Hmm, maybe I'll go with the DFI then.


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## sneekypeet (Jan 5, 2009)

Looks like at the top left is a slot based DVI that connects via pins in the accessories section.... http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=2&artpage=3844&articID=894

I was all wrong in that post!
actually going back to delete it


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## trt740 (Jan 5, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> I suppose my biggest issue is that I love the DFI bios, and I've had a hard time finding another bios that compares. I think the DFI 790GX would be my first choice, except for the fact that there is no external DVI connector. WTF is that?



thats what stopped me paying for a video card when it's not functional and they want you to pay extra for something that should already be their? BFS


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## WarEagleAU (Jan 5, 2009)

@Eld Ill have to find them tomorrow and make sure its the right one. I think one might have been Anandtech but I need to make sure. I go back to work tomorrow from a 12 day lay off so I need my rest


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## LittleLizard (Jan 5, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> I suppose my biggest issue is that I love the DFI bios, and I've had a hard time finding another bios that compares. I think the DFI 790GX would be my first choice, except for the fact that there is no external DVI connector. WTF is that?



yeah, is weirdo, but i guess that dfi though that overclocker wouldn need it and take it out to put the board to a more competitive price


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 5, 2009)

sneekypeet said:


> Looks like at the top left is a slot based DVI that connects via pins in the accessories section.... http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=2&artpage=3844&articID=894
> 
> I was all wrong in that post!
> actually going back to delete it



ok whats the boards yall are looking at.


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## sneekypeet (Jan 5, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136058





eidairaman1 said:


> ok whats the boards yall are looking at.



check pauls link that I also quoted, then if you look at the madshrimps review, when they get to the acc. section they show a plug in DVI.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 5, 2009)

Hey i just read the motherboard manual for that specific 1, the connector is internal, thus read page 38 of this manual

http://img.lanparty.tw/Upload/Manual/CM/DK790GXM2RSE0.pdf

if need be go up to DIYStreet, DFI Club, or even ask DFI tech support on how to use that jumper for hooking up DVI monitors, if there are standing pins there.


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## sneekypeet (Jan 5, 2009)

http://img.lanparty.tw/Upload/CatalogElement/DK 790GX-M2RS.jpg

that image has them (just above the NB cooler) I just didnt look to see where they were till I looked at the manual.


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## PaulieG (Jan 5, 2009)

I just bought the Asus. Hopefully it was the right decision.


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## Rebo&Zooty (Jan 5, 2009)

asus, ugg, have fun, hope they sort their advanced memory timing options out, the last 4 asus amd boards i have had u couldnt change the default TRFC and the first 2 slots had weird trfc(75, 105, then the other 2 where 127.....and the bios setting for trfc did NOTHING!!!) 

good luck.


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## erocker (Jan 5, 2009)

Both the Maximus and Rampage I used for quite a while ran my AxeRam masterfully without a problem.


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## Rebo&Zooty (Jan 5, 2009)

arent those INTEL boards?

intel boards from asus=fine

amd boards from asus=never again for me

their bios dept dirrrectly told me "those options dont work" and "just use the other memory slots" so my board with 4 slots had 2 useable IF i wanted to beable to properly overclock my axeram or any of the other ram kits i had for that matter.

intel they from what i know offer the proper options......


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## HolyCow02 (Jan 5, 2009)

the only asus board I had was with my old socket 754 and I hated it because I couldn't even update the friggen bios! That was frustrating. And the customer service just beat around the bush.

I am on my second MSI and will probably stick with them or go DFI for my AM3 build


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## PaulieG (Jan 5, 2009)

Well, from what I'm seeing all of the boards I'm considering have there fair share of good and potentially bad. I resisted DFI this time around because of 2 recent DOA boards I've received from them. The Asus just seemed to be the best of the available options, with a reasonable price tag. I'll never pay $200+ for a board, ever.


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## Gilletter (Jan 5, 2009)

let us know how it works out, and if you save the biostar board!


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 6, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> Well, from what I'm seeing all of the boards I'm considering have there fair share of good and potentially bad. I resisted DFI this time around because of 2 recent DOA boards I've received from them. The Asus just seemed to be the best of the available options, with a reasonable price tag. I'll never pay $200+ for a board, ever.



that is usually Asus with the 300 USD boards.


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