Phenom-capable AM2+ Mobo

[Hajime]

Looking for something nice and cheap for gaming. Reliability is king, OCing ability would be nice but secondary in nature. I've got a Phenom 9500+ on hand, will have a Radeon 4850 shortly, and am upgrading this rig solely for Fallout 3.

I don't particularly want another nForce (I have one atm) as the onboard networking causes stability issues. Any suggestions as to a particular mobo?

I'd be willing to drop up to $100 shipped on it, for a price range. Cheaper is better obviously, as I found out today my KN9 Ultra does not support Phenoms , so my upgrade budget got borked.

 

[Astroluna]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813138112

using it now with a 64 x2, phenom soon or maybe water cooling.
seeing as i dont have am2+ my memory only runs at ~825mhz depending on clock.

tons of overclocking abilities in the bios, but kinda dis organized.
on board video+
awesome sounds+

 

[Pyrokinetic]

I just upgraded to this board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813136044 a DFI LANPARTY 790FX-M2RS for only $119 (about $130 shipped) so if you up your budget just a bit you can consider it. It is a great overclocker (especially for memory) if you take the time. I would recommend it. The revision 2 of this same board but with the SB750 southbridge retails for nigh $180, so at $119 it is a great buy.

 

[Hajime]

Originally posted by: Pyrokinetic
I just upgraded to this board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813136044 a DFI LANPARTY 790FX-M2RS for only $119 (about $130 shipped) so if you up your budget just a bit you can consider it. It is a great overclocker (especially for memory) if you take the time. I would recommend it. The revision 2 of this same board but with the SB750 southbridge retails for nigh $180, so at $119 it is a great buy.

Only downside is it has 4 SATA ports, and well, a big one is the price.

$130 means no 4850 possible...But on a good note, it has SPDIF, which saves me from having to use a damned addon sound card.

(Edit) http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128081 - Gigabyte still a brand worth a damn? They used to be decent.

 

[AsusGuy]

Yes Gigabyte makes a very good motherboard. I would say its worth the extra $20-25 over the Biostar.

 

[coolpurplefan]

I just wanted to add a quick note that on the AMD site,
http://forums.amd.com/game/mes...AR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear
I found a lot more messages from people with problems with the 780G chipset than with the 790G. Although I did read one message from someone with similar complaints with the 790G. There may be fewer complaints simply because it's newer.

From everything I've seen about this, and from my own tests, the 780G at least on the Asus M3A78-EM seems to have some small isssues with HD3000 and HD4000 cards. But, I tested an X1650XT which worked fine and someone posted on that thread above that the problems were gone with an 8800GT.

They say it's a driver issue so maybe you can take the risk and still go ahead and buy one like that. I don't know.

 

[ultimahwhat]

Also, consider whether the mobo you get would potentially support the new 45 nm AMD's coming out next year, if you happen to find yourself interested in one of those. With AM2+ versions of those Denebs coming out, I would guess that any mobo that could handle all current Phenoms now wouldn't have a problem with the new ones, from a power consumption standpoint, at least (some current AM2+ boards can't support the highest TDP Phenoms ).

Also, a board with the SB750 chipset will supposedly give you higher yield overclocking that Phenom, but that doesn't sound as important as keeping under budget.

I'm using this currently: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128090
It's been working ok thus far, but it can't support the high TDP Phenoms (i.e., 9850 and 9950). Should take the 9500 fine though. Although, I have seen on Gigabyte's webpage that there is a rev2.0 version of this board that can support the 140W TDP Phenom. I don't know when that will be available from retailers though...

There's also an ATX version of the 780G mobo, if that's more your thing.

Regarding problems with the 780G, I haven't really had any major ones that weren't brought on by my recklessness. I do have problems with setting the computer to sleep with Vista, but it works sometimes. I dunno.

 

[ultimahwhat]

Originally posted by: Hajime
(Edit) http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128081 - Gigabyte still a brand worth a damn? They used to be decent.

That board still uses the SB600 chip. I was under the impression that the SB700 was an improvement, but I may have read conflicting reports. It might be worth looking into the differences between those southbridges.

Edit: yo, I suck at quoting other posts