Considering getting different motherboard.

Discussion in 'Processors and motherboards AMD' started by StatykiVi, Aug 11, 2008.

  1. StatykiVi

    StatykiVi Guest

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    I'm not sure if I'm completely happy with my M3A-H/HDMI motherboard, so I was wondering if the community could give some suggestions of what good boards would be. I'm looking for the near-latest NB and SB if possible. AM2/AM2+ socket. PCI-E 2.0.. doesn't matter if it's crossfire or not. I was looking at the MSI K9A2 Platinum and the DFI Lanparty DK series. Not sure how those run.

    Any suggestions before I impulse buy something? :p
     
  2. Lowteckh

    Lowteckh Member Guru

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    Nothing to gain upgrading your mobo if you're sticking with the Athlon.
     
  3. StatykiVi

    StatykiVi Guest

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    It's not so much upgrading, as much as just not being satisfied with the particular model.
     
  4. Psychlone

    Psychlone Ancient Guru

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    The newest 790FX/SB750 boards that are coming out now are the upgrade path - they're Deneb (45nm) compatible and are as future-proof as you're going to get with AMD right now, plus, they all *should* have 4 X PCI-E x16 links so you can go CrossFire, TriFire or even QuadFire in the future if/when you want to.

    The other best option would be the 790GX/SB750 boards - they have integrated graphics...DX10 in fact, that you can use to Hybrid CrossFire with your current card, plus, most of them have a sideport memory for addressing GPU memory much more quickly and with less latency than your current setup.

    The new communication between the CPU and the SB is what's really interesting with the new SouthBridge 750 chipsets - combined with the current Phenom (which do doubt will decrease in price when the Deneb 45nm CPUs hit the market) unleashes a lot more performance that we never had before...but it takes the Phenom architecture to unlock it. The only downside to the 790GX/SB750 boards that I can forsee is only having 1 to 2 PCI-E links, but that may not be an issue for you...

    So, there's your best upgrade path - both sets of chipsets are AM2+, both are as future-proof as you're going to find right now, both are backward compatible with all your current hardware, and both will surely allow you to be where you want to be.

    I'm personally waiting for the ASUS M3A79-T (790FX/SB750)

    Psychlone
     

  5. StatykiVi

    StatykiVi Guest

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    Meh I just have a 6000+ for now. Won't be upgrading til I need to. I ordered the MSI board to replace, not upgrade my ASUS board. I'll be sending that back for a refund as well as perhaps my memory depending on what I think of Dominator.
     
  6. Mega_Death

    Mega_Death Maha Guru

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    Older SB but the MSI K9A2 has been rock solid, no problems at all.
     
  7. Psychlone

    Psychlone Ancient Guru

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    If you would have held out for the M3A79-T Deluxe, you would have had a perfect upgrade path for future AMD upgrades...

    Anyway, as with *any* RAM manufacturer, they all have catchy names, fancy integrated heatsinks, some with lights, some with stickers, some with fans, some with heatpipes, etc. - but what REALLY matters is the ICs on the sticks.
    If you lucked out, you'll have received v1.1 to 1.2 sticks...otherwise, you'll not be able to overclock them as much as you could have given the right revision #.

    When purchasing RAM, never, ever look at SPD, latencies, MHz, or other people's reviews of the product...ever. Because EVERY manufacturer of RAM uses different ICs on different revisions of the same sticks, the overclockability varies *greatly*...and this goes for *every* manufacturer.
    The only way to know what you should purchase is to look at the D9 Buyer's Guide here at Guru3D...it outlines almost every D9 IC out there...and D9 ICs are what you really need to be able to overclock well.

    I, myself, did my research here, and hand-picked some Dominator 8500C5D v1.1 sticks (2 X 2GB and 4 X 1GB) from the local Fry's...both sets have been to 1200MHz without any voltage increase at all, or latency adjustments.
    And, that's another thing (going off on a tangent here...) - MOST people purchase RAM based on it's latencies, completely unaware of the 'trick' to overclocking RAM - it's *NOT* all about the lowest latencies you can get - it's about the lowest latencies you can achieve *with* the highest MHz attainable. Having killer ICs to begin with pretty much guarantees that you can loosen up your latencies (from 5,5,5,15 to 6,6,6,18) and raise the RAM's MHz beyond it's normal capabilities, then reduce the latencies back down to where it's right on the bleeding edge of stable...this is what most people miss when purchasing RAM.

    Anyway, I sincerely hope that you're happy with your purchase, and really hope that you've lucked into some v1.1 Dominators - those will take you through the next 2 builds if you've got the right revisions!!!! :cool:

    Psychlone
     

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