Curse

T1Cybernetic · Sep 05, 2009, 07:25 PM // 19:25

I posted this around a couple of other forums so rather than type it out again i will quote myself

Quote:

I have decided to forward my current motherboard and ram to a friend who needs it more than me

(That's what i told him) but now i have to pick another motherboard and ram pair for myself

I will be getting another graphics card soon for crossfire and i am wanting to jump over to DDR3 so i can get a little bit more speed really.

Anyway i currently have these:

#1 AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail
#2 XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics CardF

But i can not decide which AM3 /DDR3 motherboard to choose

I have decided to try and see if i can successfully unlock the other cores on this cpu (if possible) and so far this is what i have been thinking of getting.

#1 Asus M4A79T Deluxe AMD 790FX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3
#2 Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
#3 G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL)

Memory compatibility shouldn't really be a problem as far as i can tell but i am such a baby when it comes to choosing the motherboard so i thought i would ask

I am leaning more towards the Asus though, such a good looking board!

Ec]-[oMaN · Sep 05, 2009, 07:33 PM // 19:33

Depends what you want to do. Essentially the ud5p sports the 790fx chipset which allows 2 gpus to run with 16x pci lanes. You could say money and just opt for the ud4p which runs on the 790x allows for dual gpus but they run at 8x each instead of 16. Every thing else looks decent, can't really comment on Asus boards anymore as most of them are over priced for what you actually get. Both of the Gigabyte boards(ud5p and ud4p) will allow you to unlock the other cores as long as they aren't totally cirppled. Furthermore if you don't plan on using xfire there is no use paying a primium for dual 16x lanes if you are going to stay with a single GPU.

T1Cybernetic · Sep 05, 2009, 07:37 PM // 19:37

To be honest the main goals are to run crossfire @ 16x and try and unlock the extra cores on the cpu (If possible)

If the cores are crap or don't unlock then x16 crossfire is going to be my win/win situation

Ec]-[oMaN · Sep 05, 2009, 07:47 PM // 19:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by T1Cybernetic

To be honest the main goals are to run crossfire @ 16x and try and unlock the extra cores on the cpu (If possible)

If the cores are crap or don't unlock then x16 crossfire is going to be my win/win situation

Alright well then since you've narrowed it down yes you'd want either board sporting the 790FX chipset, all it's going to come down to, between the Asus and the Giga is extras/board layout. Haven't looked my self at which boards have dual lan or how many sata,+++ extra features between the two but I'm sure you have. So just pick the board that you are more happy with layout wise, feature wise, and power management wise, not sure between the 2 how many phases they are using for cpu management power, although I'm sure you've looked, the one thats higher will probably overclock better. I must say though over the years and all the reviews I've read on Asus boards, they always do tend to overVOLT on cpu voltage compared to other boards. Makes me question the actual quality and price they boast for such boards.

T1Cybernetic · Sep 06, 2009, 10:34 AM // 10:34

Forgot to mention i am also over clocked

currently 4.1GHz at just over stock voltage 1.4v on the two cores and it seems stable enough but i figured if i can unlock an extra core or two i was going to leave it at stock for a while as i would be getting enough extra MHz without having to push it any higher lol (For now) as i am pretty greedy when it comes to MHz.

Anyway, i am not ordering till tomorrow

and i have a billion more reviews and things to check through, I'll post my decision though like a good boy

Elder III · Sep 06, 2009, 04:42 PM // 16:42

I've owned both Asus and Gigbyte mobos and have been happy with both, personally I would pick the Asus here, soley for the 4 PCIe x 16 slots vs only 2 for the Gigabyte, chances are that you won't ever do Quad CrossfireX - but for the same price you might as well get it. Also I just had a Deluxe series mobo from Asus recently for a client and it overclocked like a banshee from outer space.

T1Cybernetic · Sep 10, 2009, 08:57 PM // 20:57

Well after a billion reviews and researching as much as possible i finally settled on the Asus M4A79T Deluxe with the G.Skill Ripjaw (2x2GB) DDR31600MHz!

So far so good, it flies

and with unlocking the other cores on my x2 550 i now have a fully working 3.1GHz triple core cpu...

Elder III · Sep 10, 2009, 09:10 PM // 21:10

nice choice - I put that in a client's new gaming rig (the mobo) and it screams along (dual gtx 275s don't hurt either lol)