Overclock.net › Forums › AMD › AMD - General › Thinking about upgrading to AM3+ board
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Thinking about upgrading to AM3+ board

post #1 of 25
5/1/12 at 7:56am
Thread Starter 
I'm thinking of upgrading to an AM3+ board to maybe pick up a Vishera down the line and *gasp* finally move up to DDR3 memory. I usually try to upgrade piecemeal and put $100-$200 into parts each year but haven't been able to do that lately and I'm behind the curve more than usual. I'd really like to stay AMD and take the chance on the new CPUs coming out later in the year or early next being up to snuff. I use the machine for light web/graphic design and gaming. I don't have any real complaints right now, but it's much easier for me to start upgrading piece by piece again instead of waiting for one big rebuild all at once.

So, I figured I'd de-lurk and ask for opinions/suggestions on upgrading my board and RAM so that I'm in place to upgrade the CPU after I can find a sweet spot when the new ones come out.
Mindgene
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Athlon II X4 635 K9N2 SLI Plat MS7374 SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 5770 4GB G.Skill DDR2 800 
Hard DriveOSMonitorPower
3 x WD Caviar 650GB in RAID5 Vista 64 LG L206W (dual) OCZ 700W 
Case
Centurion 531 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Mindgene
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Athlon II X4 635 K9N2 SLI Plat MS7374 SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 5770 4GB G.Skill DDR2 800 
Hard DriveOSMonitorPower
3 x WD Caviar 650GB in RAID5 Vista 64 LG L206W (dual) OCZ 700W 
Case
Centurion 531 
View all
  hide details  
Reply

Gear mentioned in this thread:

post #2 of 25
5/1/12 at 8:09am
I have this motherboard and it's been great so far. Here's the link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514
Fractal Rig
(18 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 3570K @ 4.6Ghz ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 MSI GTX 660Ti PE/OC G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1866 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Kingston HyperX 120gb Sata III (OS basic programs) Kingston HyperX 120GB Sata III (Games) Seagate 250GB Hard Drive (Media files/Personal ... Sony DVD Burner Sata II OEM 
CoolingOSMonitorKeyboard
Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BK Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit Samsung SA350 27in LED Thermaltake eSports Wired Gaming KB 
PowerCaseMouseMouse Pad
Corsair HX650w Modular Fractal Design Arc Midi CM Storm Inferno ZOWIE GEAR G-TF "SpawN" Cloth mouse pad 
AudioOther
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD Ultrasone HI-Fi 780 Headphones 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Fractal Rig
(18 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 3570K @ 4.6Ghz ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 MSI GTX 660Ti PE/OC G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1866 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Kingston HyperX 120gb Sata III (OS basic programs) Kingston HyperX 120GB Sata III (Games) Seagate 250GB Hard Drive (Media files/Personal ... Sony DVD Burner Sata II OEM 
CoolingOSMonitorKeyboard
Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BK Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit Samsung SA350 27in LED Thermaltake eSports Wired Gaming KB 
PowerCaseMouseMouse Pad
Corsair HX650w Modular Fractal Design Arc Midi CM Storm Inferno ZOWIE GEAR G-TF "SpawN" Cloth mouse pad 
AudioOther
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD Ultrasone HI-Fi 780 Headphones 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #3 of 25
5/1/12 at 8:14am
And i have the Little brother to the GA-990FXA as i was on a budget

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128510
Riggington
(11 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD FX-6100 GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ BFG Tech GeForce GTX 275 G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
Seagate Raid 0 1TB DVD-RW Cooler Master V8 Windows 7 
KeyboardPowerCase
Razer Black Widow 550 Watt Cooler Master Haf 922 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Riggington
(11 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD FX-6100 GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ BFG Tech GeForce GTX 275 G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
Seagate Raid 0 1TB DVD-RW Cooler Master V8 Windows 7 
KeyboardPowerCase
Razer Black Widow 550 Watt Cooler Master Haf 922 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #4 of 25
5/1/12 at 8:30am
I heard nothing but good things with the BIOSTAR TA990FXE.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138341

and as for ram, I've been hearing a lot of good things about these Samsung sticks.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147096 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147094
I've been reading that these chips can easily oc to DDR3 2000
kaoru
(13 items)
 
kirino
(10 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Zosma 960T SABERTOOTH 990FX Radeon HD 6850 SAMSUNG 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
Seagate Barracuda 250GB LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Windows 7 Professional SyncMaster P2370HD 
PowerCase
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX  LIAN LI Lancool PC-K56W 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD A8-3850 Llano BIOSTAR A75MH AMD Radeon HD 6550D G.SKILL Ripjaws 
Hard DriveCoolingCoolingOS
Western Digital Black Scythe SCKBT-1000 Kabuto BitFenix Spectre Pro 120mm Fan - White LED Windows 7 Professional 
PowerCase
Corsair CMPSU-430CXV2 Dell Dimension 2300 Case 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
kaoru
(13 items)
 
kirino
(10 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Zosma 960T SABERTOOTH 990FX Radeon HD 6850 SAMSUNG 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
Seagate Barracuda 250GB LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Windows 7 Professional SyncMaster P2370HD 
PowerCase
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX  LIAN LI Lancool PC-K56W 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD A8-3850 Llano BIOSTAR A75MH AMD Radeon HD 6550D G.SKILL Ripjaws 
Hard DriveCoolingCoolingOS
Western Digital Black Scythe SCKBT-1000 Kabuto BitFenix Spectre Pro 120mm Fan - White LED Windows 7 Professional 
PowerCase
Corsair CMPSU-430CXV2 Dell Dimension 2300 Case 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #5 of 25
5/1/12 at 9:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by caffeinescandal View Post

I heard nothing but good things with the BIOSTAR TA990FXE.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138341

If you don't need SLI or Crossfire, its little brother, the TA970XE, is also very good: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138348 You can actually run two video cards on it, but the second long PCIe slot is only an X4. Other than that, same feature set as the TA990FXE.
My PC
(15 items)
 
Upgraded Toshiba A105-S2131
(7 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
FX-8350 Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 Radeon HD6790 8 GB Crucial 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
Seagate Momentus XT 500GB, Hitachi 1 TB dual DVD-RW drives SilverStone Heligon HE01 Windows 7 x64 Home Premium 
MonitorKeyboardPowerCase
Dell P1130 21" CRT IBM Model M Ultra LSX 750 Antec SX1040B 
MouseAudio
Logitech Marble Mouse ASUS Xonar DG 
View all
CPUGraphicsRAMHard Drive
Intel Core2 Duo T7200 Mobility Radeon XPress 200 2GB Micron DDR2 Seagate Momentus XT 500GB 
Optical DriveOSAudio
stock DVD/CDR Windows XP Pro x64 Edition Realtek HD Audio 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
My PC
(15 items)
 
Upgraded Toshiba A105-S2131
(7 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
FX-8350 Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 Radeon HD6790 8 GB Crucial 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
Seagate Momentus XT 500GB, Hitachi 1 TB dual DVD-RW drives SilverStone Heligon HE01 Windows 7 x64 Home Premium 
MonitorKeyboardPowerCase
Dell P1130 21" CRT IBM Model M Ultra LSX 750 Antec SX1040B 
MouseAudio
Logitech Marble Mouse ASUS Xonar DG 
View all
CPUGraphicsRAMHard Drive
Intel Core2 Duo T7200 Mobility Radeon XPress 200 2GB Micron DDR2 Seagate Momentus XT 500GB 
Optical DriveOSAudio
stock DVD/CDR Windows XP Pro x64 Edition Realtek HD Audio 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #6 of 25
5/1/12 at 4:41pm
  • xd_1771
  • Mess with the goat, get the horns
  • Forum Moderator

The ASRock 970 Extreme3, which offers options equivalent to the TA970XE among others, is currently selling for just $80 shipped....

Hexagonal
(16 items)
 
Voyager [XT875]
(11 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD Phenom II x6 1055T [4GHz, 300x13.5, 1.42V] Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ [NB 3ghz 1.35v] MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II 1GB 8GB [4x2GB] G.Skill ECO DDR3 [1600 6-8-6-20-24-1T] 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveCooling
80GB Intel X25M SSD WD 1TB Caviar Black (WD1001FALS) WD 1TB Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) Noctua NH-D14 
CoolingOSMonitorPower
Scythe GT-15 Gentle Typhoon 1500RPM fans (2x, o... Windows 8 Pro 64-bit ASUS PA238QR 23.6" 1920x1080 IPS LED monitor [x2] Corsair HX520 Modular PSU [520W] 
CaseAudioAudio
Antec P182 SE ASUS Xonar DG 5.1 Headphone Amp Audio Technica ATH-d40fs 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
ARM Cortex A9 dual core [1.2Ghz]  TI OMAP 4430 PowerVR SGX 540 1GB low power DDR2 
Hard DriveHard DriveOSMonitor
16GB on board storage 32GB Class 10 MicroSDHC card Android 4.0.4 "Ice Cream Sandwich" (LiquidSmoot... 4.3" 960x540 TFT capacitive multi-touch screen 
KeyboardPowerCase
Swiftkey 3 Battery Motorola DROID BIONIC 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Hexagonal
(16 items)
 
Voyager [XT875]
(11 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD Phenom II x6 1055T [4GHz, 300x13.5, 1.42V] Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ [NB 3ghz 1.35v] MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II 1GB 8GB [4x2GB] G.Skill ECO DDR3 [1600 6-8-6-20-24-1T] 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveCooling
80GB Intel X25M SSD WD 1TB Caviar Black (WD1001FALS) WD 1TB Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) Noctua NH-D14 
CoolingOSMonitorPower
Scythe GT-15 Gentle Typhoon 1500RPM fans (2x, o... Windows 8 Pro 64-bit ASUS PA238QR 23.6" 1920x1080 IPS LED monitor [x2] Corsair HX520 Modular PSU [520W] 
CaseAudioAudio
Antec P182 SE ASUS Xonar DG 5.1 Headphone Amp Audio Technica ATH-d40fs 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
ARM Cortex A9 dual core [1.2Ghz]  TI OMAP 4430 PowerVR SGX 540 1GB low power DDR2 
Hard DriveHard DriveOSMonitor
16GB on board storage 32GB Class 10 MicroSDHC card Android 4.0.4 "Ice Cream Sandwich" (LiquidSmoot... 4.3" 960x540 TFT capacitive multi-touch screen 
KeyboardPowerCase
Swiftkey 3 Battery Motorola DROID BIONIC 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #7 of 25
5/1/12 at 4:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by xd_1771 View Post

The ASRock 970 Extreme3, which offers options equivalent to the TA970XE among others, is currently selling for just $80 shipped....

Beat me to the punch by less than a minute biggrin.gif

Or there is this route

ASUS M5A99X EVO AMD 990X refurb for $90
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=M5A99X-EVO-PB-R&cat=MBB
Edited by LuckySe7ens - 5/1/12 at 4:45pm
Pre OCN build
(15 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsGraphics
phenom ii B97 M2N SLI DELUXE EVGA 9600GT BFG 9600GT 
RAMHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Patriot Performance 2x1gb Corsair 2x1gb Samsung F3 1TB Samsung f3 1tb Super Writemaster DVDr 
OSMonitorPowerCase
XP 32bit & 7 Ult 64bit Samsung Syncmaster Antec Basiq power 550 + RaidMax Sagitta 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Pre OCN build
(15 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsGraphics
phenom ii B97 M2N SLI DELUXE EVGA 9600GT BFG 9600GT 
RAMHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Patriot Performance 2x1gb Corsair 2x1gb Samsung F3 1TB Samsung f3 1tb Super Writemaster DVDr 
OSMonitorPowerCase
XP 32bit & 7 Ult 64bit Samsung Syncmaster Antec Basiq power 550 + RaidMax Sagitta 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #8 of 25
5/1/12 at 6:43pm
How much are you wanting to spend. Im a big believer in getting the best motherboard you can afford. The motherboard is the foundation to your entire rig and is also the hardest one to swap out or upgrade so you want to make sure you get as good a one as you can. My personal opinion is that the Sabertooth 990FX is the best AMD motherboard on the market right now. Ridiculous build quality and toughness and its a terrific overclocker. Im a really big fan of Asus boards. HardOCP puts their motherboards thru just insane testing procedures like baking them in ovens or some such for 8 days straight! Asus are the boards that almost always emerge from these torture tests unscathed. Gigabyte always seem to do pretty well too.
Axe
(18 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD FX-8150 @ 4.515 Asus Sabertooth 990FX rev 1 EVGA GTX 670 FTW CORSAIR Vengeance Low Profile 1600MHz 2x4GB 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB  Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB Sony Opticarc 
CoolingOSMonitorKeyboard
Corsair H100 Windows 7 Home Premium x64 HP 2509B 25" @ 1920x1080 Logitech G510 
PowerCaseMouseMouse Pad
Corsair TX750W Corsair Carbide 500R SteelSeries Sensei Raw SteelSeries 4HD 
AudioAudio
Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 Razer Carcharias  
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Axe
(18 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD FX-8150 @ 4.515 Asus Sabertooth 990FX rev 1 EVGA GTX 670 FTW CORSAIR Vengeance Low Profile 1600MHz 2x4GB 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB  Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB Sony Opticarc 
CoolingOSMonitorKeyboard
Corsair H100 Windows 7 Home Premium x64 HP 2509B 25" @ 1920x1080 Logitech G510 
PowerCaseMouseMouse Pad
Corsair TX750W Corsair Carbide 500R SteelSeries Sensei Raw SteelSeries 4HD 
AudioAudio
Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 Razer Carcharias  
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #9 of 25
5/2/12 at 5:54am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the quick feedback all. Little bit more from me ...

Though I probably never will go SLI/XFire, I'd still rather pick up a board with the ability to do it if I want.

The ASRock 970 seems to be well-liked but shouldn't I be going for a 990 chipset?

@McLeod
I was really trying to keep it under $200 for a new board and 2x4GB RAM. I have always been an ASUS fan myself though and did take a look at that board initially. The info on the Vishera chips being AM3+ doesn't seem to be set in stone though and I'm wary of some last minute change or delay that results in me having to scrap this great new expensive board I have in a years time for one reason or another. Maybe I haven't read enough or my fears are simply unfounded?
Mindgene
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Athlon II X4 635 K9N2 SLI Plat MS7374 SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 5770 4GB G.Skill DDR2 800 
Hard DriveOSMonitorPower
3 x WD Caviar 650GB in RAID5 Vista 64 LG L206W (dual) OCZ 700W 
Case
Centurion 531 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Mindgene
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Athlon II X4 635 K9N2 SLI Plat MS7374 SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 5770 4GB G.Skill DDR2 800 
Hard DriveOSMonitorPower
3 x WD Caviar 650GB in RAID5 Vista 64 LG L206W (dual) OCZ 700W 
Case
Centurion 531 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #10 of 25
5/2/12 at 6:01am
  • Schmuckley
  • No keyboard detected! Press F1 to continue..
:thinking.gif: soo $50 for this RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147094

..leaves $150 for a mobo..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138341
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131754
http://www.geeks.com/products_sc.asp?cat=1220 You could choose one of these, too.
AMD Machine
(14 items)
 
Dedicated Backup
(14 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Sempron 145 powah! er..or..Thuban with 4 coars ;) Crosshair 4 GT 240 Samsung @ 7-8-8-20 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingMonitor
OCZ Agility2 40GB Lite-On Rasa Waterblock + Bong Samsung 2 ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
dell Thermaltake Tr2-800 Elite 330 cheap 
Mouse PadAudio
Newegg box flap onboard 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
2500K Gimped @ stock Gigabyte H61-DS2 XFX 5870 800/1250 The Samsung RAM (Awesomeness) 
Hard DriveCoolingOSMonitor
Crucial m4 64 Sunbeamtech Core-Contact 92 attached via zip-ties. Varies Samsung 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
varies Corsair GS800 eMachine cheap 
Mouse PadAudio
Newegg Box Panel onboard 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
AMD Machine
(14 items)
 
Dedicated Backup
(14 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Sempron 145 powah! er..or..Thuban with 4 coars ;) Crosshair 4 GT 240 Samsung @ 7-8-8-20 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingMonitor
OCZ Agility2 40GB Lite-On Rasa Waterblock + Bong Samsung 2 ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
dell Thermaltake Tr2-800 Elite 330 cheap 
Mouse PadAudio
Newegg box flap onboard 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
2500K Gimped @ stock Gigabyte H61-DS2 XFX 5870 800/1250 The Samsung RAM (Awesomeness) 
Hard DriveCoolingOSMonitor
Crucial m4 64 Sunbeamtech Core-Contact 92 attached via zip-ties. Varies Samsung 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
varies Corsair GS800 eMachine cheap 
Mouse PadAudio
Newegg Box Panel onboard 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: AMD - General

Gear mentioned in this thread:

Overclock.net › Forums › AMD › AMD - General › Thinking about upgrading to AM3+ board