Need a mobo recommendation for FX-6300

Asrock 970 Extreme3 if you need to keep the budget strictly under 100$ for the mobo. Note that only has 4+1 vrms which will only let you overclock 900-1300mhz stable. If you can pay 105 bucks then go with the Gigabyte ga-970a-ud3 which has 8+2 phased vrms.

 

If you only want to spend around 40$ for a cooler then go for the coolermaster hyper 212 evo.

 

I would recommend this Mushkin Blackline memory.

I use this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131873 with my FX-6300 now. Seems like a pretty nice board so far for me.

The 970A in the suggestion above comes with free 2x4GB DDR3-1600 memory.

So does the MSI 990XA-GD55. In fact, here's a recommendation I have on an AWESOME combo deal:

MSI-990XA-GD55 + free 2x4GB DDR3-1600 + Xigmatek GAIA SD1283 - $110 shipped all and $15 rebate [Newegg]

Asrock 970 Extreme3 is a very good mobo. I'm using one until my sabertooth comes back from RMA (Dead PCI-E slot). I can easily oc my 8320 to 4.5ghz on all eight cores.

Sorry to intrude in this thread but my question in very similar.

I’m thinking of buying a new system, my cpu candidates are fx4300 and fx6300 but I think 6core is worth the small price difference so I’ll go with that. (with a Skythe Mugen 2 cooler that has been lying around for a couple of years)

For memory I have decided for 4x KINGSTON KHX1600C9AD3B1/2G 2GB HYPERX DDR3 BLU , I hope there is nothing wrong with that choice.

My problem is which motherboard to choose, I want a fairly solid motherboard that will allow me to overclock but not too expensive.
I’m also not much into games so I will never use any double graphic card (SLI or crossfire).

First question, is there a reason for me to buy a motherboard with the 990 chipset (X of FX) as opposed to the 970 chipset (southbridge SB950 in both cases) ?

I’m in search of a MB at around 100 Euro , so in that price range I find

ASROCK 970 EXTREME3 AM3+ (82 euro)
GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3 (87 euro)
ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AM3+ (90 euro)
GIGABYTE 990XA-UD3 AM3 (98 euro)
ASROCK 970 EXTREME4 AM3+ (100 euro)
The newegg links are just for reference, I will buy the locally, also I'm not sure about the revision of the Gigabytes, probably v1.x

I’m not sure what the difference is between the AM3 and AM3+ MB since they all work with the AM3+ fx6300.

Anyway the first one I liked was GIGABYTE 990XA but I read so many DOA reports and negative comments in newegg from users (that it stopped working after a week or a month or for ports that stopped working) that got me kind of scared.
Also read that the vrms mosfet cooling is not very good and has high temperatures.
In addition this board has support for SLI and crossfire but I will never use any of them so I’m not sure if it is the best option.

I read the recommendation about GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 which I like in a previous post in this thread but does it have the same problem with the vrms mosfet cooling ?
Maybe I should prefer ASROCK 970 EXTREME3 ?
Any reason to move to ASROCK 970 EXTREME4 ?

I’m kind of confused.

By the way, I intend to use a 450W Chieftec psu , do you think there will be a problem with that (with a single low to medium speed graphic card and a coupe of HDD).

Thank you
Alex

Hello alexan_e.
The rate at which this website generates new posts, it is likely that older posts get forgotten rather easily ... notwithstanding the ethics of cross-posting.
If you are looking for a mobo for OC, then a good start should be this thread http://www.overclock.net/t/946407/amd-motherboards-vrm-info-database
I would also stay with AM3+ for reasons that I once knew, can't recall now.

Is there any disadvantage to using 4 sticks of 2GB DDR3 instead of 2 sticks of 4GB? Other than the physical distance from cpu and slightly higher power requirement, I don't see any obvious one. But I would verify it from experts. If you want to OC the DRAM (by changing FSB/SysClock), then maybe a higher speed DRAM is safer... something like DDR3-1866.

I believe the 990FX chipsets are the newest kind that allow you to use 2 graphics cards. The older ones can also support 2 graphics cards but don't expect their potentially combined bandwidth (x16 + x16) to be available to the cpu in older chipsets. They will fall back to x16+x8 mode. With a single graphics card (x16) you describe, you do not need 990FX chipset. In US, I can get a very good AM3+ mobo with USB3, four to six SATA 6Gb/s ports, etc. for below 100 dollars. In euro, it should be a tad cheaper. However cheap you go, make sure your southbridge is at least SB750 or better ... if you want any kind of high throughput on the I/O side.

Regarding the power supply... if you add a couple of rotating spindle disks, a moderately powerful GPU of Radeon 6000 series, and an overclocked CPU with 4 sticks of RAM, you may be on the borderline with a 450W PSU. In theory, I don't think it is a problem. But looking at PSU reviews at hardwarecanucks.com, legitreviews.com, etc. I see that unless it is has certified level (like bronze, silver or gold), it is unlikely to provide all the power when the load is on the extreme. Exceptions do exist however, I myself would prefer to stay with bronze certified PS from Antec, Corsair, Silverstone, OCZ/PC-Power-and-Cooling, high-end Roswill Capstone series, etc. I once tried to OC a Core 2 Quad Q9550 with 4 HDDS and a small graphics card by an Apevia 450 watt and it took me 3 months to realize the root cause of sudden system hangs. After changing to a 750W PC Power and Cooling, all my instabilities went away. You can try with the PS you have but be ready to buy a much bigger uncertified one or a 500W bronze certified one down the road.

Regarding GPUs... note that Radeon 7000 series uses PCI express 3.0 and I don't think AMD chipsets support that yet. A 7000 will work on PCI express 2.0 slot but at lesser bandwidth.

Have you taken a look at frostytech.com for cooling solutions? FX-6300 can warm up very quickly under Prime95.

By the way, the Q9550 you have in your profile can easily go to 4GHz -- which I do 24/7 on a GB EP45-UD3R mobo. It is still a very potent chip at 4 GHz and does all 720p transcoding with ease.

Hope it helps.