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Help me pick an AM3+ motherboard for FX8350? :D

2K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  By-Tor 
#1 ·
So I am upgrading my system piece by piece. It is about time I upgrade the Mobo and CPU. First going with the Mobo so I can use my current one on it.

SO! I am looking for a motherboard with features I need (or will need) that is great for the price.
I am going to get an FX8350 afterwards so I want the best board for overclocking to 5GHz.

My budget is around $125. Can be higher or lower.

Here are some features I need (minimum).

2 Sata III ports. For possible Raid 0 or 1 config. Depends if I want more space or be safe.
2 PCI-E x16 slots. For future SLI or CrossFire config. I will only SLI 2 cards at most ever for best $/performance scaling. If having an aditional PCIe slot is beneficial in anyway, let me know!
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2 Supports at least 32 gigs of RAM. FOR RAM disk setup.
Supports at least 1866MHz RAM.
USB 3.0 header for 2 front panel USB ports.
Just as important as the rest, solid enough to OC to 5GHz. (I know it also depends on the cpu itself.)

Your help is GREATLY appreciated.

I would list some options, but my biggest issue is what is best for overclocking around that price.
 
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#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by BYOGamingPC View Post

I'd check out the GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3. It's a great board to OC with and has nice VRM cooling.
QFT.. I had one for over a year and it hit 5ghz over clock with 3 different chips. wasnt 100% stable for everyday use, but it did post.

So worth the money.
 
#4 ·
Does form factor matter?
 
#5 ·
@BYOGamingPC I don't think I will need the 4 PCIe slots. The rest of the board seems great, and I like the all black design, but aahhh, 4 slots is 1 too many the most id like to have. still appreciated.

@xD3aDPooLx Id like to have it stable on prime95 for at least an hour. Still, teh baord is a bit much for my needs.
 
#7 ·
There really aren't any solid boards under $150 out there for the 8350.

I had 2 UD3s and they both ran hot and had bad bios. I sold the R4 to an expert who first got it up to 5.2ghz and then started complaining about the bios.

Does ASUS make a board in that price range? I have heard that Asrock makes a decent board at $150. The UD5 is ok. My MSI 990FXA GD80 is solid. I don't know enough about the GD65 to recommend it. Others will chime in soon enough.
 
#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by By-Tor View Post

I would suggest spending a little more and going with a Asus Sabertooth R2.0.. I thought about using some of the cheaper/lower end MB's for my build, but very happy with my Sabertooth Very solid MB with all the features I needed and more..
I would second this. Ive used many different mainboards with 970 through 990 chipset. The Sabertooth is the best deal as far as money/performance/features that I have come across for the FX series. There are better boards, but this is a really good one that wont break the bank. Overclocking is an absolute breeze with this board. The power architecture is excellent.
 
#13 ·
I was looking at that MB before I purchased the Sabertooth. I liked the slot layout a lot on that board, but the big turn off was the battery placement. If for some reason you had to pop out the battery for a reset you may have to pull the MB out since they located it under the top of the VRM heatsink. I have not seen this board in person and not sure if it can be popped out without pulling the heatsink first...
 
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