Which AM3 MoBo?

W

WintersFury

Gawd
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
555
Hey guys, I'm helping a friend of mine pick parts for a new gaming computer since he's not very hardware savvy.

The budget leaves about $100 for the mobo so I was looking at the 790x boards since newegg has them for $109 after rebate.

So the choices are:
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO
GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P

The ASUS has nice features like the Q-Conector, nicer I/O shield and eSATA port. But only a 4 pin ATX instead of 8 pin, so I don't know if this would be a problem with an OCed x3 720 in the system?

Reviews of the ASUS are pretty much non existent so I figured I'd ask here and see if anyone heard anything or had one or the like.

Thanks all!
 
Last edited:
I like the looks of that ASUS board ,I'm thinking seriously about this to get me on AM3.Asus has always been solid for me,but that gigabyte gets alot of love here and @XS forum.
 
daytripper67mi said:
I like the looks of that ASUS board ,I'm thinking seriously about this to get me on AM3.Asus has always been solid for me,but that gigabyte gets alot of love here and @XS forum.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've used both brands with great results for various builds in the past so I figured I couldn't really go wrong but wanted to make sure there wasn't some huge problem people have been hearing about with one of em or something.

I'd go DFI but the budget and ammt of time I want to spend OCing someone elses system are both against that one :D

As for looks, the brown silicon on the ASUS is kind of iffy if you have a window IMO.


While thinking of it, are there any issues running the "i7/i5" designed low voltage memory on the AM3 systems? I mean, it's all the same memory and the only thing that makes it different from the other stuff that isn't "i7/i5" designed is the lower voltage, right?
 
Last edited:
You can get the GA-MA790XT-UD4P for $105 shipped from ZZF. Save money and avoid the rebate hassle at the same time. This mobo comes with an eSATA bracket in case you didn't realize. I consider the Gigabyte the better choice of the two, and coupled with the lower price, makes it a no brainer choice imho.

As for memory, the lower the voltage requirements the better. The i7/i5 branded kits you see are great for AM3 systems as well.
 
i was deciding between the 2 and went for the Asus. my first one was bad, so i sent it back. second one works like a charm. booted up on first try and hasnt given me a single issue. it has a nice layout, nice blue heatsinks and very easy to use bios

also, the G.skill ram i have is branded for use with the i5/7 and they work perfectly fine with the mobo
 
demongdemong said:
AMD 890S chipset
wait a bit and grab the 800 series chipset
Click to expand...

Taking a quick look at the specs I could find on the net, it doesn't seem to be any better than the current chipsets. A few more pcie lanes, and usb seem to be all that it's giving.

And from what I'm seeing, it won't be out until Q2 so that's about 6mo off.


And thanks for confirming what I thought about the RAM guys, figured there couldn't be anything about it special for the Intel platforms besides the volts.
 
I would go with the Gigabyte board, more PCI-E slots, Dual BIOS, 140W CPU support, 16x+8x PCI-E.
 
I lean towards Gigabyte these days. I have had tremendous luck with them in the past.
 
alg7_munif said:
I would go with the Gigabyte board, more PCI-E slots, Dual BIOS, 140W CPU support, 16x+8x PCI-E.
Click to expand...

Not to mention their SATA layout is much better. I really like Asus, but their SATA stuff needs some work. The front panel connectors on the Asus are a little more forward then I would prefer.
 
I have the DDR2 version of the GA-MA790X-UD4P and its a piece of art from Gigabyte, and from what I heard the DDR3 is quite good too, my vote goes to Gigabyte.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top