AM3 reviews where art thou?

I

INFINITE

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 22, 2004
Messages
189
I've been here quite a while. I come and go and visit infrequently due to work and life. So I apologize if I'm missing the obvious here.

But I'm wondering where the hell are the AMD motherboard reviews? I'm looking through the motherboard reviews today and I saw the last AM3 review was Novemeber of 2012!

Has that little changed where reviews aren't needed or necessary? From a glance it appears heavily Intel biased.
 
That is probably the last time a new AM3 mobo came out. I am looking for a new one for the wifes rig as well.
 
Vegas P11 said:
That is probably the last time a new AM3 mobo came out. I am looking for a new one for the wifes rig as well.
Click to expand...

Bingo. The enthusiast platform of AMD has been stagnant for a while...and their motherboards for longer.
 
Vegas P11 said:
That is probably the last time a new AM3 mobo came out. I am looking for a new one for the wifes rig as well.
Click to expand...

No, some new ones have come out. I myself expect this to arrive to me next week:


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128651

It's the heir to the UD3. There have been new high end models too, past Nov 2012, at least in Asrock, that i was looking more often, but, the problem is, everyone is treating is as dead socket, so nobody cares to review.
 
I must say, i just received the above mentioned board and although i haven't installed it yet, it "looks" very sturdy and well built for its money. I 've been on Asrocks for very long time. After many years i buy this, it costs more, but it LOOKS more "taken care of" than the cheap Asrocks. It's definitely a board to consider for "wife's" or "non game" motherboard.
 
that newegg linked board looks solid, but it looks like it's missing an internal port for the fron usb3 ports. also....via audio? is that any good?
 
dmoney1980 said:
that newegg linked board looks solid, but it looks like it's missing an internal port for the fron usb3 ports. also....via audio? is that any good?
Click to expand...

It has front USB3 connector (if you look the newegg photo, it's on the bottom, labeled fusb30).

I am not particularly picky about audio, so i don't know what you expect. I have also several Asrock 970extreme3, that come with Realtek audio and i can't say i notice much of a difference. I have the impression this one might have sligthly clearer sound, but it may be placebo effect.

What i can tell you is that it's rock solid (literally zero BSODs, got the drivers from Gigabyte's website, installed without a hitch on the first try), runs very cool (much cooler compared to my Asrocks) and the only downsides i 've found, is that the mouse moves very slowly inside the UEFI (probably because it came with F1 BIOS and it's immature) and that the software bundle is a bit "scarse". I mean, the software that comes with the Asrocks is much better. The Gigabyte came with this "Easytune" software, that is in a tiny window, bad layout, at the end it's not worth running it as hardware monitor... The Asrock AXTU (Extreme Tuner), is much better. But they both have the same defect. They increase DPC latency. Asrock's more than Gigabyte's. So at the end it's bad idea to keep either running in systray.

Another a bit weird thing, is that when you start the mobo, CPU fan starts, then stops for a second and then spins up again normally. Maybe it's a little bizarre thing of the PWM control settings in BIOS, i don't know, but if you don't have the case open to see it, you will never notice it. Oh, another minor thing, one of the heatsinks (the bottom one), is a bit wobbly if you press it with your fingers at the extremities. It's held in position with springs and if you press the edges, it can move up and down easily. But nothing major, the board temperatures are VERY low.

I think it was well worth the money and i certainly see why it costs 12 euros more than the Asrock970 Extreme3s that i have. That said, i ordered my 5th Asrock 970 extreme3 R2.0, because it's unbeatable in cost/performance ratio. I also like the Asrock UEFI better. Maybe because i 've been using Asrocks for 10 years, but i just find it more "logical". But it's good to have an "ultradurable" motherboard, just for fun. I may buy a second one later.
 
Last edited:
Faethon,

regarding the fan start / stop occurance on power up - check and see which way the fans initially spin. This may be a feature that spins the fans in the opposite direction to clear out dust. Some GPU's use this as well. Sounds like a solid budget board though!
 
dmoney1980 said:
Faethon,

regarding the fan start / stop occurance on power up - check and see which way the fans initially spin. This may be a feature that spins the fans in the opposite direction to clear out dust. Some GPU's use this as well. Sounds like a solid budget board though!
Click to expand...

Ah, interesting! I had no idea that such thing may exist as "feature". I only buy passively cooled GPUs, so i didn't know... :D If i happen to open the case again, i will watch more carefully...

Thanks.

Yes, it's very stable board. I can't complain about anything important really. It's my first Gigabyte board ever and i am very satisfied. I bought it 72 euros and i consider it a very good bargain.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top