CF Mobo Recomendation

C

C McCarter

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 13, 2007
Messages
183
Hello, I attempted to CF 6970's on my current board but the PCIE 4x slot limited the second card and decreased the performance. I am looking for a good AM3 or AM3+ CF board that can survive a few years (possible CPU upgrade down the line). I would prefer 16x16x but am not set on that. I really am not sure if I need something like the crosshair V or GB 990FXA or if I can get away with something cheaper. My current rig is in my signature. Thanks for the advise.
 
A 990X chipset would work for your case. Just pick one out that is within your budget and has the features you want.
 
My preferred brand is Gigabyte, they have always proved stable for me whereas Asus can sometimes be a little flaky, and MSI still hasn't quite gotten up there yet. My preference goes: Gigabyte, Asus, MSI, ASrock, Biostar, and then the rest.
 
Thanks, I currently have Gigabyte and am pretty happy with it. Just wanted to make sure though.
 
gigabyte boards are solid.

Asus boards are solid as well. To bad Abit got out of the game, they made good motherboards as well. Msi started to make decent boards, but i wouldn't put them up there with gigabyte or asus quite yet.

depending on your system i'd either go with the 990x or the 990fxa-ud3

Gigabyte boards
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128510

Asus Boards
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131754
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131736R


all of these boards have received solid reviews. If you move fast you can get the sabertooth open box for 149.99. Otherwise its quite a bit more expensive than the other options.
 
Is the only difference between the GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 and the GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 the ability to run PCIE 16x16x in CF? As for my system I am going to keep it the same but change the motherboard. I would like to get 2 years out of it if possible.
 
Is the only difference between the GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 and the GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 the ability to run PCIE 16x16x in CF?
Click to expand...

not the only difference.

the ud3 has esata ports in the back, and only 1 pci slot. While the 990xa has 2 pci slots, no esata ports.

Of coarse if you looking to run more than 2 video cards you will want the ud5.
 
I have been very pleased with all gigabyte boards ive had. On a tight budget i go with biostar/asrock. avoid MSI (had two die on me in the last couple months).

When picking a crossfire board, find something that gives you decent gap between the video cards so they can breath. my biostar TA870 board had 16x/4x slots but they were so close to each other the top video card over heated and caused crashing (at least in bitcoin mining) gaming was stable, but the fans worked 100% which is annoying.

Find a board that has at least two 8x slots with two finger width gap between installed video cards. (i cant speak on 6970 behalf, but in the biostar board with two overclocked 6850s my FPS doubled even though it was 16x/4x on 3dmark2011)
 
I am hoping that a new motherboard will increase the gains... I might be limited by my current northbridge though...Going to get a x16x16 board though on Black Friday (if the deals are good).
 
You don't need x16/x16, especially with that level of graphics card. x8/x8 will suit you just fine.
 
I have a barely used Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7 I can let go for a good price. It meets or exceeds all your needs.
PM if interested.
 
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