New mobo for Cheetah

[DrPop]

OK, so I was all set to just run one rig after all this. Then Kat pipes up and reeeeeaaaaaly wants to get Cheetah running again. Well, fair enough. Not like I don't have parts out the wazzoo to make it happen. Just need a motherboard.

So what do you think the odds of a 900 series AM3+ mobo supporting the next rendition of Bulldozer are? I'm not real interested in getting a 1st Gen BD anymore, seeing how I have the X6 CPUs, but never know...they could fix some stuff on it, and the next gen - Piledriver or whatever it's going to be might be decent.

Also, I see ASUS has 5 year warranty on their mobos - very nice, better than Gigabyte's 3...well we'll see what we end up with here.

[John P. Myers]

bleh. A mobo warranty over 2 years is kinda pointless anyway really. If it still works after that, odds are anything that happens to it is your own fault anyway :p
Asus is decent though. Go for it.

AMD is known for having their sockets last a bit longer than Intel does, so i'd definitely go with an AM3+. I wouldn't be shocked if they were still making chips for it in 2014

[DrPop]

Alright, thanks for that - will get a 900 series board when the dust settles with my bro's computer here, and I'll be going either Gigabyte or ASUS this time, I'm pretty sure. Just need more than 1 year like I had on that ASRock - what a pity. Was a nice board, too.:p

[Beerdrinker]

I suspect the AsRock´s are failing once you OC on them. My big brothers pc is running on 5 years now. It´s a AsRock AM2 board. Stock speed and solid as hell.

[DrPop]

You're probably right, Beer. I always had good luck with ASRock before this, and to be fair to them, it was working perfect for me for a year - and I have no way of knowing what might have happened to it to make it crap out like that on my bro.

I'm certain it will be a 900 series AM3+ board that I'm after for Cheetah's rebuild. Now I'm just in the process of deciding whether it will be a relatively cheap 970 based board, or full monty with a 990FX Sabertooth or equivalent Gigabyte offering.
Seeing how I like to O/C, I'm leaning toward the 990FX. They seem to come with a lot beefier heatsinks. :p

[Mike029]

Here is the boards lined up.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007625%2050001315&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=22%7C13-128-509%5E13-128-509-TS%2C13-128-514%5E13-128-514-TS%2C13-131-735R%5E13-131-735-Z01%2C13-131-736%5E13-131-736-TS%2C13-131-754%5E13-131-754-TS

[Fire$torm]

Here is the boards lined up.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007625%2050001315&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=22%7C13-128-509%5E13-128-509-TS%2C13-128-514%5E13-128-514-TS%2C13-131-735R%5E13-131-735-Z01%2C13-131-736%5E13-131-736-TS%2C13-131-754%5E13-131-754-TS

Sweet lineup. Personally I like the Gigabyte boards. :-bd :D

[DrPop]

I do like the Gigabyte as well, but the only thing that gripes me a little is sure, the UD5 has 5 PCI-e x16 slots. But they know darn well you can only use 3 for dual slot GPUs...not like I'll probably ever run more than 3, but still, it's just the principle of how it's laid out. :p

[Fire$torm]

I do like the Gigabyte as well, but the only thing that gripes me a little is sure, the UD5 has 5 PCI-e x16 slots. But they know darn well you can only use 3 for dual slot GPUs...not like I'll probably ever run more than 3, but still, it's just the principle of how it's laid out. :p

True. But I think the UD3 has the last PCIe slot too close to the edge of the board. So depending on how the system case is setup, it could render that last slot useless for a double-wide card.

[Al]

True. But I think the UD3 has the last PCIe slot too close to the edge of the board. So depending on how the system case is setup, it could render that last slot useless for a double-wide card.

I have that problem with the Sabertooth. You can't get a 2-slot Gpu in the last full size slot because I have a bottom mounted psu. A different case could cure that problem.

[Slicker]

The "UD" in Gigabyte's boards stands for "ultra durable". They supposedly use better capacitors in them as well as a few other changes. They've always worked well for me (except for the issue with Corsair XMS3 RAM not working with my i7 950 due to the wrong speed and the BIOS not acknowleding all the RAM that was installed, but since the RAM wasn't on the MB's approved RAM list, I really can't complain too much.)

[John P. Myers]

I do like the Gigabyte as well, but the only thing that gripes me a little is sure, the UD5 has 5 PCI-e x16 slots. But they know darn well you can only use 3 for dual slot GPUs...not like I'll probably ever run more than 3, but still, it's just the principle of how it's laid out. :p

What do you mean only 3 PCIe x16 cards? Here you go http://www.legitreviews.com/news/12727/ for an Nvidia setup or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131463 for AMD :p

Here is a complete description of the Ultra Durable specs (UD) on Gigabyte boards, and honestly, this is 99% of the reason why they're my favorite brand http://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/98/html/technology-guide-ultra-durable-1.htm *Notice the 50C drop in temp refers to avg. temp of the voltage regulators

Gigabyte also uses this technology on their GPUs http://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/72/feature2.html

And how Gigabyte selects specific GPU chips for their overclocked boards: http://www.gigabyte.rs/global/sr/pages/vga_090911_oc/feature.html

[Fire$torm]

What do you mean only 3 PCIe x16 cards? Here you go http://www.legitreviews.com/news/12727/ for an Nvidia setup or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131463 for AMD :p

Here is a complete description of the Ultra Durable specs (UD) on Gigabyte boards, and honestly, this is 99% of the reason why they're my favorite brand http://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/98/html/technology-guide-ultra-durable-1.htm *Notice the 50C drop in temp refers to avg. temp of the voltage regulators

Gigabyte also uses this technology on their GPUs http://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/72/feature2.html

And how Gigabyte selects specific GPU chips for their overclocked boards: http://www.gigabyte.rs/global/sr/pages/vga_090911_oc/feature.html

Unfortunately for me, my 2nd Gigabyte experience was not so great. My X58A-UD3R has a defective Northbridge. To be fair, the UD6 I got from Beerdrinker runs flawlessly.

[John P. Myers]

Unfortunately for me, my 2nd Gigabyte experience was not so great. My X58A-UD3R has a defective Northbridge. To be fair, the UD6 I got from Beerdrinker runs flawlessly.

Intel made that NorthBridge, not Gigabyte :p Is it not still under warranty? X58 was a great chipset

[Fire$torm]

Intel made that NorthBridge, not Gigabyte :p Is it not still under warranty? X58 was a great chipset

OH I know its an Intel product. That board was an eBay purchase and was listed as "Manufacture Refurbished" with the service ticket receipt included in the box. So it was supposedly fixed by Gigabyte. And yes its still under warranty but I don't have the spare cash atm to send it in. Maybe middle of April.

[DrPop]

I am leaning toward the Gigabyte UD5 at the moment, but I'm giving them until we get back from Alaska on April 8th to have a sale on any of the good 990FX boards. I also noted that some of the ASRock boards now have a 2 year warranty - maybe I just got one right before they switched? I kind of think their Fatality1 series looks cool...:cool:

[DrPop]

We will be on the plane home in a couple hours...then I can play catch up on all the threads and PMs! :D

After reading this new article (http://www.anandtech.com/show/5714/990fx-motherboard-roundup-with-thuban-and-bulldozer-a-second-wind-for-asus-gigabyte-msi-and-biostar)at Anandtech on the 990FX motherboards, I decided to go with the ASUS Crosshair V Formula (http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/Crosshair_V_Formula/)for Cheetah's rebuild. It is on the way from Newegg now. Hope it does well. GO SETI.USA GO!!![..]

[Mike029]

We will be on the plane home in a couple hours...then I can play catch up on all the threads and PMs! :D

After reading this new article (http://www.anandtech.com/show/5714/990fx-motherboard-roundup-with-thuban-and-bulldozer-a-second-wind-for-asus-gigabyte-msi-and-biostar)at Anandtech on the 990FX motherboards, I decided to go with the ASUS Crosshair V Formula (http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/Crosshair_V_Formula/)for Cheetah's rebuild. It is on the way from Newegg now. Hope it does well. GO SETI.USA GO!!![..]


Safe trip home.
A fine choice.. Now to fill it with GPU's. Hmm, 3 7970's will do. :p

[Fire$torm]

Safe trip home.
A fine choice.. Now to fill it with GPU's. Hmm, 3 7970's will do. :p

I second that.

[DrPop]

I second that.

LOL! :D I think we'll have to start with a single 5870 for now. :P