Which of these Am3+ motherboards

nheather · 4 Feb 2017 at 17:52

Looks like my motherboard has died.

The current one is a Gigabyte GA-MA970FXT-UD5P.

Don't want to spend a lot so canidates on OCUK are

Gigabyte 970A-DSP
Asus M597 LE R2.0
Asrock 970Extreme3 R2.0

Do any of those stand out from the others or are they all pretty much the same?

Cheers,

Nigel

mickyflinn · 4 Feb 2017 at 19:06

All are pretty much the same but i think the asrock only comes with 2 year warranty where the other 2 are 3 years.

nheather · 5 Feb 2017 at 15:26

Going to stick with Gigabyte.

I don't overclock so I guess the GA-970A-DS3P will be good enough.

But is it worth spending a little extra to get the

GA-970A-UD3P
GA-990X Gaming SLI

Not really sure if they add anything for me.

The other thing - this is to replace my dead GA-MA970FXT-UD5P.

I'm hoping that I will be able to plug in my hard disk and it will boot up into windows. I can imagine that I might have to load new drivers to get things working (different chipsets for audio, NIC etc.). Or am I likely to be faced with can't boot into windows.

Cheers,

Nigel

Davedree · 5 Feb 2017 at 20:11

Which cpu will you be using?

cheesyboy · 5 Feb 2017 at 20:20

I've got the UD3p. It's good, but only really adds overclocking horsepower to the DS3P

nheather · 5 Feb 2017 at 20:28

Davedree said:
Which cpu will you be using?

Phenom x4 955 Black Edition

It's a affliction I have, always end up paying extra for the recommended overclocker but never get round to overclocking them.

Cheers,

Nigel

Davedree · 5 Feb 2017 at 22:07

Ok you'd be best with the gigabyte you have chosen (ds3p).
It'll be fine for a phenomII x4. If you intended to look at going the fx6/8 route then the ud3p would be a more suitable board. But with ryzen not too far away and current intel alternatives if it was me i'd give up on am3+. However the ds3p is probably best for you for price.

nheather · 5 Feb 2017 at 22:21

Davedree said:
Ok you'd be best with the gigabyte you have chosen (ds3p).
It'll be fine for a phenomII x4. If you intended to look at going the fx6/8 route then the ud3p would be a more suitable board. But with ryzen not too far away and current intel alternatives if it was me i'd give up on am3+. However the ds3p is probably best for you for price.

Yes, originally this was my gaming PC, but I have now converted my garage to a man-cave and that has an Intel based gaming PC.

So this one is my office PC for email. Browsing, MS Office and the old game like World of Tanks. This PC is more than powerful enough for my needs and I don't see the need to change it for a few years yet.

This is just to fix it and get it running again.

Cheers,

Nigel

nheather · 6 Feb 2017 at 09:12

Final question.

The DS3P is clearly all that I need, but would the UD3P offer better reliability, even for non-overclocked operation - thinking it has better VRM setup, better heatsinks, more rugged board (if you believe the Gigabyte 2oz copper claim).

Cheers,

Nigel

orbitalwalsh · 6 Feb 2017 at 09:17

there's 2oz in there

they dont mention what they cant afford to pay in a court case

If you can afford the better board go for it , specially with VRM increase

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 6 Feb 2017 at 11:31

The DS3P will run an FX6300 fine as a mate uses one,but the Phenom II X4 is a 125W TDP chip which the FX6300 isn't. If you do intend to keep the PC for as long as possible I probably would get the GA-990X Gaming SLI as it will be overbuilt for the task and it also means it is easier for you to source and upgrade if the CPU needs replacing(almost every AM3+ FX CPU should work excluding the 9000 series).