New 990 series mother board buying advice.

[Brewster0101]

Looking at two boards :

Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3

or

Asus M5A99X EVO

Can't decide which one to get. Bother are roughly £120.00

Gigabyte board has the very nice colour and is based on 990fx - but the new 990FX series of boards from Gigabyte are getting alot of negative feedback due to voltage issues - although I don't think this issue affects the UD3. My past 5 years experience of gigabyte boards has not left me that impressed with them.

Asus board is only the 990x chip set. I don't intent to use SLI or crossfire though. Also the new Asus board has the new bios which I think will become mainstream within 12 months. Also my last five 5 experience with Asus has left me impressed. Never had a duff board from Asus.

Anyone have any thoughts or experience of either board?

----------------------------------
I am now thinking between the top three boards from Asus

Asus M5A99X EVO - £115
Asus Sabertooth 990FX - £170
Asus Crosshair V Formula AMD 990FX - £175

[Blackmage]

Is this purchase for a new CPU?

[Brewster0101]

Currently running the X3 720BE - only slightly overclocked.

Plan to buy on of the new AM3+ CPUS when available or if they are too much then I will buy one of the current hexi cores processors, but hopefully I will invest in one of the Bulldozer CPUS.

Also a new 6870 is on the horizon with a SSD drive.

[Blackmage]

Currently running the X3 720BE - only slightly overclocked.

Plan to buy on of the new AM3+ CPUS when available or if they are too much then I will buy one of the current hexi cores processors, but hopefully I will invest in one of the Bulldozer CPUS.

Also a new 6870 is on the horizon with a SSD drive.

I Personally like the colour scheme of the gigabyte board, but the Asus bored is better equipped.

[Brewster0101]

Can't really see any difference in specs. Only one difference is the Asus board uses a slightly better audio chip. Have read the Realtek ALC 892 does sound very impressive.

Can't see a difference that the 990fx is compared to 990x. Is it the two x16 lanes compared to two x8 lanes in sli/crossfire?

The new Asus bios seems like a reason to buy this over gigabyte alone.

gigabyte has 8+2 phase power design compared to Asus 6+2 :-(

[Blackmage]

Can't really see any difference in specs. Only one difference is the Asus board uses a slightly better audio chip. Have read the Realtek ALC 892 does sound very impressive.

Can't see a difference that the 990fx is compared to 990x. Is it the two x16 lanes compared to two x8 lanes in sli/crossfire?

The new Asus bios seems like a reason to buy this over gigabyte alone.

gigabyte has 8+2 phase power design compared to Asus 6+2 :-(

Sorry I got it the wrong way round, The gigabyte board lacks 2 sata ports but is better out the two.

[Brewster0101]

On paper I think the Gigabyte board is better + the colour is brilliant.

Unfortunately there are no reviews of the gigabyte board but there are reviews of the Asus board that gets very high praise.

I will leave this 24 hours and see if any with experience of either board adds any comments.

[Terbinator]

Can't really see any difference in specs. Only one difference is the Asus board uses a slightly better audio chip. Have read the Realtek ALC 892 does sound very impressive.

Can't see a difference that the 990fx is compared to 990x. Is it the two x16 lanes compared to two x8 lanes in sli/crossfire?

The new Asus bios seems like a reason to buy this over gigabyte alone.

gigabyte has 8+2 phase power design compared to Asus 6+2 :-(

Yep.

[Terbinator]

What about the 990FX MSI GD-65? It has the best PCI-e spacing IMO.

[T-1000]

If you are thinking of over clocking but don't know much about it then go for the Asus it has really simple boost settings for beginners.

[Brewster0101]

What about the 990FX MSI GD-65? It has the best PCI-e spacing IMO.

This is a very cut back 990fx board. No on external usb 3 header, no esata etc , too many corners cut just to make a cheap 990fx board.

Looking around I think the Asus board is the best bet.

Searching the Asus board comes up with a number of reviews that are highly positive.

Search the gigabyte board and you get forums of issues from Raid to voltage issues.

Seems Gigabyte have cut corners too in making a budget 990fx board.

[Blackmage]

This is a very cut back 990fx board. No on external usb 3 header, no esata etc , too many corners cut just to make a cheap 990fx board.

Looking around I think the Asus board is the best bet.

Searching the Asus board comes up with a number of reviews that are highly positive.

Search the gigabyte board and you get forums of issues from Raid to voltage issues.

Seems Gigabyte have cut corners too in making a budget 990fx board.

For the price, please do check out the MSI 990FXA-GD80. It's the same price as the gigabyte one.

[Brewster0101]

For the price, please do check out the MSI 990FXA-GD80. It's the same price as the gigabyte one.

Your comparing the prices on Scan. Scan's price on the gigabyte board is £30 too high.

The MSI GD80 is around £150. £30-£35 more than the Asus

Also searching this MSI board pulls up alot of negative talk. Interesting review here :

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/...board_review/3

[Blackmage]

Your comparing the prices on Scan. Scan's price on the gigabyte board is £30 too high.

The MSI GD80 is around £150. £30-£35 more than the Asus

Also searching this MSI board pulls up alot of negative talk. Interesting review here :

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/...board_review/3

Ummm, seems that they've gone and made a bios even worse than there P67 bios. I mean MSI really need a kick up the ass in this department.

[c.ruel]

I have a 990fxa-ud5 motherboard, I wasn't able to find any reviews of it before I bought it. Sorry to highjack the thread but what are the voltage issues you speak of!?

[Brewster0101]

I have a 990fxa-ud5 motherboard, I wasn't able to find any reviews of it before I bought it. Sorry to highjack the thread but what are the voltage issues you speak of!?

http://www.overclock.net/amd-motherb...owners-37.html

This is the biggest thread about many issues including the voltage problems. Also there is one on the official gigabyte forums.