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Thread: Motherboard for Overclocking? 990X/990FX Chipset

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    Senior Member mikeo01's Avatar
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    Motherboard for Overclocking? 990X/990FX Chipset

    Hi all I am looking at getting a new motherboard, my current one (ASUS M5A97 PRO) is going off for a repair check for some POST problems.

    What motherboard would you suggest for some overclocking? Preferable a 4.5Ghz overclock. AM3+ FX-6100 Bulldozer.
    £85 max

    I was looking at these:
    Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3
    Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 (If I can get it for £85)
    M5A99X EVO (If I can get it cheaper)

    Also some other boards:
    ASRock 990FX Extreme3
    ASRock 990FX Extreme4


    Basically what board do you think would be good. The reviews for the ASRock 990FX are really good and apparently it's tolerant with overclocking.

    Any other motherboards would be great, so thanks for any suggestions.

    I am currently looking at Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 vs ASRock 990FX Extreme4(Unsure, the CMOS battery is placed in a stupid position, by the AM3+ socket) at the moment for the same price.

    Mainly looking for a sturdy motherboard that will last years and to do some overclocking, to get my FX to 4.5Ghz+. Not for 24/7 use, just to push it to see. I would like to get a 24/7 stable of 4.4/4.5Ghz though. So basically what board would offer reliability and nice overclocking.

    Thanks

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    Moosing about! CAT-THE-FIFTH's Avatar
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    Re: Motherboard for Overclocking? 990X/990FX Chipset

    You have to be careful with many of the Gigabyte motherboards as they had throttling issues with Bulldozer CPUs in earlier BIOS revisions. AFAIK,this has been solved now,but I would make sure. The VRMs on the Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 seem to run hot as the VRM cooling is insufficient due to what I have read.

    The M5A99X EVO uses the same VRM section as your current motherboard although it has slightly better VRM cooling. Pob has one in his build which you can check in this thread:

    http://forums.hexus.net/pc-hardware/...waysgrade.html

    I am still suprised with the issues you had with your motherboard,as I know two mates who have one and had no issues - I suspect you might have a faulty motherboard or some incompatability somewhere. Also,remember if you are increasing CPU-NB,you will be limited by your RAM.

    Edit!!

    Here is a review of the AsRock motherboard:

    http://www.overclockers.com/asrock-990fx-extreme4

    Considering its pricing it looks good value for money but seems to have its own issues:

    http://www.overclock.net/t/1218831/p...990fx-extreme4

    http://www.overclock.net/t/1193173/t...990fx-extreme4

    However,an FX8120 does push a motherboard more when overclock AFAIK.
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 18-05-2012 at 01:07 PM.

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    Senior Member mikeo01's Avatar
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    Re: Motherboard for Overclocking? 990X/990FX Chipset

    Well I should rule out the Gigabyte board then because my large heatsink will make it ten times worse. It knocks up the VRMs temperature about 8c hotter.

    I am looking at the ASRock 990FX Extreme4 at the moment, heard anything about that. I am not going to look at the ASRock 990FX Extreme 3 (4+1 power phase :|).

    I thought the M5A99X Evo had 8+2 power phase, just checked yeah its only 6+2. I am more looking at the 990X/990FX chipset.

    On another forum someone got in contact with AMD, and apparently the 970 chipset really limits overclocking abilities with the FX processor.
    My motherboard probably has a fault somewhere, the random hiccups with Windows, non-booting problems all seems a bit strange.

    The M5A99X Evo uses the 990FX chipset that's why I was looking at it better overclocking for FX processors. Its a bit expensive for my liking. I am not too sure about ASRock 990FX Extreme4, they're boards look a bit cheap, they do use good features solid capacitors etc but not too sure.

    I do like the look of the Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3, there is a refurbished GA-990FXA-UD3, is there any big difference between the 990X and the 990FX chipset? It has 8+2, and obviously if their new BIOS release has sorted out the heat issue would it be a good choice for overclocking?
    I could try slapping a 40mm fan on the heatsink though.

    Yeah about my current motherboard, genuinely gutted the way its gone besides the only good feature is that it has fan control. It overclocks just as bad as my last M5A78L-M/USB3 board, that had a 760G chipset with 4+2 power phase.

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    Re: Motherboard for Overclocking? 990X/990FX Chipset

    I am a bit surprised the 970 should limit overclocking of FX CPUs(unless of course the AMD chap was being cunning an trying to push people towards the more expensive 990X and 990FX motherboards). The VRM sections are more or less the same on many of the 970 motherboards when compared to the higher end 990X and 990FX motherboards.

    The 990FX has a pair of PCI-E 2.0 16X slots instead of the PCI-E 2.0 8X slots in the 990X.

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    Re: Motherboard for Overclocking? 990X/990FX Chipset

    Hmm maybe. In regards to the CPU/NB, I actually underclock the RAM and keep the timings the same, so when I up the FSB/HTT the RAM isn't the factory of instability. I have found this RAM (Eudar) can actually overclock decently, I have got it up to 1450mhz instead of its default 1333mhz. Obviously I don't run it at this, but yeah I underclock the RAM before overclocking the CPU using the FSB/HTT or multiplier.

    Many people have problems on another forum I was on with my board, that they find lockups/freezing to occur when the multiplier is set to 20 or above. Same for me, the max mulitplier I can set it 19.

    Someone suggested the VRMs can't provide enough current/power, because of the high voltage requirements when you overclock using the FSB/HTT and multiplier.

    They haven't released another BIOS update for this board, so who knows. Considering other people have the same problem, all on this board I think it may just be the board limitations. Which is gutting.

    It could possibly be just this board ASUS have decided to limit things, or power usage settings in the mosfet drivers etc. Considering you more or less have to use load line calibration for any overclocking it does say a lot about this board

    There is also a MSI board, the MSI 990XA-GD55. In terms of reliability and good overclocking, out of personal choice which would you think would be a decent choice

    MSI 990XA-GD55
    Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3

    Or any other motherboards I may take a look at. Scan have the MSI for £85, the Gigabyte is £88.

    I only need x8 so I can put my graphics card lower down, have some better cooling space between that and the HSF

    EDIT:
    If its worth going for that refurbished Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 for £68.99 over the GA-990XA-UD3
    Last edited by mikeo01; 18-05-2012 at 02:10 PM.

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    Re: Motherboard for Overclocking? 990X/990FX Chipset

    Unbelievable, just took about 2 hours fiddling about, would not POST. LED Flash, VGA error. Messed about with it, no POST, next time, BIOS Splash Screen, blank screen when booting Windows.

    I finally got onto Windows, I had to actually loosen the GPU out of the PCI-E slot to get the thing to POST. GPU is fine, it's got to be the PCI-E lane or NB causing issues.

    EDIT: ouch, the NB shouldn't be THAT hot. Not going with ASUS again that's for sure
    Last edited by mikeo01; 18-05-2012 at 08:54 PM.

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    Re: Motherboard for Overclocking? 990X/990FX Chipset

    Not a fan of gigabytes. I almost melted mine overclocking my Phenom X6. Physically burned the entire mobo area by the VRMS from gigabyte blue to burny green

    It still works - but not worth it for overclocking.

    Butuz

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    Re: Motherboard for Overclocking? 990X/990FX Chipset

    The M5A99X Evo uses the 990X not 990FX, they are both base on the RD990, the FX supports more graphics card pci-e lanes (32total instead of 16total)

    The M5A99X evo has got a massive amount of voltage controls within the BIOS, it's lees than £10 more than the gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3

    On you're current OC you might want to lower the HT, I seem to remember that increasing FSB increases the HT speed which could well be over straining the northbridge

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    Senior Member mikeo01's Avatar
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    Re: Motherboard for Overclocking? 990X/990FX Chipset

    Wow,you melted it. That's put me off Gigabye straight away

    And pob255, I lowered the NB speed along with the CPU/NB to avoid problems. But if its straining the northbridge I am not really going to get a good overclock with this board either way.

    A lot of people over at overclock.net have problems with this board, multiplier can't be set over 20 and its difficult to overclock with the FSB and mutliplier together.

    Would it be worth getting the M5A99X over this?

    I think my board is totaled anyway. Let the mobo to cool, came back and loosened the graphics card. Got the board to POST and ran a VGA stess test. 10 seconds in artefacts, straight after screen corruption. Gone. So in less than 10 minutes my NB went from cold to scorching hot.

    I am going to send to scan soon, had this board about a month so it must have been defective on arrival.

    Might be worth getting that M5A99X if its cheap.

    I preferably want a 8+2 VRM board, but don't really want to spend more than 85 because my current board has gone down in price, so won't be able to sell the replacement board at a reasonable price.

    I don't want to chance this board again in case the same thing happens. The NB always ran cool though.

    I have a think about all the boards I posted and see which one seems reasonable, they all seem to have flaws in some areas.

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    Re: Motherboard for Overclocking? 990X/990FX Chipset

    OK not sure now it could be my graphics card. Won't POST, but I have to get it right to get it to boot, but because of the graphical errors I don't know whether to blame the mobo for this or not. Because of my other problems I am not sure whether its just my mobo playing up or my graphics card causing the problems.

    Touched my GPU, boiling. Finally got on and the temperature is right down, after fiddling with it. Won't stress it, I think that'll cause mayhem. Without the GPU the PC boot, can heard Windows on my speakers.

    Don't know whether the NB has given up, or whether my GPU is really gone for good. Because my mobo has booted now, thats how I am typing this all seems normal. Hmm, can a dying graphics card sometimes work and not others?

    Or can a mobo cause non-POSTs and graphical errors (it does and the NB is super hot).
    Hmm

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