Phenom Motherboards

[llololloy]

Am trying to put together a quad core phenom system for a friend, but there seem to be very few reviews of phenom boards.
Was hoping one of you guys could help (I've only followed intel for the last few years).
It needs to be amd and not intel as the guy is not only an amd fan, but it needs to be capable of dropping in a new cpu in a year or 2 witout a rebuild.
Had been looking at Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 but found a few shop user reviews saying it caught on fire. Also, only as 4 sata ports, more would be better.
Budget is around £60-£80
He's not bothered about overclocking, stability and features are the main priorities. Also would like to be able to fit the asus silent night cooler (he likes the look of it).
Cheers for any suggestions.

[Zhaoman]

In the less-than-forseable future AMD will release socket AM3 so he won't be able to drop in a new processor in 2 years time. New 45nm Phenoms will fit though but that'll be like upgrading Q6600 with Q9300.

On topic: The DS6 is the recommended motherboard from CPC for some reason. It costs £110 but they usually recommend boards because of performance, stability and overclocking potential. It's quite disconcerting to know that a motherboard can make 25% difference to Crysis performance so it might be worth paying the extra...

[llololloy]

I thought that AM3 cpus would drop into am2+ boards (as they have both ddr3 and ddr2 controllers on board) but you can't put am2+ cpu in am3 board.

[kalniel]

I thought that AM3 cpus would drop into am2+ boards (as they have both ddr3 and ddr2 controllers on board) but you can't put am2+ cpu in am3 board.

Yes, that was my impression as well.

Look for motherboards with the new SB750 southbridge - at the moment I think that's only the Foxconn A79A-S but more will be arriving very soon. I know he's not concerned about overclocking, but it sounds like a nice chipset regardless.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...oc.aspx?i=3360

[BUFF]

a 780g mobo would get you 6 SATA ports.
I know that abit's A-S78H supports all current Phenoms bar the 9950 & it's only £45.
http://www.abit.com.tw/cpu-support-l...780_a-s78h.htm

[llololloy]

Cheers guys.
Buff, why doesn't it support 9950, is it because of the power draw?
Not really looking at mATX boards either, but ta for the suggestion.
Having spoken to him again, sli may be an option (he's not keen on ati cards, god knows why), so I'm now looking into the gigabyte GA-M750SLI-DS4.
Shame, as that msi K9A2 Platinum with quad crossfire looks impressive.

[mercyground]

Yep its basically the power draw. The budget boards were never designed to suck up the 125W chips. They blow the mosfets. Check the websites of boards and check the CPU lists. It has to be listed there to support it. Its rather a minefield.

[staffsMike]

Cheers guys.
Buff, why doesn't it support 9950, is it because of the power draw?

because that little gem sucks 140W

Better than central heating

[BUFF]

I imagine that it's because the 9950 is a 140W part rather than the 125W or less of all the others.
As for mATX if it does all that you need does it matter the board's physical size?
Think that Gigabyte do a full ATX 780g though.

GA-M750SLI-DS4 is going to be over your £80 budget.

[llololloy]

Just to let you guys know (and thanks for the help and info) I ended up ordering the abit AN78GS.
Kept the costs down, seems to have everything I wanted, doesn't have sli (but does have hybrid sli which'll come in handy down the line).
Will be building it all tomorrow so will report back with successes / failures encountered.