Need help deciding on AMD mobo

[morfeus]

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade my current setup which is an AMD BE21xx 2.1GHz energy eff CPU on an asus m2v-mx mobo with 2x 2GB Crucial (DDR2) basic memory (and an nvidia 7600gt).

I have bought an Athlon II X3 435 2.9GHz but am still looking for a suitable mobo.

I really need to re-use my 4GB of DDR2 ram, as otherwise it will be too expensive. My budget for the mobo is upto about £80-£90 MAX (ideally around the £50 would be better), and I need at 5+ SATA connections.

Anything obvious spring to mind?

[Champman99]

It depends on how many expansion slots you need, whether you plan on overclocking etc, but although I would usually recommend a 700 series AMD chipset I was recommended this when buying a CPU for unlocking a few days ago

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...68C-S-UCC.html

DDR2 and DDR3 support, so you could upgrade down the line (although negligable performance increase)

Plus its dirt cheap. - although only 4 SATAS which I guess rules it out for you!

The 770, or 790 chipsets are pretty good, with the 790 obviosuly costing more

I would recommend the MSI 770-C45 which is pretty highly thought of though not in stock everywhere

This Gigabyte MB would not be a bad choice either.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...D3-Motherboard

I have to say though, in my experience if you arent overclocking, apart from brand loyalty/reliability if it has all the slots you need, get whatever is cheapest! In pretty much anything thats listed as AM2+ you will be able to use an AM3 CPU with DDR2 memory.

[cub1061]

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...68C-S-UCC.html

DDR2 and DDR3 support, so you could upgrade down the line (although negligable performance increase)

Plus its dirt cheap. - although only 4 SATAS which I guess rules it out for you!

I am currently using one of the mentioned mobo from Asrock with my 4 gigs of ddr 2 memory. As this support both ddr2 and ddr3 it will give me option for future upgrades.

[Rob_B]

I'm not too up on mobos so can only recommend the one I've got as I know it fits your criteria.

Asus M3N78-VM ~ £50 (mATX)

AM2+ (I've got an X3 435 in it)
HDMI / DVI / VGA out
4 x DIMM slots
Onboard 8200 (always a fallback)
1 x PCIe x16
1 x PCIe x1
2 x PCI
5 x SATA + 1 external
12 x USB 2.0

[morfeus]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice Champman99.

4x Sata is no good as I have 4x HDDs (and therefore have the optical disconnectd at the moment

Brand loyalty isn't really an issue - apart from AMD CPUs of course! I'm just a little more familiar with asus.

Also, their Express Gate thing (browse net without starting windows - using linux from firmware, presumably?) sounded good - I haven't seen anything similar from any other mobo maker.

[morfeus]

I am currently using one of the mentioned mobo from Asrock with my 4 gigs of ddr 2 memory. As this support both ddr2 and ddr3 it will give me option for future upgrades.

I remember an old ASrock board (S462 era) which had both AGP and PCI-E slots. Was very useful as I didn't need to throw away my existing AGP card when I upgraded. They are good boards (ASrock is an asus brand, I believe) but this one is no good for me due to lack of 5+ SATA ports.

[morfeus]

I'm not too up on mobos so can only recommend the one I've got as I know it fits your criteria.

Asus M3N78-VM ~ £50 (mATX)

AM2+ (I've got an X3 435 in it)
HDMI / DVI / VGA out
4 x DIMM slots
Onboard 8200 (always a fallback)
1 x PCIe x16
1 x PCIe x1
2 x PCI
5 x SATA + 1 external
12 x USB 2.0

Hey, thanks for this suggestion. This has more or less all the things I need. I am now leaning towards going with an AMD chipset eg 700 series with a 710/750 SB (for poss unlocking of the 4th core

[morfeus]

Thanks to everybody reading and replying to this. Update:

I need:

at least 5 SATA ports
Gigabit LAN (most tend to have this, right?)
DDR2 ram slots
can be ATX or mATX (PCI slots not an issue)
AM2+ or AM3 (for the Athlon II X3 435)

I WANT:

6 SATA ports (for future expansion)
4x DDR2 ram slots (future expansion)
6+ USB ports at back
Ability to (potentially) unlock 4th core (ACC)

And all this for less than £90. Not asking for too much, ja?

Now having done some reading, I'm wondering if the AMD 785 chipset or the 790 is better. Apparently the 785 is newer...

[morfeus]

OK, how does the Asus M4A785D-M PRO or Asus M4A785-M compare to the Asus M3A78-T ?

Weirdly, the PRO version only has 5 SATA ports because they have moved to to the back (1x External SATA), whereas the non-PRO version has all of them internal only (6 ports).

[cub1061]

Thanks to everybody reading and replying to this. Update:

I need:

at least 5 SATA ports
Gigabit LAN (most tend to have this, right?)
DDR2 ram slots
can be ATX or mATX (PCI slots not an issue)
AM2+ or AM3 (for the Athlon II X3 435)

I WANT:

6 SATA ports (for future expansion)
4x DDR2 ram slots (future expansion)
6+ USB ports at back
Ability to (potentially) unlock 4th core (ACC)

And all this for less than £90. Not asking for too much, ja?

Now having done some reading, I'm wondering if the AMD 785 chipset or the 790 is better. Apparently the 785 is newer...

What about this one from Scan.
http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=27261
It ticks all the boxes and it on Scan's Today Only this weekend for £87

[Biscuit]

personally i dont like asrock... find the build quality to be quite poor

[Champman99]

Id recommend something with the SB750 rather than SB710, better for unlocking afaik, and also has more RAID options.

I only say this because I didnt think I wanted any RAID, and then when I came to want a RAID5 I assumed my 760G MB would support it and it didnt, most annoying! Motherboards are always about thinking ahead!

[dfour]

Asus M3A78-T, AMD 790GX, SAM2+, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2 1066/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX, VGA

http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=27262

On sale one day only for £50 instead of £76, im gonna get one later for another build myself. A nice 5000+ and se if I can have some unlocking goodness

[morfeus]

Asus M3A78-T, AMD 790GX, SAM2+, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2 1066/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX, VGA

http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=27262

On sale one day only for £50 instead of £76, im gonna get one later for another build myself. A nice 5000+ and se if I can have some unlocking goodness

Hey thanks for the link. Do you know if this board will definitely work with the athlon II x3? Without a bios update?

[dfour]

Hey thanks for the link. Do you know if this board will definitely work with the athlon II x3? Without a bios update?

It supports the x3 435 from bios 1701

http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID...ntent=overview

Cant find a bios list to cant tell you if its the latest oen. Dont foget this offer might change tommorow (monday) at 13:00 and its almost a £30 saving made here

If you do need to mae a bios update ezflash is so easy and stable to use its no problem. Used it 4 times so far on my current m4a79 deluxe

[morfeus]

It supports the x3 435 from bios 1701

http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID...ntent=overview

Cant find a bios list to cant tell you if its the latest oen. Dont foget this offer might change tommorow (monday) at 13:00 and its almost a £30 saving made here

If you do need to mae a bios update ezflash is so easy and stable to use its no problem. Used it 4 times so far on my current m4a79 deluxe

Hi all,

Thanks for all your time and advice. have decided to go for the SB750 equipped M3A78-T from scan on their today only page

Will try to let you all know how I get on with it in a few days time.