AM2 mainboard reviews / recommendations

peach1971 · Oct 26, 2007

As my personal small contribution to AMD I´ve decided that my next hardware update (DDR2/ PCIe) will still be AMD based,
´cause I don´t want INTEL to possibly become "the one and only" in the year 20XX.

So this decision is more political, absolutely being aware that it will give me less performance compared to similar priced INTEL systems.

So I´m looking for some good AM2 mainboard reviews.
Recommendations for boards are also welcome, except for brand new chipsets, cause their pricing are usual way too mad.
Thanks a lot!

Jess Stingray · Oct 26, 2007

Asus Crosshair. Best AM2 board out there, ATM.

peach1971 · Oct 26, 2007

Thanks, but I just want a GOOD board, not necessarily the BEST board.

Price limit set to 100 EUR / 140 US$ / 160 AU$ / 70 GBP
by rationality.

pt · Oct 26, 2007

Foxconn C51XEM2AA, best board i ever had, 590sli chipset btw, and it ain't very expensive

peach1971 · Oct 26, 2007

Sorry, forgot to mention: no Foxconn for me.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/26/ipod-city-admits-labor-law-violations/

pt · Oct 26, 2007

hum
why not?
also try to find the biostar tforce mobo's, they're great oc for little money

EviLZeD · Oct 26, 2007

asus m2n-e cheap and decent or my board m2n32 sli deluxe has loads of features

WBaS · Oct 26, 2007

I hear good things about the DFI LANparty boards. As mentioned the Crossair is extremely good. I've heard decent things about the Biostar TForce boards as well, although I question their long-term lifespan

pt · Oct 26, 2007

EviLZeD said:
asus m2n-e cheap and decent or my board m2n32 sli deluxe has loads of features

m2n-e = 3 months of torture to me, the worst mobo i ever had

pbmaster · Oct 26, 2007

DFI boards are great, a little expensive though. I have the Asus M2N SLI Deluxe and it's one of the best I've ever used. Plenty of features, easy to setup and use, and it OC's very well. I can get my 6000+ to 257 FSB easy. In your price range too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131013

affinity0 · Oct 26, 2007

Well, if your like me and you want to stick with AMD completely, i have the ASUS M2R32-MVP with the AMD 580X chipset and i have a 3600+ Brisbane clocked at 2.94GHzx stable, the base clock is at 310, which is all the motherboard hasm, but thats pretty good i would say. Its defiantly worth a lock, vry ovecockabled board, if thats your thing.

peach1971 · Oct 26, 2007

I need more tables like this:

wiak · Oct 27, 2007

MSI K9AGM2-FIH works fine and its nice for its price, MSI K9AGM3 might be better if you want more memory as it gots 4 slots vs 2 slots on MSI K9AGM2-FIH
pair it with a X2 5000+ + OCZ Gold 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 PC6400 and radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB you got a nice system, and you need one driver package for system+graphics aka catalyst and two others for sound/network

Wile E · Oct 27, 2007

peach1971 said:
As my personal small contribution to AMD I´ve decided that my next hardware update (DDR2/ PCIe) will still be AMD based,
´cause I don´t want INTEL to possibly become "the one and only" in the year 20XX.

So this decision is more political, absolutely being aware that it will give me less performance compared to similar priced INTEL systems.

So I´m looking for some good AM2 mainboard reviews.
Recommendations for boards are also welcome, except for brand new chipsets, cause their pricing are usual way too mad.
Thanks a lot!

Do you overclock? What's the intended usage? Dual video cards ever a possibility?

wiak · Oct 27, 2007

Wile E said:
Do you overclock? What's the intended usage? Dual video cards ever a possibility?

better to ask, whats his €$ budget

Judas · Oct 27, 2007

wiak said:
better to ask, whats his €$ budget

Thats up there in post 3

Laurijan · Oct 27, 2007

Same problem here

I am buying an AM2 setup soon and have narrowed the motherboard I want to the ASUS nForce590 mobos.
They are M2N32-SLI Deluxe/Wireless Edition (154.90€), M2N32-SLI Premium Vista Edition (174.90 €), CROSSHAIR (200.90€)

Here are some reviews and related stuff of the Premium edition:
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI4NiwxLCw3MA==
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=8283
http://techreport.com/articles.x/11810/1
http://thegreenbutton.com/blogs/mike/archive/2007/01/24/161304.aspx
http://www.krunker.com/2007/02/11/t...mium-which-comes-with-asus-screenduo-display/

rhythmeister · Oct 27, 2007

I hear the TForce 550 kicks ass and I believe there's an updated version out/ coming out very soon

MilkyWay · Oct 27, 2007

Sli i dunno what board to say but Crossfire id suggest a msi k9a platinum its got all the basics overclocks good and i got mine for £45 so its about £45-£65, it has all the audio ports youd ever need has lots of usb ports, comes with a bracket for extra, only thing is it has no e-sata i think you can get a pci card for that but if you need e-sata then id look else where but for the price its better than the other single pci express mobos. It also recognized my ram straight away, the plus for MSI boards is the live update feature that searches for a bios online and updates the bios automatically handy if you dont have a floppy drive anymore.

Cpu id say a black edition am2 x2 6000+ if you have the cash or a black edition x2 5000+ if you want to save some money, they overclock fantastically and arnt that dear compared to intels offerings.

Id say you can get a cheaper AMD setup for the price to performance, id buy a crossfire or a sli board even if you didnt intend using either as the extra pci express slot can be used for soundcards or physics processors ect.

looks like you want SLI tho

panchoman · Oct 27, 2007

biostar tforce all the way! great budget ocing boards, i have the biostar tforce 550 and it's served me very well so far.

peach1971 · Oct 28, 2007

My two favorites so far:

MSI K9N SLI Platinum (NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI)

GigaByte M57SLI-S4 (NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI)

SLI, 6x S-ATA (RAID stuff) and SPDIF out are nice features.
Anything to say about that Gigabyte board?

Any experiences with that unlocked X2 5000+ 65nm Black Edition yet?

Wile E · Oct 28, 2007

Can't comment directly on the Gigabyte board, but you may also want to consider the Biostar TForce 570SLI, if you're looking at 570SLI chipsets. Ram tweaks on the TForce boards are astounding, and you can do a vDimm voltmod on the TForce boards that only involves putting a variable resistor on 2 pins (instead of a jumper, so no soldering), giving you total control over ram voltage.

peach1971 · Oct 28, 2007

Biostar TF570 SLI

So how about the noise of that chipset cooler?
Is it okay?

Damn, I wish there would be a lot more GOOD AM2 board reviews on the internet. :cry:

Wile E · Oct 28, 2007

peach1971 said:
Biostar TF570 SLI

So how about the noise of that chipset cooler?
Is it okay?

Damn, I wish there would be a lot more GOOD AM2 board reviews on the internet.

I haven't heard anyone complain about the noise, but that doesn't really mean anything. There's a whole forum of enthusiasts dedicated to the Tforce boards. I'll try to find it.

Wile E · Oct 28, 2007

Found it.

http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sis...orum;f=53;hardset=0;start_point=0;DaysPrune=0

Processor	AMD Phenom II X2 550 @3600MHz (VCore -0.05V)
Motherboard	Gigabyte MA-780G-DS3H (AMD SB700), BIOS: 04/14/09
Cooling	Scythe Samurai cooled by 2x Enermax Warp 80mm ~700 RPM
Memory	2x 1GB GeIL Ultra DDR2-800 @1066 CL4-5-5-15 2T
Video Card(s)	MSI R4830 OC (HD4830)
Storage	Samsung 400 GB S-ATA, WD 400GB S-ATA
Display(s)	Samsung 2433BW 1920 x 1200 Pixel (16:10)
Case	timeless office tower ;)
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar D1
Power Supply	be quiet! Straight Power BQT E7-400W
Software	Windows XP Pro 32bit

Processor	Intel Core i7-7700K
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix Z270E Gaming
Cooling	Arctic Cooling Freezer i11
Memory	4x 8GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX @ 2133MHz
Video Card(s)	2x NVIDIA GTX 1080 Ti FEs
Storage	512GB SSD, 2x2TB HDD
Display(s)	AOC U2879VF, AOC G2260VWQ6
Case	Corsair 750D Airflow Edition
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 850G
Software	Windows 10 x64 Pro

Processor	AMD Phenom II X2 550 @3600MHz (VCore -0.05V)
Motherboard	Gigabyte MA-780G-DS3H (AMD SB700), BIOS: 04/14/09
Cooling	Scythe Samurai cooled by 2x Enermax Warp 80mm ~700 RPM
Memory	2x 1GB GeIL Ultra DDR2-800 @1066 CL4-5-5-15 2T
Video Card(s)	MSI R4830 OC (HD4830)
Storage	Samsung 400 GB S-ATA, WD 400GB S-ATA
Display(s)	Samsung 2433BW 1920 x 1200 Pixel (16:10)
Case	timeless office tower ;)
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar D1
Power Supply	be quiet! Straight Power BQT E7-400W
Software	Windows XP Pro 32bit

Processor	AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-60 (Trinidad)
Motherboard	ASUS F3Ka (ATI RS690M)
Cooling	stock
Memory	Nanya 2x1GB ddr2 667@5-5-5-15-2T
Video Card(s)	ATI Mobility Radeon HD2600 512MB DDR2@ 580mhz/486mhz
Storage	160GB on laptop+250GB external
Display(s)	ASUS 15.4
Case	Asus Laptop F3Ka chassis
Audio Device(s)	on-board
Power Supply	1:30minutes battery
Software	"genui xp", 'cause i hated vista

Processor	AMD Phenom II X2 550 @3600MHz (VCore -0.05V)
Motherboard	Gigabyte MA-780G-DS3H (AMD SB700), BIOS: 04/14/09
Cooling	Scythe Samurai cooled by 2x Enermax Warp 80mm ~700 RPM
Memory	2x 1GB GeIL Ultra DDR2-800 @1066 CL4-5-5-15 2T
Video Card(s)	MSI R4830 OC (HD4830)
Storage	Samsung 400 GB S-ATA, WD 400GB S-ATA
Display(s)	Samsung 2433BW 1920 x 1200 Pixel (16:10)
Case	timeless office tower ;)
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar D1
Power Supply	be quiet! Straight Power BQT E7-400W
Software	Windows XP Pro 32bit

AM2 mainboard reviews / recommendations

peach1971

Jess Stingray

peach1971

pt

not a suicide-bomber

peach1971

pt

not a suicide-bomber

EviLZeD

New Member

WBaS

New Member

pt

not a suicide-bomber

pbmaster

New Member

affinity0

New Member

peach1971

wiak

Wile E

Power User

wiak

Judas

Laurijan

rhythmeister

MilkyWay

panchoman

Sold my stars!

peach1971

Wile E

Power User

peach1971

Wile E

Power User

Wile E

Power User

System Name	Ez - 1st custom
Processor	AMD Phenom x3 8450
Motherboard	Asus m3a78-em
Cooling	thermaltake mini typhoon :D aerogate fan controller
Memory	6gb corsair xms 2 800mhz ddr2
Video Card(s)	xpertvision HD 4850 1GB ddr3 sonic 685/1000
Storage	Corsair 128gb SSD, 2x 250GB maxtor 16mb cache raid 0, 500gb 32mb cache storage
Display(s)	AMD surround view 2x e172fp 17" 1x dell e248wfp 24"
Case	coolermaster elite 330
Audio Device(s)	creative audigy se
Power Supply	hiper type r 580watt
Software	Windows 7 x64

Processor	AMD Athlon64 X2 6000+ @3.16Ghz 1.4v
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-M61P-S3
Cooling	Stock
Memory	2x 1GB DDR2-800 Crucial Ballistix @904Mhz 5-5-5-15 2.2v
Video Card(s)	XFX 7900GS @540/870
Storage	Old PATA Western Digital
Case	X-Superalien
Audio Device(s)	X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Power Supply	Corsair 520HX 520W
Software	Windows XP

Processor	AMD Phenom II 955
Motherboard	Asus Crosshair III Formula
Cooling	Cooler Master V8 CPU cooler, 120 mm and 200 mm exhaust, 3 x 120 mm intake
Memory	4 GB OCZ DDR3 1600
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Radeon HD 4890
Storage	Western Digital 500 GB Blacks in RAID 0/ Wesdtern Digital SE16 250 GB
Display(s)	Acer 19" widescreen
Case	Antec Nine Hundred
Audio Device(s)	Supreme X-Fi
Power Supply	Seasonic M12 SS-700HM
Software	Windows Vista Home Premium x64 SP2
Benchmark Scores	3dMark 03-~62k 3dMark 05-~22k 3dMark 06-18268

Processor	Ryzen 5900X
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550I AORUS PRO AX 1.1
Cooling	Noctua NB-U12A
Memory	2x 32GB Fury DDR4 3200mhz
Video Card(s)	PowerColor Radeon 5700 XT Red Dragon
Storage	Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB PCIe 4.0
Display(s)	2x Dell U2412M
Case	Phanteks P400A
Audio Device(s)	Hifimediy Sabre 9018 USB DAC
Power Supply	Corsair AX850 (from 2012)
Software	Windows 10?

System Name	The ClusterF**k
Processor	980X @ 4Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 BIOS F12
Cooling	MCR-320, DDC-1 pump w/Bitspower res top (1/2" fittings), Koolance CPU-360
Memory	3x2GB Mushkin Redlines 1600Mhz 6-8-6-24 1T
Video Card(s)	Evga GTX 580
Storage	Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB, 2xSeagate 320GB RAID0; 2xSeagate 3TB; 2xSamsung 2TB; Samsung 1.5TB
Display(s)	HP LP2475w 24" 1920x1200 IPS
Case	Technofront Bench Station
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Fi Forte into Onkyo SR606 and Polk TSi200's + RM6750
Power Supply	ENERMAX Galaxy EVO EGX1250EWT 1250W
Software	Win7 Ultimate N x64, OSX 10.8.4

System Name	Beatle _ Juice
Processor	Ryzen 5 3600 X (oc 4,2 ghz) 1.325v
Motherboard	Asus Rog Strix B450 F
Cooling	Noctua NH-U14S (twin fans)
Memory	16 gb 3200 Mhz Kingston Hyper X (CL15-18-18)
Video Card(s)	ASUS Nvidia Cerberus Gtx 1070ti
Storage	Samsung 860 EVO 250 GB / Samsung F3 1TB / Kingston A400 240 GB
Display(s)	Asus 27 " MG279Q ips 140hz
Case	Cooler Master ATCS. 840
Audio Device(s)	On Board
Power Supply	Seasonic 650W Focus
Software	Windows10 Home Premium 64bit

System Name	Enslaver :)
Processor	Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	ASUS TUF Gaming B650-Plus
Cooling	CPU: Noctua NH-D14 with LED fans, Case: 2 front in - 1 rear out
Memory	2x16GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB 6000MHz
Video Card(s)	ASUS TUF RTX 4070Ti OC
Storage	Samsung Evo Plus 1TB NVMe , internal WD Red 4TB for storage, WD Book 8TB
Display(s)	LG CX OLED 65"
Case	Lian Li LANCOOL II Mesh C Performance
Audio Device(s)	HDMI audio powering Dolby Digital audio on 5.1 Z960 speaker system
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x
Mouse	Logitech G700
Keyboard	ASUS Strix Tactic Pro
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64

System Name	Jezebelle
Processor	i5 4690K
Motherboard	MSI Z97M-G43
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12
Memory	2x8GB Ballistix Sport
Video Card(s)	GTX 1070 Ti
Storage	Sandisk Ultra II 480GB, Sammy 1TB F3
Display(s)	BenQ Xl2411Z
Case	Fractal Define Mini
Audio Device(s)	Onboard Realtek 7.1 HD, does the job!
Power Supply	Enermax Infiniti 720W
Keyboard	Logitech G15
Software	Winblows 10 Pro

Processor	Amd Athlon X2 4600+ Windsor(90nm) EE(65W) @2.9-3.0 @1.45
Motherboard	Biostar Tforce [Nvidia] 550
Cooling	Thermaltake Blue Orb-- bunch of other fans here and there....
Memory	2 gigs (2x1gb) of patriot ddr2 800 @ 4-4-4-12-2t
Video Card(s)	Sapphire X1950pro Pci-E x16 @stock@stock on stock
Storage	Seagate 7200.11 250gb Drive, WD raptors (30/40) in Raid 0
Display(s)	ANCIENT 15" sony lcd, bought it when it was like 500 bucks
Case	Apevia X-plorer blue/black
Audio Device(s)	Onboard- Why get an sound card when you can hum??
Power Supply	Antec NeoHe 550-manufactured by seasonic -replacement to the discontinued smart power series
Software	Windows XP pro SP2 -- vista is still crap