Best mobo for AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 Black Edition

Team Spicoli

Member
Dec 11, 2008
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0
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Hello everyone,

I just snagged the aforementioned CPU, and I would appreciate some guidance with respect to pairing it up with a stellar MOBO. I've heard/read about EVGA's excellent warranty, and customer support, and I keep seeing DFI pop-up all over the net. SOOO, I mainly will be downloading, and streaming HD content, multi-tasking various applications, and VERY light gaming!!

I was initially set on going with an ASUS board, but I've been steered towards EVGA by a friend, and I'm intrigued by the raves over DFI boards.

Just give me your top picks, and I'll go with the common "theme".

Thanks to all in advance!!

Take care,
T.S.
 

ramj70

Senior member
Aug 24, 2004
764
1
81
The Asus mobo in my sig has worked great so far, I've always used Asus in the past and have never had a problem. I don't OC so I couldn't give any info on that.
 

CraigRT

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
31,440
5
0
I'm considering Gigabytes lately, the UD4P is really nicely equipped and isn't the astronomic price of some of those eVGA boards.
 

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
I'm considering Gigabytes lately, the UD4P is really nicely equipped and isn't the astronomic price of some of those eVGA boards.

That is a great board, built comp for my dad with it with a 940 as well. I have used gigabyte in the past and would have used it for my comp but was out of stock.

I think any board suggested in this thread will do you well, stick to Asus, gigabyte or foxconn and you will do alright just stay away from the cheap crap(jetway, ECS etc.)
 

StarsFan4Life

Golden Member
May 28, 2008
1,199
0
0
I'm considering Gigabytes lately, the UD4P is really nicely equipped and isn't the astronomic price of some of those eVGA boards.

I have this board and the chip mentioned above...8gb ram, Caviar Black drives....runs like a CHAMP!
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,585
30,836
146
I'm considering Gigabytes lately, the UD4P is really nicely equipped and isn't the astronomic price of some of those eVGA boards.

this Mobo + the 945 = $180 at Fry's right now. I'm thinking of picking one up in a few hours.

this Mobo is DDR2, correct? the Fry's add says DDR3, but I think it's a misprint.
 

spinejam

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2005
3,503
1
81
just picked up a cheap gigabyte ma785gm-us2h and an AMD x2 550 BE from newegg and it's prime stable (small fft) @ 3825mhz w/ unlock of 4 cores! :)

hard to beat that price / performance!
 

MalVeauX

Senior member
Dec 19, 2008
653
176
116
Heya,

It really depends on your other components. Your need for application, streaming and multi-tasking are covered with a simple dualcore and even a humble integrated GPU like the HD4200 or series 8 geforce integrated GPU's are more than enough for HD content playback regardless of you using a dualcore or quadcore.

So more appropriately it depends on what all you want out of the motherboard and what else you're going to be using with this machine setup. The motherboard it self will not matter when it comes to doing the tasks you mentioned (exception being an integrated GPU for HD playback, gaming, etc, unless you have a dedicated PCIe card for this that is recent).

Things to consider:

(1) AMD allows you to have AM2+ or AM3 boards for their new quadcores. The difference being the chipset, but at the end of the day, all it means is that you're using DDR2 memory or DDR3 memory. Prices as they are, it doesn't matter which you get because frankly DDR2 is the same price as DDR3 now (oddly). So you probably should just go DDR3 and get a motherboard based on that. And on that note, DDR3 works in pairs with AMD (the triple channel DDR3 is for i7 from Intel only, so don't overspend on a package set of 3 sticks of ram, as it won't do you any service).

(2) Overclocking is all the rage. I like to overclock and underclock (and undervolt) depending on what I'm trying to accomplish. The motherboard very much matters when it comes to overclocking. I assume you may be interested in this since you purchased a `black edition' CPU, which has the sole purpose of overclocking since the CPU multiplier is unlocked for overclocking purposes (giving it the title black edition). Which motherboard you get has a big part in how successful you overclock (and also, your RAM matters here too now that we're on the subject of overclocking).

(3) Components matter. How many drives will be plugged in? Is RAID necessary, and if so, which level of RAID do you need? Do you need integrated WiFi, or are you wired, or do you already have a WiFi addin card? Do you want an integrated GPU for HD playback and light gaming, or do you have a dedicated graphics card (PCIe) that is recent that you'll be using? Do you want ATX or micro ATX? Small case, large case? Will you ever consider SLI or crossfire (likely not, since you said light gaming, but you never know)? What about PCIe slots? Do you need a bunch? 1.0 or 2.0? It matters if you're using various add in cards like soundcoards, controller cards, TV tuners, etc, or if you need old PCI cards (not PCIe) and how many? All these little details matter when selecting the board.

(4) Finally, the last bullet, what price range are you considering? There are good offerings that are well up to $200+ for even an AMD board for someone who is serious into overclocking. Then again, you can get very good overclocking boards for sub-$100. Budget dictates which direction you go, and which features you're willing to spend your money on.

(By the way, I have the x4 955 black edition, so I was in the same boat basically not long ago; I've also used several boards for various purposes, including overclocking and undervolting.)

Very best, :)
 
Last edited:

Enigmatic

Member
Oct 8, 2005
55
0
0
If you go 790FX, there isn't really a bad board if you go ASUS, Gigabyte or MSI. And I think it's the easiest way to get x16x16 PCI-E lanes, which was important for me. My pick of choice would be the MSI 790FX-GD70, 4 PCI-e lanes (!), great OCing board, and if you have a window, it looks great.
 

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
13,310
687
126
OK, you guys are confusing him. PII 940 is an AM2+ CPU, which means it only works with DDR2. If the OP already has a 940, AM3 boards are out of question. If not, he should definitely consider an AM3 CPU instead of a 940.

And OP, EVGA makes high quality products and has an exceptional customer service, but unfortunately it stopped making AMD motherboards some time ago. You may run into older boards based on NForce chipsets, but they are not the best fit for PII CPUs.
 

Team Spicoli

Member
Dec 11, 2008
183
0
76
Heya,

It really depends on your other components. Your need for application, streaming and multi-tasking are covered with a simple dualcore and even a humble integrated GPU like the HD4200 or series 8 geforce integrated GPU's are more than enough for HD content playback regardless of you using a dualcore or quadcore.

So more appropriately it depends on what all you want out of the motherboard and what else you're going to be using with this machine setup. The motherboard it self will not matter when it comes to doing the tasks you mentioned (exception being an integrated GPU for HD playback, gaming, etc, unless you have a dedicated PCIe card for this that is recent).

Things to consider:

(1) AMD allows you to have AM2+ or AM3 boards for their new quadcores. The difference being the chipset, but at the end of the day, all it means is that you're using DDR2 memory or DDR3 memory. Prices as they are, it doesn't matter which you get because frankly DDR2 is the same price as DDR3 now (oddly). So you probably should just go DDR3 and get a motherboard based on that. And on that note, DDR3 works in pairs with AMD (the triple channel DDR3 is for i7 from Intel only, so don't overspend on a package set of 3 sticks of ram, as it won't do you any service).

(2) Overclocking is all the rage. I like to overclock and underclock (and undervolt) depending on what I'm trying to accomplish. The motherboard very much matters when it comes to overclocking. I assume you may be interested in this since you purchased a `black edition' CPU, which has the sole purpose of overclocking since the CPU multiplier is unlocked for overclocking purposes (giving it the title black edition). Which motherboard you get has a big part in how successful you overclock (and also, your RAM matters here too now that we're on the subject of overclocking).

(3) Components matter. How many drives will be plugged in? Is RAID necessary, and if so, which level of RAID do you need? Do you need integrated WiFi, or are you wired, or do you already have a WiFi addin card? Do you want an integrated GPU for HD playback and light gaming, or do you have a dedicated graphics card (PCIe) that is recent that you'll be using? Do you want ATX or micro ATX? Small case, large case? Will you ever consider SLI or crossfire (likely not, since you said light gaming, but you never know)? What about PCIe slots? Do you need a bunch? 1.0 or 2.0? It matters if you're using various add in cards like soundcoards, controller cards, TV tuners, etc, or if you need old PCI cards (not PCIe) and how many? All these little details matter when selecting the board.

(4) Finally, the last bullet, what price range are you considering? There are good offerings that are well up to $200+ for even an AMD board for someone who is serious into overclocking. Then again, you can get very good overclocking boards for sub-$100. Budget dictates which direction you go, and which features you're willing to spend your money on.

(By the way, I have the x4 955 black edition, so I was in the same boat basically not long ago; I've also used several boards for various purposes, including overclocking and undervolting.)

Very best, :)

Hey Mal!! Been a long time! Hope all is well!

Thanks for the guidance, and here's some more info.:

1.) Sounds like the PII Deneb that I have, is not compatible with DDR3 RAM according to another post, so I'm not sure what to do there;

2.) I would like to overclock, but just ever-so slightly. . . I don't plan on pushing the OC to it's limits because for one, I 've never OC'd before, and I also don't plan on playing many PC games, or anything that would require a significant OC. I would just like to increase the overall performance of my build (speed/processing power, etc.) I know you may tell that's overkill, but I just would rather have, and not need, than need at some point. . ya know?!;

3.) I will be using an Antec 900 case, and I purchased the EVGA GTX 260 graphics card; Also, I would like to purchase a dedicated soundcard as well, and possibly a TV tuner at some point as well, and WiFi would be nice!;

4.) I'm not too concerned with the price, as I'm willing to spend a bit more for exceptional quality.

Thanks again!! And Happy Holidays to you!
 

MalVeauX

Senior member
Dec 19, 2008
653
176
116
Hey Mal!! Been a long time! Hope all is well!

Thanks for the guidance, and here's some more info.:

1.) Sounds like the PII Deneb that I have, is not compatible with DDR3 RAM according to another post, so I'm not sure what to do there;

2.) I would like to overclock, but just ever-so slightly. . . I don't plan on pushing the OC to it's limits because for one, I 've never OC'd before, and I also don't plan on playing many PC games, or anything that would require a significant OC. I would just like to increase the overall performance of my build (speed/processing power, etc.) I know you may tell that's overkill, but I just would rather have, and not need, than need at some point. . ya know?!;

3.) I will be using an Antec 900 case, and I purchased the EVGA GTX 260 graphics card; Also, I would like to purchase a dedicated soundcard as well, and possibly a TV tuner at some point as well, and WiFi would be nice!;

4.) I'm not too concerned with the price, as I'm willing to spend a bit more for exceptional quality.

Thanks again!! And Happy Holidays to you!

Heya,

Doh! Correct, AM2+, not AM3. That's ok though. It only effects the choice between DDR2 and DDR3 ram. The only issue with you having an AMD CPU and going nVidia for your GPU means you have to be very selective of your motherboard if you want to every SLI (obviously not crossfire since you have nVidia). That limits you to specific chipsets. If you every plan on using SLI, then you have to get an nVidia chipset based recent motherboard. If you don't plan on SLI, you can get any chipset and be fine. Personally, I wouldn't bother with SLI. But it's your board, so you decide.

Here's a good overclocking, gaming, etc, motherboard:

TA790GXE

It's $80. Ships free. Takes any CPU up to 140W that is AM3, AM2+, AM2. It's the 790GX chipset and the SB750 chipset. These are excellent for overclocking should you ever go that route. The board takes DDR2 memory (any flavor, so 800, 1066, whatever you have/want), and takes up to 4 sticks, up to 16GB. Two PCIe 2.0, two PCIe 1.0, and 2 PCI slots. Huge expandability for all kinds of devices (TV tuner, WiFi, etc). It has 6 SATA ports and is RAID 0/1/5/10 capable. It also is AHCI capable so you can hotswap drives with ease (very handy). It comes with an onboard HD3300 GPU. This doesn't matter since you have a GTX260 already. But the nice thing about it is that if you ever want to go multi-monitor or add more than two displays to your setup, you can do it without buying another card because your onboard can add two more display outputs (HDMI and DVI output). And this board happens to be one of the ones that will allow you to have your onboard GPU active as well as a primary PCIe GPU active, so you can use both and have 4 displays active from this. Very nice for multi-display setups.

Now here's the cool feature. It has two PCIe 2.0 slots. The primary one (master) is actually in the middle of the board, instead of the first one. This is super handy and thoughtful. Why? Because normally these big dualslot GPU coolers drop down and cover up your other more valuable PCIe 1.0 slots on the board and puts the fan directly on another card under neat it should you have one there. Instead, they position it towards the bottom of the PCIe slots, so that the only slots it's over are the normal PCI slots. Less wasted revenue when using a huge dualslot GPU. That frees up your other two PCIe 1.0 slots for use, and your other PCIe 2.0 slot is the top slot. I mention this because you said TV tuner later on, and you'll want a PCIe Tuner, and this way, it's not sitting right on top of your GTX260's fan.

And finally, I have this board. I overclock with it with a PhenomII x4 955 Black Edition and Mugen2 cooler. I use the onboard HD3300 with my 8800GT to display on 3 different displays (2 monitors and 1 HDTV). It's a great board and will serve you well if you don't plan on going SLI. If you plan on SLI later, by all means, let me know and we'll get a new board.

Very best, :)
 

shaolin95

Senior member
Jul 8, 2005
624
1
81
I have used many of them, previously a big DFI guy with NF3 and NF4 and they both were great.
On my HTPC I use Asus and like the board a lot but my favorite is by far the AM3 Gigabyte I have in my sig. So, I guess Gigabyte gets my vote.
 
Dec 16, 2009
32
0
0
Here's a good overclocking, gaming, etc, motherboard:
TA790GXE

Just for general FYI - while that's a fine motherboard for an X4 like the OP has, it's not the greatest for an X2 or X3 build because Biostar disabled the ability to unlock disabled cores in one of their first BIOS updates. While you can get a hacked BIOS that will re-enable forced ACC, the usual disclaimers apply (may brick your m/b if you get a different revision, may be out of date, cause crashes, etc).
 

Team Spicoli

Member
Dec 11, 2008
183
0
76
Heya,

Doh! Correct, AM2+, not AM3. That's ok though. It only effects the choice between DDR2 and DDR3 ram. The only issue with you having an AMD CPU and going nVidia for your GPU means you have to be very selective of your motherboard if you want to every SLI (obviously not crossfire since you have nVidia). That limits you to specific chipsets. If you every plan on using SLI, then you have to get an nVidia chipset based recent motherboard. If you don't plan on SLI, you can get any chipset and be fine. Personally, I wouldn't bother with SLI. But it's your board, so you decide.

Here's a good overclocking, gaming, etc, motherboard:

TA790GXE

It's $80. Ships free. Takes any CPU up to 140W that is AM3, AM2+, AM2. It's the 790GX chipset and the SB750 chipset. These are excellent for overclocking should you ever go that route. The board takes DDR2 memory (any flavor, so 800, 1066, whatever you have/want), and takes up to 4 sticks, up to 16GB. Two PCIe 2.0, two PCIe 1.0, and 2 PCI slots. Huge expandability for all kinds of devices (TV tuner, WiFi, etc). It has 6 SATA ports and is RAID 0/1/5/10 capable. It also is AHCI capable so you can hotswap drives with ease (very handy). It comes with an onboard HD3300 GPU. This doesn't matter since you have a GTX260 already. But the nice thing about it is that if you ever want to go multi-monitor or add more than two displays to your setup, you can do it without buying another card because your onboard can add two more display outputs (HDMI and DVI output). And this board happens to be one of the ones that will allow you to have your onboard GPU active as well as a primary PCIe GPU active, so you can use both and have 4 displays active from this. Very nice for multi-display setups.

Now here's the cool feature. It has two PCIe 2.0 slots. The primary one (master) is actually in the middle of the board, instead of the first one. This is super handy and thoughtful. Why? Because normally these big dualslot GPU coolers drop down and cover up your other more valuable PCIe 1.0 slots on the board and puts the fan directly on another card under neat it should you have one there. Instead, they position it towards the bottom of the PCIe slots, so that the only slots it's over are the normal PCI slots. Less wasted revenue when using a huge dualslot GPU. That frees up your other two PCIe 1.0 slots for use, and your other PCIe 2.0 slot is the top slot. I mention this because you said TV tuner later on, and you'll want a PCIe Tuner, and this way, it's not sitting right on top of your GTX260's fan.

And finally, I have this board. I overclock with it with a PhenomII x4 955 Black Edition and Mugen2 cooler. I use the onboard HD3300 with my 8800GT to display on 3 different displays (2 monitors and 1 HDTV). It's a great board and will serve you well if you don't plan on going SLI. If you plan on SLI later, by all means, let me know and we'll get a new board.

Very best, :)

Hey Mal!! Thanks again!!

And you read my mind about multi-monitor setup, because I did fail to mention that part!! My job utilizes three monitors at work, and when I start working from home, I hope to at least have two monitors setup.

I don't plan on SLI, so no worries there. I am concerned that I should've went for the 955 cpu though, because of the DDR3 capability. I don't know how much of a difference I will notice between DDR2, and DDR3?! Should I try, and swap out for the 955 cpu??!!

Many Thanks!!
 

Team Spicoli

Member
Dec 11, 2008
183
0
76
Oh, and the 790GX chipset is the best to have for HTPC right?!, or was it the 790FX, or 790 something from what I recall. . .
 

MalVeauX

Senior member
Dec 19, 2008
653
176
116
Heya,

If you look at performance reviews of DDR2 vs DDR3, it's a less than 5% difference basically. It's not worth worrying about.

All the 780 and 790 chipsets are great for HTPC; they have good integrated GPU's that can offload from the CPU (not that it's needed) and handle bluray, 1080p, hd, etc, content just fine without a dedicated videocard. If building a HTPC just for HTPC, you shouldn't have a dedicated videocard at all (only a TV tuner, or two). If you plan on doing HTPC and gaming, then of course, get a good GPU in there.

Keep your 955. If you're willing to spend more and go DDR3 and all that jazz, you might as well spend a lot more and go i7 at that point. Because other than that, there's no real reason to bother. Look at the 955 with DDR2 vs an AM3 CPU with DDR3 in the same games. You'll see insignificant differences if the clock speeds on the CPU's are the same.

Very best,
 

Team Spicoli

Member
Dec 11, 2008
183
0
76
Heya,

If you look at performance reviews of DDR2 vs DDR3, it's a less than 5% difference basically. It's not worth worrying about.

All the 780 and 790 chipsets are great for HTPC; they have good integrated GPU's that can offload from the CPU (not that it's needed) and handle bluray, 1080p, hd, etc, content just fine without a dedicated videocard. If building a HTPC just for HTPC, you shouldn't have a dedicated videocard at all (only a TV tuner, or two). If you plan on doing HTPC and gaming, then of course, get a good GPU in there.

Keep your 955. If you're willing to spend more and go DDR3 and all that jazz, you might as well spend a lot more and go i7 at that point. Because other than that, there's no real reason to bother. Look at the 955 with DDR2 vs an AM3 CPU with DDR3 in the same games. You'll see insignificant differences if the clock speeds on the CPU's are the same.

Very best,


Hey Mal,

Did you mean keep the 940?! I don't have the 955, but I was contemplating upgrading from the 940 to the 955 am3 to have DDR3.

Also, I did get the GT260 to help give me the best possibly picture quality from my media server, so I can still use it right?!?!

Thanks again Mal!!
 

MalVeauX

Senior member
Dec 19, 2008
653
176
116
Heya,

Whoops, yea, keep your 940. It's an excellent CPU. No reason to go beyond that unless you want to overclock differently (then get a black edition).

The 260 won't have better picture quality than a simple HD4200 or a built in Geforce 8 series GPU integrated into the motherboard when it comes to media playback. The 260's only advantage is processing power for 3d rendering in gaming. You can certainly use it for playback of whatever media you have. But note that it's a gaming GPU through and through. And is extreme overkill for media playback (if that's all it does). If you game and do media playback, it's a perfectly good choice since it will do both very well.

You may want to look into aftermarket coolers for your CPU/GPU so that you can make them as quiet as possible. Sort of kills movies and stuff during quiet moments when you can hear the whirling of fans. Larger fans are quieter than smaller fans. The only disadvantage is they take up more space of course.

Very best, :)