Motherboard advice for AMD 965 cpu

[lazukan]

I got amd phenom II x4 965 black edition cpu , i want to buy a motherboard for this cpu , i have no idea about bulldozer processors , they are black box for me atm therefore im not sure whether i will upgrade to bulldozer in the future. im also confused about buying am3+ mobo for phenom 2 cpu

so can i get recommendations for both AM3 and AM3+ socket motherboards?

thanks for the incoming answers

 

[GeezerMan]

Go with boards with better than 4 phase power in the VRM. In Gigabyte, it used to be the UD4 and above series had the 8 phase VRM

 

[lazukan]

I m actually planning to buy either of these however i cant decide which one to buy, whats actually the difference between these to except crossfire/sli feature?

GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514 )

GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128510 )

Also what is the best board for am3 socket ?

 

[abekl]

"Also what is the best board for am3 socket ?"

Why would you even consider an AM3 socket, when AM3+ is clearly the way to go for future upgradeability?

Between the 2 motherboards you selected, I can't see any obvious differences, other than than the chipset, one board has ESATA and one doesn't, and the moer expensive one supports higher speeds in SLI/XFire.

 

[lazukan]

"Also what is the best board for am3 socket ?"

Why would you even consider an AM3 socket, when AM3+ is clearly the way to go for future upgradeability?

Between the 2 motherboards you selected, I can't see any obvious differences, other than than the chipset, one board has ESATA and one doesn't, and the moer expensive one supports higher speeds in SLI/XFire.

Well i may not be upgrading to bd when it comes out as it may not have peak performance level with initial products.Moreover, noone can guarantee that bd will run perfectly and in stable mode with current am3+ mobos ,therefore there will be new and better performanced mobos as the time passes , all in all buying cheap am3 mobo now and getting the trendy mobos / bd cpu later , maybe waiting for more than a year, would be a better option ()

 

[GeezerMan]

GA-990FXA-D3 is a 4 phase board, the GA-990XA-UD3 is a 8 phase board. Better CPU power delivery with a 8 phase board. There are other differences too. Go to the Gigabyte web page and compare them. I would go with a 8 phase board with a 125 watt CPU , especially if you might go to a 6 core CPU later on. I'm not saying you can't use a 4 phase board, plenty of people do, it's just that a 8 phase board should last longer..

This thread here is interesting: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2164965
Go to the first post and then go to the links and read on the VRM. A lot of good stats in there.

 

[Rhezuss]

Definitely go with an AM3+ socket. More future proof and you still can use socket AM3 CPUs. You'll also benefit from DDR3 plus a "newer" chipset in the AMD 9xx series of chipset.

If you want a mobo to last a bit and perhaps upgrade to BD if it suites you, then AM3+ is the way to go. No reason at all to buy an AM3 board anymore.

 

[GeezerMan]

Definitely go with an AM3+ socket. More future proof and you still can use socket AM3 CPUs. You'll also benefit from DDR3 plus a "newer" chipset in the AMD 9xx series of chipset.

If you want a mobo to last a bit and perhaps upgrade to BD if it suites you, then AM3+ is the way to go. No reason at all to buy an AM3 board anymore.

Yeah, the AM3+ is the better way to go .

 

[StrangerGuy]

I'm confused.

OP is willing to spend $130 on a CPU and $160 on a mobo and yet 2500K + P67 is just $40 more.

Bad decisions man.

 

[munkle]

I'm confused.

OP is willing to spend $130 on a CPU and $160 on a mobo and yet 2500K + P67 is just $40 more.

Bad decisions man.

From the op I gathered he already has the cpu?