PhoenixEnigma
Senior member
Let's start with a little story, because it's rare enough to be worth telling:
My PC is in the bedroom, and I'd left it on overnight to download some things. I was having what the Brits might call a bit of a lie in, when something caught my attention and I noticed I couldn't hear my PC fans anymore.
"That's a little odd," I thought. "Wonder why that is."
I drag myself out of bed and go over and, yep, PC had turned itself off. I don't think I noticed anything else amiss, but without the benefit of some coffee, I was a little groggy, so it's hard to say.
Figuring I might as well check the news and whatnot while I'm here, I hit the power button to turn it back on. Right away, there's a loud and distinct sizzling sound, accompanied by the unmistakable odor of ozone and burnt plastic. Not good.
I look down, and there's one almighty puff of magic smoke, and flames shoot out the motherboard cutout.
Holy #$%@ my computer is on fire!!
I dive for the powerbar, but the overcurrent protection beats me to it and it shuts down. I flip the power bar off anyways, then unplug the PSU anyways. I unplug the power bar as well, just to be sure. Content that the thing is now inert, I take a short walk while the air clears and my heart rate drops down to something reasonably normal before .
Taking a closer look with a little steadier hand, it looks like something in the voltage regulation area decided to go out in an rather spectacular fashion, and I don't expect the board is still usable (nor am I very inclined to try). This leaves me looking for a new motherboard, ideally very soon.
Therefore:
I'm looking for an AM3/AM3+ motherboard that will give me 4 DIMMs, at least 6 SATA ports, and at least 1 PCI and 1 PCI-e 16x slot. My last board only had 4 rear USB ports, it'd be nice to have more. USB 3 would also be nice to have, but not a must. At least 2 controllable fan headers in addition to the CPU fan are also on the wishlist.
I'd also like it to be able to handle overclocking my X6 1090T - I had it running at 3.7GHz before, though I know that my chip can go higher, and I'd like keep it at least at that.
I'm not looking to spend too much if I can help it (but see below) - ideally under CDN$150, but I could handle $200ish if it's for a good product.
One final requirement - I'd like it not to burst into flames on me.
Given that this is a replacement in a system I didn't expect to have go down, I'm looking at a short time line - I'll probably buy within 24 hours. If I can, I'll be buying locally from these guys, again due to time constraints, but I could be convinced to buy from Newegg Canada if it's really worth it.
The three options I'm looking at right now are all Asus boards:
M5A87 - this is the cheapest option, for better or worse. It meets my requirements, but I don't know how robust it is or how it would overclock. The lack of VRM heatsinks kind of scares me.
M5A97 Evo - Middle of the road, and for an extra $30 I'm guessing it's worth it. Looks a good deal more capable.
Sabertooth 990FX - More or less going for broke here, it's certainly the best of the bunch, but is it overkill?
Are any of these clear winners, or are there other options I should be considering?
The one other option would be to double down and jump to an 1155 platform (as I'm not actually sure if my CPU was damaged in all of this). It's a little outside of the scope of this subforum, but is it going to be worth it to spend, say, CDN$250 to do so - going with a $100-$150 CPU and the rest on the motherboard, with an eye to upgrading the CPU in the near future?
My PC is in the bedroom, and I'd left it on overnight to download some things. I was having what the Brits might call a bit of a lie in, when something caught my attention and I noticed I couldn't hear my PC fans anymore.
"That's a little odd," I thought. "Wonder why that is."
I drag myself out of bed and go over and, yep, PC had turned itself off. I don't think I noticed anything else amiss, but without the benefit of some coffee, I was a little groggy, so it's hard to say.
Figuring I might as well check the news and whatnot while I'm here, I hit the power button to turn it back on. Right away, there's a loud and distinct sizzling sound, accompanied by the unmistakable odor of ozone and burnt plastic. Not good.
I look down, and there's one almighty puff of magic smoke, and flames shoot out the motherboard cutout.
Holy #$%@ my computer is on fire!!
I dive for the powerbar, but the overcurrent protection beats me to it and it shuts down. I flip the power bar off anyways, then unplug the PSU anyways. I unplug the power bar as well, just to be sure. Content that the thing is now inert, I take a short walk while the air clears and my heart rate drops down to something reasonably normal before .
Taking a closer look with a little steadier hand, it looks like something in the voltage regulation area decided to go out in an rather spectacular fashion, and I don't expect the board is still usable (nor am I very inclined to try). This leaves me looking for a new motherboard, ideally very soon.
Therefore:
I'm looking for an AM3/AM3+ motherboard that will give me 4 DIMMs, at least 6 SATA ports, and at least 1 PCI and 1 PCI-e 16x slot. My last board only had 4 rear USB ports, it'd be nice to have more. USB 3 would also be nice to have, but not a must. At least 2 controllable fan headers in addition to the CPU fan are also on the wishlist.
I'd also like it to be able to handle overclocking my X6 1090T - I had it running at 3.7GHz before, though I know that my chip can go higher, and I'd like keep it at least at that.
I'm not looking to spend too much if I can help it (but see below) - ideally under CDN$150, but I could handle $200ish if it's for a good product.
One final requirement - I'd like it not to burst into flames on me.
Given that this is a replacement in a system I didn't expect to have go down, I'm looking at a short time line - I'll probably buy within 24 hours. If I can, I'll be buying locally from these guys, again due to time constraints, but I could be convinced to buy from Newegg Canada if it's really worth it.
The three options I'm looking at right now are all Asus boards:
M5A87 - this is the cheapest option, for better or worse. It meets my requirements, but I don't know how robust it is or how it would overclock. The lack of VRM heatsinks kind of scares me.
M5A97 Evo - Middle of the road, and for an extra $30 I'm guessing it's worth it. Looks a good deal more capable.
Sabertooth 990FX - More or less going for broke here, it's certainly the best of the bunch, but is it overkill?
Are any of these clear winners, or are there other options I should be considering?
The one other option would be to double down and jump to an 1155 platform (as I'm not actually sure if my CPU was damaged in all of this). It's a little outside of the scope of this subforum, but is it going to be worth it to spend, say, CDN$250 to do so - going with a $100-$150 CPU and the rest on the motherboard, with an eye to upgrading the CPU in the near future?
