Motherboards AM2+ gaming motherboard advice - please

Hi all,

I'm after some advice, based on experience, for an AMD2+ motherboard. I've done the googling and looked at however many articles, but would rather go on recommendations as there seems to be little to choose from between the various boards. It has to be an AM2 build as the kids PCs are AMD based so hand me downs to them are easier as time goes by and I upgrade mine.

Budget: up to 100ish quid, but obviously the cheaper the better!
Use: Predominantly gaming, some video encoding. No folding.
ATX preferred (have got big hands)

It'll be going with an HD4870, X-Fi gamer, 24" monitor, 4gb DDR2. I've got a Phenom x3 and quite fancy trying the old unlock thing, but probably won't overclock it too much if at all. The option to go down the Crossfire route in the future would be good as well. As I'm sorted with graphics and sound, IGP and sound aren't vital.

Grateful for any advice on what I should be looking at. Thanks in advance!

 

dont know a whole lot about current gen amd mobo's, but i'll try to help. is the phenom x3 going into this mobo? if so, why am2+? not sure that i've read anything about unlucking cores on am2+ mobos, and the price difference is minor for a good am2+ and a good am3. i'd grab a nice am3 and go from there. i've heard plenty of good things about the Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P. it's only got 1 pci-e x16 slot however. and of course, the msi 790FX-GD70, though it rings in at almost double the gigabyte, it seems to be well worth it. not sure how your currency translates to USD, but something to think about.

 

Just from a quick browse, the MSI K9A2 Platinum looks good, it is the cheapest board that I could see using the 790FX chipset (which allows 2 PCI-E x16 cards). I don't think that the earlier MSI boards were that good to overclock, and I don't know if there are any AM2+ boards which support core unlocking (mostly it seems to be AM3 boards), but you could play with ACC and see how you go. It is stuck with the old SB600 though, which is a little bit of a limitation.

Scan has it for £88.

Scan has the Asus M3A78-T for £90 also. Which features the 790GX and SB750. Should be pretty solid, although it is missing some PCI-E bandwidth if you go Crossfire. It should be a pretty solid board.

Cheapest of the cheap is the BioStar TA790GX. It has the 790GX and SB750 combo as well. I know nothing about the board, but it is cheap as well as a little gaudy... Scan offers it for £63.

Laz

 

Thanks for the advice - will certainly have a look at the Biostar (not fussed about gaudiness as there's no case window so when it's in it's in!).

 

Great advice mate, cheers. I picked up a K9A2 Platinum off e-bay for 50 quid (ex display apparently) so will see how I get on with it.

 

Good to hear you found a board. That one is highly reliable, and is used by a lot of folders because of it (well, that and 4 PCI-e slots...)

Should be a decent one, though I suspect your overclocking may be a little limited by the older SB, as well as limiting HDD speeds. Shouldn't be noticeable with less than a complex RAID array or SSD.

Have fun!