Looking for a new Motherboard...any ideas? : )

Hey all.

I'm in the market for a new motherboard, the one i have is working, but its time for an upgrade.
Would like something with good Overclocking capabilities, Crossfire support...would be handy if it was compatable with PC2-6400 Ram, but not too much of an issue if not.

My current board is a MSI K9A Platinum http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=&cat3_no=&prod_no=259
With an AMD Athlon X2 6000 CPU (looking to upgrade to a Phenom at some point so AM2+ is a must)

Buget is £120 give or take...

Any surgestions would be appriciated.

Thanks guys : )

 

An Intel P45 board would be around your budget if you were willing to update the CPU as well.

On the AMD side I don't believe there is update on the 790FX chipset which suffers from being paired with the SB600. If you were determined to stick with AMD I would wait a bit to see what they brought out to support the Deneb CPUs due out later this year or early next year.

 

The K9A was a great board

790GX or FX with the new SB750 southbridge.

Asus M3A78T (iirc) might be just outside your price range, or try something 790GX or nForce 750a and ignore the integrated video.

If you want to maximise CF - go for 790FX+SB750 though, but avoid Foxconn.

 

Cheers for the input guys

Yeah the K9A is a little trooper! : ) just seem to have out-grown it.

I'd like to stick with AMD, they seem to suit my budget better. and the plan is a slow upgrade process...board-graphics card(s)-CPU-and RAM if i see some that takes my fancy.

I'm looking at a fully AMD/ATI system so the 790 chipsets are looking like a winner.

I'm running a Ge-Force 8800 AMP on my current setup (because i got it for free and it was much better than my Sapphire 1950GT.)

But that paired with the current AMD chipset (580X and SB600) ...it aint running to pretty : (

So i'm looking to Crossfire a pair of 4850's with my new board and ditching the 8800 : ) should keep me going for a while!

 

Personally I'm waiting for the new ASUS M3A79-T. If you get an AM2+ board you might want to get one of the newer ones with 140W support although a 9850 versus a 9950 is not that great a sacrifice.

 

I'd recommend stretching your budget a bit and get the ASUS M3A79-T. Its 790FX and SB750. Put a 9850 BE into it and you should easily exceed 3GHz if you want to overclock. The Advanced Clock Calibration using the SB750 seems to work wonders. I wish I could get a new mobo, but I think I'll be stuck with the rather poor paring of 790FX and SB600 for a while yet...

 

Definately look at the P5Q series. They've been getting lots of good reviews

 

As I said before, I'm still waiting for these to hit the UK. If it meets your budget and you can get hold of one then they seem a very good choice. Failing that there's always the MSI 790FX boards which overclock almost as well as the SB750 boards.

 

They still wouldn't compare with the SB750 boards. You can always go for a 790GX and SB750 board. They'll support crossfire and are cheaper than the 790FX boards.