hello everyone.
go right to the bottom for the actual question if you dont like reading :)
well i just built a system around the amd 8350.
here is the specs
amd fx 8350
asrock 970 extreme 4
16gb 4x4 corsair vengeance 1600 9 9 9 24 1.5v running at 1866 9 9 9 27 1.65v
antec 900w hc gamer psu
2 ocz vertex 4 128gb raid 0 with a 3tb samsung data and backup drive
corsair h60 in push pull
asus gtx660
now i overclocked the cpu to 4.6 with just the multiplier and upped the voltage to 1.475 and during a video edit the board bricked itself so now its time for a new board.
now given the above specs and the fact that i may sli 2 660's in the near future whats a good board
ive owned 4 asus boards and 1 asrock and the asrock turned out to be a lemon the asus boards have always been friendly to me
i like the look and feature set of the gigabyte 99fxa ud3 and ud5 but ive never had a gigabyte board so im not sure what there quality control is like
the other two i like are the m5a99fx pro r2.0 from asus and the sabertooth
so i basicaly want to know is gigabyte any good and whats your opinions
should i go with the gigabyte 990fxa ud3 or ud5
or should i stick with asus and get the m5a99fx or sabertooth
-wayno ps it will be more of a video and photo editing rig with some gaming on weekends
The Sabertooth 990fx is reasonably priced and a damn good board, gigabyte isn't bad either and I've like all their boards I've ever owned or used. So it's up to you, either are good choices.
Your mistake was buying asrock in the first place. The UD3/5/7's are of outstanding quality (best boards gigabytes evermade in this commenter's opinion), the sabertooth series is also the shit, i'm using a sabertooth x58 right now and if the 990fx ever goes on sale i'm snatching it right up with an 8350fx.
your mistake was buying only an upper mid-ranged board. That chipset only has a 4+1 power-phase, which means you were probably getting some pretty serious power-fuxes on your overclocks. With boards like that, it isn't that you can't it is more that you shouldn't. Try a halfway decent 990FX platform. I recommend the ASROCK Extreme9 or their Fatal1ty Professional, the Sabertooth is also a good board, as is the MSI 990FX G80V2. All of those have at least a 10+2 power phase, which will give you much more stable overclocks (hopefully) without bricking your board. There is hardly ever a faultless guarantee for things like that.
cheers guys on quick responses
is there an advantage to asus's digi vrm design over gigabytes (i think its analoge) vrm power phase design .
Asrock makes good boards. Sounds like you got one of the few. Gigabyte and Asus both make very reliable good mobos.
It is really more of a gimmick. Kind of like the MSI Military quality components. You might notice that there are some tighter ranges most of the time from components that you wouldn't expect to manage it. Like MSI pushing the overclocking qualities of a 4+1 power phase 970 chipset on their motherboards. It CAN physically manage it, but it probably won't be the best unless it has the raw potential for that kind of stability in the first place. The greater the number of power phases, the better the quality of the power your components will be recieving.
Gigabyte has a pretty crazy one for socket 1155 with the Z77-up7
http://www.gigabyte.com/MicroSite/316/images/overview.html
32+3+2 thats crazy
Go for MSI, my old 790FX-GD70 is still rocking hard and solid with my Phenom II pushing 4.2ghz, now 3 years old...
MSI 790FX-GD70
http://uk.msi.com/product/mb/790FX-GD70.html
MSI 990FXA-GD80
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/990FXA-GD80.html
Holds the world record 8.37GHZ FX OC record.
I hold the record for most overclocked Unlocked Phenom II processor on AM3 with the 790FX-GD70 on Air.
4.5GHZ on all cores fully unlocked.
AMD overclocks Validated over on Tom's Hardware.
(Username: 384-BiT)
Phenom II x4 955BE+MSI 790FX-GD70 4000mhz 1.485v-24/7 (Results are different, and the posted results here are with much more tweaking) https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0Atid2icGx257dFc1MnRteTlMb3VOMy13WklIRWRITXc&hl=es&output=html
Phenom II x4 B55+MSI 790FX-GD70 [Phenom II x2 555 BE unlocked] 4500mhz 1.55v(lasted 45 minutes under Prime 95-failed stability test, but will benchmark all day long)https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0Atid2icGx257dG13NUxROGVjcG41ODR...
Not to sure about the AMD baords but i know for a fact that the VRM design on Gigabyte UD-3/5 and D3H boards for Z77 is one of the most stable you can get.
Keep in mind that Power phases isnt everything, some of Gigabytes Z77 boards run a 6+2 Phase power design that bests 8+2 Phase designs all day long, so the Quality of the VRM is just as if not more important then how many phases it has.
Asus M5A99FX pro r2.0
Anytime anyone recommends an ASRock 970 based board... A tiny part of me dies.
Users swear they're great boards for the amount of features you get vs. the Price you pay. And although I understand that not every 970 fails far too many of them do for me to ignore.
It's a piece of $%^& board imo. I'd stay away from ASRock and invest in a better quality brand ex. MSI, Asus, Gigabyte and even eVGA.
As for what board would I recommend...
I've built two PCs using the gigabyte 990FXA-UD5, one using the UD7 and another using the Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z. All of them have, and continue to, perform admirably.
They're not cheap boards (by AMD standards) but are well worth the premium.
I dont like Asrock boards either, this is not the first one, i readed who died, with a oc...
i allways using Asus or Msi boards.
if you can afford it, then the Asus Sabbertooth or croshair Formula are good boards, but the M5A99FX pro 2.0 is also a great board.
i use an M5A97 evo2.0 cause im not gonne run a sli configuration, it clocks my cpu with all settings on auto, to 4.2 GHZ and i am happy with it..
so if you want a 990FX chipset board, and you not want to pay 150+ then the M5A99FX pro 2.0 is realy a good choise in my oppinion..
ASRock doesn't make bad boards. It just got a bad owner.
I don't know why on earth you tried to overclock a stock 125 watt processor on a board with a 4+1 power phase... That's asking for trouble, man.
The 970s weren't really made to be friendly overclockers, at least not to a 125w processor. It's too much for the little vrms.
Not a bad board but they stick a 125W CPU with a 4+1 power phase? Power phase efficiency drops with component age. In other words the ASRock 970 would fail even without an overclock when pwoering a 125W CPU... it's only a matter of time.
oh well had to push it to its limit, shit happens
if you dont try you will never know