Best motherboard for FX 8350

My max budget for the motherboard is $130-140, and I'm gonna be using the FX 8350 after seeing Logan's latest benchmarking video. What is the best motherboard I can get in that budget range if I want to overclock my CPU to 5 GHz just like Logan did?


Btw, I have an Asus Xonar DX that I'll be using from my current rig, and it needs PCIe x1 slot. I don't want to do crossfire or sli, so one PCIe x16 is good enough for me. Also, I need front USB 3.0 header.

well id say look for reviews but safe bets are Gigabyte and Asus Motherboards, you might not get 5.0 though, i hear a lot of 8350's hit a wall at around 4.7-4.8 much like the i5's

Lately i've been drooling over the Gigabyte GA-990FXA and right now it's only $137.99 on [url=http://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GA-990FXA-UD3-990FX-SATA-Motherboard/dp/B0055QYKQO/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1359133359&sr=8-6&keywords=am3%2B+motherboard/]Amazon[/url]!

I was thinking of getting that mobo too, but that first PCIe x1 slot is not gonna work for my Xonar DX because it will hit the heatsink, so I don't know if I'll be able to use the other PCIe x16 for my sound card. Some motherboards might work, some might not, but I'm not gonna risk it.

Can you turn your heatsink?  I have the GA-990FX-UD5 and it's great.  Glad I have an am3+ to uprage with in the future.  Looking at gettinf an ASUS Xonar soon, and should be fine clearing my cooler.

You can put your sound card in any other PCIe slot, and it will work just fine. 

Sorry, I didn't say this clear enough. I don't mean the CPU heatsink, but the motherboard heatsink with the sign "Ultra Durable" on it. I haven't seen it myself really, but when I looked at the detailed picture on Gigabyte's website, I saw that it was perfectly in line with the PCIe x1 and that would be a problem installing any PCIe x1 card there I guess.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131874

Thanks, I think I'm gonna go with this mobo. I'm not sure if the 6+2 phase power design is gonna be a problem when I try to overclock the CPU to 5.0 GHz, but I guess I can't expect everything from a $140 mobo. One question though, if I install my Xonar DX right in front of my GPU (Sapphire 7950 OC), it's not gonna make my GPU run hotter or anything, am I right?

I am running the 8350 in the Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 and I've got my voltage at 1.475 and am stable at 4.6... I tried 4.7 and 4.8 with same voltage but couldn't get stable... I can say the motherboard is great though, had it a year now and no problems at all... But with my OC should I try 1.5V with 4.8ghz??

Power Phases are irrelevant when the quality of the VRM and there optput capability at temp is, there are 6+2 boards that do much better than some 8+2 Boards out there because there VRMs are more capable.

Its reccommended to stay under 1.55 Volts for the 83xx series, so you should be fine as long as you can keep your temps under control.

Then I should be okay with overclocking I suppose. What about the sound card placement? Is it gonna affect the GPU temp?

The Gigabyte 990FX UD series boards typically yield very stable overclocks but are not that great at reaching high overclocks

the Biostar TA990FXE is what the top 2 Bulldozer Overclocks were done on and the second highest Piledriver, also is the best performing motherboard when not using multiple GPUs