Looking for AM2+ motherboards

[Ryker]

Can someone here help me find an AM2+ mobo? Not the certified ones that require a bios updates. Something that will work right out of the box, and are more recent. I am on newegg, and its rather hard to distinguis between the two(for me at least). I am looking for mobos under 150. Lower is better I guess. I would appreciate as many recommendations as possible. Thanks a lot guys!

[tcsenter]

I don't understand what you mean. BIOS updates for what? Certified for what?

[Mr. Chris]

Originally Posted by tcsenter

I don't understand what you mean. BIOS updates for what? Certified for what?

I think he means BIOS updates that will allow some AM2 boards to run an AM2+ CPU. I don't recommend these boards, they don't allow full function of the Phenom CPU's.

Abit has several AM2+ boards, I have 4 of the AX78's with Phenom CPU's that run Folding @ Home. Great boards, painless to set up. Newegg.com - ABIT AX78 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

To tell the difference between a "native" AM2+ board and an AM2 board is easy. AM2+ has 2600Mt/s HTT frequency, AM2 has 1000Mt/s HTT. AM2+ will accept DDR2 1066 RAM, AM2 only DDR2 800 RAM. Hope this helps. Chris.

[T@2]

Originally Posted by Ryker

Can someone here help me find an AM2+ mobo? Not the certified ones that require a bios updates. Something that will work right out of the box, and are more recent. I am on newegg, and its rather hard to distinguis between the two(for me at least). I am looking for mobos under 150. Lower is better I guess. I would appreciate as many recommendations as possible. Thanks a lot guys!

I could recommend you MSI AM2 mobos ,for exemple the one from signature K9A2 Platinum 1/2 or its little brother K9A2 CF-F version 2 with support for 125W TDM.
A list here MSI Computer Corp. - Product
For more info on probable issues read the MSI forum section MSI HQ User to User Forum - Index
As you can see there are Nvidia and AMD chipsets implementations.
Be carefull with the PSU you choose i recommmend you 12 V monorail PSUs with 30-40 Amps for maximum stability.Corsair 450 W + should do the job well.

[tcsenter]

Originally Posted by Mr. Chris

I think he means BIOS updates that will allow some AM2 boards to run an AM2+ CPU. I don't recommend these boards, they don't allow full function of the Phenom CPU's.

But very close to it. The effective HT data rate is lower but the CPU actually operates at the same effective frequency. All AMD64 CPU operate from multiples of the base HT reference clock, which is exactly the same from Socket 754>939>AM2>AM2+ (200MHz).

200MHz x 12 always equals 2400MHz, no matter if its Socket 754, 939, AM2, or AM2+. Only the effective HT data rate, supported memory technology, and CPU/memory ratio options vary.

AM2+ has 2600Mt/s HTT frequency, AM2 has 1000Mt/s HTT. AM2+ will accept DDR2 1066 RAM, AM2 only DDR2 800 RAM.

S754 = 1600MT/s
S939/AM2 = 2000MT/s
SAM2+ = 2600MT/s

To put that into perspective, numerous reviews found that moving from Socket 939 to AM2 typically yielded a performance gain of between 0% ~ 7% at the same CPU frequencies and L2 cache, depending on the application, due almost entirely to higher memory bandwidth of DDR2.

That's about all that you lose by running Phenom in AM2 HT 1.0 mode. This is why AMD is getting clobbered by Intel.

[Ryker]

wow thanks a lot guys. makes my life much easier...
@chris
the ratings on newegg do not seem very good? Then again a lot of the time bad bios settings cause problems, and average reviewers tend to neglect this. How do you feel about the AX78? Is there a lot of bios tweaking to do? How does it handle vista?

[Mr. Chris]

The only issues with the AX78 are the same with a lot of Abit AM2/ AM2+ boards, they do not set the RAM timings or voltage correctly by default. Once you know this and set these things manually, the board is great. I help out a lot on the Abit Forums so that's the questions and problems we see most with this board. Mine run 24/7 and have never given me a problem.

And as far as Vista, it should be fine. Don't really see any issues related to Vista and the AX78. Chris.