Help with Phenom ii x3 build

[theapothem]

I am looking at motherboards for an x3 so that I can unlock the 4th core hopefully, from the research I have done so far I can tell that the newer asus motherboards are good as well as gigabyte's and msi. But I am on a budget so I need help deciding which motherboard to go with. I have gone through every single review on the two most reviewed mb's and they both said mainly the same thing, 70% thought it was awesome and 10-20 were not satisified. There are so many to choose from I dont know if I should go with the ones are the are reviewed the most, when you sort it by top sellers it shows the most reviewed as having sold the most. Or should I buy the ones that havent been reviewed/sold as much because they are newer?

1.This asus is 115 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131366
supports extreme phase, dont know if thats worth the extra

2.Gigabyte for 77 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392
I like this one but the heatsinks seem small.

3,asus for 110 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402
cool heatsinks and 73% gave it 5 eggs

4 gigabyte for 115 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128378
large heatsinks and 2oz copper pcb ferrite core

5. gigabyte for 97 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128397
this one also has 73% 5 eggs, and onboard hd4200

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Mutant Corn]

As I understand it, ASUS has some wonky drivers for newer AMD chipsets or something like that. Can anyone confirm?

Of the gigabyte boards, I'd go for them in order of price. (high to low of course)

Also, be very careful when unlocking cores. If I remember correctly, the reason they're locked in the first place is because they failed a test at the factory. That's how you end up with triple core processors, even though it's not cost-effective to make them. Same with the dual-core Black Editions.

 

[theapothem]

ya from the research I did I have a 70% chance of getting a good one so I like those odds, plus if it doesnt work ill just rma it for another one Ya I want to go with the asus because I like their support and website when I go to gigabytes website it reminds me of a circus. I want to go with the cheap gigabyte but the cheaper one has only 1 heatsink where most have 2. I guess its down to number 1 and 4. hmmmmmmmmm

ok well now I like 3 instead of 1 because it has the newer 8+2 phase power design and ddr3 1800 but not onboard video which doesnt matter to me. Also I cant decide if I should get a mb that supports only the phenom II x3 and x4 because 3 supports the athlon II and sempron 100 series and of course the phenom II. Now when I look at the box for the first mb it says it supports quad crossfire x but only has 2 pci ports, mistype?

 

[Atomic Rooster]

Both Asus and Gigabyte make great boards. I am currently running a Gigabyte MA790FX-DS5 with an Phenom II X3 720 BE. Unfortunately, it's an earlier version of the 790 chipset that doesn't support unlocking the fourth core, but it still runs flawlessly.

I would suggest either the ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X (#3). or the GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790X (#4) for the best results and performance. None of the boards listed support quad Crossfire as they all have only two PCIe slots.

 

[theapothem]

yes but when you look at the picture of the box it says quad crossfire which makes no sense.

 

[Atomic Rooster]

The only way it would support "quad" Crossfire is to use two dual GPU cards like the HD 4850 X2. It's more than likely a marketing ploy to make it look better.

 

[theapothem]

right thanks alot ill update this once i get it running