You are not logged in.

#1 2010-08-01 12:22:40

arch0r
Member
From: From the Chron-o-John
Registered: 2008-05-13
Posts: 597

AM2+ motherboard suggestion

Hi all,
i'm building a new computer from scratch but i have no idea which motherboard to chose and which chipset is well supported under linux. it should be able to handle any AM2+ processors up to six cores

best regards :>

Offline

#2 2010-08-01 12:36:46

Skripka
Member
From: 2X1280X1024
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 555

Re: AM2+ motherboard suggestion

-DDR3 or DDR2?  I'd recommend DDR3 as it is about the same price and faster.  This choice informs CPU socket type: AM2+ or AM3.
-Get a mainboard with on-board audio (saves you headaches).  Yes you can get distinct audio boards-but under Linux there probably are not drivers and in the end there isn't enough advantage to justify the hassle/cost for me.
-Choose if you want a Nvidia chipset or AMD.  As of NOW, only AMD 870/880/890 chpiset board support USB3.  Hopefully Nvidia will get updated chipsets out soon.

I always love ASUS and MSi boards...though I'm considering a Gigabyte, once Bulldozer cores CPU comes out.

Also factor in how many PCi lanes/ IDE headers, USB headers, etc you want or need etc.  Also look at the layout geometry (what is where).  Some boards have LOTS of stuff, that is squished together and hard to work on as a result (Such as Intel LGA1366 boards).

Odds are if you're wanting to run Thuban CPUs, you'll need an AM3 board-because the Thubans require special CPU-power handling hardware that is probably not present in an AM2+ board.  Take my BioStar TA790GX 128M, GREAT unlocker mainboard-but it will never support Thuban CPUs due to limited power abilities.

You want to run Thuban, get a GOOD PSU for your box.  Also get a GOOD aftermarket CPU cooler, as Thuban runs HOT.  I'd recommend Zalman 9000 series coolers for example...along the way buy some Arctic Silver 5.

Last edited by Skripka (2010-08-01 12:41:58)

Offline

#3 2010-08-01 13:54:32

arch0r
Member
From: From the Chron-o-John
Registered: 2008-05-13
Posts: 597

Re: AM2+ motherboard suggestion

thanks a lot for your informative and fast reply!

you mentioned the thubans, they are also known as phenoms, aren't they? are am2+ mainboards unable to handle those cpus?

for the future, it's much better to invest into an am3 mainboard, not only because they support those thubans but also offer usb3 and sata3 features (depending on the chipset)!?

Offline

#4 2010-08-01 14:13:04

Skripka
Member
From: 2X1280X1024
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 555

Re: AM2+ motherboard suggestion

arch0r wrote:

thanks a lot for your informative and fast reply!

you mentioned the thubans, they are also known as phenoms, aren't they? are am2+ mainboards unable to handle those cpus?

for the future, it's much better to invest into an am3 mainboard, not only because they support those thubans but also offer usb3 and sata3 features (depending on the chipset)!?

Thuban is currently AMD's 6-core CPU line, it is still a PhenomII in terms of architecture.  They have several new features to the PhenomIIs currently out, notably in clocking and voltage regulation...that said some places like Tom's Hardware are somewhat unimpressed with their speed over current PhenomII quad cores.  They also get completely wasted by Intel's 6-core CPUs in benchmarks.  Of course, it is worth noting that Intel's i7 6-core CPU costs $1000USD compared to Thuban that costs $200 or 300USD.

Here is what BioStar said on the topic of Thuban support on motherboards:

BioStar wrote:

The AMD 6-core CPU requires a dual power plane design (the core and northbridge voltage are controlled independently).

You either have this feature built into your motherboard or you don't.  Whether or not you have it is something to look at the manufacturer's website for specific notes regarding Thuban CPU support.  AM3 boards should have what they need to run Thuban, though I suppose there may be AM2+ that will have dual-power plane design in them.  It is something to check the manufacturer's documentation on, as it is very specific.

AM3 boards with AMD 870/880/890 chipsets are currently the only flavors of mainboards that support USB3 and the latest SATA.  That being said, there are VERY VERY few devices that can take advantage of the throughput of USB3 or SATAIII.  Most HDDs can only read/write 60 megabyte/second (about 0.5 gigabit/second) or less-what is the point of maying more coin for a USB or SATA connector that can feed 300+ megabyte/second (6 gigabit/second) when your device can't do anything with even 1/2 that bandwidth (i.e. SATAII speed)?  It is also worth noting that HDD speeds haven't really gone anywhere higher in a long time.

Last edited by Skripka (2010-08-01 14:16:21)

Offline

#5 2010-08-05 12:42:50

arch0r
Member
From: From the Chron-o-John
Registered: 2008-05-13
Posts: 597

Re: AM2+ motherboard suggestion

but i think if you want a new amd mainboard you're going for an am3, aren't you? because am2+ mainboards are outdated in near future?!

i think i'll choose a GigaByte GA-890GPA-UD3H and a AMD Phenom II X4 965 or 955 for my new system. is there a noticeable step from a phenom 2 with four cores to one with six cores, btw. is it really worth it!? those thubans suck lots of power what i've read big_smile ... have you made good experiences with the 9000 series of zalman? they are HUUGE big_smile there's also a nice cpu cooler from scythe (mugen 2) which also combines passive and active cooling, but i don't know if it's as good as this cpu turbine big_smile

is there anything i should consider when i select the RAM, besides only DDR3-1333 is supported!?

Offline

#6 2010-08-05 12:44:56

Zariel
Member
Registered: 2008-10-07
Posts: 446

Re: AM2+ motherboard suggestion

You really should look at AM3, backward compatible and all. I got a phenom II 720,, for £90. Unlocked 4th core and 3.2ghz OC is such a steal.

Offline

#7 2010-08-05 13:05:58

Skripka
Member
From: 2X1280X1024
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 555

Re: AM2+ motherboard suggestion

arch0r wrote:

but i think if you want a new amd mainboard you're going for an am3, aren't you? because am2+ mainboards are outdated in near future?!

i think i'll choose a GigaByte GA-890GPA-UD3H and a AMD Phenom II X4 965 or 955 for my new system. is there a noticeable step from a phenom 2 with four cores to one with six cores, btw. is it really worth it!? those thubans suck lots of power what i've read big_smile ... have you made good experiences with the 9000 series of zalman? they are HUUGE big_smile there's also a nice cpu cooler from scythe (mugen 2) which also combines passive and active cooling, but i don't know if it's as good as this cpu turbine big_smile

is there anything i should consider when i select the RAM, besides only DDR3-1333 is supported!?

Thubans have the same heat rating (TDP) as the high end PhenomIIs.  This is not necessarily an indicator of sucking more juice, TDP is simply a measure of waste heat put off by the CPU.  That being said I can't remember off hand their power consumption.  There was a VERY thorough comparison between Thuban, PhenomII x4, LGA1366, and LGA1156 CPUs on Tomshardware.com earlier this year-and it looked into power consumption on idle and load.  The Thubans, from what I remember, pull less power at the end of the day than the PhenomIIx4 due to more advanced power management.

As far as noticeable difference.  It is completely dependent on what you are doing.   Not that many apps are multi-threaded to start with.  For compiling source code, you'll have to alter your compiler configurations to even get gcc to compile using many cores....and the results may or may not be stable.

There are lots of good CPU HSFs, Scythe makes several good ones.  The Zalmans you can get with LED fans, although the Scythe units do a bit better in cooing tests.  I run a Zalman9500 and am happy with it.  BTW You also need to make sure that it will fit in your box and measure with a tape.  I recently moved my gear into a Silverstone Raven2 box--and my Zalman fan (92mm) at full bore is the loudest fan my box--so I've thought of going up to a Zalman9900 with a 120mm fan.  I'm very happy with the cooling of the 9500, it is just the noise put off in the new box which gets me a bit.  Larger diameter fans=quieter fans all else being equal.

And get aftermarket thermal compound from Arctic Silver.  Stock thermal compound sucks by definition.

Last edited by Skripka (2010-08-05 13:20:53)

Offline

#8 2010-08-05 13:39:47

Nepherte
Member
From: Singapore
Registered: 2008-09-09
Posts: 427
Website

Re: AM2+ motherboard suggestion

To give you some more feedback: I recently bought an AMD X6 1055, AM3 (Asus Crosshair IV) setup with a Scythe Mugen2.

I can not tell you what the actual power consumption is but I can confirm that with cpufreq-utils, you can automatically clock down your cpus from 2.8Ghz to 800Mhz which will definitely save power. When necessary it clocks back up as well. When compiling, it'll use up to 6 threads whenever it feels it is necessary (you'll have to edit configuration files to acquire this). Whether you actually need 6 cores instead of 4 is something you'll have to decide. Applications like compilers and video encoders may benefit from the 2 extra cores. Other applications not so much.

The Scythe Mugen 2 is a quiet cooler but it is hearable when the fan runs at 1200pwm (disclaimer: I am very picky when it comes to silent coolers and fans). I've set the fan to run at 800pwm. At this point it becomes very quiet and unhearable in normal circumstances.

Last edited by Nepherte (2010-08-05 13:40:29)

Offline

#9 2010-08-06 01:41:08

jlr1701
Member
From: Anchorage, AK
Registered: 2010-08-01
Posts: 19
Website

Re: AM2+ motherboard suggestion

I just built a system around an AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition CPU and an Asus Crosshair IV Formula motherboard, and I'm happy so far. I'm not planning to play with overclocking right now, so I'm just using the stock cooler. Seems to be working fine at the moment.

Offline

#10 2010-08-08 11:00:27

arch0r
Member
From: From the Chron-o-John
Registered: 2008-05-13
Posts: 597

Re: AM2+ motherboard suggestion

thx a lot for everyone's comment

i purchased a gigabyte-ga-890gpa-ud3h mainboard, phenom 2 955 (4x 3,2GHz) and a scythe mugen 2. this mainboard seems to be pretty good when it comes to overclocking the cpu which has an open multiplicator and i can easily overclock it from 3,2 GHz up to 3,4 GHz. i hope the mugen will keep its promises and cool down the cpu.

i will put some impressions and benchmarks into this thread when the system's up and running

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB