Supports newest AMD AM3+ FX/AM3 Phenom II series processors, Advanced 8+2 phase CPU VRM power design for AMD high-TDP CPU support,3 PCI-E 2.0 interfaces for 2way AMD CrossFireX and SLI multi-graphics support, AMD SB950 provides 6 native SATA3 ports with superfast 6Gbps link speed and RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support, Supports USB 3.0 with superfast transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps, GIGABYTE 3x USB Power with On/Off Charge USB ports, Ultra Durable 3 Classic Technology with copper cooled quality for lower working temperature, Turbo XHD technology accelerating hard drive performance with ease, Revolution energy saving design with Easy Energy Saver technology, Hi-def 108dB Signal-to-noise ratio Blu-ray DVD audio playback, Patented DualBIOS with Hybrid EFI technology for 3TB HDD support, Supports Dolby Home Theater audio,
$ 133.99
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Excellent board for the price!,
I ordered this board along with a new AMD FX 4100 4-Core Processor, 3.6 4 Socket AM3 – FD4100WMGUSBX. I was a little worried that it might come with an older version of the BIOS that wouldn’t support the new AM3+ processors. When I got it, the case had a sticker stating that the it had the AM3+ enabled BIOS already. Also Amazon shipped the Rev 1.1 board not the 1.0 revision.
A few things note, the Windows 7 did not have drivers for the LAN, so you’ll need to install them from the CD before you can get on the internet. Also in order to get higher than 1333 for the memory, you’ll have to mess with the BIOS settings.
Overall, I am very pleased with this board. For all the features you get, it’s well worth the price and you’ll be set for a while with the latest technology.
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|Solid board with some quirks,
Pros:
I’ve been using this board for a month now and decided on Gigabyte due to the quality of my last board (P45-UD3R). Apart from going back to AMD (started getting into PCs back in the Athlon64 days, so I decided to gamble on AMD once again) the BIOS still seems very much familiar. Gigabyte still uses their old trusty BIOS (no UEFI yet) with plenty of options to tweak RAM, CPU, etc. The features on this board are hard to pass up for the price with USB 3.0, SATA III, two full x16 lane SLI/Crossfire support and support for the upcoming bulldozer CPUs as well as any AM3 CPU. The color scheme is dead sexy and a complete 180 degree turn from previous Gigabyte boards. I had flashed the BIOS to F3g(at the time I got this) before doing anything else and had absolutely no issues upon boot up. Windows 7 practically took care of the entire setup for me and the only drivers I actually went hunting for were the south-bridge drivers from AMDs site and the latest Etron drivers off Gigabyte’s site. I would personally suggest sticking with msahci drivers for SSDs and TRIM support. Everything seems to work well with GSkill sniper 1866 memory (running @ 1333 for now), Crucial 64gb M4 SSD (average 510 Mb/s read 106 Mb/s write with 0009 firmware) and a fill-in Phenom II x3 720 BE (can’t unlock or overclock past 3.4Ghz for anything unfortunately) until Bulldozer hits.
“Cons”:
Now I did do my homework before going in to this, but a word of caution to potential buyers: this board (or mine at least) bumps whatever CPU voltage you set in BIOS up by .02V when the CPU is in idle and then at CPU load the voltage goes back down to your BIOS setting with occasional spikes that drop another .02V. This is with using the latest CPU-Z and HWMonitor and the F4 BIOS. Gigabyte states they followed Bulldozer specifications for this but from what I read this is better than the crazy voltage drops on the UD5 and UD7 boards.
The only other quirk I can think of is petty but might as well mention it. Gigbayte, and I believe ASRock as well, uses the Etron controller for their USB 3.0 ports which have reportedly caused some issues with certain USB devices, but in my case it takes a good 5 sec. for my USB 3.0 flash drive to be detected whereas it’s instant in the usb2.0 ports (drawback of being non-native?). This is of course using the latest drivers but like I said, it’s trivial and I’m sure this new tech. will perfect itself over time. O yeah, there’s also no LLC control, but this may have have been implemented in the rev. 1.1 or 1.2 boards (yes there is already a rev. 1.2 board out there so hopefully Amazon sends you the latest one).
Other thoughts:
The hardest part is just waiting out Bulldozer and hoping it does well (and I haven’t been waiting nearly as long as others actually). For those willing to take a gamble on bulldozer or just want to upgrade their 800 series boards, you can’t go wrong with this one. Make sure to update the BIOS to F4, especially if you receive a rev 1.0 board, and you’re set to go.
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|Tons of features for not a ton of $,
The board is awesome because it puts SLI on an AMD board. It also has support for bulldozer (8core) CPUs so it’s a good buy for when you wanna use your current parts and upgrade later.
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