Looking for an AM3 board

Ok, thing is, I'm checking if there is a feasable upgrade system in the works for me, and I'm a bit out of it (Penelope Mk2 is working so well, I haven't looked at new stuff for a while).

My requirements:

• AM3 socket
• Must support at least 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3 (at low latency). No slowdowns with all slots filled please.
• Must have firewire
• At least one 16x PCIe slot, and at least one other PCIe slot. More is better.
• At least one, but preferably not too many, PCI slots (need an extra ATA controller for my CD-drives)
• Gigabit ethernet
• Enough SATA ports, 5+ preferable. Must be able to run both single disks and RAID 1 mirrors at the same time (I currently have 2 mirrors and 3 seperate disks, IIRC)

other wishes

• I don't need on board graphics, preferably not in fact.
• Floppy controller would be nice (RAID install)
• Serial ports are welcome, can be a motherboard connector.

So, the closest I've come is the Asus M4A79XTD EVO, which lacks only the floppy controller. I've heard talk though that the board has a pretty crappy raid implementation. (Though if that's the only problem, I'll push an Areca into one of the PCIe slots). Does anyone have experience with that board.

Another option are 790FX boards, but those only support 1600MHz ram with OCing, limiting further OC capabilities (and in some cases limiting the maximum amount of ram, which is a big no-no)

Any other suggestions?

PS: chip will be a Phenom II 955, probably

Just look for something 790gx or 790fx based. Yes the GX comes with onboard graphics, but it can actually be beneficial to you. In the dragon platform it actually boosted GPU performance, I'd assume it would do the same with a 5850.

As for no memory slow down with 4 sticks on an AMD board. Good luck finding that. The memory controllers are still on the CPU, so I'd assume there are still issues with running a full bank of high speed ram. (Stang would know better).

Also, why so picky about the memory? Memory frequency really doesn't make all that big of a difference, and the 1600mhz stuff is over expensive and just not supported all that widely.

Heck you can get plenty of good AM3 boards running DDR2 as well, the losses are minimal for the large amounts of money you will be saving.

I'm picky about memory cause I got burned there with my current system (DDR1). DDR2 was just out when I build it, and now upgrading my RAM is friggin' expensive. Had I gotten an AM2 board back then, I could've upgraded much easier (New CPU, more ram, presto), now I'm stuck replacing the entire board.

Didn't know about the IGP crossfire thingy, thanx (See? This is why I ask you guys)

DDR2 is still widely accepted as standard though. Yes it is being phased out for high end systems, but it's still a staple in everything else. Heck most AM3 boards run DDR2 as well outside of the high end ones.

But still, even if you decide to go with DDR3 1600, it's not the standard DDR3, especially not for AMD boards. It's overpriced high end stuff, and you just won't gain anything from it.

Well, I've postponed the upgrade for a while. Penelope Mk2 runs Windows 7 just fine, I've ordered some extra memory, which will sit me out for another year. We'll see how the battlefield has changed by then.

Thanks for the advice though!

You are a better man than me if you can resist an upgrade.

But ya.. hopefully that 165 won't bottleneck that 5850 too horribly.

Resisting the upgrade bug is easier when you can't find exactly what you want. Guess I'll wait for the 6-core Phenoms :-) Couldn't resist those new Radeons after all...

And maybe I'll finally get around to building a WC rig and giving that 165 the OC it deserves...

That opty has had a long good life. It's time for it to retire into a server or something.

Actually, my server runs a Sempron x64. I'm a bit weird that way...

And what better way for a CPU to go out than in a burning hot ball of overclocking f(l)ame?

True.