Please suggest suitable motherboard for AMD FX8120 + Radeon HD 6950

I am assembling a PC with this config.
Monitor: Benq 24 inch LED - GL2450 Monitor @11k
Processor: AMD 3.1 GHz AM3+ FX 8120 Processor @10.5k
GFX: Sapphire HD6950 2GB @ 16k

Please suggest a cheap motherboard for this config. Not really interested in overclocking. But if the option is there it will be a plus.

look for Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 or ASUS M5A97 @ ~6-6.5k

for cheaper options look for : GA-880GM-USB3 (rev. 3.1) @ 4.8k or Asus M5A88-M @ 5.5k

To run a generic 8 core processor safely, the minimum choice for you is any of these two:
Gigabyte ga-970a-ud3 @7K
or
Asus M5A97 @6.2K

Any other motherboard cheaper than thse two can handle 8120, but isn't safe for running.

In My opinion
though 4 phase boards can handle that cpu but
Get a board with6 or 8 phase for cpu

And if you are going to purchase this config and don't want to overclock then change that cpu to i5-2400 or 3550 and get a cheap B75 board like GA-B75M-D3H for 4.5k

I am open to overclocking, just not immediately. So I guess Gigabyte ga-970a-ud3 wil be fine. It is listed for 6.2k on flipkart.

Will I need cooling solution for this configuration. I am not planning to overclock immediately.

The stock cooler would be enough for mild overclocking. Add a CM Hyper 212 Evo later.

angie said:
I am open to overclocking, just not immediately. So I guess Gigabyte ga-970a-ud3 wil be fine. It is listed for 6.2k on flipkart.

Will I need cooling solution for this configuration. I am not planning to overclock immediately.

Stock cooler would be enough IMO for mild overclocking.
Changing stock cooler will depend on you, amount of OC you plan to do.

angie said:
I am open to overclocking, just not immediately. So I guess Gigabyte ga-970a-ud3 wil be fine. It is listed for 6.2k on flipkart.

Will I need cooling solution for this configuration. I am not planning to overclock immediately.

It's out of stock - so if you are interested in getting from FK try ASUS M5A97 @ 6.7k.

topgear said:
It's out of stock - so if you are interested in getting from FK try ASUS M5A97 @ 6.7k.

Indeed. I will look for some other site. Otherwise will choose the ASUS one. The main question is have I chosen the correct processor and GFX card? Should I go for AMD Radeon 7850 2GB?

cpu choice depends on the type of your work .. if you need lots of multitasking then this cpu is good for you and about gfx card - if you can go for HD7850 without any second thought.

angie said:
Indeed. I will look for some other site. Otherwise will choose the ASUS one. The main question is have I chosen the correct processor and GFX card? Should I go for AMD Radeon 7850 2GB?

Oh, you haven't bought HD6950 yet?
Then look into HD7850 2GB version as well as HD7870 1GB version.

angie said:
Indeed. I will look for some other site. Otherwise will choose the ASUS one. The main question is have I chosen the correct processor and GFX card? Should I go for AMD Radeon 7850 2GB?

AnandTech - Bench - CPU
since you are going to buy this rig
then better is to look fo i5-2500k and p67 or z68 or z77 chipset based board
or any locked i5 with B75 chipset based board so as to keep it less costly

but if you want 8120 then better is to opt for a board with more phases for cpu

Better suggestion. If you haven't bought them, you don't need to go for either FX8120 or Radeon 6950.

No. I haven't bought them yet. Can't go for intel 2500k. Not only it is costlier, also a compatible overclockable motherboard is much much costlier, 16k+ around I think.

I think this is the best performance I can get out of any processor (amd or intel) at 10.5k. Though I am open to suggestions.

truegenius said:
AnandTech - Bench - CPU
since you are going to buy this rig
then better is to look fo i5-2500k and p67 or z68 or z77 chipset based board
or any locked i5 with B75 chipset based board so as to keep it less costly

but if you want 8120 then better is to opt for a board with more phases for cpu

My budget is overall 50k

(can't afford these mobos)

d6bmg said:
Oh, you haven't bought HD6950 yet?
Then look into HD7850 2GB version as well as HD7870 1GB version.

7870 is out of my budget. Maybe I can go for HD7850 2 GB. Listed at 17k on infibeam. Any idea whether I could get it cheaper on the streets?

not all Intel OCable mobos are costly - Biostar TZ77B available on Infibeam at less than 8k which is good enough to take a core i5 2500k to 4.5 Ghz witha good cooler ( like CM Hyper 212 Evo ) easily which will outperform FX-8150 in most apps.

So the mobo+cpu+cooler will cost you ~~22.5k ( Intel ) and gfx card alone ~15k - so you are left with ~13k to buy rest of the components.

and here's some great deals on HD7850 :

HIS ATI Radeon HD7850 ICEQX 2GB DDR5 H785QN2G2M Graphic Card, Compare and Buy latest ATI-AMD Online in India: bitFang.com
SAPPHIRE HD7850 2GB GDDR5 - TechXtreme.in

AnandTech - Bench - CPU

i5 2400 Rs11.8k
Intel 3.1 GHz LGA 1155 Core i5-2400 Processor | Processor | Flipkart.com

Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Rs4.4k
Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Motherboard | Motherboard | Flipkart.com

equals 16.2k
and is better in many tasks than fx8150 3.6ghz ( while 8120 is at 3.1ghz)
also with this board you can clock it to ~3.3ghz base and ~3.7ghz turbo without any aftermarket heatsink or high capacity psu
to keep it further cool you can use cm hyper tx3 cooler for ~1k only

and you can introduce a ssd in it like adata Premier Pro SP900 64GB for 5.2k
ADATA Premier Pro 64 GB Laptop Internal Hard Drive (Premier Pro SP900) | Internal Hard Drive | Flipkart.com

usage for the rig? if its multitasking and core intensive then Intel sucks at that price point...

topgear said:
not all Intel OCable mobos are costly - Biostar TZ77B available on Infibeam at less than 8k which is good enough to take a core i5 2500k to 4.5 Ghz witha good cooler ( like CM Hyper 212 Evo ) easily which will outperform FX-8150 in most apps.

So the mobo+cpu+cooler will cost you ~~22.5k ( Intel ) and gfx card alone ~15k - so you are left with ~13k to buy rest of the components.

and here's some great deals on HD7850 :

HIS ATI Radeon HD7850 ICEQX 2GB DDR5 H785QN2G2M Graphic Card, Compare and Buy latest ATI-AMD Online in India: bitFang.com
SAPPHIRE HD7850 2GB GDDR5 - TechXtreme.in

Some points against this suggestion of yours:
1. Biostar Z77 board? please!
2. Avoid HIS. May be it is 500-1000/- cheaper than other good boards, but the possibility of problem during RMA neutralizes the benefit.

@OP: FX-8120 + Asus M5A97 PRO will cost you ~17.6K, which is better choice than I5-2400 or equivalent Intel processor in most of the cases. Remember, I'm not talking about benchmarking here.
About graphics card: Sapphire HD7850 2GB @16K seems to be very good deal to me.

topgear said:
So the mobo+cpu+cooler will cost you ~~22.5k ( Intel )

Nah. Currently the combo (FX8120 with Motherboard) without cooler is 16.5k, can't go above that

truegenius said:
AnandTech - Bench - CPU

i5 2400 Rs11.8k
Intel 3.1 GHz LGA 1155 Core i5-2400 Processor | Processor | Flipkart.com

Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Rs4.4k
Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Motherboard | Motherboard | Flipkart.com

equals 16.2k
and is better in many tasks than fx8150 3.6ghz ( while 8120 is at 3.1ghz)
also with this board you can clock it to ~3.3ghz base and ~3.7ghz turbo without any aftermarket heatsink or high capacity psu
to keep it further cool you can use cm hyper tx3 cooler for ~1k only

and you can introduce a ssd in it like adata Premier Pro SP900 64GB for 5.2k
ADATA Premier Pro 64 GB Laptop Internal Hard Drive (Premier Pro SP900) | Internal Hard Drive | Flipkart.com

Will look into this.

What about intel i5 3450? Is it better or worse than i5 2400?

Will windows 8 make any difference, utilizing cores more efficiently?

^^ actually core i5 3450 is slightly better than core i5 2400 and windows 8 supposed to be more efficient but don't expect any huge performance difference though.

d6bmg said:
Some points against this suggestion of yours:
1. Biostar Z77 board? please!
2. Avoid HIS. May be it is 500-1000/- cheaper than other good boards, but the possibility of problem during RMA neutralizes the benefit.

@OP: FX-8120 + Asus M5A97 PRO will cost you ~17.6K, which is better choice than I5-2400 or equivalent Intel processor in most of the cases. Remember, I'm not talking about benchmarking here.
About graphics card: Sapphire HD7850 2GB @16K seems to be very good deal to me.

for ~7k I don't think the biostar mobo is that bad and as I've said don't expect too much from that but it's enough to take any K series cu upto 4.5 Ghz IMO but no talk on this anymore here as Op is not going for this though you may have a look at this review :
What Is The Best Sub-$100 Intel Z77 Motherboard? Find Out In Our Roundup! - Final Thoughts and Conclusion - Legit Reviews
and talking about RMA of HiS no idea about this but Overclockers Zone ie Tirupati Enterprise is the distributor and service provider for this AFAIK.

i5-3450 is 5-10% better than 2400 and consumes less power (77w vs 95w)
and supports pciev3
thus is better than 2400 with a little higher price tag

^^ PCI-E 3.0 is a marketing tactic. Nothing more.

Ok. pairing up i5-3450 with a low cost motherboard, if possible, seems to be a worthy solution. But it can't be overclocked. Fx 8120 can be overclocked but will consume a LOT of power as some people have said.

I think I will finally go with FX-8120 + AMD radeon 7850. Lets hope it gives decent performance to satisfy the gamer in me. Going from a laptop with Core 2 duo and ATI radeon 4570, I think the initial experience will be more than satisfying no matter what components I choose...

One last question-
For RAM, Corsair Vengeance seems to be very popular. What do you guys say?

^^ Corsair Vengeance is good indeed but it may limit your choice of cpu coolers in future - so you can consider getting G-Skill Sniper series.

^^both are crap...stick with XMS3 or Ripjaws X

angie said:
Ok. pairing up i5-3450 with a low cost motherboard, if possible, seems to be a worthy solution. But it can't be overclocked. Fx 8120 can be overclocked but will consume a LOT of power as some people have said.

Bold part is not a good solution.
And FX-8150 will consume ~100watt of power, where as 3450 will consume ~80watt of power alone. 3450 can be overclocked, but by a limited amount, only with a good motherboard. Overclocked processor always consumes more power but not 'LOT' of power as someone have misguided you.

angie said:
One last question-
For RAM, Corsair Vengeance seems to be very popular. What do you guys say?

I find ripjaws-x series better than vengeance.

Then i5-3450 is also out of my budget and my decision is greatly simplified.

AMD FX-8120. Will try to find it cheaper on streets than flipkart otherwise will buy it online.
Any way, should I buy it from here- AMD FX 8120 Zambezi 3.1GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8120FRGUBOX
I sent them an email, they never replied. So I got a little skeptical.

d6bmg said:
I find ripjaws-x series better than vengeance.

As you and @Sumonpathak have said, Ripjaws x it is, then. Both cost same approx.

One more thing I forgot to ask?
Should I be installing 32-bit win7/8 or 64 bit?
Last time I checked (which is some years) some games had a problem with 64 bit? Do they have right now?

If I use 32 bit, then I will stick with 4 GB ram, otherwise 8GB.

Use 64 bit OS.
32bit OS can only utilize 3.12GB.

sumonpathak said:
^^both are crap...stick with XMS3 or Ripjaws X

So G-Skill Sniper and Vengeance both are not good ?? any reason ? and same goes true even for Vengeance LP ?

angie said:
Then i5-3450 is also out of my budget and my decision is greatly simplified. AMD FX-8120. Will try to find it cheaper on streets than flipkart otherwise will buy it online.
Any way, should I buy it from here- AMD FX 8120 Zambezi 3.1GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8120FRGUBOX
I sent them an email, they never replied. So I got a little skeptical.

As you and @Sumonpathak have said, Ripjaws x it is, then. Both cost same approx.

One more thing I forgot to ask?
Should I be installing 32-bit win7/8 or 64 bit?
Last time I checked (which is some years) some games had a problem with 64 bit? Do they have right now

If I use 32 bit, then I will stick with 4 GB ram, otherwise 8GB.

windows Xp 64 bit and Vista 64 bit edition ( sand Sp2 ) hs lots of issues and that time may be drivers were not mature enough too but with windows 7 64 bit edition lots of compatibility issues were fixed - if you by any chance have some 16 bit apps/games try dosbox or VMware to run those.

sniper have very low oc margins and so is vengeance..the IC's used are not upto the mark...cannot comment about LP as i have not tested them yet...

i have vengeance and can't push it beyond 1780mhz on cl9 from 1600 on cl9

sumonpathak said:
sniper have very low oc margins and so is vengeance..the IC's used are not upto the mark...cannot comment about LP as i have not tested them yet...

Ok, got it ...

Hey, Thanks all.
Bought all the components from computerbazaar, CTC hyderabad.
AMD FX-8120 + ASUS M5A97 @ 15900
AMD Radeon 7850 2GB @ 14850
G-skill Ripjaws X 4GB (x2) @1850*2 (was not readily available in the market though)
Seagate Baracuda 1 TB @ 4650
Got 500 off on the final price too.

^^ Great pricing and congrats .

BTW, what's the brand/manufacturer of the HD7850 ?? is this a OCed version. ? and post some box shots ;-)

Ok. will do. Its from Sapphire.

^^ Thanks for the info.

angie said:
AMD Radeon 7850 2GB @ 14850

I, specially, like this price.
It is going to come down more.. ~13K I guess.