GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: I'm a first time builder, and I wanted to make sure that I got a motherboard that supported the future chips from AMD. I had absolutely no problems with this board--I got a POST on the first boot up, and installed all the components seamlessly. Layout was great (especially for a first timer) and the BIOS is easy to navigate. I also found the documentation helpful and easy to use.

Cons: None really.

Pros: Read the specs, it's awesome. USB 3 SATA 3 My first foray into DDR3 land on my personal machine. Newegg rocks!

Cons: First 2 RAM slots are very close to CPU HS. Audio at the rear somewhat awkward. NB and SB both get pretty warm in my Antec 300 Illusion case.

Overall Review: Very clearly labeled, outstanding USer's manual, loads of features, new chipset. Booted Windows 7 with no problems to a drive I was using with my previous MB from a different company with different chipset. Make sure you get a HS & fan that will fit, it's pretty tight. One of those Zalman radial types that blow in all directions would probably work great if it would fit. Otherwise, I'm shopping for one that blows up and down instead of side to side like the one I have. I'm using the stock HS & fan that came with my 955 BE C2. It is on the small side and it barely fits. Thinking serious thoughts about liquid cooling. So far so good.

Pros: Plays very nicely with my Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition: can overclock to at least 3.7 GHz just by adjusting the cpu clock multiplier with the stock cooler. That’s a 500MHz boost over stock speed. Very, very fast boots into Win 7 x64 at stock speed. Runs CL7 RAM (OCZ3P16004GK) at spec (1600MHz) with no problems (manually set). This RAM is rated at 1.7v but has to be set at either 1.695 or 1.710 in the BIOS. This Gigabyte 890GX board seems to be rather gotcha-proof with no southbridge “burps” (does not delay or stall in AHCI mode while detecting more than one SATA hard drive and report S.M.A.R.T. errors). Incorporates six SATA3 ports. Unfortunately, only the very best of today’s SSDs approach the upper boundary of SATA2 performance; they can’t saturate a 6Gb/s port. The second (or third?) generation of SATA3 SSDs will (hopefully) be capable of that, as well as be “affordable” for the not-so-well-heeled. AMD RAID is a better performer than Gigabyte RAID.

Cons: Will not detect IDE optical drives to use during OS install when Onboard SATA controller is set to “RAID/IDE,” so I couldn’t configure Gigabyte RAID as a system/boot drive. Intel RAID is still a better performer than AMD RAID. Gigabyte RAID generally performs worst than AMD RAID. I found that a 64K stripe yielded the best benchmarks. First 2 DIMM slots are very close to cpu; cpu coolers that overhang them will be a problem. I have a Sunbeam 120mm cooler, the bottom of which would touch my RAM, but I use some thin non-conducting shims (thin and wide pencil eraser slices) between it and top of the DIMMs. DIMMs with tall/unusual heatsinks will NOT work in the first two slots with such coolers. This will likely be hard to figure exactly, but I strongly suggest you try to do so if you want to fill all 4 DIMM slots — I was lucky that my cooler/DIMMs had the tinniest room for the shims between them. (The alternative of using 4GBers in the last two DIMM slots is much more expensive.

Overall Review: This Durable 3 board seems well-built and laid-out. Gigabyte and Asus (soon to be leaving the business?) are my top choices for mobos. But, certainly, other brands are quite good, too. “My rig”: Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition @3.2GHz stepping C3 (Sunbeam Tech CR-CCTF 120mm Core-Contact Freezer) 8GB (4x2GB) OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600 (OCZ3P16004GK) 7-7-7-30 Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H HIS Radeon 4670 DDR3 1GB (I don’t play games!) Dell 1907FP LCD Primary drives (SATA2): Intel X-25M G2 160GB, 2x500GB WD Caviar Black (partitioned and RAID 0 configurations of 64GB (Photoshop scratch disk) and 867GB drives) Secondary drives (SATA2): 3 Hitachi 1TB 7200rpm, 1 Seagate 750GB 7200rpm, 1 Hitachi 640GB 7200rpm, 1 WD 500GB 7200rpm (IDE-ATA100) Optical drives (all IDE): Lite-On 52327S CD-RW, LG DT-ST GSA-H55N DVD-RAM, Benq DW1640 DVD-RW XClio A380 Twin Engine case Antec Earthwatts 750 PSU SYBA SD-ATA133R PCI controller (for IDE drives) USR 5610B v.92 faxmodem Microsoft ergonomic keyboard

Pros: It works. It's not Asus.

Cons: Not real sure about that onboard RAID controller. Default AHCI mode worked for me but getting other options to work may require the installation of special drivers according to the manual. I decided to use Windows software RAID to keep things simple and not worry about special drivers. The drivers should be on DVD that comes with the motherboard.

Overall Review: I previously bought the Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 motherboard. Went through 2 of them. None would POST. RMAed the 1st one, gave up and got a refund on the 2nd one so I could buy Gigabyte. The Gigabyte worked immediately for me. The layout is a million times better than on the Asus. Easy to get to the connectors. Heat sink attaches with ease unlike on Asus where you will need superhuman strength to force the 2nd clamp onto its latch. My setup: Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX motherboard AMD Phenom II X6 1100 T CPU Crucial CTFDDAC256MAG-1G1 256 MB SSD Pioneer BDR-206 BKS BluRay burner LG WH08LS20K BluRay burner (bought in the past) Seagate ES ST32000444SS 2TB disk drives (2 of them) Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 2x4GB RAM stock AMD cooling fan (I do not overclock) Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

Pros: Everything was fine for six months. Onboarad video was very good. Ran a Dell ST2010 monitor and Samsung 32" LCD TV together without a hitch.

Cons: After six months the computer would no longer POST. I purchased an ASROCK 890GX Pro3 and installed the new board in the same case, with the same PS, CPU and RAM. System booted without a problem. The other reviews reporting the same problem are true.

Overall Review: It is very difficult to find a mainboard that does not have a high percentage of DOA. Hope the ASRock is as good as the early reviews.

Pros: Great motherboard, has all of the new fast stuff: USB 3.0, SATA 3.0, x6 core support. Can crossfire.

Cons: The motherboard in the picture is NOT the motherboard I received. Notice the memory slots: two blue next to each other, and two white slots next to each other. The board I received has four memory slots: one blue, one white, one blue, and one white that alternate in that fashion. Both motherboards are both labeled GA-890GPA-UD3H though. I checked Gigabyte's website and they are showing the one I received as being revision 2.1. This wouldn't be an issue but I initially installed my memory incorrectly (two cards side by side) instead of installing them in the same colored slots. The manual that came with board was for the older revision and told me to install the memory incorrectly that way. The board works fine but it was a hassle getting wrong information. I guess Newegg just needs to update the picture if this is the board they intend to send out and make sure that the correct board manual is shipped with the board.

Overall Review: Great mobo!

Pros: I have always liked Gigabyte boards. The picture above shows this board as revision 1.0. but as of april 26 2011 when I ordered the he last one they sent me a revision 3.1. The difference is on revision 3.1 the socket is black instead of white. With revision 3.1 this board is able to handle am3+ processors. I didnt want to buy a board with revision 1.0 when there was a 3.1 available. I called around and no other company could tell me if they had the 3.1 including Newegg. So I was pretty happy when the board came and lo and behold it had the black socket and said revision 3.1. Any revision before this can only handle am3 processors.

Cons: I cant really think of any.

Overall Review: Gigabytes Customer service has always been very helpful on the phone so if you ever have a problem just call them.

Pros: Everything worked fine right out of the box. I replaced an ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 that arrived DOA with this board and I'm glad I did. The placement of the SATA ports is very nice. The RAM slots are far enough away from the CPU that my memory fan doesn't hit the CPU fan. The BIOS is easy to adjust and overclock. I really can't think of a problem with this board.

Cons: I didn't chose Gigabyte before wasting my time and money with ASUS. It cost me $26 to return my other mobo that arrived DOA back to newegg because of a "restocking fee". So if you happen to be in the market for an ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 and get an "open box" deal from newegg, it might just be my old board! Hey, at least it will be marked down by around $26.

Overall Review: My setup: GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H Motherboard Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5ms LED/LCD Monitor X3 Sentey Black Box Series BX2-4284 Mid Tower Kingston SSDNow V+100 SVP100S2B/128GR 2.5" 128GB SATA II SSD master HD Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s slave HD CORSAIR Gaming Series GS800 800W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS PSU HIS H695F2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 X2 in Crossfire AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Thuban 3.3GHz, 3.7GHz CPU G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 1333 RAM @ 7-7-7-21 Drinkrite HD dual case mounted cup holders