Question 1

Im trying to get a new graphics card for Christmas i want to run games like battlefield 4 smoothly any suggestions so i get a card that will work inside it?

Accepted Answer

You should look into the new line of AMD cards. The R9 290X will max the settings and run it smoothly. This is probably the best card for the money right now. If that is out of your budget just look into the cheaper cards. Make sure to look up benchmarks of them so you can see if they will perform how you want them to.

I run this motherboard, an AMD FX-6300 processor, and a Radeon HD 7870 graphics card. This runs Skyrim maxed and most other games maxed as well. It struggles with intense games like Crysis 3 and Battlefield 3 so i have no problem saying  that it is not the card for you because it will most definitely struggle running BF4.

Question 2

Anyone know why this is a USB 3.0 but it lacks an input for a 20 Pin (the 20pin connects my two front USB 3.0 ports on the front)?

Accepted Answer

According to the specs the board only has 2 USB 3.0 connectors that are located with the rear panel ports. I can only assume your case has USB 3.0 on the front, unfortunately the internal connectors do not have a header for USB 3.0 which is required for front panel access. There are USB 3.0 PCI cards available that may provide this for your application.

Question 3

What would be the best CPU for this board? I have the FX6300 and want to upgrade.

Accepted Answer

FX8370

Question 4

Is this version Cross Fire compatible between 2 AMD graphics cards? I have a Radeon R7 265 2GB 256-Bit and I am looking to get another one for this build.

Accepted Answer

No for 2 reasons:
1. Your card requires PCI Express 3.0, this one only has 2.0.
2. This board only supports one PCI Express device at x16, allowing a secondary device only up to x4. Your second card would need at least x16 I believe.

Question 5

Just wanted to ask if this motherboard supports SLI..i am problably going to guess that it doesnt because i have 2 GTX 770s and for some reason i am able to sli them used the bridge and everything windows sees the 2 cards and no option to sli?

Accepted Answer

No

Brand	GIGABYTE
Model	GA-970A-D3

CPU Socket Type	AM3+
CPU Type	Athlon Series / FX Series / Phenom II / Sempron
FSB	2400 MHz Hyper Transport (4800 MT/s)

Number of Memory Slots	4x240pin
Memory Standard	DDR3 2000(O.C.) / 1866 / 1600 / 1333 / 1066
Maximum Memory Supported	32GB
Channel Supported	Dual Channel

PCI Express 2.0 x16	2 (x16, x4)
PCI Express x1	3 x PCI Express x1
PCI Slots	2 x PCI Slots

Serial ATA (SATA)	6 x SATA 6Gb/s
SATA RAID	0/1/5/10/JBOD

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GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

Used - Good

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Back I/O Ports	1 x Optical S/PDIF Out / 1 x PS/2 / 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 / 6 x Audio Jacks / 8 x USB 2.0/1.1
PS/2	1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
USB 3.0	2 x USB 3.0
USB 1.1/2.0	8 x USB 2.0
S/PDIF Out	1 x Optical
Audio Ports	6 Ports

Onboard USB	6 x USB 2.0
Other Connectors	1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector 1 x CPU fan header 2 x system fan headers 1 x power fan header 1 x front panel header 1 x front panel audio header 1 x S/PDIF Out header 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header 1 x serial port header 1 x clearing CMOS jumper

Onboard Audio
Audio Chipset	Realtek ALC889
Audio Channels	8 Channels

Onboard LAN
LAN Chipset	Realtek 8111E
Max LAN Speed	1Gbps

Physical Spec
Form Factor	ATX
Dimensions (W x L)	12" x 8.82"
Power Pin	24 Pin

Item#: 9SIA639KE80564