according to each board's spec page, that first msi (
880gma-e45) board will support the 1055t out of the box, but only the 95w tdp version which i'm not sure has been released yet, so i'm thinking you must have the 125w tdp version which looks like it wouldn't work.
the gigabyte (
880gm-ud2h) board will support both 125w and 95w tdp versions of the 1055t, but it will require atleast bios version f5.
the other msi (
k9n6pgm2-v2) board, again will only support the 95w tdp version of the 1055t, but it will require the latest bios version available for this board.
Thanks for the reply and crucial info Muffin Man! I appreciate you and the info you have given. Every bit helps because I have gone almost exclusively Intel for the last several years and know next to nothing about AMD systems. The only time I have ever touched AMD was on one build last year that I found very disturbing [bought all the parts new, flew to a third world nation, opened up the "new" AMD processor box just to find an entire line of pins bent flat against the processor]! Just to show you how ignorant I was, I never even knew the pins on AMD's were on the processor rather than the MB! The reason I am going AMD on this build is simply because the I would like to future proof this build to a small degree and Intel's version of a six core is nearly $1000 for the processor alone!
I will be selling my older system that has the Q9550 with 8 gigs of RAM to help fund this build.
why did you buy 3 different boards? Good question...I actually purchased a number of CPU/MB combo's some time back when Fry's was dumping combo's for less than half the retail price one after another, week after week after week. Basically, I was getting the MB for free and the CPU was actually less than cost at the same time...and I found that difficult to resist, so I purchased a shipload of the combos. Now I am happy I did simply because Fry's has since stopped giving the killer deals. You can't find combo prices that low any more.
After reading your very informative post, it appears as if the gigabyte (880gm-ud2h) may be the way to go. I have no clue if my 1055T is 125w or 95w, nor did I even know two versions were manufactured. Ok, the million dollar question...how can I determine which version is which?
I am looking for a MB that might be a little future proof. After reading numerous posts, the MB's with USB 3 and SATA 6 seems to be the way to go. So, this fact seems to set the MSI 880GMA-E45 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard apart from the others. I was thinking a full ATX would be the way to go [I like extra room, and I have a new Sniper case to accommodate a full ATX], but the MSI 880GMA-E45 is a micro ATX.
I was looking at the ASUS Crosshair III and IV's but myriads of people are having massive difficulties and challenges with poor NB and SB temps related to poor seating. Thus, I will not even consider looking at them [time investment is crucial for me now as the new school year has started for me and I have almost 250 students to look after]. I need something that I can put together and not spend 1-3 months [as many have, myself included] troubleshooting MB, RAM, and other issues.
Analog's suggested GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard seems like a fairly good choice too.
I came here wanting to discover if anyone has found an AMD MB with the full ATX factor for the AMD 1055t that works excellent, has a degree of future proofed capabilities, and a decent price as well [I know, I am looking for a miracle, but I still believe in miracles].
Ok, I do have another question...if I choose to go with the gigabyte (880gm-ud2h), is there someway I can upgrade to the newest BIOS if I have the AMD 1055t plugged into that MB?
It's me,
Total AMD newbie
Soar