Best AM3+ motherboard, for small overclocking and Crossfire/SLI

[SomethingShort]

What is the best AM3+ motherboard that is:

• Reliable
• Has a lot of USB (including USB 3.0)
• SATA 6GB/s
• Good for small overclocking of an FX 8350
• Has at least 2 PCI-E x16 running at x16 for SLI/Crossfire?
• Preferably below 200$ (£125).

Thanks

[Grave]

Gigabyte's UD3/UD5 boards are both under $200/£125 I believe. Pretty sure there's actually no AM3+ board above $200 in the U.S., so you shouldn't really say that here .

Anyway, The top 3 motherboards for OCing in general on the AM3+ platform are the Asus Sabertooth + Crosshair and the Gigabyte UD7. The UD5 is kind of close to both Asus motherboards. The UD3 is plenty for what you want I think.

[Toxic Tom]

I have a sabertooth which is very nice. I think it's overkill for me though.

[SomethingShort]

Gigabyte's UD3/UD5 boards are both under $200/£125 I believe. Pretty sure there's actually no AM3+ board above $200 in the U.S., so you shouldn't really say that here .

Anyway, The top 3 motherboards for OCing in general on the AM3+ platform are the Asus Sabertooth + Crosshair and the Gigabyte UD7. The UD5 is kind of close to both Asus motherboards. The UD3 is plenty for what you want I think.

The Sabertooth looks quite good, and so does the Crosshair V Formula. Are there any large differences between them apart from the colour scheme?

[Grave]

The Sabertooth looks quite good, and so does the Crosshair V Formula. Are there any large differences between them apart from the colour scheme?

The Crosshair V Formula is suggested to be of better quality overall and is definitely the more recent of the two boards, but the Sabertooth is very good anyway. They're essentially equal in all respects. Nothing major stands out between the two. Also, I believe the Sabertooth comes with a shield you can cover it up with (in case you don't like the cosmetics). Maybe the Crosshair V has this too, I don't know/remember.

The UD7 is pretty much the same as those two boards but is felt to be more reliable in the overclocking community. This is mostly a non-factor for you since I'm saying these 3 boards are like, top of the line for heavy AM3+ overclocking. Just go with whatever you like and can afford. Almost anything in the 99FX/990FX/990X line is going to be enough/overkill for what you're planning but will include the features you want. Just avoid the Asus EVO motherboard, ECS + Biostar + maybe the cheapest ASRock 99FX/990FX/990X motherboards. The PRO R2.0 is essentially the same as the EVO but I believe it's newer and has more features, and the rest are just lacking in quality too much for me to recommend them unless you wanna save some money.