mATX MBs for AMD FX6300? and sampling rate?

AR-Mad

I am trying to put together my first PC build. However I can't find any decent MBs at microATX sizes for the AMD FX6300. This is the build list:
-AMD FX6300
-XFX 7870 2GB Core Edition
-Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1866MHz (blue)
-Sliverstone Strider 600W PSU
-BitFenix Merc Alpha
-MB ?

Also, does sampling rate matter(is 192KHz > 92Khz)? Some MBs audio codecs can handle 192KHz (Realtek ALC889) while most handle 96Khz(Realtek ALC662). Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Monotype

Where are you buying?

The FX6300 is an OK CPU, but if you want a bit of power in your system, you might want to consider an Intel build. On the other hand, Intel will probably be replacing their lineup in a few months and AMD have another generation left in their board so the upgrade path might work out much the same, aside from Intel being able to offer higher performance right now in most applications.

Yes, ALC889 > ALC662 but if you want good quality sound, just get a dedicated sound card. For most people, either would probably be fine. Your graphics card has sound built in too, if you were to use HDMI.

AR-Mad

im buying the CPU from scan.co.uk. I just need a machine to play games and nothing else at this time and from what i have read the FX 6300 will do that job fine. Yes the Intel is definitely better but for this starter build im going with AMD and I intend to gut my PC and replace it with Intel parts 2 years later.

Monotype

Wow, you're right. There's not a single good mATX board that I can find for AM3+. Not just on scan but everywhere I checked and that includes a few manufacturer's pages. They're all based on old chipsets, several generations old. There were more options around even this time last year when we even had 880G boards, but they seem to be gone now. Not a single 900 series board out there as far as I can see.

Do you need an mATX board? You could fit ATX into the Bitfenix.

AR-Mad

yeah, its frustrating. I have decided to use an ATX MB as the BitFenix can fit it. im looking at AsRock and ASUS atm because i have heard bad things about the Gigabyte and MSI boards eg. the VRM failures.

Monotype

The cheapest decent one then is the M5A97 from Asus.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-m5a97-evo-r20-amd-970-s-am3plus-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-sata-raid-pcie-20-(x16)-atx

There's a few cheaper MSI ones and the Asrock Extreme4, but someone was saying that that particular Asrock one wasn't up to scratch in reliability.
Above that, there's the 990FX boards and higher end ones. They're not that much more, but really the only main feature you get from them is SLI/Crossfire.

Are you considering Crossfire? That's a fairly high wattage PSU for just one card. I can check to see if there's any others worth looking at.

AR-Mad

No i wont be crossfiring but I think i am going with that motherboard. i am keeping the MB below 80EUR. Thanks again.