Searching for a good AM3+ mobo to overclock

[HP2]

Hi!

I want to re-use the Phenom II x6 1055T from my old PC, but I need an ATX motherboard for "cheap" (max ~130 CAD / ~100 USD). I will be overclocking the CPU and I might upgrade to a FX-8350 (which will be OCed too), so a good power delivery is needed!

SLI support is not needed.

I'm hesitating between these motherboards:

Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P - 8+2 power phase, but old
Asus 970 Pro Gaming/Aura - M.2, plenty of fan headers
MSI 970A Gaming Pro Carbon - power phase, plenty of fan headers, M.2, but can't find any reviews...

I'm leaning toward the MSI one, because I know they have a nice fan control utility in the UEFI (at least on the Z97 Gaming 5). But, as I mentioned, there is not a single review for it 

If you have any other suggestion, go ahead! 

Thank you in advance! 

[DaveLembke]

If your planning on overclocking the FX-8350 be sure that the motherboard supports the 4.2Ghz Turbo for the 4.0Ghz CPU. I bought a motherboard for my FX-8350 which I thought had all bells and whistles but come to find out the chipset doesnt allow for the Turbo to 4.2Ghz to be enabled.

I made this mistake in these 2 boards:

Biostar A960D+ with the AMD 760G chipset http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138373

as well as with the

Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3  http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4305#ov

Made this mistake in 2 boards because the Biostar was acting up with the FX-8350 and I was told that the VRMs on the Biostar board are driven too hard for the 125 watt TDP FX-8350 and are more in line for a 95 watt TDP CPU. So I got the Gigabyte board which was stable with this 8-core FX-8350, but then when trying to figure out why the CPU never got to 4.2Ghz during a burn in benchmark, I then found out that the 760G chipset disallows the Turbo to 4.2Ghz feature, so the FX-8350 is not pushed to the maximum on these 2 boards. The Biostar A960D+ I got a FX-8300 3.3Ghz 95 watt for and its happy with that lighter VRM power load CPU. So whoever at computer hope that stated that the VRMs are underrated was spot on to suggest going with the 95 watt or lesser TDP CPU for that board.

Listed these here and shared with you a warning about the 760G chipset so your aware of the trap that a board with this chipset = no turbo mode to 4.2Ghz

[DaveLembke]

If the board is the ones listed in the google search for that MSI then there are reviews at newegg and amazon and others. I prefer Gigabyte and ASUS and avoid MSI myself. I have had problems with MSI products and others here have had issues with them as well, so just stating that so your aware of the potential for problems with MSI. The 970 Chipset will enable you to push the FX-8350 to the maximum, however be aware that you will have to go with liquid cooling with the FX-8350 as for the stock air cooler that comes with it is barely adequate at 4.0Ghz. My system has the CPU fan running full tilt to keep it cool when gaming so the system is very noisy with CPU fan running at 100% when the game is running and at 60-70% when idle.  Lots of people have complained about the stock cooler not being very adequate for the FX-8350 4.0Ghz, the FX-8300 3.3Ghz that I have runs very quiet even when gaming, I guess the 30 watt difference between the 125 watt TDP and 95 watt TDP CPU makes the difference there. The FX-8300 is just about the same as the FX-8350, just 700Mhz slower. Kind of makes me wonder if the FX-8300 CPUs are just FX-8350's that were unstable at 4.0, 4.2Ghz and they set them then to 3.3Ghz where they were stable when not overdriven. I havent tried overclocking the 3.3Ghz FX-8300 yet, its so powerful that I dont have a need to stress it. Later on years from now when games get more complex I will stress it then to squeeze a year or two more out of it before getting something new. Here is google search for the MSI showing reviews that might match up to that board you have in mind. https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=MSI+970A-g43

[HP2]

Listed these here and shared with you a warning about the 760G chipset so your aware of the trap that a board with this chipset = no turbo mode to 4.2Ghz

Thank you for the tip! 

Don't worry Dave, I'm not using the stock cooler, never 
The MSI board I'm looking at is the 970A Gaming Pro Carbon. It is a very recent board, but there is no review at all (https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=msi+970a+gaming+pro+carbon+review). I can only find "MSI unveils new stuff" or "MSI announced new thing" 

The Asus 970 Pro Gaming/Aura seems to be the best choice. The reviewers at Overclockers.com got a FX-9370 at 5GHz, so a Phenom II x6 or a FX-8350 shouldn't be a problem for this board! And the build quality looks very good.