Help finding a motherboard

[Tomtom111]

Hi,
I've currently got an ASRock 960GM/U3S3 motherboard, with an AMD FX6300 as a CPU and I'm wanting to upgrade my board so I can get a few extra features. I've looked everywhere that I can think but cannot find anything to match what I'm looking for.
The essential requirements that I want are obviously, an AM3+ socket so I can continue to use my current CPU (I don't want a CPU upgrade just yet) and it must be micro ATX to fit inside my case (Fractal Design Define Mini). The features that I want over my current board is as follows; minimum of 2 SATA 6Gbps ports, a USB 3 header as well as USB 3 on the back. If possible could somebody find a motherboard with two PCIe x16 slots? I need one for my GPU and a PCIe x1 for a wifi card but being able to expand would be nice to have.
The less essential features that I would like, but wouldn't be disillusion about not having is 4 RAM slots, and maybe a UEFI interface (I don't even know if those are available on AM3+ boards at all).

I feel as though I'm being picky with these, but I really cannot find anything to match those specs, so if you can't either please tell me and I'll try to remove some specs to ease the search. The nearest one that I've found is this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-GA-78LMT-USB3-SKT-AM3-78LMT-USB3-Motherboard/dp/B009FC3YJ8 but it only has SATA 3Gbps, and one PCIe x16 slot.

Thanks you everybody who has a look in advance

 

[Boozad]

I think the features you'll struggle to find are the midboard USB 3.0 header and the second PCIe x16 slot. I've just been through the three Micro-ATX boards ASUS offer and they're the two missing features on all of them. I'll keep looking though.

 

[Tomtom111]

I'm not 100% set on the second PCIe x16, although it would be nice. As far as the USB 3 header goes, I've got an adapter to go from a USB 3 port to a USB 2 port, so I could live without it but it would be annoying to have to reach behind my computer every time I have to plug in my external HDD as my PC isn't in the most accessible position. What's the position on the UEFI interface?

 

[Tomtom111]

Also, why do so many AMD boards have legacy PCI slots on them? I don't see any modern PC use them and even a second PCIe x1 would be more useful...

 

[OvenMaster]

Also, why do so many AMD boards have legacy PCI slots on them? I don't see any modern PC use them and even a second PCIe x1 would be more useful...

Some of us use PCI sound cards because they're more flexible and provide greater output levels than onboard sound chips.

 

[Tomtom111]

I get the logic behind using a sound card, that's not what I was talking about. I was saying why legacy PCI is still put on boards, even though PCIe x1 would be of much more use, at least to me.

 

[Tomtom111]

I've been looking some more, and I cannot find anything that meets all my specs, the nearest board being the MSI 760GMA-P34 (FX) , which lacks the second PCIe x16 slot and drops two RAM slots. I have one question about it though, if I were to put a dual slot GPU into the PCIe x16 slot, would that render the PCIe x1 completeley useless? Not as in disable it but would it block it? I will want to put my Wi-Fi card into the x1 slot, so obviously it being unusable really isnt any option. Check my specs below for my Wi-Fi card.

Extra: I did also find this board: Asus M5A88-M EVO which as far as I can tell would be ideal, but just my luck it is discontinued.

 

[Boozad]

That was one of the three ASUS boards I was looking at. Hunt around for one as you can't go wrong with ASUS.

 

[Tomtom111]

I've been looking everywhere I can think of, but to no avail. Every website I go to say 'Discontinued' or 'End of life'. I can't even find any second hand ones

Edit: I just found a listing for a used one on Amazon.com, but it's $199.99 plus p+p, and as I'm in UK that be a lot. Plus $200 seems a lot for a board that is around 3 years old.

 

[Boozad]

It is a lot, I'll have an ask around as I know a couple of system suppliers. The chances of them having one are slim to none but it won't hurt to ask.

 

[Tomtom111]

To be honest, as the boards are so few and far between it really seems that the AM3+ socket is not worth manufacturing for any more, so I may just stick with my current one and then change out both CPU and motherboard when the Broadwell stuff comes around at the end of the year, and anyway it isn't to long to wait without the spec I wanted, all of which will be provided on many socket 1150 motherboards. Thanks for your help all the same, maybe I should have looked more deeply at what was going to happen in the near future before I bought my processor. Thanks again, really appreciated.

 

[Boozad]

The FX-6300 isn't a bad CPU to be honest, especially if you're using it for gaming. Yes an i5 will be a better bet but you'll still get good performance from the Bulldozer chip. The problem here is the form factor of the motherboard, if you could go ATX you'd have a lot more choice.

 

[Tomtom111]

I'm not denying that my chip isn't great at what it does, definitely better than my previous xD. I would have gone with full ATX if I could have but I wanted a reasonably small build, and now that I've got my case there's really no going back on that decision. I know that an i5 will be better, heck even an i3 would be a little better, but to really see a difference at the current time I would have to go up to an i7 probably, so I may as well wait to see what the Broadwell chips bring, although they won't be massively better than what Intel has got now. To be honest I'm starting to wish I'd just got an i3 instead of the FX6300 and then upgraded to an i5 at a later date.