What is the best AM3+ for around $100 or less?

Question

I am looking for a decent budget motherboard to use with a Phenom II 955 C3 95w, that will allow me to overclock it to 3.6GHz or more (its a locked multiplier) and support an upgrade to a CPU such as the FX-8350 or a "steamroller" cpu later on.

The one I have been thinking about are the MSI 970A-G46 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130637&name=AMD-Motherboards
Mostly because It has ALC892 audio. It also claims to have PCI-E x16 GEN 3, on the box which I thought was impossible on AM3+ boards, because absolutely no one but MSi claims they have it.

But I've read about the CPU and voltage regulator overheating. I cannot seem to find the forum that I read, but anyway, a few people said that it was exceeding 80c under load.
Even though I haven't seen any proof of that it makes me not want to get it.

Also, almost everyone that complained about the MSI board suggested this ASUS board. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131873

I saw this one before, but disregarded it because of the integrated audio only being realtek 887 instead of 892. Even the motherboard in my old dell inspiron 530 from 2008 has alc 888 and It doesn't sound all that great to me even compared to another motherboard with ALC 888-S. 
Having the best integrated audio is important because I am beginning to work with fl studio and want it to to sound as good as possible and don't want to put up with the hassle of overpriced creative cards that are known to have driver issues in x64 windows and cause interference with graphics cards. Or the cheap basic cards that do not guarantee to be better than integrated and also hog even more resources than integrated.

If there is something better, suggest it to me because I cannot seem to find any good AMD motherboards right now. I feel like going intel, which I  would if I had the money, but I don't so I'm sticking with my Phenom II cpu I already have I'm also trying to get My pc built before Crysis 3 comes out, and I cannot just "save up" for Intel because I will be lucky if I can afford it as it is because so far I only have, Case, RAM and CPU, and have a budget of less than $600 to complete the build. The the graphics card, PSU, HDD, DVD and Windows, is probably going to be  a minimum of $450 of that.

roman · Accepted Answer

You may have to stretch your budget a little bit, from personal experience the low end boards with bad vdroop and vrm cooling and low end power phase tend to die when OCing. I would recommend something slightly over your budget. The best OC rigs I have used through the years have been Gigabyte and Asus, also the customer service is great.

AMD has not yet confirmed which chipset will be compatible on the AM3+ platform however based on preliminary rumors and leaked data, your best bet is going for a 990fx chipset, although other 970fx chipsets and above are likely to support Piledriver  after a bios update. The Piledriver vishera does not support PCIE 3.0 so it is irrelevant and believe me that it will not matter at all in real world performance as no GPU even comes remotely close to maxing the bandwidth.

I have found an excellent board on newegg which includes all the bells and whistles...
Best of all it comes with 2x 4GB ddr3 1600 ram sticks for free (dont know when that ends)
for  $125

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514

DDR3 2000 (OC) upto 32gb - Piledriver IMC is dual channel ddr3 1866!
2 x PCIE 2.0 @ 16x (full 16x for two cards)

Realtek 889

6x   sata 6.0

usb 3.0

This is a top pick - will definitely support Vishera fx 8350

Hope this helps!

SIDENOTE: MSI is the worst for OCing, I have personally killed numerous MSI boards, when I first built my 1055t rig, I OC'ed @ 3.9ghz on an MSI board ($130), it died within an hour, RMA'ed as defective (lol) and got me an Asus, running stable 24/7 @ 3.8 on Corsair H80.

Anonymous · Answer

ASUS boards are fantastic. but dont pick one that other people say. find one that fits your specs beyond the socket. If audio is important, dont get integrated audio. sound cards are cheap, even for the good ones (because nobody really cares that much about sound). Some advice on your budget. I know its hard to give up more money, but when building a computer, it is essential that you get the right pieces the first time, even if it costs a few hundred bucks more. Dont look at prices first. find what YOU need, then when you have your build and it is over budget, do research on the cheaper equivilants.
Edit: you mentioned "saving up" for intel. dont. the difference between the brands is non existent. AMD is cheaper and just as reliable, if not easier to use and understand as well.

Georg · Answer

You must have read the specs wrong on the MSI board. it is only PCIe 2.0 X16 as is the ASUS board. from looking at both your links. 

I have had 3 MSI boards last me over 5 years each with no problems, and am on my 4th one now for 2 months.

Here is a site you can use to find the best prices online for PC parts and build your system with no incompatibilities.

    http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

This site has some very good build ideas along with good reviews for parts

     http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/System-Builder-Marathon-August-2012-GTX-670-Kepler,3280.html

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What is the best AM3+ for around $100 or less?

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