Socket AM3 Computer Motherboards for AMD

Build or Rebuild a Computer Using an AMD Socket AM3 Motherboard

When you're trying to make sure you have a functional computer for school, work, or entertainment, you'll need to focus on more than just the gigabytes in your hard drive; you'll also need a good motherboard. AMD makes a number of motherboards on which you can connect all the other necessary computing devices. Some of those motherboards work with AM3 processors, and they're popularly used by manufacturers like ASRock and AORUS.

When each motherboard is manufactured, it's only built to work with a specific group of processors. For example, the X370 and X370-Pro are designed specifically for AMD Socket AM4 A-Series APUs. If you don't have the right match, the two parts won't be able to support each other. A motherboard's product description will state which type of processors it can support. For example, Ryzen processors only support certain AMD technologies, so you'll want to read the specifications carefully before purchasing a Ryzen processor.

AM3 motherboards have been designed to work with the following processors:

• Phenom II: These are multi-core 45 nm processors.
• Athlon II: These processors are similar to the Phenom II units, but one difference is that they do not have L3 memory cache.
• Sempron: There are multiple AM3 processors in this line, with clock rates from 1.0 GHz to 2.9 GHz.
• Opteron 1380 Series: You can use your motherboard with an Opteron quad-core processor. There are three units in this series, and they have clock speeds of 2.50 GHz, 2.70 GHz, or 2.90 GHz, respectively.

While there are many form factors that AMD motherboards can have, those that run AM3 processors generally fall in one of two categories:

• ATX: ATX stands for "Advanced Technology Extended." It is a rectangular shaped board that can measure no more than 12 inches by 9.6 inches. It can have up to seven PCIe expansion slots.
• Micro ATX form factor: This form factor is a smaller version of the ATX. It's smaller than ATX by 2.4 inches. Because of its reduced footprint, it has less room to accommodate PCIe expansion slots; it typically has four PCIe memory slots. Micro-ATX can be denoted as mATX or uATX. It has the same mounting points as ATX, so it is backward-compatible with anything that would accommodate ATX motherboards.

Chipsets are located on the motherboard and are part of the circuit that lets the processor communicate with other components. Chipsets, including 880G and 970, can be found on AM3 motherboards.

You can find AMD motherboards that support AM3 technology made by several different manufacturers, including:

• ASUS
• MSI
• GIGABYTE
• ASRock
• AORUS