AMD 970, 990fx Question

Hello again everyone,

I'm performing a much needed upgrade from my AMD 760G to one of the AMD 900 series motherboards, so I can get some more bang out of my 1055t.

I've done a lot of research, and it seems that every product in the 900 series has the exact same chipset. The only differences I can see are the PCI-E Crossfire/SLI bandwidth configurations, TDP, and some other minor bells & whistles.

Now, I am on a very strict budget. If it turns out that the 990fx is going to be "that big" of a difference - then I may consider purchasing. But if the difference is negligible, then I would really like to save $40 and go with a 970.

- I don't plan on overclocking, but I want that option to be open to me.
- I do plan on Crossfire, but I probably will not notice the performance gimp of a 16x 4x configuration. Yes, I read the review on Tom's that put a worst case 26% gimped, but even on that particular test - the fps was over 65 ... so would $40 be worth having my fps go up by 26% that I can't even see anyway? (some people say they can tell the difference between 60 & 90 fps, I can't, not even a little)

So heres some options layed out. If its not too much trouble I'd like to know if the extra money would be worth it. The extra TDP? Some big bell & whistle I'm missing? Thanks guys, I appreciate your time & help!

AsRock 970 Extreme3 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157280
vs.
BioStar TA990FXE - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813138341

Sometimes when people are talking about fps they are saying it in general terms like what you just said about an extra $40 for 26% more fps and that's were mistakes are made . Games are not all the same and when you get a 26% increase in MW3 doesn't mean you will get a 26% increase in BF3 since BF3 is a lot more intense on the video card. You might only get a 15% increase but you will notice that increase because you are getting lower fps to begin with.
If you have intentions of getting the second card then my recomendation is to go with a board that will give that second card a x8 or x16 path. There are games that you will notice the difference and it does seem like there is a trend by the game developers to make more demanding games (on hardware that is) than not.
There wiil be some games that the fps will be high with just one card and the added fpsd would not be as noticeable but the really good games have a tendency to be putting more stress on the gpu.

ASRock 990FX Extreme3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
$129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157281

This board has two actual x16 slots like the Biostar and I would get this instead of the Biostar.