Advice needed - Building new Opteron system

[beacon]

Hello all!

Already got my recommendations on my CPU/heatsink/fan. Moving on to the all-important mobo. Please read my quick rundown to get an idea of what I want out of my board, and use the information to answer the questions below.

Quick rundown:
- Building an Opteron 165/170 based system.
- I don't know anything at all about overclocking, but am relatively open to learning about it, assuming it doesn't consume much of my time (not much to spare on this really). For this reason, I would like a 'noob-overclocker-friendly' kind of board... but also do not want something that will limit me too much once I DO learn more about overclocking and want to do more.
- As stated in summary: stability, ease of use, features (such as auto overclocking - assuming it's not crappy) are my priorities.
- SLI is a possibility for the future (I may need to go SLI since I plan to get a 2405fpw)

From reading these forums, I have found the overclockers to very often recommend DFI Lanparty boards (not sure on a specific model #). But then I have read things about DFI's not being too noob-friendly when it comes to overclocking... and I hear that the A8N-something IS noob-friendly for overclocking... so:


1) should someone like me go with the DFI Lanparty or A8N (or some other brand)?

2) a. If DFI, which model?
b. If A8N, which model A8N (there are various suffixes to 'A8N', obviously), and which brand (ASUS, ABIT, OTHER??) ?

3) will these boards recognize a dual core Opteron? Will I need to flash BIOS or anything else to get it up and running? I'm looking for ease of use here...


Thank you for your time and advice!

 

[secretanchitman]

i would get the asus a8n-sli deluxe/premium. that is a solid choice for nforce4sli. they also have the a8n32 sli, which has the nforce4 sli x16 chipset as well.

yes these boards will recognize the opterons. im sure many people on the forums know how/what to do when an operton doesnt get detected.

dont hesitate to ask any questions, stupid or smart!

 

[Wentelteefje]

You are right about DFI being an overclocker's dream, and you are right about DFI not being too noob friendly for overclocking...

I would personally recommend you a MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum (nForce4 Ultra), it overclocks VERY good, has a lot of features, and is a lot easier to work with, really... I had mine up to HTT 332MHz (with a Venice 3000+), so this one can hit high as well...

It supports Auto-Overclocking, although you'd better do it manually if you want to be sure it's stable...

About "needing" SLI to go with that gorgeous Dell... It's no use going with that... You mean buying a second card to get high frame rates, so you can play your games at some insanely high res...

Newer cards will give you more power, and this while costing less, but I am somewhat tired of argumenting against SLI and CrossFire... Less heat, less stressful for your PSU, newer technology instead of two "older" ones... A lot of people around AT share this opinion...

 

[beacon]

Originally posted by: Wentelteefje
Newer cards will give you more power, and this while costing less, but I am somewhat tired of argumenting against SLI and CrossFire... Less heat, less stressful for your PSU, newer technology instead of two "older" ones... A lot of people around AT share this opinion...

You're right - I was thinking that same thing, and after you mentioned it I have found several posts/threads about this subject. My only worry then is that by the time I want/need to upgrade my 7800GT, they'll have some new format (think AGP --> PCIe) and then I'll need to get a new mobo just to get a new vid card... at which point it might make more sense to go with another 7800GT in SLI?

Anyway, thanks to both of you for the replies

 

[xgunnas32]

ACTUALLY dfi is easy with
www.dfi-street.com
instead of using asus and running a forced 2.5CL with most ram
ultra-d if no sli
sli-dr for sli
i wont try expert yet, new board, new bugs

and onto SLI, just the OPTION to put in the 2nd card would cost 150+ dollars, 70bux more on mobo and more expansive psu, ur pick, the 2nd card is going to cost 300 more with nothing needing sli right now

 

[stability99]

"Light overclocking. Stability, ease of use, and any useful bonus features are the priorities."

I will pick up only the last word: bonus features on A8N-SLI Premium and A8N32-SLI Deluxe.

For the rest, welcome to A8N*** Problem World (not rock solid as people always say)

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27129

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=29&threadid=1759853&enterthread=y

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=29&threadid=1760678&enterthread=y

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=29&threadid=1767846&enterthread=y

and data corruption:

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=8171