ASUS A8R-MVP or Abit AN8 Ultra

[hipgnosis]

I have narrowed my motherboard choices down to these two (ASUS A8R-MVP or Abit AN8 Ultra). Would like your feedback on which you think would be the best choice.

I will be using this in a system with:

3200+ Venice core CPU
ATI X800XL GPU
2 GB Corsair Twinx PC3200 Dual Core memory (4 x 512)
500 watt Ultra PSU


thanks

 

[n7]

Now that the A8R-MVP is actually out, & i've seen some results, i'm gonna have to say teh Abit AN8 Ultra.

I am not impressed with the lack of higher vcore options on teh Asus, & since both OC well & the Abit has the bonus of having passive cooling, that'd be my choice.

That being said, both are excellent mobos.

 

[justly]

The A8R-MVP has passive cooling also so I don't see this bonus you speak of.

I haven't looked into the vcore options (as it doesn't matter to me) but out of curiosity, and for the benifit of the OP what are the differences?

 

[n7]

Ack wtf am i thinking.

Yes sorry, both have passive cooling, but the Abit has a nice copper heatpipe which i would assume works a bit better.

A8R-MVP has a vcore max of 1.55V...but apparently only with some CPUs
Others aren't able to hit over 1.5V for whatever reason.

Edit: seems it's the Opterons that won't do over 1.5V.
Someone at XS already did a v-mod though, so i guess for you hardcore types who like doing v-mods, then you could get a higher vcore...

AN8 Ultra does at least 1.75V, i forget the exact max.
Also, the Abit seems to be able to hit 350+ HTT is most cases, which is a bit higher than the Asus as well.

 

[Stoneburner]

does the abit have something liek cpu parameter recall? cause i dont want to hit jumpers every time an OC goes bad.

 

[mb103051]

just a thought imrunning the asus a8n-e and its great but i almost bought the abit an8 ultra as its a great board also.some of the things that made me decide against the abit is that over 220 htt it defaults to 2t ram timing.seems to be well documented in the xtreme forums web site.mite want to check it out,also the placement of the floppy connector seems to be in a god awful place and the mounting hole for the screw by the ide connector wont go in as the blue connector is in the way,its fixed on the kn8 ultra.ive read good things about the abit boards since the bios 18 came out but the 1t 2t sealed its fate with me.the asus [mine] is running 1t all the way up to 250htt which is a performance boost.benches show this more than any other ram setting to be the most important.10-15 percent boost in ram performance.i like abit boards but their nf 4 boards seem to have missed the mark for them.i wish the series would have been better as i really wanted one but asus in my opinion has it all over them this time.you mite want to ck out the asus a8n-e ultra.alot of happy people running this board.well good luck on whatever you decide as you really cant go real bad wrong on any of those boards.i didnt mean to flame abit but these things made a difference to me when i did my homework to decide which board was best for me.i really hope abit comes out with some killer m2 boards,ill be looking at em...........................

 

[Diasper]

Asus by a mile really.

Good HD Azalia is a real bonus (high quality and low CPU utilisation) - certainly offers a chance to save money on a sound card.

Also on the ability of Asus to goto HTT 325 is plenty given your cpu:
10 x 325 = 3.25ghz max

If you want to lower your multiplier:
9 x 325 = 2.925ghz max

And if you *really* wanted to lower your multiplier even more you can still get:
8 x 325 = 2.6ghz


As for the vcore stuff - 1.55V (he's running a Venice) is plenty as I've found beyond 1.5V AMD64s hardly gain much for extra voltage so 1.55V gives headroom - you wouldn't want to run above 1.55V with an AMD64 using air cooling. The extra heat and possible long term reliability just aren't worth it.

So unless you're an extreme overclocker there's no point going for the Abit - of course, if you were an extreme overclocker you'd also rather be looking at DFI or the Asus A8N32..

 

[Ryan Norton]

It's a stepping issue, I think-- I got around 1.55v on my E3 3500+ Venice, but can only hit 1.47v-ish with the E4 Venice 3500+ passing through my hands on its way to a new computer for the folks. Also, AT's review showed a 1.65v max at one point... is that only on FXes or something too 'uber' for us common folk?

 

[hipgnosis]

Ryan,

I see you have the Asus A8R-MVP; how do you like that board?

Also, I have heard that the Asus BIOS updating procedure is not very reliable or easy; what is your opinion? I'm curious because BIOS updating with Abit has always been super easy with their windows based tool.

thanks

 

[Ryan Norton]

Hey--

Check out the long thread about the board... lots of emphasis on overclocking, perhaps, but that's not really my forte anyway. I wanted it for the following reasons:

1. Good layout for a P180, where the PSU and hard drives are underneath the board.
2. Plenty of room around the CPU socket to fit a Scythe Ninja-- best air cooler, especially for quiet cooling with a slow fan.
3. Dual graphics-- long term interest.
4. Passive chipset cooling-- big big thing for my after the screaming of my Neo4 Platinum nForce chip's fan drove me slowly mad.
5. Proven overclockability-- it's there if you want it; maybe not as flat-out sheer-powerful as A8N32 or DFI, but those are $200+.

There are more things I liked about it from the AT article but I've mostly forgotten. Anyway, the board has definitely delivered on 1-5. BIOS updating is easy (too bad there's no new BIOS yet... my only complaint), it's just that there are many ways to do it. The Windows app definitely works, though. Another happy surprise is that all 3 of the board's 3-pin fan power headers are readily readable and controllable by Speedfan, which I prefer to any of the monitoring apps that come packaged with mobos nowadays.

I totally recommend it, especially if you can get it for less than the $140 I paid when I checked Newegg at 9:00AM EST right after getting into work on the first day it was out FWIW my other candidate was the Abit KN8-SLI, but no one had reviewed it and its layout was inferior.

 

[hipgnosis]

Ryan,

Thanks for the feedback. Very helpful information. I have been leaning toward buying this board...if I lean anymore I'm going to fall

Guess I need to go see who has it in stock.

 

[hipgnosis]

My search is over.

Picked it up from eWiz for $101 + shipping

whew! I'm glad that's over. I hate shopping for motherboards. I spend more time researching and agonizing over making the right decision with them than with any other component.

ok.. I can go eat now.........and see if the family is still here or moved out