Aw man this sucks.

[KeepItRed]

Well I was originally going to buy the Neo4 Platinum mobo. After reviewing the specs again I released there was a problem =X

NEO4 Platinum:

Max CPU Speed 4000+ ( I'm willing to put in a 4400+ dual core Athlon )
Slots 4 PCI ( No PCI-E? =X )
Max Bus Speed 800 Mhz ( Slooow like Intel. I want a 2000Mhz )


I've considered this:

ASUS A8V-E:

Max CPU Speed ( Doesn't say..? )
Slots PCI-E (x1) x2, PCI-E (x16) x1, PCIx3 ( )
Max Bus Speed 2000 MHz ( )

Anyone ever had troubles with this mobo? Specs are great, and for the price you can't go wrong.

 

[KeepItRed]

Heheheh I've browsed the forums and I see the A8V-E stinks. Chipset's bad. I have another alternative, how about the A8N-E? Uses N-force but I'm not sure about this:

1) "A8N-E supports AMD 939-pin Athlon 64 FX/ Athlon 64 processors with 1MB/512KB L2 cache which is based on 64-bit architecture." - Does this also support AMD Athlon 64 X2 (Dual core) ?

2) "It features 2000/1600 MT/s HyperTransport Bus" - What's the default speed and how can you change it to 2000Mhz?

 

[The Pentium Guy]

NEO4 Platinum:

Max CPU Speed 4000+ ( I'm willing to put in a 4400+ dual core Athlon )
Slots 4 PCI ( No PCI-E? =X )
Max Bus Speed 800 Mhz ( Slooow like Intel. I want a 2000Mhz )

100% wrong . Sorry bro. Not sure where you're getting these specs from.
You can definately put an X2 in there.
It obbviously has a PCIe slot.
FSB speed? I always thought it was 1000 with A64s. And it's not "slow" either.

Trust the almighty egg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130484
FSB 1000MHz Hyper Transport (2000 MT/s)
Expansion Slots
AGP Slots None
PCI Express x16 1
PCI Express x1 1
PCI Slots 4
Other Slots 1 x PCI Express X 4

And all nForce4 boards support X2.

Have you looked at the EPoX 9NPA+Ultra? Better than the A8N-E IMO.Overclock sbetter. It won't have that loud chipset fanissue in the A8N-E. Yeah the A8N-E supports X2.

 

[KeepItRed]

Ah, thanks. I guess ICCT is full of BS for specs I like the Asus A8N-E how does this compare to the Neo 4 Platinum?

EDIT: Are all boards "1000MHz Hyper Transport (2000 MT/s)" or are some actually 2000Mhz?

 

[The Pentium Guy]

A8N-E's not that bad though. However I usually don't recommend the board mainly because of the stupid chipset fan issue. That fan will die within a few weeks, but while it's alive it'll make your ears deaf. Also the board doesn't overclock well, and doesn't come with Firewire.

If you like ASUS, have you considered the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium? Passively cooled chipset is always good.

Also, I"d recommend the EPoX 9NPA+Ultra instead of the ASUS A8N-E mainly because it overclocks better (and has firewire), and doesn't have a loud chipset fan.

If you're looking for a passive solution: A8N-SLI Premium

 

[mechBgon]

Don't worry about the 2000MHz thing

I'd suggest a look at one of these two:

Abit AN8-Ultra

Abit AN8-SLI

Both have passive southbridge cooling using a heatpipe (an issue with the Asus A8N-E is the whiny southbridge fan). They have three and two PCI slots, respectively, so make sure you can get all your PCI cards in that you want.

 

[KeepItRed]

Hmm...what to do what to do... Neo 4 Platinum vs A-bit AN8-Ultra. FLAME NOW~!

 

[The Pentium Guy]

AN8 Ultra for sure . It'll overclock better (3.5 vdimm!) and will most likely be a less problematic route. Hell the Neo4's got the active cooling (which I hear is pretty loud). You can trust advice from MechBGon - he's pretty advanced in his league.

Check out my guide (see sig) for more boards to compare

-The Pentium Guy

 

[KeepItRed]

Great! I'm looking for a fast, reliable, sexy, colorful mobo. But I'm not looking for overclocking.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

If you're looking for longevity and reliability, I'll have to suggest the A8N-SLI Premium. I've owned a couple ASUS boards and they usually don't crap out on you after a while. Not sure about ABIT, you'll have to talk to owners of their boards, but I'm sure with high quality caps it should be reliable as well.

-The Pentium Guy

 

[Zebo]

I don't understand not buying the best, DFI NF4 ultra?
http://www.newegg.com/OldVersion/app/Vi...Desc.asp?description=13-136-152&depa=0
AT ranks it number one and just about every other site too. It works with X2's since the day X2's were released and it's built like no other board in so far as high quality.

 

[KeepItRed]

I would but I'm aiming to buy from a computer dealer who is right beside my house ( ICCT) So I only have the option of buying the NEO 4 Platinum or tha Abit AN8 (non-ultra version) and I have no clue...

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: KeepItRed
Great! I'm looking for a fast, reliable, sexy, colorful mobo. But I'm not looking for overclocking.

You should look for overclockers board if you're interested in reliable.

Overclockers boards are inherently more reliable because they use high quality parts on them to be able to overclock high in the first place unlike budget boards which just have to skate buy at stock speed.

 

[KeepItRed]

Hmm about this DFI NF4 ULTRA...It has dual PCI-E X16 slots. What's this for? Review sites say it's for people who are not looking to use SLI. So what does it do exactly?

 

[Zebo]

They sell the GIGABYTE GA-K8N ULTRA...

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=1598&cid=6&pg=12

PS this is basically the board tomshardware had running 212 hours loaded with 4 apps in his stress test and never crashed once. Great board for non overclockers cause it's built like an overclockers board...high end rubycon caps and good power etx..but does'nt have huge bios options so it's not very popular with heavy overclockers and yes it supports X2/

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: Zebo
I don't understand not buying the best, DFI NF4 ultra?
http://www.newegg.com/OldVersion/app/Vi...Desc.asp?description=13-136-152&depa=0
AT ranks it number one and just about every other site too. It works with X2's since the day X2's were released and it's built like no other board in so far as high quality.

or as Pentium suggested, the Epox 9npa Ultra, also given top marks by Anand and about 30+ cheaper than the DFI, plus less picky on components than the DFI solution...hopefully mine comes in tomorrow.

 

[Zebo]

Yeah but his site only sells Asus/Abit/Gigabyte/MSI/Intel

 

[KeepItRed]

What about motherboards that have 2 PCI-E's? Sources say they can be modified for SLI, can they also be modded for Crossfire?

 

[KeepItRed]

Anyone wanna answer my above question? Also I need people's opinions based on what I've seen so far: I'm leaning towards EPoX if ICCT sells it...

1) EPoX 9NPA+Ultra
2) DFI Lanparty UT Ultra-D

 

[pibb]

The DFI Ultra-D can be modified fairly easiely with a #2 pencil to enable SLI support. This is where the two PCI-E slots come into play at. BTW SLI is where you can run two nVidia cards at once for a performance increase. ATi will be releasing there "Crossfire" setup pretty soon also, not to sure myself on its compatability

 

[imported_Kensai]

I'd personally stick with the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum. Very nice board with loads of features. *GREAT* onboard sound, IMO.

 

[KeepItRed]

Is there a performance loss if you use SLI in a PCI-E X2 motherboard that's not SLI ready?

 

[pibb]

http://anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2337

 

[keeleysam]

MSI