Best AM2 Board

[covert24]

I need a nice motherboard for an AM2 proc and i don't have much money. needs to have some nice overclocking features but does not need to be sli since i don't plan on going sli ever. Also needs to be very stable. l;et me know what i can get for up to 110 bux. kinda desperate over here lol.

 

[Marinski]

I have a Biostar Tforce 550 SE w/ Athlon 3600+, XFX 7600 GS and its pretty good. Its not SLI. Its $70. Has lots of overclocking features. Doesn't have firewire, but who the hell uses that anyways. Its probably not the best AM2, but for the price its pretty damn good. This was a cheap build but overall it does what i need it to do.

 

[covert24]

yea have a friend who has the same mobo and is trying to sell it to me. any other recommendations?

 

[AVP]

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2062639&enterthread=y

 

[covert24]

thanks but ive looked through the forums and searched. wanted to get new and updated opinions.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I don't agree with that linked post since it ignores two outstanding boards for socket AM2:

DFI NF Ultra II-M2
Abit NF-M2 nView

 

[covert24]

not liking the abit's micro atx style and the DFI boartds color is a real turn off.

looking for something more along the longs of the nforce 500 series chipsets and the ability to overclock like mad without breaking the bank.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Well, sorry you don't like the DFI board's color, but it may still be the best AM2 OC board on the market (hits 400+ mhz HTT on a regular basis). That board is a hell of a dead for ~$70 and it has all the BIOS bells and whistles you could want.

Personally I own the Abit board, and I'm not sure how the matx form factor is a problem. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, though.

 

[covert24]

oh wow, didn't know it could hit that high. Im prolly going to be getting a 3600 Brisbane X2 so im gonna need some mad ocing capabilities. i guess i can get over the color if this is the case. although i have a Armor series full tower and i think that it would look kinda funny. are there other reports of these amazing overclockability? i used to have a Ultra D and i loved it so i am excited that this mobo might be for me.

 

[f4phantom2500]

i have the tforce 550 se (bought from newegg; it's listed as 550, they don't distinguish so i'm guessing they only sell the se now. i checked biostar's site and the only apparent difference is the se has 8 ch audio and the original has 6 ch) and a brisbane 3600 at 2.85ghz (9.5x300). the processor won't go any higher, but i know the board will because i lowered the multi and raised the fsb to test (haven't gone to the limit but i know it hits at least 315, probably higher since i haven't raised any of the voltages besides cpu and mem, so it should be as fast as you'd ever need for a brisbane 3600). however the dfi is also a good option; it's your call.

edit: uh, i just looked up the specs for the dfi, get it. firewire, sli, 2 pata ports, optical s/pdif out...get it! i wish the tforce 550 had 2 pata ports (never know when you'll get a good deal on a pata hard drive; i just got 2 400gb seagate pata drives, one a 7200.8 and one a 7200.10, for $90 shipped, both factory refurbs still with the factory seals in tact).

 

[covert24]

i really only need 1 ide port as i only use one cd drive and really don't plan on ever going back to ide for hdd's. And 2.85ghz on stock voltages is fine for me. and with the dfi board that has been mentioned it doesn't support 65nm architecture out of the box unless they send you the updated version. I might go with that biostar you are talking about or maybe the 570 version of it. ive been hearing a lot of good things about these and not that many bad things. anyone got anymore info?

 

[f4phantom2500]

it wasn't stock volts, i had to put it at 1.4v to get 2.85ghz.

 

[covert24]

oh misread that. oh well 1.4v is fine as im going to get a really good hsf. how is the performance on that thing at 2.8? like how fast does it due super pi 1m?

 

[f4phantom2500]

i don't remember off the top of my head, i'll run it tonight and let you know tomorrow (at work now, no internet at home ). i ran the highest one (32m right?) and if i recall it was like 20~23 minutes or something like that, i don't remember exactly but like i said i'll get back to you tomorrow.

 

[covert24]

found a nice price on the tforce 570SLi. should i go with that?

 

[oldman420]

Asus m2n-sli deluxe clocks my x2 5000 from 2.6 to 2.85 Hz dynamically with load the board was 150 but has good features and sound.

also the Abit NF-M2 nView is a rockin board. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813127013
around 100 bucks