Best board for Socket 754

[irenealan]

I may have asked this somewhere in other thread but I never got any answer, just wonder what you guys think is the best board for Socket 754?

I currently have Gigabyte K8N Pro and wonder if I should switch to another one... something better or even cheaper =P

Thanks for all your comments!

 

[nvfx]

Believe me you dont wana replace your Mobo, Firstly you do have the option of the ASUS kt800 Deluxe and the Abit K8v Max .

But wait more for the release of Sis 755 Mobos, Asus and Abit will manufacture Sis 64 Boards and will be priced lower than VIA and NVIDIA with superior performance.

 

[Vette73]

Wait for the next set of chipsets from VIA, Nvida, Sis, etc...

 

[joe2004]

Avoid Abit K8V at all costs. Abit failed to make overclocking motherboard this time around while it is pricy. My vote goes to Asus K8V. This is the board to go with unless you are ready for volt modding the motherboard, in which case Shuttle AN50R is the one to go for.

 

[Shimmishim]

Shuttle AN50R for hardcore overclocking

 

[irenealan]

why the Shuttle AN50R needs to be volt modded for OC? It doesn't have any option to raise the VCore? Am I getting something wrong?

Also how high do you guys set the VCore since the higher it is the more it hurts the CPU! I wonder if I should just raise the FSB as far as I can with stock VCore?

Originally posted by: joe2004
Avoid Abit K8V at all costs. Abit failed to make overclocking motherboard this time around while it is pricy. My vote goes to Asus K8V. This is the board to go with unless you are ready for volt modding the motherboard, in which case Shuttle AN50R is the one to go for.

 

[irenealan]

Thanks Shimmishim just wonder how Shuttle AN50R makes it good for hardcore overclocking? What feature it has that others don't have?

Also I would like to see some comments on the Gigabyte K8N Pro since that's the board I am currently having and wonder what you guys think about it? Is it good for OC?

I would like to wait longer but anyone knows when the new chipset board will come out? Thanks.

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
Shuttle AN50R for hardcore overclocking

 

[irenealan]

I just read from Gigabyte's website that the GA K8N Pro board supports only up to 1200 CPU FSB! Thus I won't be get up to 1600 with my PC3200 ram... so I shouldn't keep it for sure right?

 

[Shimmishim]

i dunno if the other boards can run 300 fsb...

but this board can even w/o a pci lock...

no dual channel but who needs dual channel with an amd board right?

vcore options are only up to 1.7 volts but you can do a mod to get it higher.

vdimm options up to 2.9 volts but you can vmod it to as high as you want... the nice thing is is that the vdimm voltage runs off the 5 volt rail and not the 3.3 rail like a majority of the boards out on the market...

 

[joe2004]

vdimm options up to 2.9 volts but you can vmod it to as high as you want... the nice thing is is that the vdimm voltage runs off the 5 volt rail and not the 3.3 rail like a majority of the boards out on the market...

I don't have this board and SHM is better to give advice here than me but I've seen that people that are achieving high overclock are doing it with voltmodding vdimm. I am really tempted to get it myself but so far my Asus serves me really well nothing to complain. Asus K8V is one of the most stable and safe motherboard I had in a long time.

 

[Shimmishim]

so is my shuttle

though i am getting rid of this setup

 

[irenealan]

Why getting rid of this setup? You got a pretty good OC there? System not fast enough? Sometimes I really wonder if a OCed AXP Mobile @ 2.5ghz would run faster than a A64 OC @ 2.2 - 2.4ghz...

But Joe2004 is there any different between the VIA chipset from the Nvidia? That's one of the reason I want a Shuttle or a Gigabyte... but is there really much difference in terms of regular performance and OC capibility?

Thanks again for all the help!

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
so is my shuttle

though i am getting rid of this setup

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: irenealan
Why getting rid of this setup? You got a pretty good OC there? System not fast enough? Sometimes I really wonder if a OCed AXP Mobile @ 2.5ghz would run faster than a A64 OC @ 2.2 - 2.4ghz...

But Joe2004 is there any different between the VIA chipset from the Nvidia? That's one of the reason I want a Shuttle or a Gigabyte... but is there really much difference in terms of regular performance and OC capibility?

Thanks again for all the help!

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
so is my shuttle

though i am getting rid of this setup

from a consensus... about 400 mhz is the difference between an A64 and barton...

so a 2.6 ghz A64 would be equivalent to a 3.0 ghz barton...

or somewhere in that ballpark...

 

[joe2004]

about 400 mhz is the difference between an A64 and barton...

I disagree on that one. I'd say about 300 MHz.

 

[irenealan]

Can Joe2004 or someone give me help on the questions I posted to Joe earlier? Is there much difference between the VIA and Nvidia chipset? Which one in general is better? Thanks.

Originally posted by: irenealan
Why getting rid of this setup? You got a pretty good OC there? System not fast enough? Sometimes I really wonder if a OCed AXP Mobile @ 2.5ghz would run faster than a A64 OC @ 2.2 - 2.4ghz...

But Joe2004 is there any different between the VIA chipset from the Nvidia? That's one of the reason I want a Shuttle or a Gigabyte... but is there really much difference in terms of regular performance and OC capibility?

Thanks again for all the help!

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
so is my shuttle

though i am getting rid of this setup

 

[Shimmishim]

Via uses an LDT of 4 while nvidia only uses 3... it helps with o/c-ing...

so HTT is 800 for the via and only 600 for the nvidia... if i'm correct!

 

[irenealan]

but then shouldn't a VIA board better since HTT will go up to 1600 with PC3200 ram?

I also heard that some VIA board can be OC! Anandtech just has an article about the AOpen board and it said that the board can be OC... I don't understand how Nvidia would OC better! Also what is LDT? Is it related to the latency time of ram? Sorry to ask dumb questiosn and thanks for your help SHM!

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
Via uses an LDT of 4 while nvidia only uses 3... it helps with o/c-ing...

so HTT is 800 for the via and only 600 for the nvidia... if i'm correct!

 

[irenealan]

sorry to post again but can someone help me with the questions I posted earlier:

1) shouldn't a VIA board better since HTT will go up to 1600 with PC3200 ram and the nForce board just go up to 1200?

2) I also heard that some VIA board can be OC! Anandtech just has an article about the AOpen board and it said that the board can be OC... I don't understand how Nvidia would OC better! Also what is LDT? Is it related to the latency time of ram?

Actually I have been posting quite some messages since I am such a newbie in putting up a system and I think people who read my messages would know that I got the following:

2 x Corsair ValueSelect PC3200 512mb ram
A64 3000+ refurblished from Newegg

Now I wonder what else I should get to pair up with this partial system? Based on the memory and CPU, I wonder what motherboard I should get that will give me the best performance with or without OC (most likely with moderate OC)!

Please anyone's comment is welcome and I thank for every bit of your help. Thanks.

Originally posted by: irenealan
but then shouldn't a VIA board better since HTT will go up to 1600 with PC3200 ram?

I also heard that some VIA board can be OC! Anandtech just has an article about the AOpen board and it said that the board can be OC... I don't understand how Nvidia would OC better! Also what is LDT? Is it related to the latency time of ram? Sorry to ask dumb questiosn and thanks for your help SHM!

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
Via uses an LDT of 4 while nvidia only uses 3... it helps with o/c-ing...

so HTT is 800 for the via and only 600 for the nvidia... if i'm correct!

 

[stardust]

Originally posted by: irenealan
sorry to post again but can someone help me with the questions I posted earlier:

1) shouldn't a VIA board better since HTT will go up to 1600 with PC3200 ram and the nForce board just go up to 1200?

2) I also heard that some VIA board can be OC! Anandtech just has an article about the AOpen board and it said that the board can be OC... I don't understand how Nvidia would OC better! Also what is LDT? Is it related to the latency time of ram?

Actually I have been posting quite some messages since I am such a newbie in putting up a system and I think people who read my messages would know that I got the following:

2 x Corsair ValueSelect PC3200 512mb ram
A64 3000+ refurblished from Newegg

Now I wonder what else I should get to pair up with this partial system? Based on the memory and CPU, I wonder what motherboard I should get that will give me the best performance with or without OC (most likely with moderate OC)!

Please anyone's comment is welcome and I thank for every bit of your help. Thanks.

Originally posted by: irenealan
but then shouldn't a VIA board better since HTT will go up to 1600 with PC3200 ram?

I also heard that some VIA board can be OC! Anandtech just has an article about the AOpen board and it said that the board can be OC... I don't understand how Nvidia would OC better! Also what is LDT? Is it related to the latency time of ram? Sorry to ask dumb questiosn and thanks for your help SHM!

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
Via uses an LDT of 4 while nvidia only uses 3... it helps with o/c-ing...

so HTT is 800 for the via and only 600 for the nvidia... if i'm correct!

I just bought a Gigabyte Ga-K8n Pro. Yes, in theory 800HTT is better than 600HTT but in real applications, the difference is 2-3% and furthermore, the nforce3 is faster at some applications and games. When gigabyte said that the HTT was 1200, it was being honest. It just recognized the fact that the nforce3 150 only allowed an HTT core speed of 600HTT versus the 800HTT on the via chipset. Since FSB is still 200 stock, you get 600HTT from the 3x LDT multiplier. (3x200 = 600) For VIA, the LDT is 4x. (4x200=800) Since HTT is sometimes reported as it's dualpumped speed, you get 200x3x2=1200 for nforce3-150 and 200x4x2=1600 for VIA K8T800.

If you were to overclock, the nforce3 becomes a much better alternative as it has a working AGP lock that enables you to clock as high as 360fsb if you don't have any sensitive PCI devices. On the other hand, VIA chipsets have no AGP/PCI lock and its overclocking potential is handicapped by the sensitivity of your video card to AGP clocks.

 

[AkumaX]

if youre gonna get an nforce3 get the nforce3 250

 

[joe2004]

I just bought a Gigabyte Ga-K8n Pro. Yes, in theory 800HTT is better than 600HTT but in real applications, the difference is 2-3%

Depends what applications you are talking about. HTT is an obstacle to overclocking. Yes, VIA is better on default but to overclock I actually use 600. In integer benchmarks that does not matter. My chess programs are not affected with lower HTT. Video game would be. So if you want to use board at default, VIA is the one to go, if you want to overclokc then use N-Force. By the way N-Force 3 250 is coming out so I would not buy any current board, wait for few weeks and you'll have newer chipset.

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: joe2004

I just bought a Gigabyte Ga-K8n Pro. Yes, in theory 800HTT is better than 600HTT but in real applications, the difference is 2-3%

Depends what applications you are talking about. HTT is an obstacle to overclocking. Yes, VIA is better on default but to overclock I actually use 600. In integer benchmarks that does not matter. My chess programs are not affected with lower HTT. Video game would be. So if you want to use board at default, VIA is the one to go, if you want to overclokc then use N-Force. By the way N-Force 3 250 is coming out so I would not buy any current board, wait for few weeks and you'll have newer chipset.

yes but so far the initial nforce3 250 seems to be a little disappointing even with pci/agp lock...

i'd wait a lil bit ... for later revisions before buying nforce3 250 socket 754 boards!

 

[irenealan]

Thanks for your comment so if I buy a nForce3 board and raise the FSB to 250, does it mean that the HTT will run at 3x250x2 = 1500? That's pretty much like 1600!

Originally posted by: stardust

Originally posted by: irenealan
sorry to post again but can someone help me with the questions I posted earlier:

1) shouldn't a VIA board better since HTT will go up to 1600 with PC3200 ram and the nForce board just go up to 1200?

2) I also heard that some VIA board can be OC! Anandtech just has an article about the AOpen board and it said that the board can be OC... I don't understand how Nvidia would OC better! Also what is LDT? Is it related to the latency time of ram?

Actually I have been posting quite some messages since I am such a newbie in putting up a system and I think people who read my messages would know that I got the following:

2 x Corsair ValueSelect PC3200 512mb ram
A64 3000+ refurblished from Newegg

Now I wonder what else I should get to pair up with this partial system? Based on the memory and CPU, I wonder what motherboard I should get that will give me the best performance with or without OC (most likely with moderate OC)!

Please anyone's comment is welcome and I thank for every bit of your help. Thanks.

Originally posted by: irenealan
but then shouldn't a VIA board better since HTT will go up to 1600 with PC3200 ram?

I also heard that some VIA board can be OC! Anandtech just has an article about the AOpen board and it said that the board can be OC... I don't understand how Nvidia would OC better! Also what is LDT? Is it related to the latency time of ram? Sorry to ask dumb questiosn and thanks for your help SHM!

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
Via uses an LDT of 4 while nvidia only uses 3... it helps with o/c-ing...

so HTT is 800 for the via and only 600 for the nvidia... if i'm correct!

I just bought a Gigabyte Ga-K8n Pro. Yes, in theory 800HTT is better than 600HTT but in real applications, the difference is 2-3% and furthermore, the nforce3 is faster at some applications and games. When gigabyte said that the HTT was 1200, it was being honest. It just recognized the fact that the nforce3 150 only allowed an HTT core speed of 600HTT versus the 800HTT on the via chipset. Since FSB is still 200 stock, you get 600HTT from the 3x LDT multiplier. (3x200 = 600) For VIA, the LDT is 4x. (4x200=800) Since HTT is sometimes reported as it's dualpumped speed, you get 200x3x2=1200 for nforce3-150 and 200x4x2=1600 for VIA K8T800.

If you were to overclock, the nforce3 becomes a much better alternative as it has a working AGP lock that enables you to clock as high as 360fsb if you don't have any sensitive PCI devices. On the other hand, VIA chipsets have no AGP/PCI lock and its overclocking potential is handicapped by the sensitivity of your video card to AGP clocks.

 

[irenealan]

Thanks for all the comments but then I just got the following and I would need a board to run the system thus I am asking about the nForce3 150 board... hopefully they will have a better version of 250 soon enough...

Anyone know any news about which vender is having the 250 board coming out soon? Thanks.

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: irenealanThanks for your comment so if I buy a nForce3 board and raise the FSB to 250, does it mean that the HTT will run at 3x250x2 = 1500? That's pretty much like 1600!

the only problem is...

as you start getting higher clocks or fsb's, the LDT can't be maintained...

on my shuttle, i have to drop the LDT to 2.5x when i'm doing 1:1 overclocking above 225 fsb or else the computer won't load windows...