Best overall 939 nForce4 based SLI mobo?

[graf1k]

Pretty much the title. Right now I've got the Asus A8N Premium, but after hearing about the voltage problems with X2 chips (which I have) I'm thinking about going for a different board.

So I'm wondering what everyone thinks the best overall board in this category is as far as overall performance, overclocking ability, stability, features, ect.

I'm looking right now at the Fatal1ty SLI from ABIT and the SLI-DR from DFI, but am open to other options including 'keep the current board, stupid'. Also, does anyone know how loud the chipset fans are on those two boards? I have to say that the heatpipe is one thing I love about the Premium (quiet) over my last board, so I'm not really in a hurry to go back to a noisy chipset fan.

I was really looking at the A8N32 from Asus, but they keep pushing the date back, and unless the onboard sound is really good I'd be putting a PCI soundcard and my pre-n wireless card in there along with my 2 7800GTXs and I don't think all that would fit. Plus I think I only have until the end of the week to return the Premium so it's getting dangerously close with the A8N32 and it's release.

Thanks for the input fellas.

 

[nugglets]

from what ive read the on-board sound is pretty good on the a8n32. but yea, there is no way youre going to get two PCI cards in there with SLI'd GTX's. The dual x16 SLI will probably give you a decent performance increase and the 8phase power supposedly fixed the voltage issues with X2's. Personally, it seems like the true dual x16 SLI is reason enough alone to spend the extra 50 bucks on a system that obviously cost a few grand already.

 

[the cobbler]

probably the best regardless, but if you plan on doing any overclocking, no contest:

brand spankin-new DFI Lanparty UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert

don't know about the new revision's fan noise, but mine is pretty loud
but do check out the NB placement on the new board. It is in a much better spot than the previous SLI revisions and will easily allow you to add a silent NB cooler.

 

[graf1k]

The only thing that makes me hesitant about the DFI boards is all this talk that they are for 'advanced' users and that it's such a big deal to set it up.

As for the A8N32, I do like the board a lot. It's just, I want to finally be able to use my new rig and if they keep pushing the release date back, I won't be able to RMA my Premium without being without a working computer for a week, maybe more as some places are saying they won't have it until the 25th.

 

[the cobbler]

meh, all that talk is baloney, no harder to set up than any other board if you don't use Corsair or Hynix-based ram

i jammed supposedly incompatible RAM (Value ram + Corsair= dfi's worst nightmare) into mine and didn't have to touch a thing to run stable at stock

it does have better OC features/options than other boards though

also the A8N32 might buck the trend, but Asus have not been the best overclocking boards recently