Best PCI Express Socket 939 Motherboard?

integramodder · Jan 2, 2005

I want a good mobo for my new setup.

$165.00 - Gigabyte - GAK8NF-9
$176.70 - MSI - MSI RS480M2-IL
$218.00 - Asus - A8N-SLI Deluxe

Those appear to be the readily avaliable ones. I belive you can run the SLI board with just one card and I might at a later date come up with an extra 200 to spend on another vid card but for now im broke.

Thurgo0dy · Jan 2, 2005

I would go with the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra. It's cheaper than all 3 of those, and it's nforce 4 ultra.

integramodder · Jan 2, 2005

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/poldim/temp/computer.jpg

thats my computer setup

integramodder · Jan 2, 2005

Originally posted by: Thurgo0dy
I would go with the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra. It's cheaper than all 3 of those, and it's nforce 4 ultra.

Yea, I forgot to add that to the list. Along with the Gigabyte SLI...

Does anyone else carry the Chaintech?

Thurgo0dy · Jan 2, 2005

I would wait until Newegg got them back in stock. Great customer service, and probably the cheapest you're going to find it from a reliable vendor.

RealityTime · Jan 2, 2005

wait for the DFI.

DerKaiser · Jan 2, 2005

Don't forget the Abit AX8 based on the Via K8T890 chipset. United Micro is indicating that is in stock for $125. Asus will also have a K8T890 based board, the A8V-E which is listed at several places online, but not in stock anywhere.

phoenixmatt · Jan 2, 2005

i would recommend the GA-K8NF-9, waiting for mine to come in shortly.

flexy · Jan 2, 2005

msi or dfi

integramodder · Jan 3, 2005

Whats the DFI?

integramodder · Jan 3, 2005

Originally posted by: phoenixmatt
i would recommend the GA-K8NF-9, waiting for mine to come in shortly.

This is an Interesting Thread, has a debate about the mobo.

as for overclocking, i'm not sure it's the best platform to go with. Nvidia said that non-ultra boards wouldn't have any overclocking tools, so that might make things difficult unless gigabyte decided to change that. Also, the non-ultras use the older, problematic A1 and A2 silicons rather than the A3 that the ultras and SLIs use. This means they have problems running at 1GHz HTT, and likely don't handle overclocking well.

On the other hand, i just ordered a Chaintech VNF4/Ultra for $119 from newegg, cheaper than the gigabyte non-ultra, and with all the nice features of the NF4 chipset like SATA-II, activearmor firewall, overclocking tools, etc.

I do, however, really like gigabyte's high end boards, the K8NXP-9 and K8NXP-SLI, but they are scarce and very expensive at the moment, and it doesn't seem that it will change soon. The Ultra board is just as expensive as the Asus SLI board at $250. And since it's a 8-Sigma series, it'll likely be quite pricey for a while (the K8NXP-939 Nforce3 Ultra board has been out for a while, and it's still like $185).

[Source]

uh, guys, the non-ultra is pretty stripped down. Here are the differences.
1) No SATA-II support
2) No Activearmor (hardware firewall with offloading)
3) HTT speed limited to 4X (hence the 4X chipset name on newegg), corresponding to 800MHz
4) NO OVERCLOCKING SUPPORT!!!!!! The HTT speed is completely locked, as is the multiplier, making the board useless for overclocking.

So anonhart, i'd cancel that order while you still can, cause you're gonna be pissed when you can't overclock at all. Besides, sellers are starting to preorder A8N-SLIs in the $180-190 range, so i have no doubt that the Ultras will hit sub-$150 soon.

[Source]

I currently have a gigabyte in my old desktop at home, no problems with it after about 4 years.... but the more I read about this one, the more I get convinced not to buy it.

SPD2171 · Jan 3, 2005

According to Gigabyte's literature, the board is completely OCable.

CPU/AGP/DIMM setting

* CPU HT / Multiplier / Vcore Voltage adjustable via BIOS
* PCI-ExpessX16 Voltage / Clock adjustable via BIOS
* DIMM Voltage / Clock adjustable via BIOS

Doesn't that mean that the HT and multy are indeed unlocked? I sure hope so as after reading that, I purchased one...lol

Edit to add link to giga's site with the info I cut/pasted

http://www.giga-byte.com/Mothe...cts_Spec_GA-K8NF-9.htm

user1234 · Jan 3, 2005

Originally posted by: integramodder
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/poldim/temp/computer.jpg

thats my computer setup

some questionable choices - for example the seagates (questionable performance), the 3500+ (3000+ just as good for overclocking), the case (if you're spending that much, get a cooler master or lian li), the dvd drivers(why two burners, r u gone burn 2 simultaneously), why two different rams, why both cooling and fan section, and finally where the hell did you get a rebate for 10.32 ?

Dameon2004 · Jan 3, 2005

Originally posted by: Thurgo0dy
I would wait until Newegg got them back in stock. Great customer service, and probably the cheapest you're going to find it from a reliable vendor.

Not to bash Newegg because I've bought quite a bit from them, but they're not always the cheapest and there are other vendors just as reliable.

Case in point.......right now, ZipZoomFly has the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe nForce 4 SLI much cheaper than Newegg is charging for it........and Newegg is also charging $6 shipping while ZZF gives free 2-day Fedex shipping.

ZZF at $229 shipped for the A8N-SLI Deluxe.

Newegg at $269 plus $6 shipping for the same board.......

You make the call.........is Newegg worth the extra $46?

phoenixmatt · Jan 3, 2005

Originally posted by: integramodder

Originally posted by: phoenixmatt
i would recommend the GA-K8NF-9, waiting for mine to come in shortly.

Click to expand...

This is an Interesting Thread, has a debate about the mobo.

as for overclocking, i'm not sure it's the best platform to go with. Nvidia said that non-ultra boards wouldn't have any overclocking tools, so that might make things difficult unless gigabyte decided to change that. Also, the non-ultras use the older, problematic A1 and A2 silicons rather than the A3 that the ultras and SLIs use. This means they have problems running at 1GHz HTT, and likely don't handle overclocking well.

On the other hand, i just ordered a Chaintech VNF4/Ultra for $119 from newegg, cheaper than the gigabyte non-ultra, and with all the nice features of the NF4 chipset like SATA-II, activearmor firewall, overclocking tools, etc.

I do, however, really like gigabyte's high end boards, the K8NXP-9 and K8NXP-SLI, but they are scarce and very expensive at the moment, and it doesn't seem that it will change soon. The Ultra board is just as expensive as the Asus SLI board at $250. And since it's a 8-Sigma series, it'll likely be quite pricey for a while (the K8NXP-939 Nforce3 Ultra board has been out for a while, and it's still like $185).

Click to expand...

[Source]

uh, guys, the non-ultra is pretty stripped down. Here are the differences.
1) No SATA-II support
2) No Activearmor (hardware firewall with offloading)
3) HTT speed limited to 4X (hence the 4X chipset name on newegg), corresponding to 800MHz
4) NO OVERCLOCKING SUPPORT!!!!!! The HTT speed is completely locked, as is the multiplier, making the board useless for overclocking.

So anonhart, i'd cancel that order while you still can, cause you're gonna be pissed when you can't overclock at all. Besides, sellers are starting to preorder A8N-SLIs in the $180-190 range, so i have no doubt that the Ultras will hit sub-$150 soon.

Click to expand...

[Source]

I currently have a gigabyte in my old desktop at home, no problems with it after about 4 years.... but the more I read about this one, the more I get convinced not to buy it.

allready been back and forth with that nonsense, the board is overclockable thats all speculation. do a side by side compairison of the 2 boards on gigabytes website youll find hardly no differences, infact there pretty much the same just one has a multiplyer of 4, and sata 2 but the GA-K8NF-9 still has some sort of sata it says on there. ive heard stories of people that own the nforce 4 board they love it said they overclocked it as well. that would be all i need, i dunno why everyone is bashing it, youll find both the nforce 4 and nforce 4 ultra boards not to far apart from eachother i bet once some benchmarks come.

user1234 · Jan 3, 2005

There's a new review of the gigabyte board at tbreak.com

jbh129 · Jan 3, 2005

The DFI will rock. Vcore up to 2.1 and VDIMM up to 4.0.

The rebirth of BH5 (still the best) on a64 without voltmods or a booster.

user1234 · Jan 3, 2005

Originally posted by: user1234
There's a new review of the gigabyte board at tbreak.com

The review is comparing the K8NXP-SLI board to the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum (even though they do not advertise this too clearly), and it looks like they are very close in performance (gigabyte in non sli mode of course). I wonder how they compare to the A8N-SLI ? In any case, the radeon xpress chipset seems more promising then nforce4, especially wrt on board sound processing, which in the case of nforce4 put a huge load on the cpu, which causes performance in games with 3d sound to take a 10-15% hit !!!

user1234 · Jan 4, 2005

You may be interested in the new 939 mobo roundup at Tom's Hardware website

integramodder · Jan 4, 2005

Originally posted by: user1234

Originally posted by: integramodder
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/poldim/temp/computer.jpg

thats my computer setup

Click to expand...

some questionable choices - for example the seagates (questionable performance), the 3500+ (3000+ just as good for overclocking), the case (if you're spending that much, get a cooler master or lian li), the dvd drivers(why two burners, r u gone burn 2 simultaneously), why two different rams, why both cooling and fan section, and finally where the hell did you get a rebate for 10.32 ?

-Seagates have fine performance for what I need, esp at 50 bucks a pop. Their review on here and on storage review rate them as good drives.
-Im still debating between the 3500, 3200, or 3000. Ive read people saying you can overclock the 3000 as far as the 3500, and then people coming back and saying its bullshet.
-The case is already bought. Got a good deal at Best Buy and from the looks of it, a much better package than anything else since its came with 3 fans, a 450 watt power supply, and a very nicely built case. But it doesnt matter since its already in my room.
-Im not getting two burners, I have both on there because Im deciding between the two. Now I might be leanning toward the ND-3520A. The advantage of the pioneer is that it burns on more media and more compatible with players. The NEC burns faster and this is the differentce with the two NEC's:
3500A: 16X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW, 4X DVD+R DL, 16X DVD-R, 4X DVD-RW
3520A: 16X DVD+R, 8X DVD+RW, 4X DVD+R DL, 16X DVD-R, 6X DVD-RW
-Same situation with rams as with dvd burners. Not sure what to get.
-Cooling for component cooling, fans are fans. It doesnt really matter why there are different sections. Ill put them into one.
-There is no rebate for 10.32. Its a discount they give you which is 4%.

DerwenArtos12 · Jan 4, 2005

The DFi was paper launched today. their NF4 ultra will support dual pci-e graphics, though the jurry is still out on weather or not it will support sli.

integramodder · Jan 5, 2005

Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
The DFi was paper launched today. their NF4 ultra will support dual pci-e graphics, though the jurry is still out on weather or not it will support sli.

Best PCI Express Socket 939 Motherboard?

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