Best Socket 754 AGP OC Board

[JMoore]

I know the DFI is the best for PCI-E.....but...... I have a lone AGP card lying around so I thought I could just throw that in to save some cash. It would also be nice if the chipset was passively cooled, but I doubt that is going to happen. Any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

 

[Budman]

DFI Lanparty UT 250 GB

Link

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Try the Epox EP-8KDA3J.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: Budman
DFI Lanparty UT 250 GB

Link

Agreed. Nothing touches the DFI Lanparty in s754 w/ AGP.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Why exactly are you buying an overclocking board for your parental system?

Unless you plan on underclocking for less heat/noise, go for stability.

- M4H

 

[JMoore]

I don't want to sound cheap, but 109 seems a little high for an AGP board (exspecially one for my parents). Do you guys have any cheaper suggestions? I was looking to spend around $80, but preferably cheap as can go. I don't need great overclcking, I just want to build them the best system for the money.

Edit: that Epox board looks good. I think I may have to go with that Thx for all you guys help.

 

[mindwreck]

Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou
Try the Epox EP-8KDA3J.

:thumbsup:

 

[Hacp]

Originally posted by: JMoore
I don't want to sound cheap, but 109 seems a little high for an AGP board (exspecially one for my parents). Do you guys have any cheaper suggestions? I was looking to spend around $80, but preferably cheap as can go. I don't need great overclcking, I just want to build them the best system for the money.

Edit: that Epox board looks good. I think I may have to go with that Thx for all you guys help.

chaintech Nf3-250

 

[AmpedSilence]

Bought a Biostar K8NHA Grand and a Sempron 2600+ (E6 Stepping) for $115 (a newegg combo "special"). Have the Sempron OC'd to 2.0Ghz on stock voltage (250x8; 4x LDT; DDR333 mem dividor)... Runs rock solid. very cool too; only getting to about 35C on full prime95 load.

Would recommend; based on that experiance.

 

[DrMrLordX]

If you want cheap, either the above-mentioned Epox or Chaintech boards are fine. I have a Chaintech vnf3-250 and Sempron 2800+ running at 2.32 ghz at stock vcore.

 

[Green Man]

Speaking from painful personal experience, do not overclock a build for your parents.

You can get a NF3 board from a reputable company like Biostar or MSI for $50 - $55 dollars and use your AGP card.

An even better idea would be to get a geforce 6100 board for $60 with on board video and have a PCI-E slot for future upgrades.

BIOSTAR GEFORCE 6100

 

[Edzard]

You can buy the Chaintech VNF3-250 for 54 bucks shipped at zipzoomfly.com.

At newegg, the buyers gave it the same 4/5 egg rating as the Epox EP-8KDA3J.

IMHO the quality of MSI boards has gone down over the last few years and Biostar's support of their boards is less than stellar.

The latest V6.0 BIOS for the VNF3-250 doesn't include Vcore adjustments, but if you buy a Sempron with the E6 stepping (or even possibly the E3 stepping), you likely won't need that feature since the E6-based Semprons will generally clock to a minumum of 2 GHz at stock Vcore. For the VNF3-250 I recommend a single 512MB stick of PC3200 DDR, Win2K or later and the addition of a fan to the heatsink mounted on the nf3 chip. For maximum safety you might want to add a USB2 card and use that exclusively for USB since many of the problems with the VNF3-250 reported in the newegg reviews seem to originate from the on-board USB.

You won't need any special cooling for the processor - even overclocked the retail fan will suffice (recommend reasonably ventilated case). It won't get hot and it won't be loud, even at 2+GHz.

On my VNF3-250 board (1+ years old) my Sempy 2500+/E6 (1.4GHz stock), retail HS/fan, has achieved 2.2GHz at default Vcore (haven't tested it w/ PRIM95 at that speed however). For a mild and virtually guaranteed stable overclock for your parents, I recommend a BIOS setting of 250MHz CPU / 3X HT / 166MHz memory (for the VNF3-250 V6.0 BIOS which reverts 4X HT to 3X at 250MHz anyway). With the Sempron 2500+ these settings result in 1750 MHz; using the Sempron 2800+ it yields 2 GHz with memory theoretically overclocked by 4 percent in both cases (on my board running under the V6.0 BIOS, CPU-Z reports memory speed of 194.4MHz/388.8DDR at the settings described above so I run mine at 257 / 3X / 166 to obtain essentially 1.8GHz [7 x 257] with memory reported by CPU-Z as 200.2/400.4MHzDDR).

Either of the two processors mentioned above, clocked in the manner above will give your folks plenty of spare CPU cycles to burn. If they aren't gaming fanatics.....

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: Budman
DFI Lanparty UT 250 GB

Link

Thats exactly what I'm using right now, and it fvcking rocks.
The OC ability is amazing and the BIOS makes it incredibly easy. You set every silly little detail with the clocks and voltages, including your AGP slot.

Its not really a budget board, but I am of the opinion its the best you can get in the socket 754 world. I suspect a few folks around here will agree with me.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Hacp
chaintech Nf3-250

That board does not give you vcore if you use a Sempron. There's a thread about it on the motherboard category. I have an Epox 8KDA3I board, cheaper than J version and is passively cooled. It overclocks well. Don't know if it allows vcore for Semprons, guess I can slap the two together and test them since they're just sitting on my floor here collecting dust.

I think most people will agree that the DFI board is the superior overclocker, but at twice the price of the Chaintech board and almost that much more than the lowest DFI board, may as well just spend the extra $60 on a better CPU to start with.

 

[Lord Banshee]

Just like to add:

I love my Chaintech nf3-250 board (second rig). and it overclock nicely (not the best but nicely.

I was able to get my 2800+ A64 to 2.3Ghz w/1.55v
I am able to get my 2600+ Sempron64 to 2.2Ghz w/Stock Volts, like states you can not change vcore with sempron nor can you change multiplier if you didn't know.. It lacks cool and quite.

 

[shaolin95]

Check my sig....DFI NF3 all the way.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Lord Banshee
change vcore with sempron nor can you change multiplier if you didn't know.. It lacks cool and quite.

Yes, can't lower multiplier on Semprons without Cool and Quiet. No, Cool and Quiet doesn't affect being able to change voltage in BIOS. That was a decision made by Chaintech for their latest BIOS. If you "downgrade" BIOS to an earlier revision, it won't detect the CPU properly (unknown effects, but probably safe) but it will give you vcore options. Those options were intentionally taken out of BIOS, nothing to do with Cool and Quiet.

 

[Brentx]

I used to have a Chaintech VNF3-250, but it crapped out on me after a year and a half. I just recently purchased an Asus K8N-E, and I couldn't be happier with it. Last time I stray away from Asus for my motherboards to save a few bucks (at the time it sounded like a good idea )

 

[Swiller of Beer]

I was able to have VCore adjustments on my VNF3-250 with a 2600+ Sempron. It was either the version 3.0 or 4.0 BIOS that would allow it. (Pretty sure it was 4.0)

 

[Edzard]

Originally posted by: Brentx
I used to have a Chaintech VNF3-250, but it crapped out on me after a year and a half. I just recently purchased an Asus K8N-E, and I couldn't be happier with it. Last time I stray away from Asus for my motherboards to save a few bucks (at the time it sounded like a good idea )

Brentx - I recently bought a used VNF3-250. Did you overclock yours before it died and if so, would you please post the OC settings you were using?