BIOSTAR nForce3 150 "K8NHA PRO" vs. Shuttle nForce3 150 "AN50R"

[linuxruls]

I am looking to buy a new motherboard and cpu.
CPU I am looking at is AMD XP 64 3200+.
These are the boards that I have considered (Biostar is $102 and Shuttle is $133).
I am open to better suggestions but am looking for insight with these choices or the way to go.
My old board fried so I am looking to use this as an opportunity to upgrade my system.
Problem is I'm without a desktop so I need to purchase this as soon as possible.

Here are the specs of both systems:

BIOSTAR nForce3 150 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU, Model "K8NHA PRO" -RETAIL
Specifications:
Supported CPU: Socket 754 AMD Athlon64 Processors
Chipset: NVIDIA nForce3 150
FSB:Up to 1600MHz(HyperTransport)
RAM: 2x DIMM for DDR400 Max 2GB
IDE: 2x UltraDMA 133 up to 4 Devices
Slots: 1x AGP 8X, 5x PCI, 1x CNR
Ports:2xPS2,1xLPT,2xCOM,1xLAN,6xUSB2.0(Rear 4),2xIEEE1394a(Rear 1),Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: Realtek ALC655 6-Channel Codec
Onboard LAN: Realtek 8110S Gigabit Ethernet
Onboard SATA/RAID: 2x Serial ATA, RAID 0/1/0+1 by VIA VT6420
Onboard 1394:VIA VT6307, 2 Ports
Form Factor: ATX

Shuttle nForce3 150 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU, Model "AN50R" -RETAIL
Specifications:
Supported CPU: Socket 754 AMD Athlon64 Processors
Chipset: NVIDIA nForce3 150
FSB: Up to 1600MHz(HyperTransport)
RAM: 3x DIMM for DDR400/333/266/200 Max 3GB
IDE: 2x UltraDMA 66/100/133 up to 4 Devices
Slots: 1x AGP 8X, 5x PCI
Ports: 2xPS2,1xLPT,1xCOM,SPDIF Out,6xUSB2.0(Rear 4),3xIEEE1394a(Rear 1),Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: Realtek ALC650 6-Channel Codec
Onboard LAN: Realtek 8201BL 10/100M + Intel RC82540EM 10/100/1000M(Dual LAN)
Onboard SATA/RAID: Silicon Image 3112 2 Ports, RAID 0,1
Onboard 1394: VIA 6306, 3 Ports
Form Factor: ATX

Thanks help is much appreciated

-Chris

 

[linuxruls]

I have heard that the Shuttle board even though it supports 3GB ram it isn't recommended.
Because AMD 64 can only handle 2GB at PC3200 once you install another 1GB it downgrades to PC1600?
Is this correct?
Biostar has a limitation of 2GB so this would keep me at the 2GB threshold on both these boards.
Any other feedback.

 

[eshtog]

^

 

[dguy6789]

I reccomend the msi k8t800 neo fis2r. Very good mainboard, fast and has alot of features.

 

[Pistolero]

Shuttle is probably the most used for overclocking A64s.

 

[petz]

I have the Shuttle board and it locks up when I enable Cool'N'Quiet, despite the BIOS notes saying that CNQ is supported. I've read that your CPU fan will turn off completely using CNQ except under heavy load. A rather strange thing is that memtest86 won't run, so I tested memory using Docmemory.

Also, it locked up after Windows XP was installed because it apparently needs the chipset drivers to properly support the drivers loaded by XP for my ATI AIW 8500DV. So I had to start XP in safe mode, install the motherboard drivers and then everything was OK.

 

[linuxruls]

so don't enable CNQ.
and install drivers 😉.. okay i think I can do that..

Any other board recommendations???

 

[stardust]

Another vote for shuttle... the board has a very nice layout and those reset/power buttons are very useful! its recent implementation of CNQ seems to be running fine...except for petz, i'll look into that more.

and again, the shuttle is a very good overclocking relative to the other A64 motherboards

 

[linuxruls]

 

[linuxruls]

Thanks for the vote.
I am just looking for a reliable board.