Buying System tonight! Final thoughts?

[BeauJangles]

Motherboard: Still debating between MSI NEO2-FIS2R or Albatron Px865PE or ABIT IC7
Processor: 2.4 Ghz "C" 800 MHZ FSB P4
RAM: CORSAIR MEMORY XMS 512MB 32MX8 PC-3200C2
Video Card: Radeon 9700 pro
Optical Drives:Lite On 52x CDRW / Lite On 16x DVD ROM
Sound card: Audigy 2
Other: Vantec Nexus Fan Controller, Microsoft Intelli-Mouse Explorer, 4x Panaflo fans, Leadtek TV Tuner

This will all be pared with stuff I have: 120 gig 8 meg cache WD drive, Logitech z560s, 420 Watt Antec Trupower powersupply, and a chenming workstation case.

As for the mobo, I think I'm leaning toward the Abit right now, thoughts/ opinions?

 

[boyRacer]

That system blow. 😉 😛

<--- envious... 🙁

 

[Krk3561]

DO NOT.... DO NOT... GET THE MSI NEO!!!!
Go to HardOCP.com and read their review. They say its a horrible board plagued with bugs and lots of people have been having bad experiences with them. MSI is secretly overclocking the CPU also.

Get the ABIT IC7, its an awesome board.

For RAM, get 2x256MB Mushkin PC3200 2-2-2 instead and use coupon code ANAND (case-sensitive) to get 10% off.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: Krk3561
DO NOT.... DO NOT... GET THE MSI NEO!!!!
Go to HardOCP.com and read their review. They say its a horrible board plagued with bugs and lots of people have been having bad experiences with them. MSI is secretly overclocking the CPU also.

Get the ABIT IC7, its an awesome board.

For RAM, get 2x256MB Mushkin PC3200 2-2-2 instead and use coupon code ANAND (case-sensitive) to get 10% off.

Thanks for the MSI tip, I just read that and will be sticking with the abit. As for the RAM, why get the Mushkin? It's much more expensive and I really don't think the Corsair will have much of a problem hitting 1 ghz FSB... if I even decide to overclock at all.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: boyRacer
That system blow. 😉 😛

<--- envious... 🙁

Dude, I've been *fapping* over this system all week.... it's my graduation present 😀

I give it a :

😎😎😎 outta a possible 5 in power
😎😎😎😎 outta 5 in price / performance though..

Overall, it gets a: :Q from my friends

 

[SnowBoarder9455]

Definately get the IC7, as for ram, Corsair or Kingston is fine, you don't need Muskin, its not hard to push the IC7. I have it at 275 fsb with 2 sticks of Geil 3500.

Kevin

 

[mac35]

The MSI 875 NEO is NOT a horrible board!! I have this board and love it. Krk3561 please do not base your entire opinion of a board on one review, especially when you dont have personal experience with it. Yes, there are a few oddities with the BIOS but the board itself is excellent. I have only had one BIOS problem with memory timings and after I fixed that the system is running perfectly. Please read the Anandtech.com and hardwareszone.com articles as well as the HardOCP.com review before deciding.

Mac

Edit: The ABIT is also an excellent board I dont want to come off as saying its not. But there seems to be a lot of baseless negativity and incorrect information regarding the MSI.

 

[screw3d]

Get TwinMOS !! 😀 Mine just arrived and need to do some testing later 🙂

 

[screw3d]

Get TwinMOS !! 😀 Mine just arrived and need to do some testing later 🙂

 

[Krk3561]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: Krk3561
DO NOT.... DO NOT... GET THE MSI NEO!!!!
Go to HardOCP.com and read their review. They say its a horrible board plagued with bugs and lots of people have been having bad experiences with them. MSI is secretly overclocking the CPU also.

Get the ABIT IC7, its an awesome board.

For RAM, get 2x256MB Mushkin PC3200 2-2-2 instead and use coupon code ANAND (case-sensitive) to get 10% off.

Thanks for the MSI tip, I just read that and will be sticking with the abit. As for the RAM, why get the Mushkin? It's much more expensive and I really don't think the Corsair will have much of a problem hitting 1 ghz FSB... if I even decide to overclock at all.

OOPS, guess the special is over 🙁 It was $89 for 2x256MB PC3200 2-2-2 sticks

You might want to check out Kingston HyperX PC3500, its excellent RAM and priced pretty good too. I'm using it in my IC7 with 2-2-2-5 timings at DDR400.

Make sure you get 2 sticks of RAM (2x 256MB Sticks) so that you can take advantage of Canterwood's support for Dual Channel DDR

 

[Krk3561]

Originally posted by: mac35
The MSI 875 NEO is NOT a horrible board!! I have this board and love it. Krk3561 please do not base your entire opinion of a board on one review, especially when you dont have personal experience with it. Yes, there are a few oddities with the BIOS but the board itself is excellent. I have only had one BIOS problem with memory timings and after I fixed that the system is running perfectly. Please read the Anandtech.com and hardwareszone.com articles as well as the HardOCP.com review before deciding.

Mac

Edit: The ABIT is also an excellent board I dont want to come off as saying its not. But there seems to be a lot of baseless negativity and incorrect information regarding the MSI.

MSI admits to Hidden Overclocking

HardOCP's review

The 875P Neo is MSI?s flagship board, heading up their motherboard line up coupled with the might of the Intel 875P chipset. Others are heralding it as the board to buy. We have found it to be the only i875 board we suggest that you do not purchase.

HardOCP is a very credible source, probably the top computer enthusiast site next to this one.

A known problem is that the last bios, 1.3 was causing boards to die.

 

[OverVolt]

A known problem is that the last bios, 1.3 was causing boards to die.

Oh thats no big Deal 😛!

 

[mac35]

The hidden overclocking issue does not apply to the 875 boards only the 865's perhaps you should read the article more carefully.

I realize HardOCP is a credible site but if you read the first reviewers conclusion he says:

I personally am hoping that it is BIOS related, because given the performance and the BIOS related overclocking feature present, I have a hard time not liking this board.

Thats a good indication that the reviewer likes the board but until some fixes are put for some in he won't recommend it. (Also, I haven't heard of anyone else besides HArdOCP having the bugs that they did.)

Then if you read anandtech's review they say they love the board and hardwarezone's review also says they love the board.

I did hear about the problem with the 1.3 BIOS but I did not use that one so I wouldnt know. I recently flashed to version 1.4 with no problems.

I'm not saying this board is without problems, Im just saying that the majority of people that have this board, including myself, would recommend it and haven't had any catastrophic problems. It's a case where the vocal minority makes it seem as if a majority is having problems.

 

[Krk3561]

Originally posted by: mac35
The hidden overclocking issue does not apply to the 875 boards only the 865's perhaps you should read the article more carefully.

If you read the conclusion:

MSI 865 Neo 2 and MSI 875 Neo Not within Intel Specification

Meanwhile, we were able to verify this on the 875P/Canterwood plattform from MSI as well.