Decisions, decisions..

[atybimf]

I'm going to purchase in the next few days parts for my new pc. This is what I plan on:

a64 3700 san diego
patriot signature series 1gb
hitachi deskstar 80GB
sapphire radeon x800gto2
lite-on cdrw/dvdrom
some case and psu

As you can see I haven't chosen a motherboard yet. I've been deliberating between the DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D, the EPoX EP-9NPAJ SLI, and the ASUS A8N-SLI. All three cost $130 so its making it awfully difficult to decide. Input would be appreciated

Edit: Right now I'm leaning towards the non sli epox and using the extra money for a different hdd or case/psu.

 

[Doug117]

I've heard horrors about Asus's K8 boards, so i'd steer away from that. If this is your first build the EPoX would probably be a bit more friendly than the DFI. Both are good overclockers, though, but the DFIs can be picky. My EPoX EP-9NPA+ Ultra is coming monday

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

How about the ~$100 non-SLI version of the epox?

 

[Deathcharge]

Originally posted by: atybimf
I'm going to purchase in the next few days parts for my new pc. This is what I plan on:

a64 3700 san diego
patriot signature series 1gb
hitachi deskstar 80GB
sapphire radeon x800gto2
lite-on cdrw/dvdrom
some case and psu

i wouldnt touch the Hitachi deathstar, go for seagate 250GB Sata
try the benq BenQ's DW1640 DVDrw
case consider the antec p180 and dont skimp on the PSU seasonic 500watt is a nice and quiet PSU

 

[atybimf]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm looking for a SATAII drive, and the hitachi is the only 80GB I could find. I would go for a larger one, but my budget won't allow for it. I'm going to stick with the lite-on because I don't think that a) it will matter or b) I'll see a difference. I'll look into the case and psu, but my budget for them is around $70, and I'm sure and an antec and seasonic will cost more. As far as going for the epox non sli mobo, that would be a good idea because I could spend the extra 30 on a better/bigger hdd or on my case and psu.

 

[theMan]

get the epox 9npa+ ultra board. its very good. also, why not switch to the x2 3800+ ? its great for overclocking.

 

[i1o0i]

HITACHI Deskstar T7K250 160GB SATAII

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATAII

 

[atybimf]

I really would like to get the x2 3800, but with my tight budget I cannot afford it. the 3700 is as high as i can go. Also, thanks i1o0i, I may go for one of those instead. Both are great deals.

 

[TraumaRN]

Originally posted by: atybimf
I really would like to get the x2 3800, but with my tight budget I cannot afford it. the 3700 is as high as i can go. Also, thanks i1o0i, I may go for one of those instead. Both are great deals.

How tight is your budget on power supply, because this Tagan power supply I've got is rock solid and extremely quiet...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817101516

 

[Stangs55]

It doesn't get any better than DFI

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

To answer your question, I believe the ASUS board is best out of all three. This is based on Newegg reviews, which document problems with all three, but the least with ASUS.

 

[TraumaRN]

Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou
To answer your question, I believe the ASUS board is best out of all three. This is based on Newegg reviews, which document problems with all three, but the least with ASUS.

Thats a pretty silly way to base a decision. Rather it'd be better to base it off review sites of each board, and then looking at his own needs and which would be easiest for him....based off my own experience that EpoX board is VERY user friendly, easy to overclock, easy to work with in general....if thats what he wants then Epox is the board for him...I bought it for the that reason, good reviews, ease of use and good overclocking results.

 

[Fresh Daemon]

i wouldnt touch the Hitachi deathstar, go for seagate 250GB Sata

It's been a long time since they made Deathstars. Just let it drop. Pretty much every HDD manufacturer went through a bad spell, I remember when Maxtor was the dud-du-jour and people trust them again now.

Hitachi is the best-performing 7200rpm. Samsung is the quietest. Seagate is in between.

Get the DFI board. It's a myth that they're hard to set up, they really are very easy to get running and once you get out of the sandbox it's ready for you. If you're building a new rig that's ideal since you can pick memory and a PSU that are known to work well with DFI boards. Patriot should be fine, as would OCZ, Enermax, Antec etc. PSU's. Go to www.dfi-street.com and find their list of recommended power supplies.

 

[atybimf]

thanks to all. fresh daemon confirmed what i believed about hitachi, in that it may not be the quietest but it performs well and noise doesnt really bother me much.
i may be able to go with a nice psu because a friend said he has a pretty nice case he's willing to give me.

as far as the question the whole thread is about.. if this helps any, this will be my first build, and i plan on MAYBE overclocking a little, but not too much.
if i had to choose right now, i'd probably go with the epox because it appears the most user friendly. but i really like dfi too because i see a ton of people with them, and they look really nice.

 

[n7]

As long as you stay away from Asus, all will be well


/loves pissing off the Asus fanbois, since really, Asus hasn't had a mobo worth buying for AMD since the A-XP days, maybe...

 

[atybimf]

haha. well asus is my last choice out of the three anyhow

 

[rise]

Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou
To answer your question, I believe the ASUS board is best out of all three. This is based on Newegg reviews, which document problems with all three, but the least with ASUS.

LMAO, great research. i didn't know anyone who has been on AT more than a few weeks actually takes those reviews seriously. what won you over, the "this board rocks!!!" lol

i'd get the dfi myself. i have 3 here and installed a couple others for friends and they've been flawless.

plus it gets 9 rocks out of 10 at bewegg

 

[atybimf]

haha. still can't decide between dfi and epox. epox is ahead right now.

 

[Fresh Daemon]

DFI!!! What's the matter with you?

Points for the DFI:

1) It's just as easy to use as the Epox
2) It overclocks higher
3) It can supply a ton of voltage to any component
4) It has it's own support forum online
5) They are VERY popular with enthusiasts, so if you post here, XtremeSystems, HardOCP etc. you'll get a ton of people who have the same board and can help you out with settings etc.
6) You can get the Ultra board, mod it to SLI and save $$$.

 

[atybimf]

hmmm. i like that you can mod it to sli. i like that its easy to use like the epox. overclocking isnt really a big issue, as i plan to only overclock a bit.
only problem is that the dfi ultra is $130 and i was thinking about getting epox's $100 ultra non sli board, and using the extra $30 to get a fortron 450W and cooler master centurion case instead of the sunbeamtech trio w/ 450W psu. however i could go back to the cheaper sunbeamtech case (that i like ) and then be able to go with the $130 dfi board. hmm.

 

[Hacp]

MSI Neo4 SLI

Or the epox. Seriously, if you like to oc for a hoppy get the DFI. If you just want to oc for performance/price, just get the epox and oc with that. You won't get that much of a higher overclock with DFI to warrent the price difference.

 

[atybimf]

haha i was originally looking at the msi neo4, but now im really leaning toward the epox because i really dont plan on doing enough oc'ing to justify the price difference.

 

[TraumaRN]

Originally posted by: atybimf
haha i was originally looking at the msi neo4, but now im really leaning toward the epox because i really dont plan on doing enough oc'ing to justify the price difference.

Eh I still say get the Epox board, it's the board I have, it has the diagnostic LED if you happen to screw anything up or just if anything goes wrong...

 

[atybimf]

i may be able to afford 2GBs of ram, because i found out about five minutes ago my parents will contribute around $100 towards this computer. which is very sweet because right now i have $830, and every cent of it was saved by myself. so that means that i may also be able to spend another $20-$30 or so towards my mobo, so I would be able to get the epox with sli instead of the non sli.

 

[johnnqq]

Originally posted by: n7
As long as you stay away from Asus, all will be well


/loves pissing off the Asus fanbois, since really, Asus hasn't had a mobo worth buying for AMD since the A-XP days, maybe...

what's wrong with the a8n-e? (besides the fan...)