Decisions, decisions..

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Originally posted by: DeathBUA

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.

I'm not sure how you think that's silly. I'm glad you've had such success with that Epox board, but reviewers frequently complain about it. Now, I'm not saying that proves anything, but I'd want to understand why there are so many complaints before I buy it.

As for overclocking features, I'm told the ASUS board has similar options with the latest BIOS.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Get an Opteron 144 instead of the 3700+

 

[theMan]

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...

id have to agree, sort of, the a8v deluxe is imo the best a64 agp board out there. i have one, ive used the neo2. its much better.

 

[atybimf]

why get an opteron? whats the difference between an opteron and amd's other processors anyway?

 

[theMan]

seriously, the opteron 144 sucks compared to the 3700+

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: atybimf
why get an opteron? whats the difference between an opteron and amd's other processors anyway?

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1700853&enterthread=y

Certain s939 Opteron cores are from the same stepping as the FX-57. 2.8-3.0 ghz on air may be pretty common for these chips, and that's awesome, especially considering that they cost less than the 3700+ San Diegos.

The s939 Opterons are, feature-wise, nearly identical to the San Diego core(i.e. 1 meg l2 cache). No ECC or Registered DIMMs required.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: theman
seriously, the opteron 144 sucks compared to the 3700+

And you base this statement on what, exactly? The 3700+ is overpriced if you plan on overclocking.

 

[atybimf]

except i dont plan on overclocking hardly at all. maybe not even at all. if i do, only a little.

 

[Fresh Daemon]

except i dont plan on overclocking hardly at all. maybe not even at all. if i do, only a little.

Then why are you looking at DFI and Epox boards? If you don't want to overclock, save some $$$ and get a Biostar or something.

 

[atybimf]

i want a nice solid nf4 board that supports sli, sataII, and is known as a top performer.. like i said. if i overclock (which i probably will knowing me), it wont be by a whole lot. thats just because i dont wanna risk everything i saved for. in time, i'm sure ill oveclock quite a bit more.

 

[Fresh Daemon]

They're all nice and solid at stock speeds. There's really no reason to sink extra money into a DFI or Epox board unless you plan on overclocking as much as the chip will allow and you don't to be held back by a board that can't do more than 300HTT.

Just trying to save you money.

 

[atybimf]

saving money is always good what board do you reccomend?

 

[TraumaRN]

Originally posted by: Fresh Daemon
They're all nice and solid at stock speeds. There's really no reason to sink extra money into a DFI or Epox board unless you plan on overclocking as much as the chip will allow and you don't to be held back by a board that can't do more than 300HTT.

Just trying to save you money.

Dude Epox boards are not expensive...the Ultra board is just 105.....I got it for 95 on sale and the SLI version usually runs around 130ish....thats pretty cheap for a top end mobo in my mind...

 

[JEDIYoda]

EPOX are top end...hmmmmm

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: atybimf
except i dont plan on overclocking hardly at all. maybe not even at all. if i do, only a little.

I thought that way too when I built the machine I use now. Then I learned that certain chips AMD produces can achieve respectable overclocks without ever raising vcore while using the stock HSF. This Sempr0n of mine OCed 720 mhz above stock without touching vcore, for example.

The main reason to avoid overclocking is to avoid damaging your chip, but if you leave vcore and vdimm alone, you really can't damage anything or even shorten CPU life significantly. And, from what I've seen, the Opteron 144 can be OCed rather nicely on stock vcore, though I haven't seen any reports of how far it goes with stock cooling.

If you are still opposed to overclocking in general, that's your call. I'd go with a 3200+ or 3500+ in that case.

 

[atybimf]

well, im pretty much decided on the 3700+ or better.

 

[Maluno]

I would definately go with the Opteron 144 when it comes out only IF you are planning to oc. In that case, you should get the DFI board, too, as it is good for oc'ing. The other option would be the epox board.