Down to 3 mobos.. Which one to pick?

[exodus454]

DFI NFII Ultra-Infinity, Albatron KX180 ProII, or a7n8x-e deluxe?

theyre all so close in terms of features, price, and overclockability for the most part. The Asus board seems to be a bit more feature-rich, as the DFI seems to be incredibly overclockable, and the Albatron is a good all-around board.

I'm going to put a 2500+ barton and pc2700 memory into whatever I buy, and i would like to be able to overclock a bit. The DFI is a bit dissapointing with the mounting screw being covered by larger heatsinks, which a Volcano 12+ would definatly do.

Can anyone help to recommend one of these? I think right now I'm leaning towards the A7N8X-E Deluxe just because of the features and past experience with Asus.

 

[jpeyton]

I'd rate it like this: DFI > Albatron > Asus.

The DFI is the total package; overclockable and feature-rich. Albatron is more overclockable than the Asus (I know because I've had both). The Asus is solid and feature rich, but very tolerant of high FSBs.

 

[exodus454]

So DFI is pretty much the best of the best?

 

[JavaMomma]

I have both the DFI & the Asus boards.

Both are very nice. Asus is real good, they make awesome boards that just always seem to work. When I bought the DFI board it was because it was cheaper and was a little scared because I had never bought one of their boards before. But the board is rock solid and has excellent features. It pushes my Mobile 2500+ Barton nicely to 2400Mhz.

The main differences between them:
Asus - Dual LAN, (Giga LAN).
DFI - More Overclocking options, comes with Coxial SPDIF connectors and a terrible manual.

I don't know anything about the Albatron board, but I think you'll like either the DFI or the Asus board they are both excellent.

Is the barton you are putting in a mobile? Do you already have the PC2700? If not I would recommend purchasing PC3200.

 

[exodus454]

yeah, I already have the memory and CPU (non-mobile barton with locked multiplier), this is going to replace my fried NF7

 

[CraigRT]

I'd go with the DFI for sure :thumbsup:

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: exodus454
So DFI is pretty much the best of the best?

Yes Sir. :thumbsup:

 

[smthmlk]

2 friends bought the DFI Lanparty (same board as the infinity, just extra gimick extras like carrying thing, rounded ide cables, etc)... both have had 'odd' problems with the bios losing time (not a dead cmos battery) and other instabilities. One of the two boards' agp slots completely and abruptly stopped working. judging by the problems a lot of people have dfi boards in pcper.com's dfi forum, i would not buy DFI.

the asus a7n8x-e deluxe is probably the best overall board asus has released in recent memory. Excellent board all around. With bios 1009 and 1011, ive not had any problems with mine. Another of my friends has this board as well with no problems. Of course asus boards arent without their occasional problem (no mobo manufacturer is), asus has always been consistant.

I vote asus a7n8x-e dlx ;]

 

[exodus454]

anyone else? right now the DFI has it...

 

[pallmall]

Yeah, they say DFI is either the best or a junk, risky. I've looked at the ASUS spec, feature rich and good reputation, which unfortunately got lost from me with kt133 for year's ago. Giga lan may work good with new drivers, but pci card you can buy @ as low as $13, no big deal. Wifi?, you need a daughter board to fit the special socket. I don't clearly remember if it has a spdif-in if you r interested in digital music.

But because you did not list the AN7 which I have two for my kids at their maximum for their best stability, I'd better stop here.