Getting new Athlon mobo, suggestions?

[shud]

I like the Asus A7V333 a lot because it's a low price and I know several people who've used and loved it. My only question is, I'm sure there are faster boards out there, but I know virtually nothing about mobos. I was looking for suggestions on boards that are $100 or less with all the standards that the Asus A7V333 has.

 

[Megatomic]

For AMD systems the best/fastest boards out now are the nForce2 boards. I'd recommend one from Abit (NF7-S), Epox (8RDA+ or 8RGA+ if you need onboard GPU), or ASUS (A7N8X Deluxe). I personally own an Epox 8RDA+ and it is soooo fast. Very stable too now that I have the good memory in there.

 

[shud]

I just checked out that Epox you're running. That looks nice and the price is right too for my low budget.

What do you mean by "very stable now that I have good memory"? I have some PNY DDR that I got for cheap at office depot, just because it was cheap. Am I going to have to fork over cash for some Mushkin RAM or something?

 

[Firus]

From what I've heard/seen, the Asus A7N8X Deluxe has the most bells and whistles. But the Epox 8RDA+ is really good if you just want a good Nforce2 board. The Epox is the one i would personally get, that is, if i had some money

 

[Megatomic]

Probably not. I needed good RAM (I got Corsair XMS) since I wanted a HIGH FSB speed. I have 195MHz (390MHz DDR) now. You should be fine with your memory as long as you don't expect to overclock the heck out of your system.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: Firus
From what I've heard/seen, the Asus A7N8X Deluxe has the most bells and whistles. But the Epox 8RDA+ is really good if you just want a good Nforce2 board. The Epox is the one i would personally get, that is, if i had some money

I think the only bells and whistles my 8RDA+ is missing is SATA (which I don't want) and an S/PDIF output for SoundStorm certification. I could buy the S/PDIF connector as an option later if I need it so I am not missing anything now. But the board sure is nice, even the onboard LAN is fast, it is better than the old 3Com 3C905C-TXM it replaced.

 

[shud]

Nah, I'm not going for overclocking.

I've got a nice laptop (p4 1.5ghz) that acts as my only computer right now. It's pretty sweet, but I don't like the limitations (graphics, hard drives, etc). I eventually aspire to get a Barton proc, nice graphics card and DVD burner, so the laptop isn't going to cut it in a few months.

Is it worth the extra $$$ to get the + version of the 8RDA? As far as I can tell it just has onboard LAN. The picture on newegg of the regular 8RDA shows 4 USB ports even though it says there's only 2.

 

[Ardan]

We went with an MSI KT3 Ultra2 in an XP 1600+ system and it has Kingston Value RAM PC2700 (512Mb...2x256Mb sticks) and it works flawlessly. I can overclock it heavily and it will stay running fine for weeks. The same goes for my own system, an Athlon XP 1800+ Thoroughbred @ 2400+ speed...though I use 2x256Mb PC2700 Crucial memory now. This system uses an MSI KT4VL motherboard and it is extremely fast. Personally, I can't tell the speed difference between this and my friend's nForce2 system. I would recommend getting an nForce2 board from ASUS or MSI (MSI has NEVER let me down in the 3 years i've dealt with their products)...preferably the A7N8X Deluxe that is very popular. I just thought I would let you know about my experiences with a different motherboard, since you are searching for one.

It also runs at 333Mhz FSB, and could go up to 390Mhz just fine (but I didn't want to go that high)

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: shud
Nah, I'm not going for overclocking.

I've got a nice laptop (p4 1.5ghz) that acts as my only computer right now. It's pretty sweet, but I don't like the limitations (graphics, hard drives, etc). I eventually aspire to get a Barton proc, nice graphics card and DVD burner, so the laptop isn't going to cut it in a few months.

Is it worth the extra $$$ to get the + version of the 8RDA? As far as I can tell it just has onboard LAN. The picture on newegg of the regular 8RDA shows 4 USB ports even though it says there's only 2.

As I said above, the onboard LAN is really nice, it's worth the bucks I think. And with the + version you get another 2 USB 2.0 ports. In the future you might need it.

 

[shud]

Epox's site lists the 8RDA has having 4 USB ports, 2 of which are optional. Clarification of what "optional" means?

 

[Lonyo]

I would guess it means it has 2 USB headers on the mobo, and a bracket which can be plugged into them, giving you the extra ports, but taking away a PCI slot, or if you have front USB ports on the case, you can plug those into it.

 

[Lonyo]

BTW: do the KT333 chipsets run fairly well (I'm also looking for a cheapo AMD board, but for a bit of overclocking, the 2 I had in mind were the A7V333 and the Abit KD7-E (KT333 board), both are about the same price, and in the UK are a fair bit cheaper than the nForce 2 voards (which I can't afford).

 

[moonshinemadness]

The Asus A7N8X Deluve rules its sweet and has more bells and whistles than morris dancers at a football match. As for the optional thing im guessing like with the Asus you get a PCI faceplate that you can screw in place of a PCI slot and then run a cable to the mobo from that. Optional being you dont *Have* to have it. The Asus does this with Serial, coms, usb and firewire..four seperate face plates...wires everywhere though!

 

[sunkim50]

For the money... go with http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?description=13-135-135

Newest ECS mobo with a new chipset.

Review found here

 

[Ionizer86]

Optional USB: I have an EPoX 8KHA+ and this is how it works on my board (and the other EPoX boards I know of).

2 USBs are on the back USB faceplate by the kbrd, serial, parallel etc. Then the mobo has 2 more sets of pins for 4 more USBs. If you get a board that will give you 4 USBs, you get an extra header type thing that's a bracket that goes into the PCI slot area on the case. If your case has front USB (like mine), you can also plug those onto the other set of pins for front USB. Either way, I think all EPoX boards can do up to 6 USBs.

 

[shud]

Is it that important to get an nForce2 board over something else?

 

[shud]

bump...only time, I promise.

 

[nick1985]

anything BUT an nforce2 right now would be a tragedy

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: nick1985
anything BUT an nforce2 right now would be a tragedy

I don't use any Athlon systems but everyone with an nforce2 board has been extremely happy so far. If you can afford it, get it.

 

[MrCodeDude]

8RDA (+ if you need RAID)
8RGA if you need onboard GF4 MX video (+ if you need RAID)

or cheaper solution
8K5A2 (+ if you need RAID)
-- mrcodedude

 

[billyjak]

I was going to get the Ausus A7N8X Deluxe but reading reviews of the high oc/s of the Epox 8RDA+, that board looks sweet.
NF2 boards are the way to go.

 

[shud]

Yeah, looks like I'm going with the 8RDA+. It's $50 cheaper than the Asus too. I think I'll stick with an XP 2000+ proc, because if it's as easy to overclock as it seems, I don't need to spend $$$ on more OEM power.

 

[Bonesdad]

Another vote for 8RDA or 8RDA+. The + board also has 6 channel sound as opposed to 2 channel sound on the 8RDA. Also, there is no LAN port on the 8RDA (or am i mistaken??? just looking at EPOX site).

The NForce2 boards have the added bonus of being more upgradeable than most other boards.

The 8RDA+ is the right board at the right price ($109 shipped!)