Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-9 or Soltek SL-K890Pro-939 ?

[MWTungsten]

Searching for passive 939/PCI-E mobos narrowed my choices to these:

Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-9
or
Soltek SL-K890Pro-939

I read that the Gigabyte might have some keyboard troubles, and that the passive heatsink may not be enough to keep the nforce4 chip from overheating . . .

. . . but I'm also concerned that the Soltek's 20pin connector may not provide enough power to PCI-E cards like the Gigabyte X800XL which does not have a supplemental power source. Should I be worried about not having the 24pin's extra juice?

I will not be overclocking, so all I want (besides quiet) is a stable problem-free build.

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

I don't think you'll have a problem with Soltek's 20-pin connector and also with Gigabyte's passive cooler (since you're not overclocking), as long as your case is well cooled.

You may also consider the ABIT AX8. It's very similar to the Soltek board but it has a 20-pin connector+4-pin molex connector for the PCI-E slots.

 

[MWTungsten]

I want to consider the AX8, but I haven't found much to read in the way of actual user experience.

re: the Soltek, I think I would be quite confident about this board if anyone here could comment on having successfully mated it with an X800XL using only PCI-E slot power.

And, if you were to guess, what about future video cards? Or adding other PCI-E cards? Could lacking the 24pin's extra power limit my upgrade options?