I need some advice ...

[Aldraxis]

I realize there are some highly technical aspects of Motherboards ... but I don't understand a lot of that stuff unfortunately. So please keep things simple for me

I'm building a new computer ... a value gamer system I guess would be the best description ...

This is what I'm looking to have -

AMD64 3200+ 939 90nm
Corsair 512Mb Value Select Cas2.5 x 2
Samsung 160Gb SATA 7200rpm 8Mb HD x 2
SB Audigy 2
Floppy Drive

DVD- +R/W < ---- Haven't chosen one.
DVD- ROM <---- Haven't chosen one.
128Mb AGP 8x Video Card <---- Haven't chosen one.
Wireless Network Card <---- Haven't chosen one.
Wireless Mouse and Keyboard < ---- Haven't chosen one.
Already have my Monitor

Now I'm looking at 3 Motherboards ... and I'm not knowledgeable enough to know which one might be better for me. If they are basically the same, I'll go on lowest reputable price I can find.

ASUS A8V Deluxe
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
Soltek K8T Pro 939

1. Are there any other boards I should be considering?
2. Are there any reasons to choose one of these boards over the other two?
3. Are there any reliability issues or configurations issues with any of these boards that would conflict with my intended system?

Any help or suggestions that anyone can provide will be very much appreciated.

Note #1 - I don't really intend to overclock ... mainly because I don't know how. But I really don't need it, since I'm not a "serious" gamer. Just a "casual" gamer.
Note #2 - Unfortunately, I don't think I can wait for an AMD64 PCIe board ... since I think my desktop is in it's final few days of life.

 

[Aldraxis]

Too Much information or not enough?

 

[Mrvile]

I know that a lot of people have been having problems with the MSI board, especially that one.

I don't know a lot about Soltek besides the fact that they make motherboards, I'd stick with the ASUS. But that's just me.

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

Originally posted by: Aldraxis
Too Much information or not enough?

I think it depends on how much you want to spend on the video card.

a) Wait until mid-november for this.

b) $200 video card
ECS 915P-A $89
eVGA GeForce 6600GT 128MB $197
Intel Pentium 4 520 (2.8GHz) Retail $160

total = $446
note: you can probably pick up this board/cpu for a better price if there's a Fry's near you.


c) $300 video card
ABIT AV8 $111
eVGA GeForce 6800 128MB $285
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (socket 939) OEM $215

total = $611 + cooling


I'll add another AMD system:
d)
EPoX 8KDA3J revision 2 $73
eVGA GeForce 6800 128MB $285
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (socket 754) Retail $198

total = $556


Soltek makes fine motherboards. The only problem with the K8TPro-939 is the lack of AGP/PCI lock (for overclocking), and it doesn't seem to like 4 DIMMS installed at the same time.

 

[Slik]

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...1221&amp;enterthread=y

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...9419&amp;enterthread=y