im looking at a new motherboard but confused

[crasheren]

im about to upgrade my computer a bit, and for that i need a new motherboard

it must have 8xsata onboard, have pci-e (ofcourse) and it has to be a socket 939 motherboard

i have been looking at the gigabyte ga-k8nxp-sli, it looks nice, good chipset and nice features - and it fulfills the needs i have

but are there motherboards that perform better than this? my current motherboard is the asus a8v-deluxe with 2x512mb geil ddr32000 2-2-2-5 modules (going to get those replaced with OCZ PC4000 2048MB EB Platinum Edition Dual Channel Kit (2 x 1024MB) - will those modules run good with almost any s939 pci-e nforce4 based motherboard?

last, the fan on the motherboard is so noisy, can a passive heatsink do the trick? i mean, can it cool it enough?

 

[nadirshakur]

Which CPU do you have? Looking to overclock? prefer Nvidia or ATI or no preference? Do you need 8 SATA ports for eight different hard drives? And are you talking about the CPU fan or the chipset fan?

The OCZ is a great match with most 939 boards. And the K8NXP is a good board but depending on the answers to these question you can probably find better.

 

[crasheren]

im upgrading my cpu to a x2 4200+
i dont overclock
and the gfx card i want is the sapphire radeon x850xt platinum edition
i dont need 8 sata ports for 8 different drives, but i need atleast 6 because i got 6 discs atm and 2 for additional upgrade at a later time (3x300 seagate 2x250 maxtor 1x74gb raptor)
and im talking about the chipset fan

 

[Proprioceptive]

Asus A8N-SLI models are nice. I own the deluxe and it's very quiet, at least chipset-wise... as that was what you were worried about . I'm watercooling my CPU. The Premium version has fanless design with a passive heatpipe running from cpu to chipset. I think that board might be a good choice for you.

EDIT: Both of these boards have 8 SATA ports available. 4 on the Nforce chipset and 4 on the Silicon Image chip. They also have a GREAT layout with the PCI slots.

 

[crasheren]

Proprioceptive: i have actually owned that motherboard once before, was for about a day though. To me the chipset on the motherboard got very hot, and in my situation, it caused a few bsods. Im not saying its because of the motherboard, it could be anything that caused that, but compared with my current a8v-deluxe that has ran without any bsods for more than a year - its not worth it, so i returned it

but it could have been an okay alternative if it wasnt for my previous experiences with that board - but i agree, its a big plus that its 100% passive, but not 100% reliable to me

 

[nadirshakur]

Same suggestion. Although at Newegg the A8n32 Deluxe is 21 dollars extra. I personally would get that but for you the A8N would be better because 32 only has 6 SATA.

EDIT: Just saw your post too late.

 

[crasheren]

im torn hehe

i dont know what to choose, based on my previous experiences, buying the asus board would be like walking back to some firework that didnt go off

 

[nadirshakur]

This looks cool although only 6 SATA. Or how about an ATI chipset?

 

[crasheren]

just the chipset that performs good and/or best with my config which is:

sapphire x850xt pe pci-e
CZ PC4000 2048MB EB Platinum Edition Dual Channel Kit (2 x 1024MB)
amd x2 4200+

 

[nadirshakur]

Great board all around. NV4 SLI, 8 SATA, great for future upgrades and overclocking.

 

[crasheren]

i have been looking on dfi yeah but compared with the gigabyte and asus its too pricy, but the msi looks nice too yeah, just that irritating 40mm fan that annoys me - the gigabyte has a 40mm fan too but that one is easier to replace with a large passive heatsink

hehe i really dont know what to do i want the best for the money but its hard to decide, i guess i need to read up alot

 

[Geomagick]

I use the Asus A8N-SLI Premium - totally silent as its passive cooled.

I had a deluxe before and the chipset fan got a bit noisy prior to me frying it.

 

[crasheren]

maybe i should try the asus again then hehe