Looking for S754 board

[PPPP]

I'm looking for a S754 board to go with an AMD64 3400+

I won't be OC'ing at all and want to use AGP since I won't be gaming. What's a good reliable board to get? I want to have the least amount of pain when I install linux on it.

Thanks.

 

[Peter]

Greetings, and welcome!

Typing this from an ECS 755-A2 running Linux. The system is loaded, with AGP card, dual channel SCSI and TV card, four SCSI and two IDE drives, internal USB card reader and the usual bunch of external peripherals. Also, this is my test rack for any kind of hardware passing through, so it's seen a lot more hard disks, processors and graphics cards than what's in there now. No hiccups ever. I'd buy another any day.

Incidentally, this is also the cheapest S754 board out there.

If your 3400+ is an Athlon-64, just go ahead, mind power supply strength. If you plan on a Sempron 3400+, you're going to need a board from a very recent production run - for no other reason than getting a BIOS that runs this very latest CPU stepping. (The board does run them - I've just last week downgraded mine from an Athlon64-2800 to a Sempron64-2600.)

 

[PPPP]

Originally posted by: Peter
Greetings, and welcome!

Thanks

I'm in Canada. I don't know if I can easily find the motherboard you suggested. Do you have another suggestion?

 

[o1die]

I'd go for nforce3 chipset boards. I'd look at the abit nf8 or epox 8kda3J, both around $70-85 in the U.S.

 

[Fenuxx]

Yeah, something with an nForce3 250Gb. That would be the best IMO.

 

[PPPP]

how about the Asus K8N-E Deluxe? I can't remember if that's what it's called but I remember it's K8N something...

 

[o1die]

Yep. That will work fine. Chiefvalue has some k8n deluxe boards refurbished for $39.95, but I don't know if they will ship to Canada.

 

[JEDIYoda]

May I.....

Why refurbished???
Especially when its going to be the heart and guts of your system....

refurbished never ever makes any kind of sense!

 

[PPPP]

The K8N Deluxe doesn't support dual channel memory, does it?

and i can use PATA HD's on it right?

 

[Peter]

The RAM controller is on the CPU, not the chipset. Socket-939 implies dual channel RAM.

 

[PPPP]

Originally posted by: Peter
The RAM controller is on the CPU, not the chipset. Socket-939 implies dual channel RAM.

ooh...i see. Thanks Peter

And about PATA HD's, I looked at the specs but I don't know if it supports them. Could someone be kind enough to tell me?

 

[superfly27]

If you don't want to do any gaming, do you want integrated video?
Also, are you absolutely sure you don't want PCI-E? You can get cheap PCI-E cards and the slot will be future proof for a few years.

A nice board that is compatible with like...A LOT of operating systems: Abit KV8 Pro
http://www.shoprbc.com/ca/shop/product_details.php?pid=9082&cid=342

The Asus K8N-E Deluxe has the nForce3 chipset and AGP:
http://www.shoprbc.com/ca/shop/product_details.php?pid=7861&cid=342

The Asus K8N4-E Deluxe has the nForce4 chipset and PCI-E:
http://www.shoprbc.com/ca/shop/product_details.php?pid=10547&cid=342
It also has Firewire and MIDI/joystick port. I chose this one.

You could get a motherboard with the integrated video, but the K8M800 chipset did not have good reviews and often, motherboards with integrated video are in microATX form factor so they have fewer PCI slots.
http://www.shoprbc.com/ca/shop/product_details.php?pid=7894&cid=342

I ordered the Asus K8N4-E Deluxe but I haven't received confirmation it was sent yet by shoprbc (maybe because I emailed them twice asking to make changes to my order, they must hate me by now).

BTW, "dual channel" RAM can go on a socket 754 motherboard. They'll just run single channel. However, those twinpacks are the best way to make sure the RAM will work on the same board.

EDIT: Those are links to a Canadian online retailer for those who don't know.

 

[PPPP]

I've heard many bad things about integrated video so I think I want to stay away from that.

As for being future proof, I don't usually upgrade things on a PC. I usually just go and buy a completely new system so I don't think I'm too worried about it.

I haven't used anything other than Asus. So I suppose it's down to the Abit KV8 Pro & K8N-E Deluxe?

 

[imported_killuminati]

as ur not in gaming then this will do ( NO AGP , only PCIe ) :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130513

good thing it got Bulit-in X300 2D/3D Graphics Core .

Peace & caio !!!

 

[Supershanks]

If you already have a gfx card i can understand going the agpp path.
However there are a growing number of pci-e based neo4 boards supporting the 754 socket.

this gives the advantage of being able to use the gfx card in any future upgrades.
examples are:-
Asus K8N4-E Deluxe Motherboard Review
DFI NF4X INFINITY

The Asus board in particular has an extremely feature rich feature set rivalling that of many SLI boards.

luck on your selection PPPP

 

[uOpt]

I have an Asus K8V-X which is pretty much perfect except for missing AGP/PCI lock, so overclocking is dangerous.

Overwise it is fast, supports ECC, avoids NVidia, has working drivers, working temperature monitoring under Linux/FreeBSD.