Need Mobo Advice - Most stable 939 PCIe?

[teddyv]

Thanks for taking a look - Looking for a stable and solid 939 board for a Venice 3000. Not going to overclock and won't need SLI. I like the MSI but the return horror stories have me on edge.

Any advice welcomed - thanks!

 

[Hacp]

DFI . It has firewire and is stable if you don't OC .

 

[teddyv]

Tops for additional suggestions? I am thinking the DFI may be a bit more of a handful than I am looking for. Basically I had decided on the A8V for its reputation for an easy set up and rock-solid running, but decided to go with PCIe.

 

[Hacp]

If your not overclocking and just setting it up, it is not hard. Maybe Asus is a bit easier. Try the Premium version A8N.

 

[mdubrow]

I found the Epox 9NPA+ Ultra to be very straightforward to set up (I'm not overclocking).

Two things to note:
(1) I have heard that long video cards may interfere with one of the board's IDE connectors.
(2) While firewire isn't one of the built-in I/O ports, the board does have 2 firewire headers on it and Epox included a bracket for their use.

 

[imported_Kensai]

MSI K8N Neo4 SLI.

 

[bozack]

my 9NPA+ Ultra is pretty solid with the latest bios.

 

[danklumpp]

Try the EPoX nForce4 SLI, for $138 at newegg. They are very stable, and if you ever decide to overclock, you're all set. I wouldn't recommend the Asus SLI (not deluxe), as it has had many issues with SATA and other stuff.

I would get SLI for future reasons

 

[teddyv]

Not really planning on two cards, only gaming I do is Ultima Online. What I really need is a beefy but very stable and reliable machine. Any non-SLI recommendations? How about the A8N-e?

 

[SilverTrine]

Get a VIA board if stability is your primary concern.

 

[UsandThem]

Originally posted by: SilverTrine
Get a VIA board if stability is your primary concern.

VIA chipsets are now considered the king of stability?

 

[MaxisOne]

All I can say is ... DO NOT GET the A8N-e Its alot more pain than its worth.. Peg link= slower for my x850xtpe, Memory trouble (corsair mem btw that worked flawless in my neo 2 platinum) and you should have seen what i had to go through to get raid to work properly.

Im still getting .. random freezes
Windows not shutting down when u tell it to
sometimes windows wont boot unless i reset the friggen bios

Ill work with it ... but i think my respect for Asus as the number 1 mainboard producer has dropped to third ... Behind MSI and DFI. The last decent board i owned from Asus was the P4P800 for the Intel Sprindale chipset .. after that they seemed to have lost their way.

 

[gunblade]

Originally posted by: MaxisOne
All I can say is ... DO NOT GET the A8N-e Its alot more pain than its worth.. Peg link= slower for my x850xtpe, Memory trouble (corsair mem btw that worked flawless in my neo 2 platinum) and you should have seen what i had to go through to get raid to work properly.

Im still getting .. random freezes
Windows not shutting down when u tell it to
sometimes windows wont boot unless i reset the friggen bios

Ill work with it ... but i think my respect for Asus as the number 1 mainboard producer has dropped to third ... Behind MSI and DFI. The last decent board i owned from Asus was the P4P800 for the Intel Sprindale chipset .. after that they seemed to have lost their way.

As an A8n-E owner, I agree wholeheartedly that the A8n-e really isn't up to the ASUS standard that they used to have. It probably be my last mobo from ASUS since I find MSI to be a lot better than the recent Asus mobo.

Btw, the problems that I have with the board are mainly that it doesn't overclock as much and sometimes there are random freezes with no apparent reason.

 

[SPQQKY]

Hands down it would have to be the Epox 9NPA+Ultra for ease of use and stability. It doesn't have all the problems that the DFI has and is very fast. BIOS writing is important for speed out of the box and Epox is good for that. After all, it did win Anandtechs Gold Editors Choice Award.

 

[woodchuck69]

It would be a crime to pair the Epox 9NPA+ Ultra with a 3000+ Venice and not overclock it out of the box to at least 2ghz. That isn't even trying for the combo.

 

[EatSpam]

Originally posted by: UsandThem

Originally posted by: SilverTrine
Get a VIA board if stability is your primary concern.

VIA chipsets are now considered the king of stability?

Stable as anything else. My little mini-ITX boxen which are all VIA, including the CPU, have been stable for months.

 

[AMDCrazy]

My MSI K8N Neo4-F has been a good stable board even when overclocking. I have had nothing but good luck with this board cheap too, $85 at newegg.com. Take a look at it.