Please Help Me Decide

[GML3G0]

I am having a hard time choosing between the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum and the Abit AV8. I hear they are both good overclockers with working PCI/AGP locks. I plan on building the system in my sig yet am not sure about the motherboard. Which motherboard do you recommend? I do not need the firewall feature on the MSI if you are considering it as a plus for it. Please help me decide.

Which performs better overall?
Now which performs better in gaming?

Anandtech rated these two boards as the best two 939 boards but it's tough to choose. The MSI is more, but it has rounded ATA/IDE cables which is a plus.

MONARCHCOMPUTER.com will load the latest BIOS on the board and tweak it for optimum performance for free in their AMD bundle. I just have to decide on my board.

 

[ts3433]

They're both probably very good motherboards. At the same speeds there should be virtually no performance difference. I do see more people using the Neo2 than the AV8, though.

 

[GML3G0]

Bump.

 

[intogamer]

I would go for the Msi.

 

[MrCodeDude]

The MSI is nForce3 250. The Abit is K8T800 Pro. Due to my bias towards nVidia based chipsets, I'd vote for the MSI board

 

[GML3G0]

Why? Please back up your answer with an explanation. The computer will mainly be used for gaming and everyday tasks such as word processing and internet, and the occasional video edit (rarely, maybe just a home video) music and thats about it.

Anyone know where I can get some good qualuity (but not expensive) rounded IDE cables? The abit av8 comes with ribbon ones (bad for airflow) and the msi comes with only one IDE cable. so either way, i would have to buy extra cables.

 

[GML3G0]

Oh, and, I dont want any biased opinions.

 

[slurmsmackenzie]

the differences are negligable. either one would make a fine choice. RW diiference would probably go unnoticed. i'd go with the cheaper of the two.

 

[GML3G0]

RW? Whats that?

EDIT: real world, not synthetic benchmarks?

 

[GML3G0]

Do the PCI/AGP locks on the AV8 K8T800 Pro even work. AnandTech says they work, and so do a lot of other sites, but people are telling me it doesn't

 

[Waylay00]

I'm in the same boat as you man. Abit or MSI for a first time builder here?

 

[GML3G0]

Us first time builders need a lot of help.
All I know is the VIA chipset performs better in gaming apps. In business apps, the nForce performs better. I just need it for internet, word processing, occassional video editing (rarely, maybe a home video once in a while) and lastly for gaming. I want this system to last for a while, which is why I'm trying to load it up with everything I can possibly afford. All I plan to upgrade in the next 3 years is the processor. I don't need the NV Firewall.

I found a good article comparing specifically the MSI Neo2 Platinum and the Abit AV8 and both boards got a 8.5. The MSI only comes with only 1 IDE cable which sucks, and brings the price difference up to $35. They performed very similarly and overclocked within 2MHz FSB of each other, but the Abit did better in gaming and had a slightly higher (7MB) hard drive burst speed.

But can anyone from their own experience verify that the Abit AV8 has working PCI/AGP locks?

 

[Waylay00]

bump. are the SATA connections for the ABIT hard to configure?

 

[GML3G0]

wut do you mean hard to configure? hard to connect due to placement or installing the drivers?

 

[Waylay00]

installing the drivers

 

[GML3G0]

oh no, that should be easy. The Abit comes with a floppy for the SATA drivers. When you first install Windows, you have to press F6 I think it is to install the SATA drivers (it says it on the bottom when the installation prompt appears) and so you just insert the floppy and you're set. Or you can just get the drivers from Abit's site and slipstream them into the Windows XP CD, but that involves a slightly lengthy process which is a bit more difficult. That should only be used if you don't have a floppy drive.

 

[Aeridyne]

i have never used abit, but i have used msi. I had an msi card that the fan got super clogged with dust and couldnt spin no more, but the card lived on. I also have an msi motherboard and it works quite well, although i think it could be better for example the bios screen takes a long time to load and i had a video issue with it before, but those are standard problems. I can recommend the msi only because i trust them fairly well as for abit i dunno.