• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

POLL: In market for budget S754 solution

Farmer

Farmer

Diamond Member
To replace my faulty MSI K8T800 Board.

1.) DFI LanParty nForce3 250Gb - Obviously the first choice, most reviewed and most known board in this category; also not to bad a performer. $96 at Newegg cuts the budget extremely thinly, though.

Now, not in any particular order:

2.)Albatron K8X250GB Pro, eVGA NF31 - Both sport the nForce 3 250Gb chipset, but only have 2 RAM slots (I will be using both slots then). About $20 cheaper than the DFI, but I am not particularly familiar with these two mobo makers, and the lack of reviews adds to this. Great price though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813188001
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813170151

Then, of course, the K8T800Pro and nForce 3 250 non-Gb offerings:

3.) ASUS K8N - 250 chipset. No gigabyte LAN or hardware firewall, but I don't really care. Definitely a minor upgrade on my current K8T800 3 DIMM slots. ASUS is a reputable name. Found one review (http://www.cooltechzone.com/index.php?o...id=1042&Itemid=0&limit=1&limitstart=1). Price is also extremely attractive.

4.) Abit KV8Pro - A bit expensive on Newegg, K8T800Pro, only 2 DIMM slots. Price is around $75.00.

So basically, any recommendations are welcome, limited to the following specs:

1.) No MSI boards or K8T800 regular boards.
2.) K8T800Pro, nForce 3 250, 250Gb is nice; I don't know anything about the SiS or ULi sets, so recommendations or advice is welcome on those.
3.) No K8T890 or PCI-E enabled boards, since I need that AGP slot.
4.) Obviously, socket 754 for A64/Sempron
5.) I like to have at least 3 DIMM slots.

Thanks for any advice.

Hopefully this, another HDD and a reformat and reinstall will give my computer a new breath of life.
 
Just got done looking at some skt 754 mobo's.

I ended up purchasing a Chaintech VNF3-250 for about $60 at the Egg

Edit: It does have 3 dimm slots
 
that chaintech ^^ is a pretty damn good board. be sure to get a board with a chipset that locks the AGP and PCI freq. even if you don't plan on overclocking. the dfi 250Gb is a helluva board, tho.
 
Originally posted by: Farmer
So basically, any recommendations are welcome, limited to the following specs:

1.) No MSI boards or K8T800 regular boards.

5.) I like to have at least 3 DIMM slots.
Click to expand...

I've been quite happy with my K8N Neo Platinum. I see you've had a bad experience with MSI but if you can't find the perfect mobo for your situation, I wouldn't take a less-featured board over a comparably-better MSI. Also, I believe you are compromising speed when occupying all three RAM slots. I'm only using two on my board, but I think I've read before that filling all three underclocks all three.
 
Take a look at the Soltek K8AN2E-GR. It's an extremely good performer at stock speeds, overclocks mildly, and is very stable. It's also pretty inexpensive at this time. $76 at the egg last time I looked.
 
Jotho:

Good advice. I actually am running only two, which is why I requisted a min of 3. I never like filling all available DIMM slots.

The deal with MSI is that, when I purchased the K8T800 NEO I have now about a year and half ago, it came DOA. After RMA, I got one with a faulty FDD. Now, that is excrutiatingly annoying if you are trying to install XP on a SATA drive on an XP SP1 install (SATA drivers must be loaded via, you know it, floppy drive).

But the MSI offerings in this category are limited to K8T800, K8T800Pro K8M800 and K8T890. With the exception of the K8T800Pro, none of those sets interest me. Still, I do understand that some folks have better luck with certain brands, and other don't, so I know what you're talking about.

Fern, Heckler 5th, Megatomic:

I'll check out both the Chaintech and the Soltek board.
 
Well, I've looked at them:

Chaintech VNF3-250: On paper, identical to the K8N with the exception of 8-channel audio (6-channel audio), so basically equal to me. Definitely under consideration.

Soltek K8AN2E-GR: Looks like a pretty nice 250gb solution, just no 8-channel audio (again, I don't care particularly). I guess I'll consider it, but I've been leaning toward the less expensive solutions.

Any word on compatibility with large HSFs?


 
Originally posted by: Farmer
Well, I've looked at them:

Chaintech VNF3-250: On paper, identical to the K8N with the exception of 8-channel audio (6-channel audio), so basically equal to me. Definitely under consideration.

Soltek K8AN2E-GR: Looks like a pretty nice 250gb solution, just no 8-channel audio (again, I don't care particularly). I guess I'll consider it, but I've been leaning toward the less expensive solutions.

Any word on compatibility with large HSFs?
Click to expand...

I once owned the Soltek and it is a great mobo.. I still think I did a mistake when I switched for socket 939/PCIe from this motherboard...

 
The eVGA 115-K8-NF31 is something to consider. link
I'm very pleased with mine, haven't had a single issue with it.
Only 2 DIMMs though.
 
Farmer, I have a DFI LanParty NF3 250GB that I was about to list in FS/FT. I sent you a PM about it so let me know if you're interested. 🙂
 
if there is that's the first i've heard about it. but i'm not using raid, either... (edit: i do know u can't use two of the SATA slots if you're >220FSB)

i don't think farmer really interested in the 250Gb all that much, tho. bro tryin to save dough.
 
LandRover:

Yeah, I listed that under my original thread, after the Albatron mobo. I was a bit turned off by the 2 DIMMs only. If you have been running with slots full, tell me abit more about how yer system runs.

DoobieOnline:

Thnx for the offer. Check yer PM.

Hacp, Heckler 5th:

I guess so. $96 is a bit steep (I wouldn't be saying that if things had gone according to plan and I didn't have to buy a new mobo now), so I probably will not be getting a NIB DFI 250Gb.

Heckler, tell me more about this 2 SATA issue? I was planning on running 2 SATA HDDs.
 
Well, I'll be running with 2 sticks of RAM, and I've historically experienced stability issues whnever all the RAM slots were full. I don't know if this is the case with modern chipsets, and I'm waiting for anyone to tell me it isnt.
 
I was using the Soltek NF3 250GB board for a while in my backup rig. It only has two dimm slots and I had both of them filled with 2x512MB and no problems at all. That was actually one of the most stable boards I've ever used.
 
Originally posted by: DoobieOnline
I was using the Soltek NF3 250GB board for a while in my backup rig. It only has two dimm slots and I had both of them filled with 2x512MB and no problems at all. That was actually one of the most stable boards I've ever used.
Click to expand...
What I was going to say. Soltek left off the third DIMM slot due to problems when 3 slots are filled. I was running 1T timing with 2x512MB in that board.

You could probably run with 2x1GB and not have any problems.
 
Originally posted by: Farmer
Well, I'll be running with 2 sticks of RAM, and I've historically experienced stability issues whnever all the RAM slots were full. I don't know if this is the case with modern chipsets, and I'm waiting for anyone to tell me it isnt.
Click to expand...

That's very strange logic you're using there. If someone built a motherboard with 32 slots would you immediately assume that running 31 DIMMs was stable because you weren't filling all the slots?

The reason some motherboards have only 2 slots is because there just isn't much use for the 3rd one on a Socket 754 system. It decreases performance some, decreases stability some, and it's often not worth the cost of including the 3rd slot when almost nobody uses it.
 
I would whole heartedly recommend the Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR as it is one of the best mobos I've owned (with all the other Solteks) BUT it only has 2 DIMMs.. that said, the board rocks still... I have mine with 2x512 OCZ and it runs amazing... stability is 100% always!!!

next on your list of canditates I'd probably go with the vanilla K8N. I've used a lot of them and nary a problem. since you aren't looking for too many features, it helps keep the cost down.
 
Tostada:

Well, you'll have to pardon my strange logic. When I built my old PIII system, it was advisable (and it was still common up to some point back in recent history) not to fill all the RAM slots, as it would cause some stability issues. I'm not saying the system would be perfectly stable if I didn't fill all the RAM slots, I'm just saying that is what I have heard and experienced.

But, I guess my strange ways are wrong, as shown in the above posts by owners of the respective 2-DIMM-slot boards.

CraigRT:

Thanks for the comments. I'm getting a lot of thumbs up for the Soltek.
 
Alright, I'd like to get some info regarding any known problems with these motherboards. This goes for the DFI (250Gb), the Soltek(250Gb), the ASUS K8N (250) and the Chaintech (250). If you know any issues that might arise with a setup like the one below on any of these boards, please post what you know:

AMD64 3200+ Clawhammer
Corsair XMS LL 2x512MB matched
ATI Radeon 9800XT AGP
Hitachi SATA150 160GB on SATA1
Hitachi SATA2 80GB on SATA2
Pioneer 16x DVD IDE1 Master
Lite-On DL DVDRW IDE1 Slave
FDD
 
bump

I think im beginning to be a bit sold on the Soltek. Added a poll to gather info more quickly, so feel free to answer.
 
Originally posted by: Farmer
Heckler, tell me more about this 2 SATA issue? I was planning on running 2 SATA HDDs.
Click to expand...
the board has 4 SATA connectors but two of em are not frequency locked. so if you overclock >220FSB you face data corruption if using those two. if you just use the two SATA connectors near the AGP slot, you can OC to your heart's content, no problem.
 
Originally posted by: Jotho
Originally posted by: Farmer
So basically, any recommendations are welcome, limited to the following specs:

1.) No MSI boards or K8T800 regular boards.

5.) I like to have at least 3 DIMM slots.
Click to expand...

I've been quite happy with my K8N Neo Platinum. I see you've had a bad experience with MSI but if you can't find the perfect mobo for your situation, I wouldn't take a less-featured board over a comparably-better MSI. Also, I believe you are compromising speed when occupying all three RAM slots. I'm only using two on my board, but I think I've read before that filling all three underclocks all three.
Click to expand...

I have the board, too. I highly recommend it. :thumbsup:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top