Purchasing Advice Needed (re: M2N-E)

[thorin]

I'm STILL running a 2200+ on a old K7S5A.

I've been thinking of upgrading as it's starting to not quite meet my needs anymore.

I've been looking at something like:
http://www.shoprbc.com/ca/shop...tails.php?coid=5202822

• AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+ AM2 Dual-Core 65W Processor
  Asus M2N-E NF570U AM2 ATX Mainboard w/Audio/SATA/RAID/GbE
  OCZ System Elite 2GB DC PC2-6400 DDR2
  LG GSA-H50N 18X DVD+/-RW Drive BLACK, OEM
  Asus EN7600GS 512MB PCIe Video Card w/HDTV (EN7600GS/512S)
  Antec NSK4400 Mid-Tower Case w/380Watt PSU, Black/Silver

However after seeing the *** Official ASUS M2N-E Thread *** I'm thinking I should avoid that motherboard.

I'm considering up'ing the CPU to a 5000+ or 5200+ so I'm looking for MoBo suggestions.

Thorin

 

[Captante]

Supposedly the M2N-E has improved a lot in later revisions but is still very picky when it comes to RAM ... I had a terrible time with two of them shortly after they were released & as a result I wouldn't touch one again myself, but as long as you go with conservative RAM that will do 800mhz on 1.8v like Kingston Value-RAM PC6400 you shouldn't have any problems. (I RMA'ed mine to Newegg & replaced one with a Crosshair 590-SLI & one with a MSI K9N SLI Platinum Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570, both of which have been solid)

I've successfully used the very basic M2N which is essentially a stripped down version of this board in several builds with Brisbane-core X2's & as long as your overclocking goals are modest its been decent ... btw I wouldn't waste your money upgrading your CPU because any performance gains will be minimal going from 2.4 to 2.6ghz.



Edit:

I've used a couple of these DFI's as the base for mid-range gaming PC's & havn't had any trouble at all, plus they cost less:

DFI INFINITY NF570-M2/G Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 @ $100 + $7 shipping


Despite some mixed reviews, this MSI also works very well & doesn't have the annoying VDIMM limitations:

MSI K9N SLI Platinum Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI @ $125 + $7 shipping

 

[johnno]

I've been very happy with mine. Running the latest bios it's rock solid. As above, be careful with the RAM choice.

 

[KeithTalent]

It should be fine now. That motherboard was an absolute nightmare in the beginning, but after the 0502 BIOS everything was rock solid for me.

It seems as if they just released it a tad too early or something.

Good luck!

KT

 

[thorin]

Thanks guys!

 

[chaddeus]

I would recommend going for the MSI K9N Sli Platinum.

- Charles

 

[padibona]

Ill echo what other people have said...It's a very good board, overclocks nicely BUT!!!!!!------use RAM that is low voltage ie. 1.8v or 1.9v
otherwise you'll be running into loads of problems. I run 2g (4 sticks) or kingston value ram ddr2667 and got it overclocked to almost 800 speeds atm. kvr667d2n5/512 ones im using atm. The bios has tons of ram settings about 1/40 of which I know what they do lol, anyways as long as you use low voltage ram you should be ok with the M2N-E board.

 

[pursue]

dont buy m2n-e it full of problems. Computer freeze at startup, random reboot with no overclock at all.