Socket 939 m-atx reccomendations?

[deathwalker]

Im on the verge of ordering a X q-pack SFF case and I am struggling with my m-atx mobo selection for the AMD X2 solution. I buy only from newegg and to be honest I see no real glowing reports on any of the 939 m-atx boards. The most widely purchased one is a biostar T6100 board and it has mixed reviews. I have built systems for others on biostar boards but have always considered them to be an economy solution. It is not my intention to put economy parts in this box. They have ASUS and MSI matx boards that dont fair any better in customer opinions. These are manufactures that I have always felt to be providers of high quality mobos. Lets have some feedback from the AT community on this. Perhaps these newegg buyers opinios are based more on fiction than fact.

 

[Heidfirst]

DFI RS482 Infinity?

 

[Conroe]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=89544&highlight=DFI+RS482
Here is a thread on that DFI. Looks nice.

I have the Biostar, and I very happy with it's quality. I think T-Force means good. The Biostar Tforce6100-939 is the one to beat in this market, and it's not easy. The DFI is better suited for a HTPC with TV out and 7.1 audio.

 

[Jhhnn]

The DFI board is interesting form a tweaker's perspective. Another product I find intriguing is this board, from Jetway-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813153027

Simply because of the use of solid polymer capacitors throughout, and the very good ULi southbridge chip...

Supposedly rich in OC features, as well...

DFI wasn't exactly rolling off everybody's tongue a few years back, but they got there by upgrading their product line. From what I've read, Jetway is following their lead... with a $90 pricetag, the board clearly isn't aimed towards the budget market...

But it would be tough to beat the Asus or MSI offerings on the basis of confidence- I've had solid results from both over the years... just depends on what features/accessories suit your purposes better...

The original ati southbridge suffered from poor usb performance, supposedly cured in later models, if you decide to go that direction rather than with the nforce...

 

[deathwalker]

I think I have decided to go with the Foxcon 6150K8MA-8EKRS. I like that it has full on board and front panel support for firewire, fast USB transfer rates compared to the ATI solutions..overall Im more comfortable with Nvidia chipset solutions than with ATI.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813186086

 

[Zap]

I've heard good things about the Jetway board.

The DFI board looks promising.

I just bought three Biostar Tforce6100 boards, one socket 754 and two socket 939. So far so good for stability and they have awesome overclocking, plus yes they have the "solid" capacitors too. The socket 939 version had a batch with bad onboard NICs but Biostar admitted to the problem and fixed everything. A couple of minor layout issues due to the small size. My major beef with it is the PCI-E 16x slot clip but I may just be nit picking. My socket 754 was running a Sempron 3300+ at 2.75GHz and a Sempron 2600+ running at 2.52GHz (315MHz HTT) and been testing the socket 939 with Opteron 144 chips running at 2.7GHz default vcore. I got one of the non-Tforce versions (Biostar Geforce6100-M7) and it just wasn't the same.

No other brand seems to have enthusiast oriented mATX boards. They'll work fine at default speeds.

 

[deathwalker]

Originally posted by: Zap
I've heard good things about the Jetway board.

The DFI board looks promising.

I just bought three Biostar Tforce6100 boards, one socket 754 and two socket 939. So far so good for stability and they have awesome overclocking, plus yes they have the "solid" capacitors too. The socket 939 version had a batch with bad onboard NICs but Biostar admitted to the problem and fixed everything. A couple of minor layout issues due to the small size. My major beef with it is the PCI-E 16x slot clip but I may just be nit picking. My socket 754 was running a Sempron 3300+ at 2.75GHz and a Sempron 2600+ running at 2.52GHz (315MHz HTT) and been testing the socket 939 with Opteron 144 chips running at 2.7GHz default vcore. I got one of the non-Tforce versions (Biostar Geforce6100-M7) and it just wasn't the same.

No other brand seems to have enthusiast oriented mATX boards. They'll work fine at default speeds.

"ZAP"..thanks for the feedback. I will take your thoughts into consideration before making my final decision.

 

[Jhhnn]

I'd probably go with the Asus model, simply because I have more experience with their products, and I'd admit that's purely personal preference. Foxconn isn't trash, anyway, and there are some indications that they, too, are attempting to gain market share by moving to the top... Probably not a bad choice at all.

 

[Zap]

Foxconn and Asus make quality mATX boards, not enthusiast mATX boards. If you aren't overclocking, they are perfectly fine.

BTW, my socket 754 Tforce is now being used in my HTPC with my Sempron (Palermo D0) running at default speeds but undervolted to 1.15v. I Primed it at 1.125v but bumped it up a hair "just in case." I really like that feature and it's something that the non-T version cannot do in BIOS.

 

[Zap]

BTW deathwalker, FYI with socket 939 mATX I've only used the Biostar Tforce. Used both versions of socket 754 Biostar boards, and have used a few socket 754 VIA and SiS chipset boards, and tons of mATX socket 478 and socket A boards, and a couple of socket 370 mATX boards. Other socket 939 boards, my opinions are from what I've "heard" about them on forums, so YMMV.

Hardforums.com has had some good mATX motherboard threads.

 

[Zap]

I found the Hardforum thread on mATX motherboards.