Stuck on a nf4 ultra mobo decision

[Radioactive Ape]

I'm going to build my own system soon and and have everything set except my mobo. I like the Epox EP-9NPA+Ultra because of the price and great performance, but I have a feeling that because its cheap there has to be some kind of catch. I like the DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D because of performance thats as good as the epox board, great overclockability, and the uv-sensitive parts and cables. However, I hear the the onboard audio is really power-blow, and i don't like the idea of having to manually set up my ram speeds. I'm also considering the MSI k8n Neo4 platinum because it has good performance (but i dont know if it matches up with dfi or epox boards) and it has a pcie 4x slot (im pretty sure the ageia physics card thats coming out in the future is going to be pcie 4x). the only real downside of it is that i heard in one review that it was not too good at oc'ing. I really need help with this decision and i dont want to make a bad mistake. can you guys help me out here? im going to be using this pc for gaming mostly. I might overclock it a bit if i feel like it.

 

[JasonE4]

I'd definitely go for the Epox - no catch - great board.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

No catch, it's a solid board, you're just not paying the extra for the brand name that's all. DFI is an excellent board as well, but if you've chosen Corsair ValueSelect as your RAM, you can throw those sticks out because it's pretty much guaranteed not to work with the DFI .

I woudln't recommend the MSi because of the lack of support from MSI, and it's buggy nature. Not good for beginners. Neither is DFI though, it'll be less *problematic*, but you'll have to know what you're doing to build a system with the DFI

 

[Radioactive Ape]

is the epox board good for gaming?

 

[JasonE4]

Yeah, look at the Anandtech roundup of nF4 boards. The Epox got very high marks and even beat the Dfi in some tests.

 

[imported_Kensai]

MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Originally posted by: Radioactive Ape
is the epox board good for gaming?

A board can't be "good for gaming" only a processor/graphics card can. Is it a fast board? Yeah. Fastest nforce4 board at stock speeds.

 

[Bona Fide]

Go for EpoX or DFI, depending on your level of computer know-how. The Epox was #1 in stock benchmarks, and I believe #2 in overclocking. It's also a lot easier to work with. But if you want raw power, DFI is the way to go. Just make sure you know what you're getting into

 

[rise]

i almost bought an epox before deciding on another dfi. i think the epox is a very nice board from what i've seen. as with most mobo's, it appears support is a bit lacking (based only on some user complaints at xs) so i decided to stick with what i know.

btw, tha dfi karojen audio module is great for gaming but not for audiophiles. corsair vs will run fine at stock speed. its not my choice but plenty of people use it with dividers to keep it at its stock speed.

which leads me to "manually set my ram speed". you have to do no such thing. just load "optimized defaults" and it runs at your spd timings, stock volts etc. if you want to oc, you do whatever you want.

in the end, if i was to buy a non-dfi nf4 board it would be the epox.