****************UPDATED************************
Guys I'm building a new system. I ALREADY have previously purchased some of the components in 2002 that will be used in the system like a WD 100 GB/8MB Cache/7200 RPM/ATA 100 hard drive, Lite-On LTR-40125S 40X12X48X CD-RW, Pioneer DVD-106S DVD-ROM, Hercules Game Theatre XP soundcard/box (the original model), Logitech Z-560 THX Certified 4.1 speaker system, Logitech Cordless Desktop Pro Mouse/Keyboard, Samsung AG-type 19" monitor and possible a newer 17" or 19" TFT LCD display...
The main PURPOSES for which I will be using this PC are :
1) Digital Image Editing from images captured from a Digital Camera or Digital Camcorder with possible future DVD encoding
2) CD burning ? transfer of vinyl/CD to PC music file formats
3) Microsoft Office products
4) Web browsing
5) Limited gaming
BTW, this will be about my 11th system build since 1998.
In addition to the components mentione above I have decided on an Athlon 64 3000+ "Winchester" Socket 939 CPU.
I have already purchased 1 GB of Patriot 2-3-2-5-T1 DDR400 and an Asus EAX-700X/TD/128 Radeon x700 PCI-E graphics card and a Fortron Soucre AX-500 A P/S.
I will need a socket 939 board for the Athlon.
I have decided on an nForce 4 Ultra board.
May I ask your advice on the nForce4 ULTRA boards I am considering???
The FIRST candidate is this ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra which (along with wonderful ASUS quality and good board layout) has the obligatory SATA150, onboard LAN, 8 channel audio, parallel (but no serial) port and plenty of USB 2.0. Then I realized it DOESN'T have onboard firewire. I realize I could get a PCI/firewire adapter card for $20 delivered like the Koutech at NewEgg but that swallows up one of the PCI slots and I will probably need a (3) Legacy 32 bit PCI slots.
Now I will probably have no use for SLI but this ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI board doesn't sacrifice a PCI slot to add the additional PCI-E graphics slot, it has onboard firewire, Gigabit LAN, onboard 8 channel Realtek audio, SATA 300 (not 150) and tons of USB 2.0 ports/headers.
The last two considerations are the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra board and the GIGABYTE GA-K8N Ultra-9 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra board. (I ruled out the EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra because I don't like the placement of the P/S connector). Both the MSI and Gigabyte boards are quite similar.
The MSI board has (4) PCI slots, SATA 300, (2) Gigabit LANs, 8 channel Realtek audio, plenty of USB 2.0 and onboard firewire. The Gigabyte has one less PCI slot (3) but has (2) firwires with everything else being very similar to the MSI's feature set.
The Gigabyte board, the GA-K8N Ultra-9 uses a passive rathe than an active HSF on the northbridge. Although it is close to the video slot I realize the benefit of quiteness that would come with a passive rather than an active solution. Of course, noise is a critical element when building a HTPC box.
BTW, I have also ruled out the wonderful DFI nForce4 Ultra series of motheboards because they only have two standard PCI slots (I will probably need 3) and because they leave out the legacy parallel port which I will need for my legacy printer and because I am neither an overclocker nor a gamer and the DFI boards cater to that crowd.
Finally a new dillema has arrived since I originally posted this thread and this thread over here at Anandtech. That is, the vanilla, non-ultra Nforce4 based MSI K8N Neo4-F for $93.50 delivered at NewEgg. Do you think this board would be a nice trade-off??? Someone, somewhere here at anandtech told me that the MSI nForce4 boards can be a little tricky to set up and that the HSF on the NForce4 chip is noisy.......
What is your opinion of the options ???
Again, your responses will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Greg
Guys I'm building a new system. I ALREADY have previously purchased some of the components in 2002 that will be used in the system like a WD 100 GB/8MB Cache/7200 RPM/ATA 100 hard drive, Lite-On LTR-40125S 40X12X48X CD-RW, Pioneer DVD-106S DVD-ROM, Hercules Game Theatre XP soundcard/box (the original model), Logitech Z-560 THX Certified 4.1 speaker system, Logitech Cordless Desktop Pro Mouse/Keyboard, Samsung AG-type 19" monitor and possible a newer 17" or 19" TFT LCD display...
The main PURPOSES for which I will be using this PC are :
1) Digital Image Editing from images captured from a Digital Camera or Digital Camcorder with possible future DVD encoding
2) CD burning ? transfer of vinyl/CD to PC music file formats
3) Microsoft Office products
4) Web browsing
5) Limited gaming
BTW, this will be about my 11th system build since 1998.
In addition to the components mentione above I have decided on an Athlon 64 3000+ "Winchester" Socket 939 CPU.
I have already purchased 1 GB of Patriot 2-3-2-5-T1 DDR400 and an Asus EAX-700X/TD/128 Radeon x700 PCI-E graphics card and a Fortron Soucre AX-500 A P/S.
I will need a socket 939 board for the Athlon.
I have decided on an nForce 4 Ultra board.
May I ask your advice on the nForce4 ULTRA boards I am considering???
The FIRST candidate is this ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra which (along with wonderful ASUS quality and good board layout) has the obligatory SATA150, onboard LAN, 8 channel audio, parallel (but no serial) port and plenty of USB 2.0. Then I realized it DOESN'T have onboard firewire. I realize I could get a PCI/firewire adapter card for $20 delivered like the Koutech at NewEgg but that swallows up one of the PCI slots and I will probably need a (3) Legacy 32 bit PCI slots.
Now I will probably have no use for SLI but this ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI board doesn't sacrifice a PCI slot to add the additional PCI-E graphics slot, it has onboard firewire, Gigabit LAN, onboard 8 channel Realtek audio, SATA 300 (not 150) and tons of USB 2.0 ports/headers.
The last two considerations are the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra board and the GIGABYTE GA-K8N Ultra-9 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra board. (I ruled out the EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra because I don't like the placement of the P/S connector). Both the MSI and Gigabyte boards are quite similar.
The MSI board has (4) PCI slots, SATA 300, (2) Gigabit LANs, 8 channel Realtek audio, plenty of USB 2.0 and onboard firewire. The Gigabyte has one less PCI slot (3) but has (2) firwires with everything else being very similar to the MSI's feature set.
The Gigabyte board, the GA-K8N Ultra-9 uses a passive rathe than an active HSF on the northbridge. Although it is close to the video slot I realize the benefit of quiteness that would come with a passive rather than an active solution. Of course, noise is a critical element when building a HTPC box.
BTW, I have also ruled out the wonderful DFI nForce4 Ultra series of motheboards because they only have two standard PCI slots (I will probably need 3) and because they leave out the legacy parallel port which I will need for my legacy printer and because I am neither an overclocker nor a gamer and the DFI boards cater to that crowd.
Finally a new dillema has arrived since I originally posted this thread and this thread over here at Anandtech. That is, the vanilla, non-ultra Nforce4 based MSI K8N Neo4-F for $93.50 delivered at NewEgg. Do you think this board would be a nice trade-off??? Someone, somewhere here at anandtech told me that the MSI nForce4 boards can be a little tricky to set up and that the HSF on the NForce4 chip is noisy.......
What is your opinion of the options ???
Again, your responses will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Greg
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