Urgent ... please help choosing one of the following AM2 mobos (want 25+% overclok for AM2 X2 3800)

[alex123]

I will be buying mobo tomorrow noon. I need some help from those who already OCed X2 3800 on one of the AM2 boards below....

Here is my criteria:

- X2 3800 overcloks to at least 2.5GHz on stock cooling (my 939 X2 on MSI K8NGM2-FID does just that)
- GbLan is preferred, but will settle for 100Mb LAN
- On-board video is preferred, but not required. I may just use a cheap old PCI video for $5
- budget priced. I do not want to pay for features that I will never use in these rigs.

My 939 choice was MSI K8NGM2-FID. However its AM2 counterpart (GeForce 6150 boards from MSI and Asus) does not appear to be able to overclock to 250 HTT. At least that is what people say in the famous *Official* MSI K8NGM2 thread.

So I am looking for some other boards. Here is what is available at local shops where I am heading to tomorrow (prices are in Canadian dollars):


- ($80) Foxconn 6100M2MA-RS2H Socket AM2 GeForce 6100 Chipset Dual Channel DDR2 533/667 Integrated nVidia Video Sound Lan SATA PCI-e mATX

- ($100) MSI K9N Neo-F (Nvidia 550)

- ($120) MSI K9N Platinum (Nvidia 570 Ultra, no SLI)

- ($100) Gigabyte GA-M51GM-S2G nVidia Geforce 6100 + nForce 430 chipset Socket AM2 uATX Motherboard

- ($110) GigaByte GA-M55PLUS-S3G Gf6100 +nF430 Socket AM2 Motherboard


I cannot find the information regarding to how each of these boards overclocks. I am not aiming at extreme overclocks, since this will be running 24x7. I am aiming at 25-30% overclock (2.5GHz - 2.6GHz)

If someone have had OCed one of these boards, please advice!

Thanks

 

[Kromis]

Although I don't own any of those boards, I'm leaning towards the K9N Platinum!

 

[cmdrdredd]

Those boards won't overclock that greatly. You'd have to spend more money to get a good overclocker board.

 

[Skott]

Yeah, my thoughts are step up to an ASUS or DFI.

 

[Zap]

The only AM2 I have experience with so far is the Biostar Tforce 6100 AM2. I'm able to hit over 300MHz HTT on it (closer to 330MHz). I also just got in a Biostar Tforce 550 today, may test it out tomorrow.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Skott
Yeah, my thoughts are step up to an ASUS or DFI.

The DFI AM2 offerings suck horribly. Their Intel offerings suck horribly. I don't understand it...the Lanparty series in socket939 was amazing. Such disappointment from them...Asus all the way I guess, but rather expensive.

 

[alex123]

OMG

I am reading MSI forums / AM2 overclocking threads and it scares me... It looks like K9N Neo-F and K9N Platinum (570 Ultra) are bad overclokers. Their 939 conterparts were much better I guess ...

I am not willing to go with more expensive boards. I would rather get a clone of my existing 939 rig, specifically 939 X2 3800 + MSI K8NGM2-FID.

What do you guys think about Foxconn AM2 board I mentioned?

 

[alex123]

Originally posted by: Zap
The only AM2 I have experience with so far is the Biostar Tforce 6100 AM2. I'm able to hit over 300MHz HTT on it (closer to 330MHz). I also just got in a Biostar Tforce 550 today, may test it out tomorrow.

It looks like these NVidia Biostar boards are getting lots of good reviews. I was looking for them but local shops dont have them in stock.

Of coure, I could order from some online e-tailer, but it would make it more difficult to exchange etc, plus most places in Canada will charge you for shipping and handling. So local shops are preffered way for me.

By the way, thanks everybody for sharing their opinions... I may just get 939 system instead of AM2

 

[corsa]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
The DFI AM2 offerings suck horribly. Their Intel offerings suck horribly. I don't understand it...the Lanparty series in socket939 was amazing. Such disappointment from them...Asus all the way I guess, but rather expensive.

Hmm, really now... DFI Infinity NF UltraII-M2 Review

From the article it says:
Excellent overclocking, Does over DDR1000, Very stable voltages, Max. 2.5VDIMM & 1.85Vcore, Decent board layout, Dual PCI-E slots, Possible to support SLI & Retails below $100

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: corsa

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
The DFI AM2 offerings suck horribly. Their Intel offerings suck horribly. I don't understand it...the Lanparty series in socket939 was amazing. Such disappointment from them...Asus all the way I guess, but rather expensive.

Hmm, really now... DFI Infinity NF UltraII-M2 Review

From the article it says:
Excellent overclocking, Does over DDR1000, Very stable voltages, Max. 2.5VDIMM & 1.85Vcore, Decent board layout, Dual PCI-E slots, Possible to support SLI & Retails below $100

I've checked around and I don't see this to be the norm for everyday overclockers. I see more positive results from Asus boards in the AM2 realm. It's always hit or miss and it depends alot on your setup, but generally speaking I don't see alot of people raving about that DFI board or any Intel/Am2 DFI board.

 

[imported_inspire]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Those boards won't overclock that greatly. You'd have to spend more money to get a good overclocker board.

QFT. Spend the extra money. A 30% overclock on that chip saves you about $140, anyway (versus what you'd pay for a 5000+). Make sure you don't get an M2N-E (In fact, I'd stay away from Asus). Make sure you get compatible memory.

 

[Skott]

Definetely stay away from the M2N-E. But he M2N32 is a good mobo. Just read carefully what RAM and components people are using with success and you shouldnt have any big problems. Pay particular attention to the RAM choice. This is the mobo I'd choose if i were to build a AM2 rig. In fact I was going to build a M2N32 & 3800 rig until I realized I could get a E6400 and a P5W DH mobo for $160 more. Everything else stayed the same and the different RAM modules for the P5W DH was about same price as the RAM I was going to use on the M2N32 mobo. So for $160 more I got a better chip that overclocks even higher than the 3800. You could shave money off that by choosing a E6300 and a Gigabyte DS3 setup and still outperform the 3800 stock & overclocked.

 

[alex123]

First I would like to thank all the people for sharing their opinions. Although I red only first 4 replies before I was out to do the shopping.

The funny thing is that I ended up with Asus M2N-E. Actually, with 2 of them, two X2 3800s and four 1G sticks of DDR2-677 Kingston KVR667D2N5/1G (1.8V).

Since memory was compatible with the board, it works without any problems at stock speeds.

Now come bad news. I cannot OC it further than 2.2 GHz. I did not tried too hard yet, since I may just get rid of both AM2 rigs, and get proven 939 rigs instead. In any case, I do not have much time to learn AM2 OCing tricks.

OCing is important because they run 24x7 with 100% CPU load.

I wish I would go with 939 X2 + MSI K8NGM2-FID rig right from the beginning, with no-brainer 2.5GHz overclock at stock voltage/cooling.

Most likely, no AM2 rigs for me. Either 939 or C2D few months later.

 

[alex123]

Originally posted by: Skott
Definetely stay away from the M2N-E. But he M2N32 is a good mobo. Just read carefully what RAM and components people are using with success and you shouldnt have any big problems. Pay particular attention to the RAM choice. This is the mobo I'd choose if i were to build a AM2 rig. In fact I was going to build a M2N32 & 3800 rig until I realized I could get a E6400 and a P5W DH mobo for $160 more. Everything else stayed the same and the different RAM modules for the P5W DH was about same price as the RAM I was going to use on the M2N32 mobo. So for $160 more I got a better chip that overclocks even higher than the 3800. You could shave money off that by choosing a E6300 and a Gigabyte DS3 setup and still outperform the 3800 stock & overclocked.

Well yeah, I actually did an Excel worksheet, comparing total price/performance of E6400, E6300 rigs to X2 3800 rig. I only needed relative performance numbers so I borrowed test scores from recent Anandtech articles for non-gaming tests.

X2 3800 was still compatitive on price/performance basis, even considering higher C2D OCing potential. However, that would change in September/October when prices for C2D mobos and CPUs will stabilize here in Canada.

The final drop was that freakin Intel's Errata news that kind of freaked me out, so I jumped the gun on AM2 rigs.

I guess next purchase will be C2Ds.

 

[Skott]

The prices are dropping for the Conroes finally and will continue as supply inceases. Its hard to judge pricing ratio becuase they constantly change so much. AMD is trying to hold onto that price/performance ratio category because its the only category their chips have a chance in now until they come up with something to beat Conroe. The thing is is that once the Conroe chips get down to Intel's original pricing list I think Intel will lower the prices more just to give AMD something to really worry about. Intel will certainly want AMD to give market share if they can finaggle it. Intel has deeper pockets than AMD so its easier for Intel to wage a price war than AMD.

In the end though if you are happy with your selection and it plays all the games you want and does everything else non-game related you want then dont worry about what others think. Enjoy it and dont look back. Besides, in a couple years, or whenever you feel like its time to upgrade again you can go with something else.


Edited for spelling and grammar