What's the best board for a STABLE, and compatible Athlon 64 system?

[JackHawksmoor]

Like everyone else, I?m tempted to go with an Athlon 64 since it outperforms Intel so much in most games (and almost everything else, for that matter). I had a HORRIBLE experience with a first-gen VIA chipset (Asus board) with a Thunderbird years ago, and I?ve been using Intel processors and chipsets since.

Is there currently an Athlon 64 board that gives you the same kind of stability and compatibility you get with Intel stuff? Anandtech recommended that MSI K8N Platinum, and I?m reading through all the posts I can find about it. I like that it?s not a VIA chipset, but still?MSI? I thought they used to suck?

I don?t plan to overclock AT ALL, I just want something I can throw together, install the drivers, and it won?t ever give me problems. I don't want to babysit the stupid board (I'm reading that people are having weird trouble like having to use SATA connectors 3 and 4 over 1 and 2, etc.)

I?m thinking of getting a 3200+ Newcastle core, since that seems like good bang for the buck, and CL-3 Micron/Crucial RAM, since the performance benefit of twice as expensive CL-2 RAM looks really minimal on Athlon 64 systems.

By the way, out of curiosity, what exactly is the Hypertransport bus connecting? If I?m understanding it right, it?s used to connect multiple processors in systems with more than one CPU, but what is it actually doing in single CPU systems? I know the Nforce 3 150 only had a 600MHz Hypertransport bus, and at some point soon that?ll be bumped all the way to 1000mhz?but what is it doing? It?s not a front-side bus, since I?m assuming that?s actually running at the speed of the chip, since it?s on the chip. So what is it hypertransport connecting to what?

Probably a dumb question, but it bugs me not to know

 

[o1die]

I haven't used the board you're interested in, but msi has been pretty good to me for customer service. Techs called me twice at home to check on rma's, and were able to ship me new boards in 2 days. I use 2 msi boards with my p4. They don't even require a receipt; they just check the serial number to see when it was manufactured. The most important item is the memory for athlon 64. The wrong brand can cause instability with several 754 boards. If you're going with socket 939, use the same memory as tested, or call the manufacturer and get some recommendations. I would go with the athlon 3200 with 1 meg cache, if you can find it (socket 754). Slower versions of 939 may be released by the end of the year, if you can wait.

 

[ExcaliburFX]

MSI doenst have a good reputation with intel boards i don t know why but i cant say anything about it as the last intel cpu i used was a 33 mhz chip back in the ice age times lol. but they are probably the best of the bunch in AMD boards. abit is known for their oclocking but for k7 systems not good for a64's, asus well they only got their name like intel, they have the worst customer support. msi is growing in popularity. especially with amd64 platform. if you notice all the ppl posting most a64 users already own or going to buy k8 neo platinum. when i get my pay check i will buy one for sure.only think you have to check is that a64's are really picky with memory. and u should buy a motherboard that accepts your memory.

 

[Bar81]

Originally posted by: JackHawksmoor
Like everyone else, I?m tempted to go with an Athlon 64 since it outperforms Intel so much in most games (and almost everything else, for that matter). I had a HORRIBLE experience with a first-gen VIA chipset (Asus board) with a Thunderbird years ago, and I?ve been using Intel processors and chipsets since.

Is there currently an Athlon 64 board that gives you the same kind of stability and compatibility you get with Intel stuff? Anandtech recommended that MSI K8N Platinum, and I?m reading through all the posts I can find about it. I like that it?s not a VIA chipset, but still?MSI? I thought they used to suck?

I don?t plan to overclock AT ALL, I just want something I can throw together, install the drivers, and it won?t ever give me problems. I don't want to babysit the stupid board (I'm reading that people are having weird trouble like having to use SATA connectors 3 and 4 over 1 and 2, etc.)

I?m thinking of getting a 3200+ Newcastle core, since that seems like good bang for the buck, and CL-3 Micron/Crucial RAM, since the performance benefit of twice as expensive CL-2 RAM looks really minimal on Athlon 64 systems.

By the way, out of curiosity, what exactly is the Hypertransport bus connecting? If I?m understanding it right, it?s used to connect multiple processors in systems with more than one CPU, but what is it actually doing in single CPU systems? I know the Nforce 3 150 only had a 600MHz Hypertransport bus, and at some point soon that?ll be bumped all the way to 1000mhz?but what is it doing? It?s not a front-side bus, since I?m assuming that?s actually running at the speed of the chip, since it?s on the chip. So what is it hypertransport connecting to what?

Probably a dumb question, but it bugs me not to know

ASRock K8S8X. The best A64 board out there in terms of stability and performance. Doesn't hurt that it's also a steal at around $85. Nothing nVidia or VIA (yuck) can touch it.

 

[JackHawksmoor]

Thanks for the responses! I saw on "Motherboard.org" that apperently AMD is sending out 939 review systems with MSI boards, so that's promising.

Bar81, looking through here yesterday I saw you and some other people recomending that AsRock/SiS board, and I know Anandtech liked the chipset when they first reviewed it. I guess I'm just having trouble accepting that it could really be trouble free. I mean a company called "Asrock" ( ) that just appered out of nowwhere, making a super-cheap board with an SiS chipset (which I've always thought of as being not so hot)...and they make the most stable, trouble free motherboard? My brain is just having trouble accepting that You really think it's a safer bet than an Nforce board? I really love/trust Nvidia for graphics cards (great drivers).

ARGH! Well, thanks for these responses. I'm going to try to make up my mind this weekend and probably order on Monday. I really should take a risk and go with an Athlon again.

 

[Bar81]

Originally posted by: JackHawksmoor
Thanks for the responses! I saw on "Motherboard.org" that apperently AMD is sending out 939 review systems with MSI boards, so that's promising.

Bar81, looking through here yesterday I saw you and some other people recomending that AsRock/SiS board, and I know Anandtech liked the chipset when they first reviewed it. I guess I'm just having trouble accepting that it could really be trouble free. I mean a company called "Asrock" ( ) that just appered out of nowwhere, making a super-cheap board with an SiS chipset (which I've always thought of as being not so hot)...and they make the most stable, trouble free motherboard? My brain is just having trouble accepting that You really think it's a safer bet than an Nforce board? I really love/trust Nvidia for graphics cards (great drivers).

ARGH! Well, thanks for these responses. I'm going to try to make up my mind this weekend and probably order on Monday. I really should take a risk and go with an Athlon again.

ASRock didn't appear out of nowhere. They are the value subsidiary of Asus. Same top quality, cut out the useless features and deliver a board at a great price - that's ASRock in a nutshell. My Asus SiS P4 board and my current board even went so far as to have the same northbridge heatsink and silkscreening. No need to worry there.

SiS has been making chipsets for a long time. Most of their sales are OEM and as such stability is the dominant factor there. But lately they've come out with some top notch chipsets without sacrificing any stability. Before I owned the SiS P4 and the ASRock I used the Intel 440BX and 850e chipsets. These two chipsets are the most stable chipsets ever created by Intel. The SiS chipsets are equally stable. That's the highest praise there is. On top of that the new P4 and A64 SiS chipsets are also the fastest chipsets out there bar none.

Basically, while everyone using nvidia and VIA is updating drivers every other week to fix stability and performance you'll upgrade maybe a single driver in a six month period at most. SiS drivers are like Intel's - stable and top performance. They don't have to upgrade constantly because they got it right the first time.

nVidia chipsets are simply not of the same quality as their graphics cards. For example, they *still* cannot write a decent IDE driver. When I had my nForce3-250 board the performance nosedived with nVidia's IDE driver, so much so that I had to reformat and reinstall windows. Their graphics cards may be top notch but sadly they still have a lot of work to do on the chipset front.

As to the ASRock K8S8X, it's the "safest" (in your words) A64 board out there. Ask around. I haven't seen anyone mention a bad thing about the board outside of those who want to overclock and want voltage tweaking. The BIOS is unflinching in its excellence and ASRock tech support is phenomenal - responses in a single day (sometimes same day) and unlike other mobo makers will actually fix even small problems if they are present (there was a little winrar hiccup and they sent a revised BIOS two days later that solved the problem.)

Trust me on this one, you're going to be in love

 

[kcbaltz]

Sorry if this is a newb question: This board says it has 8 USB ports on board, with 6 in the back. Does that mean I can hook up the other two to the front of my case (Antec Sonata)?

 

[sisooktom]

I'll second Bar81 on this one. I have the K8S8X, and built my first system with it. I even used the Crucial RAM you're thinking of. Result: plug the stuff in and it works, period. No real problems of any kind. The only slight issue I had was I had to make a SATA driver disk on another machine to install windows, because for some reason the system would hang when booting it from the CD I got with the motherboard. I think it might have been my USB keyboard, because I now know it's definately NOT a problem with the system.

Edit: Yes. The ASRock has internal ports for both the audio and USB ports on the front of the Sonata. That's what I have and they work perfectly. I think you only get 6 USB ports total, though. That is, if you connect the front 2 you're not supposed to use ports 5 and 6 on the back, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[imported_Interloper]

I built a new computer a couple weeks ago with a Athlon64 3200 and an MSI board and it has been rock solid. No issues.

MSI K8T NEO-FIS2R mobo
Athlon 64 3200+
1GB Corsair Value Select 184 Pin (512MB x 2) DDR PC-3200

All purchased form Newegg, all delivered on time. All worked no issues right out of the box.

I even turned on the "Dynamic Overclokcing" tool that is part of the mobo package and have it set current at 3% overclock. Keep in mind that I do not overclock ever. I am not savvy with that stuff, but it was as easy as clicking a button in the BIOS and poof! OC.

I have a few other MSI components in my rig from previosu updates, and they aahve all worked great.

 

[erichbf]

Realize that Via and NVidia are getting all the attention, but having done quite a bit of research about the various chipsets out there, I ended up getting one based on the SIS755. The press they have gottten is very good, and although they don't have all the gimicky overclocking features available, the boards based on this chipset are generally very stable and fast. I would also note that noth the via and the Nvidia chipsets that are currently available don't fully support the hypertransport bus.

 

[Macro2]

RE:"Is there currently an Athlon 64 board that gives you the same kind of stability and compatibility you get with Intel stuff?"

Humm...well I like the nvidia chipsets...partcularly the nforce3-250gb...

OTOH, VIA used to use the public to beta test their chipsets <grin> but recently, since nvidia got into the game they have gotten off the snide and put out some decent chipsets for Athlons.

As far as MSI...after the old Ali chipset debacle 6-7 years ago I swore I'd never but another MSI but I have and they have bee stable despite what I've read about them. So I'd say they are decent.

Mac

 

[zodder]

I've been extremely pleased with my MSI K8T NEO-FIS2R. It's been 100% stable for months and overclocks fairly well, considering it doesn't have a PCI/AGP lock. I'd highly recommend it.

 

[FiberoN]

MSI K8N Neo rox.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: kcbaltz
Sorry if this is a newb question: This board says it has 8 USB ports on board, with 6 in the back. Does that mean I can hook up the other two to the front of my case (Antec Sonata)?

Yes

 

[fbrdphreak]

I'm about to hook up an Asus K8V SE Deluxe myself (not pleased with VIA either, but I got a sweet deal by being a retail employee). However, I have an MSI nForce2 board w/my Athlon XP and other than being picky with memory, I love the death of it. Rock solid, good features, and good price. I wish nVidia would update the mobo drivers more often, but maybe that just means there's not too much to improve on it. ;-)