Which mobo for A64?

[Link]

I need you guys recommendations for A64 mobo.
I'm looking for a good overclocker, but I don't need much extra functions.

 

[jdogg707]

If you are looking for an overclocker and can wait, hopefullyin the next week or so nForce3 250 boards will start popping up and those should prove to be good overclockers with the AGP/PCI lock implemented. If you are looking for a board right this second, the Shuttle AN50R is a good overclocker, it has a locked AGP bus, but not PCI, which really won't effect much except for SATA hard drives and if you have any picky PCI cards. The AN50R is also very moddable and has a lot f great tweaks that can allow for even higher overclocking, most of the extreme A64 overclockers are using the Shuttle and seem to think it is a pretty great board. If you are serious about finding some of the tweaks, head over to XtremeSystem.org Forums and they will give you all the information you need.

 

[will889]

Well, Im thinking about trying THE ECS 755-A2. It's been reviewed here on anand. It will go 222 on stock vcore apparently, and that's enough for me. Only thing I will do is add a better northbridge heat sink with As5, and im actually going to "try" some 1GB sticks from newegg (2x1G) with an A64 3400+. It will be the first time I have actually used an SIS rig for myself. But - I would actually like to try something different - but still very fast. Looks like had Anand been using a 3400+, which would have been closer in comparison to the FX51 on the Asus they tested it against it would have done very well. I think it will be quite cool to try another chipset besides VIA or nVIDA. I'll probably notch it up to about 215-220 FSB and leave it there and be happy. Only thing that might bother me is the SATA controller. It has shown a rather high CPU usage in tests when compared to other onboard solutions. But im also done with raid. So I will run 1 WD raptor for speed on SATA, and use a 200 Gig IDE HDD for backup and storage. I'll use a 9800 Pro and I have an Audigy 2 ZS ready to go from the rig I have now. All I need is the ram and the board and the chip, and raptor. Im getting 2x Purple 120 MM fans for the case. Purple 18" IDE cable for the drives, and purple cable for floppy - to go with the rather cool purple color that ECS uses.

 

[Kenazo]

Well, Anandtech recommends the AOpen AK89. but I'd feel dirty buying anything from AOpen, strictly based on past perfomance, but since we are using the AT forums, then the AT suggestion must be good.

 

[aug1516]

If you don't want to wait for the Nforce3 250 boards then pick up a AOpen AK89 as mentioned above. This board was a killer overclocker and performance was simply outstanding, even at stock speeds.

 

[mspmojo]

I have the MSI NEO-FIS2R, once I got it up and running it has been great. It is an easy motherboard to work with. Tomshardware had a good review of it.

 

[will889]

I do like the A-Open board alot too, but .. something different this time.

 

[o1die]

Someone also posted about his foxconn sis 755-a board. I would go for this chipset if not overclocking. The new nforce3 250 boards may be pricey for awhile.

 

[will889]

Well. I think I'll stay with nforce2 for a while for now anyway.

 

[Bar81]

Originally posted by: o1die
Someone also posted about his foxconn sis 755-a board.

Stay as far away from that POS as you can. If you're gonna buy a SiS 755 based mobo pick up the ASRock. It actually has a PCI but not AGP lock (go figure) and even with SATA can hang in the 220-230FSB range. Anything above that and you'll need to go with the nForce3 250 boards that are just coming out.

 

[will889]

The foxxcon did 220 in a review. It also has 3 dimm slots (eg: you can run more memory).

 

[Bar81]

It's still a POS. Try checking what memory speeds 3 DS DIMMs (or 2 DS + 1 SS) run at (hint: it's not DDR400) Another problem with the board is the use of LAN and such on the PCI bus. Add instability issues to that and you'd be well advised to stay away. Of course, you can just buy it and see for yourself :evil:

 

[will889]

So what you are saying is that it basically only runs 2x dimms at DDR333 and not 400 just like the ECS 755A-01? Im not going to debate you on it. If you have first hand knowledge (I certainly don't) of the board please expunge yourself with your tetimony on the board and what you encountered. This is why I actually held off on buying it. Two fold actually - (1) I don't need to go A64 yet anyway (2) I dont normally beta test boards and I wait for real user reviews for any board before I buy anyway - and don't normally go buy the reviews of hand picked boards that are sent to websites for revew. If the Foxconn does have a problem like the ECS A1 does just say so.

 

[FluffyTapeworm]

I have the foxconn 755a01 board with an a64 3000+, so I can comment on this. I'm not exactly sure I would call it a POS, but the memory issue is true. I have 2x512MB ram, but at ddr400 it gives errors in memtest. Tried both 2x kingston valueram and OCZ EL dual channel kit. Right now I'm running ddr333 (2-2-2-5) and its completely stable though.

I'll probably be returning it and getting something else (maybe that chaintech vnf3-250, though I haven't seen yet if anyone has gotten memtest passing with ddr400 with 2x512 on that either... anyone?)

Oh, and just a note. It does seem to have working agp/pci lock. BIOS has an "Async SRC/ZCLK/AGP/PCI" option. Default value disabled. Testing with the provided windows overclocking tool, with it disabled, I could get up to 210 fsb and going to 215 resulted in instant hard-lock. With the bios option set to "100/133/66/33" I could get to 220 and going up to to 225 would cause prime95 to error, but the system still didn't lock up. But I didn't do much more testing than that since it would seem a waste of time if I'm going to replace it anyway. And it lacks any voltage tweaking..

 

[will889]

They will probebly have a new revision do out soon. So foxconn told me. I called them (they are very accessible) and admitted to some problems, which is the real reason I held off on the board. Much like ECS 755 rev 1 that had the same memory problem (the ECS can now be fixed with a flash to a beta bios).

 

[CraigRT]

As it stands right now, unless you want an A64 board just to hold you over, there is not really much worth buying (that is readily available anyways)

I'm gonna hold out with my XP2500+ for a little longer I think.

 

[Schnieds]

Chaintech VNF3-250.... NForce 250 for $79 at Newegg.... great overclocker...