Which to use? Asus A8V or Foxconn 6150K8MD

[vaskulus]

]Hi folks,

I have a choice to make-- I have an AMD socket 939 dual core processor, 4GB of memory and I'm about to build my new system which is going to be used primarily for gaming.

I'd like to know the forum's opinion on which board would be better overall; that means first stability, then performance, then features.

The two Boards are:

The Asus A8V - it's running the VIA K8T880Pro/VIA VT8237 Chipset Combination, and is AGP. For this board I have a GeForce 7800 AGP 512 OC which runs just fine and is very fast.

The specs for this board are available here, but archives into to .pdf files:
http://usa.asus.com/products1....delmenu=0&share=txt/60

To make it easier, I put the pdf files for direct opening/download on my personal comcast webspace for everyone:
https://home.comcast.net/~elmi...r/AsusA8V-overview.pdf
https://home.comcast.net/~elminster/AsusA8V-spec.pdf

The other option is a Foxconn 6150K8MD-8EKRSH; this board runs the newer nvidia nforce 430 chipset and also has a built in Nvidia 6150 adapter which works just great with my games, I have it on my laptop. I'm also not adverse to buying a new PCI-E video card since it has a PCI-E slot as well and these cards are not as expensive as their AGP counterparts.
Specs are here:

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/...w.aspx?ID=en-us0000157

I have 2 400GB, SATA drives, 4GB of 400Mhz DDR Memory, Windows XP Pro 64, and the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ processor, as well as a Lite-On Dual Layer Lightscribe DVD Drive. I have cases that will fit either.

But which board is the better choice? I am disabled, I'm at home all the time with no prognosis of recovery, primarily a gamer, I play World of Warcraft mostly. So this is all I'm able to do-- Which board would you use for your system?

I know it's a lot to ask for you folks to compare boards, especially when you have to get 2 pdf files from Asus website, but I don't know much about Foxconn's peformance record, how reliable they are, if they outperform Asus even with the nvidia over the VIA etc.

Any help is appreciated. A better gaming system unfortunately, means a better quality of life for me, because that's all the cancer has left me able to do... go to doctors, hospitals and "rest" at the computer. It would make a big difference in my life for the right answers and I whole-heartedly thank you in advance.

 

[vaskulus]

By the way, my email address is vaskulus@yahoo.com if anyone wanted to reply directly. As I said, helping me make this correct decision will really make a big difference for me.

 

[AmberClad]

Foxconn is the ODM for Intel's motherboards (they work mostly behind the scenes and are a bit new to the retail market). Having used both Intel and Foxconn boards, I don't think reliability should be a problem. Looking at the reviews on Newegg, the Foxconn 6150K8MA is the most popular Foxconn-branded board there, and slightly more popular than the ASUS A8V. I'm not sure what the difference between that model and Foxconn 6150K8MD is, but I assume it's minor.

There're two reasons why I might not go with the Foxconn here. 1) It's a microATX board, not a regular ATX. I don't know if that's going to be an issue for you. 2) As I said before, Foxconn is still a little new to retail, and it shows. Their documentation can be rife with Ingrish. They're also a little slow as far as releasing BIOS updates.

 

[vaskulus]

Thank you so very much for responding, I really do appreciate it. Before my cancer I was beyond an advanced user, I was an IT Project Manager in critical a care environment which is why I like to build my own machines to keep my brain busy and on other things than the disease.

BIOS though updates are of huge importance to me because I like to keep everything current.

The "D" is the higher end model it has DVI output as well as full 7.1 surround sound; a bit pricier than the A is/was. The "A" model is now mostly on clearance and rebate.

ASUS I know is well established and from everything I've read they have always been a price/performance and stability leader.

The Micro-ATX, other than the size of the board though I'm not familiar with any major differences? I apologize but in my professional environment all of our machines were pre-configured?

If it's just size, I really like the micro-atx case I acquired very inexpensively moreso than the full size tower case:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm...m/ccd/productDetail.do

So now I'm making my own choice more difficult now based on size constraints and asthetics.

Since we've eliminated stability as an issue, how about performance? Overall is the nforce 430 chipset with an nvidia card a faster combination of the VIA V8T800 Pro?

Again thank you so much for your help.

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: vaskulus
The Micro-ATX, other than the size of the board though I'm not familiar with any major differences? I apologize but in my professional environment all of our machines were pre-configured?

The mATX boards have fewer expansion slots than a regular board. From looking at the specs, the A8V has 5 PCI slots. You would only have 2 or 3 PCI slots with a mATX board (some have 2 PCI + 1 PCIe, others have 3 PCI).

I can't really give an informed opinion as far as whether the nForce or the VIA would be the better pick. They might be able to help you out on that if you post in the Graphics forum. Good luck with the build!

Nice case choice by the way :thumbsup:. That would have been my pick for a SFF case if I didn't already own the older QPack case.

 

[mruffin75]

I've got two Foxconn 6150 boards...one running a Athlon64 X2 4600 and the other is running an ATI 2900XT...both boards have worked flawlessly since new... but I don't do any overclocking...but at their standard settings they work fine.

 

[NXIL]

Dear Vask,

have to vote for the Foxconn and the nVidia chipset--haven't heard too much about Via chipsets of late, but they have been somewhat problematic in the past--the nVidia chipset/drivers are solid, stable, and very mainstream--more so than Via, in my opinion. (That means better stability and performance, in my experience.)

Micro-ATX v. full ATX will not make too much of a difference I think, since it does not seem like you will be filling any PCI slots anyway.

Case: rather than the small micro-case, a larger case with good ventilation will be better for you in terms of stability--those small cases are hard to keep cool, especially with a gaming graphics card going.

Video card for WOW: that 7800 (GT?) does look like a nice card. Here is a comparison of that against other GPUs:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/...5&model2=854&chart=318

Oh, and one more thought, though I am really not trying to spend all your money. For stability, full size ATX, well engineered, etc, you might consider this Tyan board: works great, IMHO (my 2865 has run almost non-stop for about 2 years now, no problems....)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813151029

It's built for stability, not overclocking....

I have a feeling Tyan's board is going to be able to handle 64 bit XP better than a low end Foxconn....

It has all the XP64 drivers here:

http://www.tyan.com/support_do...model=S.S2865%20AG2NRF

I don't see 64 bit drivers on the Foxconn download page:

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/...SH&TypeID=en-us0000004

Anyway, I do recommend the Tyan board, the Foxconn, then the Via chipset board in that order.

I do think that the Tyan board is going to be a better performer with XP64, 4GB RAM, etc...it's the same motherboard Sun uses in some of their systems.....

If you decide to go Tyan, you can PM me and I can help you get it installed, and tweak some of the BIOS settings...it has a standard BIOS, but it has a few more options than some other systems. (Note: the Tyan board will want a power supply with an 8 pin plug, in addition to the 24 pin....at least 400-450W....)

HTH,

NXIL

 

[rsc2573]

If you're not all fixed on the A8V I would recommend looking for an Asus A8N-E.
I just upgraded from a A8N-E with an AMD X2 3800, EVGA 7800GT with 2 Gig of Corsair XMS RAM.
Ran smooth and stable for almost 2 years and I was playing mostly WoW with the box (the reason for upgrading wasnt performance in WoW for sure).
Before the A8N-E with the X2 i had an Asus A8V running with an Athlon64 3200 (Winchester) with a leadtek 6800 GT.
I had a lot of issues back then with RAM compatibility and stability of the system all in all.
The bioses back then were not the best as well.
I have no idea if they even released a new bios since then as this board is about 3 years old or more but i cannot recommend it to anyone out of experience.
If you can get one, get the A8N-E instead.

 

[vaskulus]

Thanks so much everyone, you are really, really great and made my day. I've printed out the whole thread and am going over everyone's recommendations.

I truly appreciate all the effort that everyone has made in helping me and I'll sure let you all know what I build!!