chaintech vnf3-250 vs msi k8n neo plat

[lunchtime]

I am considering upgrading an obsolete system to an athlon 64 system:

Besides the msi board having a few more features what are the practical differences in these boards?

Is the msi board worth an extra $35-$45 or so you guys think?

Has anyone used either of these boards and know how they perform?

What about the companies that make them?


<font color=purple>there is no such thing as a free lunch...</font color=purple>

 

[KoRn_quebecois]

Make some search man
The Msi K8N Neo is made by nVidia. I Don't know the other board but the Msi is really good for the prize. I'm thinking to buy that mobo but not 100% sure yet. Do you have an idea of the kind of Ram that you will put in your system?

Metal Music Is My Religion And I Am Not A Terrorist.

 

[Cybercraig]

The MSI board uses the NF3-250G chipset which gives you Gigabit LAN and a hard firewall. The Board also has Firewire ports and supports more hard drives than the Chaintech. The onboard sound is better than 5.1. MSI uses Corecenter which can get you into auto-overclocks when necessary if you desire.

The VNF3-250 uses the plain 250 chipset and does not support firewire. There are (2) SATA ports and (2) ide ports only. The sound is 5.1 and uses an Audio Riser card for the interface. The BIOS is plain-jane and so is the board. The manual is rather crummy compared to MSI. The board, however, jumped right up for me and is quite fast. It is not picky with memory and has hit a 240mhz FSB. It's not bad for the money and for people who don't need a truckload of features. The only issue is incorrect CPU temp reported and is fixed by a BETA BIOS.

I haven't built an MSI NEO-Platinum yet, so I really can't comment on how it runs.


"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!

 

[lunchtime]

He he the msi k8n neo platinum would be made by msi, no?
It got tested here:
<A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040420/index.html" target="_new">http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040420/index.html</A>

The chaintech vnf3-250 value version of the znf3-250 uses the same or nearly the same nforce 3-250 chipset if that is what you are talking about but does not utilize the gb lan or the hardwire firewall of the "gb" version of the nforce 3-250 chipset that the msi board has. Also I don't think it has any firewire ports.

The msi board is more, I wonder if it is worth it.

The more feature rich version of the chaintech board (znf3-250) costs a little more than the msi board. It is loaded with features including a card reader that also contains mic in, audio out, usb and firewire ports so all that is accesible from the front of the computer. It also has some really cool looking heatpipe technology to cool the motherboard off. It also has gigabit lan but not integrated through the nforce chipset like the msi with the "gb" version does.

chaintech vnf3-250 is around $90
msi k8n neo platinum is around $130
chaintech znf3-250 is around $170


So actually I have done quite a bit of research. I am more or less looking from some comments from people who actually have the boards and what issues/positive comments they might have to make about either or between the three.




<font color=purple>there is no such thing as a free lunch...</font color=purple>



*to the writer above--thanks for your comments you posted. While I was typing the above you beat me on to the board.*<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by lunchtime on 06/21/04 08:12 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Cybercraig]

Well, research your way to <A HREF="http://www.mwave.com/mwave/ProdMOTHERBOARD-CHAINTECH.hmx?updepts=MB&DNAME=Motherboards" target="_new">here</A> and buy the board for $69.00! If you read the MSI Forum you'll note that there are a lot of issues with the BIOS in the Neo-Platinum. This is no real surprise coming from MSI!

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!

 

[Zeekfu]

ahhhhhhhhhhhh I am waffling back and forth between these two boards as well. what is the answer dang it!!!!!!!!!!!