Which MB to get?

[3yeNerd]

I'm looking to buy a combo from Monarch .. http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=80163

I am looking to get the new Venice AMD 64 939 .. and I have just purchased an EVGA 6600 GT PCIE vid card. Now I need to pick which of these MB's will be the best bang for the buck. I'm still confused after reading the specs on these .. they all seem about the same to me ..

I want to do some OC'ing but just minor tweaking nothing too hardcore. I don't know which specs really sets one apart from the other .. ie. why shouldn't I go for the MSI K8N NEO4-F and pay an extra $50+ for one of the others?

Here's a list of the MB's that I think will work for my combo and price

Abit AX8 K8T890 Audio/GB-LAB/USB/IEEE/PCI-E/SATA/DDR/ATX 64 939 $112

Asus A8V-E Deluxe K8T890 Audio/GB-LAN/IEEE/USB/PCI-E/SATA/DDR/ATX 64 939 $135

BFG BFGRNF4U NForce4 Ultra Audio/LAN/USB/PCIE/SATA/DDR/ATX 64 939 $154

DFI Lan Party UT NForce4 Ultra-D Audio/GB-LAN/IEEE/PCI-E/SATA/DDR/ATX 64 939 $139

Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 nForce4 Audio/GB-LAN/USB/IEEE/PCI-E/SATA/DDR/ATX 939 $115

MSI K8N NEO4 Platinum Audio/GB-LAB/PCIE/USB/IEEE/SATA/DDR/ATX 64 939 $137

MSI K8N NEO4-F Audio/GB-LAN/PCI-E/USB/SATA/DDR/ATX 64 (939) $87


Thanks for any help!!!

 

[endyen]

I would forget the first two. They use a via chipset, the nforce is better perf and stability, and trust wise.
I'm not a big msi fan, so there goes the last two. I should say that an msi board that works, is a nice board, until it stops working. I've just seen too many that didn't work , and more that stopped working right after the warranty ended.
The DFI is a great board, though it does take a little more effort to set up.
I didn't even know BFG made mobos, so I'll bet it's a rebadged board.
So your choices are the DFI or the Gigabyte. I like bothe manufacturers, and for myself, I would take the DFI, but for others, I would probably use the Gigabyte.

 

[over_c]

But he just wants to do some minor OCing. Surely the Gigabyte board would easily allow a small 10% (200 MHz or so) overclock without any problem, right?

 

[Rugger]

Have to agree with you on this one. The Giga board is probably enough for some minor OC. More options are the Epox <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-123-230&depa=1" target="_new">Epox 9NDA3J</A> or the <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-123-236&depa=1" target="_new">Epox Ep-9NPA+ Ultra</A>. <--Surprised Wusy didn't throw those out...

__________________________________________________
<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[pat]

I cannot comment on any of the board you listed but the Gigabyte. I have it for 2-3 months now, and it is very stable so far. I did try to overclock, but got some problems past 250, but everything was great at up to around 233... I anyway run my 3000+ at stock speed. I like low noise, which this board has because it doesnt have a chipset fan, but a passive cooling which is sufficient enough.

It has 4 SATA ports, which I use 2 for RAID0 and the 2 other one for 2 storage drives. Each IDE connectors has one optical device.

This board has everything you may want, even digital soung input and output..

It doesnt have SATA2 support and active armor nvidia firewall, only the standard firewall. It is inexpensive too. For a mild overclock and a good featured board I recommend it no problems. I would stay away from VIA chipset too. I know that Soltek has a very good board with the VIA kt890 chipset and I would consider it over the Asus if you want to take that road. But the VIA chipset is a bit outdated and not as feature rich than the nforce.

I like Soltek boards. So far, thay are the one that gave me less trouble in setup I did. I bought the Gigabyte because the nforce4 Soltek was not available at the time. But it is now and newegg has it. Pretty inexpensive too. If it is up to the other Soltek board I had, I would overclock good and be very fast at stock speed. But look for the PCIE and PCI slots configuration. It might not fit your needsé

<font color=red>Sig space for rent. make your offer.</font color=red>

 

[3yeNerd]

Thanks for all the replies guys!

So I guess its down to either the DFI or Gigabyte .. no one likes the MSI huh?

How much more performance/ OC'ing can I do with the DFI vs the Gigabyte with the Venice 3000+ ? Is it worth my extra $24?

 

[3yeNerd]

LOL

 

[pat]

Well, I still think this forum needs some entertainement...

I think he sould get a MSI..

*fast forward 2 days after he get a MSI..*

Posted by 3yenerd:

I just got a MSI, I had some trouble getting it to post, but I finaly had it running. The next morning, the computer would not even post... can it be the motherboard??



<font color=red>Sig space for rent. make your offer.</font color=red>