Hello all ! Im thinking of making the jump to PCI-E, and want to keep my ram and processor for a long time, so want to buy now as they will stop making good s939 pci-e boards when am2 is out. Im not interested in SLI/Crossfire, not rich enough for that! But I want an AWESOME PCI-E board, which will take 2gb ram (2x1gb OCZ) and my 3700+ that does 2.8ghz, also has to be able to fit my xp-120 on it, also want at least 3 pci slots. Looking around the only board I have found that looks great is the EPoX EP-9NPA+ Ultra (I currently have the NF3 ultra epox board, its well good), ASUS's board looks abit drab compared with it, and nothing else has caught my eye thats got 3 pci slots as well, thoughts and ideas people ?
Avoid the EPoX(y) board as their customer service is non-existent. If the board works, you are fine - but if it goes wrong - good luck.
I have said this many times, I run the 9NPA, cheap, extremely stable, clocks like a trooper, 3 pci slots, 10 usb, firewire, and more etc etc, frequent bios updates, more ppl should try them.
I also run an Epox board the 9NPA + Ultra, its a great board, can be had cheaply, good overclocking, FSB over 300 is perfectly stable, has the 3 pci slots that you wanted and anything else that you could need.
I also have one - and it works well. I am just saying, when they go wrong, expect to bin it rather than get any help off EPoX.
Get the DFI NF4 Ultra-D. The best board I have ever owned Lots of BIOS options, nice and tweakable plus it looks quite cool. Edit: Sorry... just looked at mine and have seen its only got 2 PCI slots.
what about this...dunno what people think of Abit boards, but my KW7 is the most stable thing i have ever used the packaged flashing software and fan EQ software is fantastic 3 PCI's PCI-E all the bits n pieces......OCuk price = £64 +vat Abit KN8 Ultra nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-087-AB) HyperTransport technology, which delivers a 2GHz effective system bus, is a high-speed, low latency, point-to-point link designed to increase the communication speed between integrated circuits in computers, servers, embedded systems, and networking and telecommunications equipment up to 48 times faster than some existing technologies. - NVIDIA NF4 Ultra - 2Hz HT - Dual DDR400 - NV SATA RAID - NV GbE - NV Firewall Link to the ABit spec page http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=285
2nd the Asus A8N-E. Got mine on Thursday along with a X2 3800+ and a OCUK 6800GS. Result: CPU @ 2608Mhz Graphics card @ 500Mhz + 1.2Ghz mem Memory: 217 @ 2 2 2 8 1T (Twin Mos BH5's) 2 * 512Mb Opinion: Best board I've had in ages. Simple , straightforward and a performer as well.
Hey bobc how are you going on with your Asus and X2 3800? Still stable at 2.6? I'm looking to buy in the next day or so - still recommend it? Cheers
Hi BA, Yep still runnin nicely at 2.6. Sitting here surfin and doing some support work (pager yawn). Asus probe reporting that CPU Temp = 30 Degrees C and Motherboard = 30 Degrees C. I got a bit ambitious with the GS and clocked it at 522Mhz and 1.22Ghz but I got a couple of lockups in IL2 so I pegged that at 500Mhz and 1.2Ghz. I left the BIOS as is at 1008, ain't broke so don't fix it. Suppose another indication of its stability would be the Gentoo 2006.0 install I performed last week. This includes a lot of code compilation (probably around 3 hours with KDE and GNOME) and it ran no problems whatsoever. Next upgrade is a PC Power and Cooling Express 510 SLI psu and a couple of Raptor 150's followed up by one of those funky Silverstone TJ07 which looks like it has been designed purely to fit my Asetek kit in....
According to what I have read, I appear to have been lucky so far in that the fan on the chipset of my board seems to be doing ok. From cold boot, it starts out quite loud but quietens down and remains there. It is still audiable though and I am considering replacing it with a zalman at some point.
Ah rite cool, then again im just thinking how noisey my systems gona be anyway...with a hiper 580w psu and a x1900 xtx going off on one as well Ugh, but yea, any other choices on non-crossfire/sli boards that come to mind? Doubt ill ever use/need two Gcards...
