Recommendations for a motherboard

refraction · Oct 31, 2004, 09:29 AM

Im after a new motherboard for my Athlon XP 3000+ system, im using an Asus A7V333 at the moment cos my MSI board didnt have mounting point for my water cooling, i dont wanna spend too much as it isnt my main system i use but i wanna overclock it as much as i can, but as you can guess im kinda limited at the moment!!

Ive looked at boards like the A7N8X and reviews have said overclocking was virtually impossible with it, altho the normal performance was pretty good.

Got my eye on the DFI Infinity NF2 Ultra, same as the Lanparty NF2 but without the lanparty features like UV lights and what not, reviews are impressive overclocking/stability wise and it has the holes i need for my watercooling block, plus its NForce 2 based which is really what i want as the onboard nvidia sound has ASIO support which i need for music production.

what do you guys recon?

Judas · Oct 31, 2004, 01:21 PM

Alot of people like the DFI boards (nforce 2 ultra) .... i'd suggest looking into some KT880 chipsets as well as they provide an EXCELLENT alternative.... pop over to a bunch of different hardware review sites that are putting both the kt880 and nforce boards against each other and figure out which you like best...

Personally, i've had zero problems with the via chipsets.... and they preform excellent..... i have however had nothing but massive issues with the nforce boards... i went through 4 Abit K7-S rev 2 motherboards (built a few rigs for some people... all failed).... and i had tried one 1 DFI along with 1 from MSI.... the MSI failed oventually (just lately) and the DFI appears to be having some issues i'm currently haveing a hard time figuring out.... (stability or capability i'm unsure)

But that's just my experience.... Alot of people have had Just as many problems... and alot have had ZERO problems....

refraction · Oct 31, 2004, 04:34 PM

yes, your probably going to laugh now but i just went for the NF7-S lol, because it was recommended to me by people ive met! and about 6 of them have NF7-S boards and they all love it and never had a problem, i suppose it depends who you buy it from and what hardware you put with it.

cheers for the comments tho

pr0digal jenius · Oct 31, 2004, 09:00 PM

abit makes a hell of a board dude...enjoy (roommate has a AA8-DuraMAXX)

Judas · Oct 31, 2004, 09:39 PM

Abit's MAX series motherboards are absalutely the most excellent ever.....

refraction · Nov 1, 2004, 02:59 AM

yep, got the KV8-MAX3 on this beast

pr0digal jenius · Nov 1, 2004, 03:00 AM

Abit and Asus definately have everyone else whipped....
...Abit when it comes to overclocking/features, Asus when it comes to indestructible stability

refraction · Nov 1, 2004, 03:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pr0digal jenius

Abit and Asus definately have everyone else whipped....
...Abit when it comes to overclocking/features, Asus when it comes to indestructible stability

it may just be my luck but at the moment how things are i think im going to contradict everything you just said there :P

Abit KV8-MAX3 = Known not to clock very far at all, maybe 15-20 mhz then it becomes unstable, believe me, ive tried even with DDR550 memory.

Asus A7V333 = In my other pc at the moment (evil board) had nothing but trouble, its caused windows to corrupt several times and its done nothing but crash, even without overclocking.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Nov 1, 2004, 03:16 AM

I'm useing the a7n8x-E deluxe and a 2500+ @ 3200+... i like it

refraction · Nov 1, 2004, 03:19 AM

yeh, well the barton 2500+ chips are well known to easily clock to 3200+, even 3400+ in some cases, seen as they are the same chip with different locks on the top lol.

so in theory its not REALLY an overclock as such.

mind you having said that back when i had my KT7-RAID i had my Duron 700 clocked to 1ghz and it was perfect, rock stable. That has to be the best board ever made in terms of its features and overclockability and stability

pr0digal jenius · Nov 1, 2004, 03:19 AM

I think you've just been SoL...lol

I know people who swear by the MAX boards...and I personally am ye to kill off an Asus

This PC-DL Deluxe has beent hrough 2 bad Bios flashes and a grand total of 4 bios revisions, and it's still chugging along...never even tripped up my RAID 0 during the BIOS corruptions

markus82 · Nov 1, 2004, 04:22 AM

i had the asus a7n8x deluxe rev2 before and i had a 2800+ @ 11x 205Mhz running.

Lchevy79 · Nov 2, 2004, 08:55 AM

so you want to see if you can get a 3000+ to run @ 4000+ speeds hummm http://www.ocworkbench.com/2003/read...rd/award-1.htm http://www.aoaforums.com/forum/archi...p/t-25232.html
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...112&howtoID=43
well maybe you can find some help from here good luck and have fun

starfury6 · Nov 2, 2004, 09:01 AM

Both my workstation machines have Abit NF7-S motherboards. Had no problems from them whatsoever but the drivers aren't all that. Took me a while to come up with a good set by picking the best from all the nvidia UDP packages.

Easliy OC the multiplier to give me an extra 200MHz with my Thermalright slk800 HS.

Judas · Nov 2, 2004, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lchevy79

so you want to see if you can get a 3000+ to run @ 4000+ speeds hummm http://www.ocworkbench.com/2003/read...rd/award-1.htm http://www.aoaforums.com/forum/archi...p/t-25232.html
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...112&howtoID=43
well maybe you can find some help from here good luck and have fun

Quote:

ABIT AT7 Max 2

6.4%

now.... i don't find that strange... i find it interesting... what i find absalutely odd is the fact that the board is listed in the "Best Socket A (Cost/Performance Ratio)" area on that first link.. WTF!?

they are still freaking EXPENSIVE.....

refraction · Nov 2, 2004, 04:25 PM

haha yeh, bit daft really, but what can ya do!

got my NF7-S on order the other day, just waiting for it to arrive now!

El Kapitano · Nov 2, 2004, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by refraction

Asus A7V333 = In my other pc at the moment (evil board) had nothing but trouble, its caused windows to corrupt several times and its done nothing but crash, even without overclocking.

Hahaha, I know exactly where you're coming from, I got one when they first hit the shelves and it wouldn't boot with my saitek cyborg joystick plugged in, kept getting the cpu fail speech. Also wouldn't do S3 suspend (at all) among other "intersting foibles".

Then

I went AMD64 3200 "Clawhammer" with an Asus K8V Deluxe and... No boot beep (minor I know but I like the affirmation that the thing is booting), no sata hdd activity led from the VIA sata controller. Kinda makes you feel like a beta tester (oh deja vu kicking in, I think I've said that before).

Best board I ever had - Abit BE6 II Rev. 2.0 - overclocked like a maniac, raid on board and stable as f*** oh happy days.

ivzk · Nov 11, 2004, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by refraction

yes, your probably going to laugh now but i just went for the NF7-S lol, because it was recommended to me by people ive met! and about 6 of them have NF7-S boards and they all love it and never had a problem, i suppose it depends who you buy it from and what hardware you put with it.

cheers for the comments tho

Does the Nf7 have the mounting holes for water cooling? I didn't think it did.

refraction · Nov 11, 2004, 05:06 PM

yes it does, a lot of the pictures round the net dont seem to have the holes on it for some reason, must be a different version of the NF7 but the NF7-S does and so far its working a treat