What Motherboard should I Buy??

I am about to build my first PC and therefore welcome advice from you guys who have ‘been there - done that’. I want a fast, stable system I can use, want to tweak it a bit to improve performance to ‘wow’ but not constantly tweak and dabble. I plan to upgrade the CPU in future when prices have fallen as newer models are introduced - as they do!

I have been an Apple Mac user for the past 17 years, but have decided to switch to Windows XP. I have now decided on AMD Athlon 2800+ Barton (I have the retail version, but will happily replace the standard cooler if so advised), and Antec Sonata case - I want a reasonably quiet life. I shall probably go for Connect3D Redeon Pro or Crucial Radeon Pro graphics card, but have no idea on Ram - other than it will be 1Gb.

My main problem now is what motherboard - looks like nForce2 Ultra rather than VIA KT600, and I have narrowed choice down to three; Abit NF7-S, Asus A7N8X-Delux or EpoX 8RDA3+. Trouble is which one - Asus seems to have a lot of issues posted which is making me weary, despite lots of good reviews. Cost is not really an issue here - a few pounds either way is no big deal given the overall cost of the whole system - which will be the most stable, reliable, most easily recovered if I over-egg the over-clocking? I was going to choose the EpoX, as it is fast, has good sound, should be stable and reliable but the Abit seems very good, and the Asus is used a lot by OEM system suppliers…..

All and any help and guidance will be much appreciated.

You do realise that you have come to the NF7-S fan board? ;)
Yes, I've got a V2.0 & yes , I recommend it :)

The ABIT has wider options in BIOS & seems to have a better implemented sound solution than the ASUS.
The ASUS has an extra NIC, the ABIT a "free" SATA adaptor in the box.
Prices are very close & they are both good boards.

I think that I would take either the ASUS or the ABIT over the EPOX but I am sure that someone else will differ.

NF7s V.20 is the only choice for Athlon XP atm

ye the NF7-S v2 is proper bo i tell thee

LOL - The NF7 is a very good motherboard ... ALTHOUGH

When I was buying a motherboard 2 months ago I opted for the slightly cheaper option of the Asus A7N8X Deluxe V2.0 and not regretted it either ... more options than my old MSI K7N2G ILSR ( -onboard GFX) and still great!

another vote for nf7-s

;) No doubt nForce2 Ultra400 is the best but the nForce2 400, KT600 and SiS748 are only 5% slower so do keep an eye on how much you're forking out. Of course you get more than just 5% perf boost, you get top notch quality, stability, compatibility, locked PCI/AGP, great onboard stuff (esp those using MCP-T or SOundstorm) and they tend to come with by far the best o/c'ing and tweaking options. nF2 Ultra400 are really the chipset of choice, there shoudl be little diff between the diff manu's versions but basically Abit NF7-S v2.0 does seem the best all round esp for o/c'ing and failsafes, although it's not perfect. Asus A7N8X Deluxe is also top notch, I also hear great things about Epox too ... basically you can't go wrong whichever you decide on.

:cool: It makes more sense to get an XP2500+ and o/c a bit, do a quick search and you'll see. The 9 layer 0.13mu core is almost always capable of XP3200+ speeds and often with very little added voltage, really it makes no sense to plump for the XP2800+ unless you really are afraid of o/c'ing. Do rem a decent HSF though, don't settle for the stock retail cooler. No point upgrading the CPU later as XP3200+ is almost certainly as good as SktA will get and many surpass that with an o/c'ed XP2500+ anyway! Even if you go the expensive 800FSB Intel route or the equally expensive Athon64/FX route you aren't likely to have better longevity. It seems most (or all) current 800FSB mobos won't work with Intel's 3.4ghz+ CPUs and the Athlon64 will be moving to the long term 939pin layout sporting Dual Channel non-ECC capability. But hey in terms of cost and perf you really can't beat the SktA route.

:) 1GB (2x 512MB sticks obviously) isn't needed by most people yet, but it will save you a few headaches down the line esp if you plan to use 400FSB. BTW manu of the gfx card matters VERY little (just avoid Powercolor), 9600PRO ro 9800nonPRO are really the top buys unless you fancy taking the cheap GF4TI4200 route and see how things develop. Whenit comes to gaming, gfx card is THE most vital component.

NF7-s v2.0

stable, overclockability and lots of features.

Another vote for the NF7-S v2.0, havent had one single thing go wrong with it and the onboard sound is amazing... what are you waiting for :P

Well NF7-S seems popular here, and it seems that all are good boards - providing I get latest release, so should I go for lowest price option, or is there something about the NF7-S that says 'buy me regardless' of the price?

Special thanks to Austin who also provide info on the other stuff, with reasons for he reccomendadtin - very useful thank you.

I alrady have the 2800+ - I saw it for 7days only at £50 off normal price, so I jumped figuring I would not have to push it so hard as a lower spec starting point!

I am a newbi to this stuff - and such good advice is very welcome - I am very much in favour of learning from the experience of others.

Keep the advice coming!

You know whats funny... i was considering taking my gigabyte 7n400 pro2 back and getting an asus or a DFI lanparty II...but when i goto the other Mobo forums, EVERYBODY is having problems with their board.... seems to me that the quality of all these boards.. Asus, Gigabyte, DFI, ABIT, ETC... are all about the same... the only thing that seems to differ is the USER.. some know what their doing and most do not... thank god for these Forums and the people that do know what they are doing !!!!


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Gigabyte 7N400 Pro2 F5 bios
AMD Barton 2500
80 gig WD special Ed
Chaintech MX440 8x 128mb
512 ram (dual channel)
52x cd/Yamaha 2200ez cdr

Well it says buy me because it is the best amd 32bit board on the market, has been for a while and probably will be also for a while, at only £70-80 its not THAT expensive for top of the range.

NF7-S for AMD
P4C800-E Deluxe for INTEL

:)

Gee thanks everybody for your help and advice. I posted my question to several different forums, and whereas there was some support for Asus, and more for EpoX by far and away the majority screamed Abit NF7-S…… so I have done some more research and have decided to go with Abit…… question, should I stick with the NF7-S or consider the newer, mor featured KV7??? Or does newer = buggier??

Assuming it is the NF7-S (which I suspect it will be), I need more than 2 USBs, I would like 2 to the front of the case plus a FireWire to the front of the case, plus at least 4 more USB connections at the back – is this going to be possible??

Memory – seems that PC-3200 low latency DDR is to one to go for, but should it be Corsair or OCZ, and is it worth paying extra for the Platinum over the Performance (OCZ) or even more for the Dual Channel Platinum?

Power supply will be Antec – which I understand is very good quality? And I thought either a Vantec Aeroflow C7040 or Coolermaster Aero 7+ ??

Any more good advice greatly appreciated.

The NF7-S V2.0 outperforms the KV7 (different, cheaper chipset).

The NF7-S supports 6 USB ports - more than that & you will need an add in card or a hub.

I run Corsair XMS3200C2 Platinum (the Platinum only refers to the silver colour, btw) in my NF7-S V2.0/XP1700+@2.3GHz box & quite happy with it.
The 3200LL uses different memory chips (same ones as XMS3500) & will run faster than my XMS3200C2.

Can't speak about OCZ.

If you can find TwinMOS PC3200 with Winbond chips (try Komplett but it is getting hard to find) it is very good at a cheaper price.

;) As said NF7-S v2.0 is the top choice, not that Epox or Asus are in any way poor choices of course. Also as mentioned it comes with 6 USB ports and Firewire + SATA too. For the RAM forget the 'top' brands and esp things like 'matched' and 'low latency' ... totally not needed / worth it esp in nF2 Dual Channel. Seriously go for any decent brand of PC3200, top pick being TwinMOS ... Winbond chips are nicer to have but std TwinMOS is still more than you're likely to need.

:) For the PSU, CTW (IIRC) are rebadged Antecs and way cheaper (Scan?). Antec are top for PSUs but Enermax and Thermatake are close behind with other worthwhile options being Sparkle, ToPower, S.Flower etc. For HSF either go for the cheap and adjustable Volcano 11 (12?) for £15 Dabs or else a true top end HS like MCX or SLK preferably combined with a Smart Fan II or Vantec 's TMD Aeroflow. TwinMOS www.komplet.co.uk www.cpucity.co.uk