S939 Motherboard Options

[shelmec]

Hi,

Looking at buying an S939 motherboard. Current options are Asus, Abit and MSI. I've used Abit for Intel builds (been relatively happy with them) but have heard from other folk that they're not too reliable.

Anyone have any advice on which manufacturer would be best for resilience, ease of use, etc?

Thanks

[zulander]

Asus always get good marks for reliability. Im personally looking at getting the Abit AN8 Ultra cause i like the passive cooling aspect of it. Im trying to avoid the bad reports ive heard - tho to be fair there are not that many when u think how many people must have boards by abit

[kempez]

The easiest and most stable IMO is Asus. Nice stable stock boards

[FEAR]

I recommend Asus or DFI, really nice looking boards, easy to use, stable.

[BUFF]

AN8 Ultra is fine.
Coupled with an XP-120 = very quiet too.

[Rohan]

If you're going with Asus A8N-SLI, get the premium rather than the deluxe board. The heatpipe northbridge cooler for the premium is far better than the whiny fan of the deluxe board.


The most popular 939 board with enthusiasts is the DFI, but it's not terribly easy to setup as it can be picky about RAM.

[Dark Horse]

The most popular 939 board with enthusiasts is the DFI, but it's not terribly easy to setup as it can be picky about RAM.

Well not really. If you set it at stock it'll be fine (more than fine infact, its one of the fastest at stock in most benchies) and if you have common ram you can use dfi-street to work our good settings. Its only when you want a really good overclock to things get complicated with the ram settings.

[BUFF]

Well not really. If you set it at stock it'll be fine (more than fine infact, its one of the fastest at stock in most benchies) and if you have common ram you can use dfi-street to work our good settings. Its only when you want a really good overclock to things get complicated with the ram settings.

Tbh that's probably true of any "enthusiast" nF4.
The ABIT AN8 series can be a bit picky too when overclocking but advice is available in their forum as well.

[demonwolf]

I second the DFI, have myself an nf4 sli-dr. Hasnt ever given me any problems very reliable fast board and very good for overclocking and even for stock. The dfi street forums are always there if there is any trouble and ive never heard anything bad about the dfi RMA process.
The only bad points about the board is the chipset cooler. It isnt positioned terribly well and gets alot of the heat coming from the graphics card (but all nf4's are like this with the southbridge near the pci-e slots). Memory wise I dont find the dfi that picky, ive used both 3700 ocz EB memory up to 3.6v no problem and used patriot tccd in the board which was more fussy but with the right bios it flies.
Oh and make sure you have a 24pin PSU which is at least 480W or over .. but most other nf4 motherboards have this requirement too.

[darrensen]

Go with the Asus Prem....

At first i had a little trouble getting around the BIOS, but after 30 mins i was wizzing through it. The board is 100% stable and has superb features!

[shelmec]

Thanks for all the feedback - really useful.

[999tigger]

asus premium with the passive cooler.
Overclockers prefer the dfi
If its non sli then the gigabyte gak8nxp-9 for feautures
If its stock and nothing fussy then I think the msi neo plat 4 is a great value board from lowestonweb.

[FEAR]

In the past ive used Gigabyte, MSI, Soyo, Asus and DFI

I was most pleased with the DFI, due to features, never problems with ram, overclocks well too

[toadoftoadhall]

Asus A8v deluxe are being discontinued, and are bargain priced at the moment if you can find one. AGP graphics tho if that bothers you. Excellent board.
toad

[athlon_xp_2800]

I just love my new MSI K8N Diamond, definitely recommend it!
Bit wary of my Tt Purepower running at only 17A on 12v = 11.80v, seemed stable enough while playing Painkiller and far Cry though!

[1RTR]

If you're going with Asus A8N-SLI, get the premium rather than the deluxe board. The heatpipe northbridge cooler for the premium is far better than the whiny fan of the deluxe board.

Funny you should mention that. I've just built a watercooled system, with the deluxe Mobo, and the northbridge fan is as quite as a mouse.....maybe Asus have changed the spec.