All these motherboards are confusing me

Hello =)

First post, hurrah! So here's a little introduction:

I'm currently sat on a XP 2500+ Barton (stock freq),
1gb TwinMOS/Winbond
ATI 9600XT (ugh!)
Asus (?)600-X mobo (VIA K600)

After doing a bit of reading here, I'm looking at this upgrade:
Opteron 146 oc'ed as high as I can go without adding too much voltage (not fussed about 3ghz)
BFG 7800GT
new mobo (with oc options)

But I'm absolutely no good at choosing motherboards :D
One thing I keep hearing is that "you can't go wrong" with the DFI Ultra-D. So that's an option, at £100 from OcUK (getting the BFG there, mobo price seems similar elsewhere).

I'm basically looking for some more "you can't go wrong" suggestions. The Abit AN8 Ultra looks to be one of these, but Scan are sold out and OcUK are more expensive (by £14!). The Abit KN8 Ultra doesn't have the u-Guru thing, which I understand is all the voltage and oc settings. So that would rule the KN8 out right?

Then there's Asus offerings, but I hear both good and bad things about them (unlike DFI, noone ever seems to complain about them). Asus cheating at benchmarks (hidden overclocking of memory and stuff) kinda puts me off them.

Sorry, I did search the forums already, but didn't find a clear-cut answer. Lots of choices, and I'm not well informed enough to make a decision without some help :)

All I know is that I need the FSB to go to 280 or 300 right? Or is that the HTT? I have no idea - still using a 32 bit chip here! And some overvolting options so I can push it just a bit.

I don't need SLI, since the 7800 will prolly last me until the new socket M2 chips come out and I switch to dual core (in the future).

Sooo many questions; I hope I haven't put anyone to sleep! Posting at 2 in the morning, so I have a tendancy to ramble on and on.... :D

Cheers!
-Hybrid

My Asus is rock solid and my light AMD 3700+ San Diego OC was super easy. The reason Asus often perform well is that even if you don't want it to it overclocks things slightly which in my opinion is no bad thing.

DFI = a hell lot of tweaking and testing and etc., so just ask ur self if it worth the hassle

Well, got the BFG from OcUK.
The opty and the Asus A8N-E from Scan.

Guess all I need now is a PSU and a HSF. So I'll search the forums some more :D

I'm under the impression that my current Seasonic 350W HyperTornado won't have enough juice for the 7800GT. And it's ATX 1 not 2, whatever that means.

Feel free to post PSU or HSF suggestions in this thread ;)

Damn it feels good to spend excessive amounts of money :rockon:

Tagan 480/530/580W

I'm sure my 7800GT says 400W minimum.

I use a Tagan 580W btw.

My Hiper is awesome though somepeople have had problems with them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BUFF

Tagan 480/530/580W

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I went for the first out of that list, and it's still going (touch wood!)

Well in the end I went for a Seasonic 500W from Scan. Set me back a cool £100, but it's a PSU I know I can rely on. Haven't heard anything bad about Seasonic yet, apart from the older Yate Loon (or was it ADDA) sleeve bearing fans failing early. They have replaced those with ball bearings, as far as I know, which although being a bit louder are much more suitable for horizontal running.

Well I'm going to try the stock HSF, which is something I've never done before :D I'll lap the base, use some Arctic Silver 3 I've had lying around for years, and see what overclocking I can do with that.

I'm not going to overvolt much if at all, so probably won't reach 3ghz, and thus shouldn't need a beast of a HSF like the TR XP120. Or something heavy like the TT Big Tornado thing.

Anyone use a Scythe Ninja here? With a fan, that is. I really like the idea of a HSF which uses an airflow in line with the exhaust and intake for the case. Seems like a smart idea to me. Also considering the Arctic Freezer 64 Pro, but that also looks a bit unwieldy.

Cheers,
k9

I think you made the right choice with the Seasonic. I'm using a Tornado 400.

Where are you getting the Ninja from?

I whish i had never got my ultra-d, wanna buy it lol? Fully boxed.