Motherboard choice

[Starburn]

Hey guys, any motherboard recommendations for a A64 4000+/X1800XT system?

Not much point in paying extra for an SLI capable board, so I've been looking at the non-SLI NF4 boards (not heard anything great about the ATI boards, & I probably will never use x-fire ).

Asus A8N-E looks fairly good?

Would prefer it if the board was available from Scan

Cheers.

[NightshadowUK]

See this thread.

[Starburn]

Wasn't very conclusive

[NightshadowUK]

Note: Get the Abit AN8 Ultra or the KN8 Ultra.

[5aboy]

Hi,

First post - im in a similar situation (opteron 165/7800GT/??mobo).

the way i see it - its either going to be full on or el cheapo!

full on - asus a8n32sli (i know no sli, but you are paying for more sata's, overclockability, silent chipset cooler, plus the added box stuff)
or DFI SLI-DR (love this board - shame about the sii3114 chipset sata - total utter crap that is - pci linked!

el cheapo: - abit an8 ultra, as nightshadow has suggested (good oc from what i hear)
or asus a8n (very poor overclockers though)
would stay away from gigabyte boards though - total utter c$$$p!

[Starburn]

Considering the Abit K8N .. (as the AN8 isn't in stock atm.. ).. but far as I can tell the only difference between the K8N and the AN8 is the passive cooling solution?

Cheers.

[NightshadowUK]

I'm sure there was another difference but I can't recall... where's BUFF when you need him?

[Zad]

It's a nightmare isn't it! I used to build PC systems for a living 3 years ago (and had to know em inside out too) and now it feels like I know nothing! Spec-wise, I'm in the same boat (I hope it's a big boat). I *thought* I had settled on the following components. (Scan and Komplett partly chosen for price reasons, partly for free shipping etc)

CPU: Opteron 165 [Komplett, £245]
Mobo: DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR Expert [Komplett £152]
Gfx: EVGA 7800GT CO [Scan £262]
Mem: 2GB Corsair TWINX2048-3200 (it seemed a better bet than Value Select) [Komplett £145]

DVD (NEC 3500) , PATA HDDs (2x 160GB Hitachis) to be carried over from existing system. I was also thinking about using my existing Enermax 360W PSU, many new systems seem to have a PSU around this size, but to me it seems underpowered and of course wouldn't have the 24pin power connector (of course it's possible to use a Molex to PCIE power adaptor) however, I settled on a 525W Hiper. [ballpark price £50] The plan is to carry over the big ATX case from the existing PC, I'd rather get performance for my £ than looks.

So, that's all settled then? Oh I don't think so... Here are the "gotchas":

1. Opterons are, of course, not available now. And may or may not be available in the future if the reports are true. Alternative is to use a boring X2-3800. Question is: When do I give in and order the X2... (the answer is probably about 6 hrs before 165s return to stock) I don't want to use Ebay or other 3rd parties who may deliver a dog of a cpu and disappear.

2. The Expert version of the DFI LanParty seems to use a special 6-pin power connector. This entails a different PSU, the cheapest of which clocks in at around £100. Oh yeah, and DFI "don't officially support" Opterons on LanParty motherboards.

3. Anandtech reccomend the EVGA as being the best 7800GT, but also seem to say that they are all much of a muchness, and I could probably save £40-50 buy buying an OEM "white box" version. I wonder if a copper heatsink is really worth that extra. Scan seem to be the only stockist, so maybe that's pushing the price up.

4. Everyone and his dog seem to be saying "ooh DFI motherboards don't like Corsair, especially Value Select". Unfortunately there is no clear consensus on what a good alternative would be. Top of my list at the moment is the G.Skill ZX (running at a useful 2-3-2-5 - but then people say latency doesn't really matter on the recent AMD64s). [PC-M-U £168.]

I suppose if worst comes to worst, it'll be a LanParty SLi of some sort, X2 3800, OEM 7800GT and Corsair VS. Goodness knows that is a good spec in it's own right, but *I* will know it's not what I wanted.

I would say HEEEEEEEEEELLLP! But I'm not sure what can be done!

Ho hum. Tis a bugger aint it!


Mike

[5aboy]

i think its fairly safe to say that you are highly UNlikely to get a dual core opteron right now, unless you try to get hold of 170/175 - some shops may still have them, but 165s are as good as finished now.

the 6pin psu thing is whats stopping me going for the LP expert - cant really justify it over normal lp-sli or a8n32sli.

the 7800gt co is meant to be an amazing card and the way i see it i dont have to buy an after-market cooler for it, so factor that into the slightly higher price.

ram-wise, i recommend www.pcmu.co.uk - you will find super-quality ram there for v competitive prices - i was thrilled with my 1gb tccd!

hope ive helped!

[Starburn]

Ahh, just noticed Komplett have the Epox boards.

Going to get the EPoX EP-9NPA+ Ultra

<3 my current 8RDA+ board, it's served me well.. so stick with what you love I guess