Best AM2 Mobo?

[DAY_1985]

Hi guys need to find a good AM2 board that will fit into my spec list, can you please suggest some sensible price boards, willing to pay over £100. Here’s my current spec list, any improvements or suggestions on changes are welcome. I’m planning on buy at the end of this month.


Case Antec SLK3000B Black Super Mid Tower Case - No PSU £29.32

Hardrive Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160GB ST3160812AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-050-SE) £46.94

Processor AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM) £202.97

Motherboard **************************************

Memory GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL) £129.19

Fans AKASA 120mm Amber series 3pin Ultra quiet case fan £7.99

Mouse Logitech G5 Gaming-Grade Laser Mouse (KB-069-LG) £39.89

Oh yea and iv already brought my graphics card and PSU

ATI X1800XT

Hipper Type R PSU 580W

 

[roadie]

Well it seems you don't need SLI... Even given the 590's supposed advantages with "SLI memory" and all that jazz, it doesn't deliver anything extra over the 570 chipset. If I were you, I'd go for a 570 Ultra based board, and ASUS do one that seems to be reasonably priced.

 

[Aidoscuz]

I've got an Asus M2N32-SLi Deluxe and it's great. It's a bit pricey (£140) but it's a brilliant board, it performs really well and it's got a scary amount of overclocking options The SLI memory and Linkboost stuff seems to be doing its job for me, I'm getting 9,920 in 3DMark05 with everything at stock which seems very good to me. If you don't want to spend as much the Asus M2N-SLi Deluxe would be another good option.

 

[DAY_1985]

I've also been looking at the new intel chips coming out, they don't look to bad of a price compared to AM2 X2s. What's the equivalent of Intel's AM2 X2 3800

 

[cobxx]

Hmm, this is gonna turn out into a get a conroe thread...

The 570 ultra boards are great apart from SLI memory and 2 x graphics. Only thing with the asus boards is they are even more picky with memory than normal.

 

[fanger]

Hi guys need to find a good AM2 board that will fit into my spec list, can you please suggest some sensible price boards, willing to pay over £100. Here’s my current spec list, any improvements or suggestions on changes are welcome. I’m planning on buy at the end of this month.


Case Antec SLK3000B Black Super Mid Tower Case - No PSU £29.32

Hardrive Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160GB ST3160812AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-050-SE) £46.94

Processor AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM) £202.97

Motherboard **************************************

Memory GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL) £129.19

Fans AKASA 120mm Amber series 3pin Ultra quiet case fan £7.99

Mouse Logitech G5 Gaming-Grade Laser Mouse (KB-069-LG) £39.89

Oh yea and iv already brought my graphics card and PSU

ATI X1800XT

Hipper Type R PSU 580W

All good stuff DAY_1985 so DON'T buy an ASUS M2N-SLI DELUXE if you intend to wack in some GeIL mem.!

Just in case you were thinking of doing so And I'll tell thee for why!

Asus tested the M2N-SLI with only one memory manufacturer: Corsair, (So the word around the Campfire has it) and as a result every other Memory Module slotted has resulted in stick. (BIOS hangs, "forced unexpected reboots" and general caca)
Google it if you don't believe me! ("M2N-SLI problems")
I'm running a M2N-SLI WITH Corsair and it's great, very fast, very pleasant with a X2 4200+ Dual.

If you've got any other memory don't do it. Until, that is, they release the BIOS Update to support every other decent Memory Manufacturer including GeIL.

If you're seriously into O/C then you can muck about with voltages in BIOS, but to me, it seems like you're starting with a bunch of components that's not talking...Nice challenge but not a good start for a new build!



The latest BIOS release was 16/June/2006 and it still didn't address the issues with other Memory Modules.

That having been said, if you can swap your current Mem Sticks for Corsair I very highly recommend the M2N-SLI. My rig's been up for about a fortnight now and hasn't crashed/ frozen yet. Oh, and it is very, very fast. But I know you guys...you kind of get into one memory manufacturer and reckon everything else in the case should play ball. That's cool.

Good luck with your build.

f

 

[fanger]

Hmm, this is gonna turn out into a get a conroe thread...

The 570 ultra boards are great apart from SLI memory and 2 x graphics. Only thing with the asus boards is they are even more picky with memory than normal.

Be nice if it didn't cobxx