Best PCI-E 754 mobo?

Devilman

Devilman

Devilman

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Im looking to find a decent Socket754 PCI-E board so I can tide myself over until mid-next year, when ill be due a more complete upgrade.. Right now my current system is:

AMD A64 3200+ Clawhammer
1gig PC3200 DDR (2x512mb)
ATI Radeon 9800Pro (Running at XT clocks)


I think that with a little more ram and a better gfx card, I can extend the life of this system by enough to be worthwhile, cus I think the cpu has more than enough grunt to run WoW etc...

Im currently using an Asus K8V-Deluxe mobo to run my system and its driven me nuts from day one (mainly due to haing now PCI/AGP locks, so overclocking was virtually impossible), Im mainly playing WoW etc... so I dont need top-balls performance, but it does seem that for the price of a decent AGP card now days, I can get a PCI-E mobo and Gfx card, thus opening up more upgrade options later.


Can anyone recommend a good PCI-E board that still supports the 754 chip?, I considered the DFI Infinity NF4X, but I was put-off by the fact that as soon as you install 2 double-sided dimms, it defaults to DDR333 and you cannot change that.

Even my old K8v-Deluxe supported 2 double-sided dimms at DDR400 (though if populating all 3 slots with dousble-sided Dimms my old board would drop back to DDR200!)

So, can anyone recommend a good motherboard to consider? or perhaps can shed some light on why the DFI (and my K8V) defaults to slower memory FSB's when more slots are populated and whether itll actually affect me much?

Ideally im looking to either suppliment my current 2x512mb sticks of geil with a 3rd (to get 1.5gb) or sell the lot and get a pair of 1gb sticks, but either way ill get slowed down to DDR333 by the DFI (and to DDR200 by my current motherboard)


Thx ^^
 
I did exactly the same thing as you a year ago except i went Sli on 754 with the Epox 8NPA-sli. Cracking board and just as good as the 939 sli boards.

For a single pci-e slot i would recommend the Abit NV8. For details see here . It's an excellent board and a very good clocker. I have built a couple of pc's around it and have never had a problem.

The Biostar 6100 is rated by some on here although i have never had any experience with it.

The Gigabyte GA-K8NE is'nt too bad a board but is'nt that good for clocking.

Asus does a K8N4-E that a couple on here recommend but i have to admit i hated it myself and had nothing but problems with it.

If you are buying a new graphics card and extra memory can you not spend a bit more or wait and save a bit more for a C2D motherboard and a 6300 instead of investing more money in a dead socket. I can see where you are coming from but i just can't help feeling your money would be batter spent on C2D.
 
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The extra memory will probly come a little later, as I come by the cash...

I cannot really stretch to changing to a new CPU type and possibly new ram all-together (DDR2) and I feel that my current CPU / RAM has more than enough grunt to run WoW (although I do seem to experience some disk caching, which is bloody annoying), however my gfx is most certainly lacking in power now days.

And for the price of one of the new AGP cards, I can (potentially) get the same card in PCI-E variety and a motherboard to boot, as it seems the PCI-E varities of the latest generation of cards are cheaper.

Any ideas about the memory speed? Im concerned that these mobos may suffer the same fate as the DFI and my own, that when 2 (or more) ram slots are populated by double-sided DIMMs (which my ram is and I think *most* 1gb DDR400 modules are), the speed drops from DDR400 to DDR333 or even DDR200 in some cases (like on my K8V-Deluxe when all 3 slots are populated by Double-Sided DIMMs) but since AMD64's use HT etc... im not sure if the memory reducing to DDR333 would adversly affect its performance. (or if it did, whether it was enough to worry about)

Thanx :)
 
My 1gb sticks are double sided and did drop the speed down to 333mhz while in auto but every motherboard i have had has had an option in the bios to manually set the speed to ddr400 so it should'nt be a problem. I know the Abit and the Epox Sli boards have this option.
 
Ok, well that is at least good news...

Since the 754 cannot do dual channel anyway, is there any forseeable reason why they would again be slowed down to DDR200( :eek: ) when all 3 slots on my board are populated, is it likely to cause any issues if I were to fill all 3 slots and manually set the ram back to DDR400?

As you say, would be nice to go for a C2D or something, but I really cant afford to replace ram, mobo, cpu and gfx all in 1 go, but this way I can at least replace the parts which need the most, then next time I would only require a cpu, mobo and ram. I realise it still ends up with me buying 2 mobos when I could have just got 1 and done a complete upgrade, but the mobo is (one of) the cheapest parts, whether its a gfx card Im replacing or a cpu and ram.
 
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I think it's just because the speeds are set as auto in the bios. I can't think of any logical reason it would do this.

As for dual channel, it's not what it's made out to be. I did some comparisons i thought you may be interested in:-

Rig 1 socket 754
AMD 3700+ clawhammer @2.76ghz (12x230)
Epox 8NPA-sli
2x BFG 7800gt's @500/1.20
2x1GB sticks of PNY pc3200 @230mhz 3-3-3-5 1T

3DMARK01SE 30633 3dmarks
3DMARK03 27928 3dmarks
3DMARK05 12187 3dmarks
3DMARK06 6306 3dmarks
Aquamark 3 91001 points

Rig 2 socket 939
AMD 4000+ San Diego @2.76ghz (12x230)
Abit AN8-32X Sli
Everything else the same.

3DMARK01SE 31479 3dmarks +846 marks
3DMARK03 28252 3dmarks +324 marks
3DMARK05 12440 3dmarks +253 marks
3DMARK06 6321 3dmarks +15 marks
Aquamark 3 95898 points +4897 points

As you can see with everything at the same speed dual channel memory makes very little difference at all apart from in Aquamark where there is a decent gain.

However. Super PI times are less. Down from 33.360secs (1M places) on 754 to 30.001 on 939. Sandra's bandwidth test has also more than doubled from 754's Int 3102/Float 3125 to 939's Int 6218/Float 6163 but you would expect that anyway.

As you can see dual channel is worth bugger all really. I have noticed no difference at all in day to day use or gaming.

There is one big plus you will gain from. 754 parts (especially the high end cpu's) are going for a premium on ebay and with the socket being killed off in Q1 07 prices can only go up. :D I think it's time to put my 3700 and sli mobo on there soon. That will be a nice xmas bonus. :D
 
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Hmm, well thats good to know, DC really doesnt make much odds (I wasnt worried anyway as my clawhammer is single channel anyway, my main concern was that the ram would not be able to operate at DDR400 due to some limitation in the memory controller on the earlier Clawhammer CPUs.

Im considering perhaps not upgrading to a 754 now, as I really feel I do at least need a bit more ram first to sort out my paging issues in WoW, perhaps it will be better for me to buy a 1gb stick and one of the newer AGP cards, as I would otherwise need to buy 2 new 1gb sticks, since most of the decent S754 PCI-E boards seem to only have 2 slots :(

Well, thx for confirming some things for me, at least I know now that I should be able to put a 1gb stick alongside my pair of Geil 512mb sticks and manually set them to DDR400 (at least my board can do that without issues lol)

One problem I have with sticking with my existing motherboard setup is that its based on the K8T800 chipset, which has no secondary AGP and PCI locks, so I dont have the option to overclock the cpu, as anything past 217FSB it falls over (however I believe the cpu itself is capable of much more). Changing to a 754 PCI board would at least allow me to explore the full potential of the CPU and hopefully get some more performance out of it that way too.

Only thing I really dislike a bit about all the 754 PCI-E boards (at least the good ones, like the abit you mentioned) are mini-atx or micro-atx and have so few PCI slots. (granted I dont actually use that many, but its still nice to have the option)

Are there any other boards worth considering other tahn the NV8 that are good clockers and perhaps have more than just 2 or 3 PCI slots?
 
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Devilman said:
Only thing I really dislike a bit about all the 754 PCI-E boards (at least the good ones, like the abit you mentioned) are mini-atx or micro-atx and have so few PCI slots. (granted I dont actually use that many, but its still nice to have the option)

Are there any other boards worth considering other tahn the NV8 that are good clockers and perhaps have more than just 2 or 3 PCI slots?
Click to expand...
The NV8 is ATX, an mATX board would probably only give you 1 PCI or 2 at most.
 
You should try having an Sli mobo with both slots occupied. If you are lucky you may get one useable pci slot. It's just a matter of compromise really.

You actually may be better off buying 2x1gb sticks of ram and selling what you have as you may find that you are unable to run at the 1T command rate with 3 or more sticks. That will have a performance hit.

I preferred your original plan to the latest one. I can't help feel that buying a new AGP card is a bad move. You will not be able to carry it over to any future upgrade for a start. They are also overpriced when compared to the pci-e equivilants and also have less performance compared to the same core in pci-e due to the pci-e to AGP bridge being a restriction.
 
I'm in a very similar position at the moment.

I think I'll most likely go for a X1900XT and a NV8 motherboard.

That way next year sometime I can upgrade to a C2D setup and take less of a financial hit as I'd need Processor, RAM and motherboard as well.

I did contemplate buying a X1950 AGP card, but I couldn't move this across to a C2D setup as above.
 
Yup, Im thinkin about the X1950Pro or the 7900GS (or maybe a GTO if I can find one), only downside is that so many of these PCI-E motherboards that support the older 754 CPUs is most only have 2 DIMM slots, so to get my 2gb that I feel I really need, I gotta spend out more on ram:(

Spose I can sell my matched pair of Geil ram (2x512mb Cas2.5, the value kit with the heatspreaders on it) to recoup some of the costs, but still means more expense :(
 
PASTYMAKER WHEN YOUR SELLING THAT CHIP LET ME KNOW !!!!!!!!!!!!

I JUST KILLED MY 3400 CLAWHAMMER ON PHASE :(
AND THE OTHER ONE DOESNT CLOCK THAT GOOD 2.6 MAX
 
Biostar tforce 6100 or epox sli, had both, both were awesome bits of kit, stable, oc'd well and supported the memory i used with no problems.
 
754? :eek: iv not seen one of them for years. i still have my old amd 3400 in the cupboard lol my 754.

how come you "Want" a new 754 mobo tho?
 
KarlMcWade said:
PASTYMAKER WHEN YOUR SELLING THAT CHIP LET ME KNOW !!!!!!!!!!!!

I JUST KILLED MY 3400 CLAWHAMMER ON PHASE :(
AND THE OTHER ONE DOESNT CLOCK THAT GOOD 2.6 MAX
Click to expand...

It's going on the bay along with the Epox 8NPA-sli after xmas along with a 3400 Clawhammer. I am sure the 3700+ could easily get past 2.8ghz with a mobo that allows a voltage boost.

I just noticed the time of the last few post's. Have'nt you guys heard of sleep? Or are you on night shift? I can't even see the screen at those times of night.
 
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