Looking for a 939 motherboard to replace my av8

Nazbit

Nazbit

Nazbit

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Joined
11 Dec 2004
Posts
3,871
Hi all,

Im looking for a new motherboard to replace my Abit Av8 3rd eye. I have been out of the loop for a bit with motherboards latley and so I dont really know whats what in the world at the moment.

Here is what I am looking for:

S939 board to work with my AMD Opteron 170
PCI-E graphics with the ability to run crossfire/SLi (not sure which yet)
Atleast 4 Sata Ports (My current mobo is quite limited at 2!)
Must be a good overclocker to squeeze the very best out of my cpu.
2 Standard PCI slots
Onboard sound is not an issue as I have an Xfi.

Dont really know what else to include, if you need any more info please ask.

Thanks in advance!
 
I have a DFI rdx200-crossfire with dual x1800xt's.
4400+ CPU clocks to 3ghz on this and MB is rock solid.

Don't think they sell this MB anymore but if you want crossfire get the updated version - DFI cfx3200. This has dual 16x PCI-e slots and SATA 2.

If you want SLI you still can't go wrong with the DFI NF4 SLI-D. The expert version is only marginally better.

Both boards clock over 300Mhz HTT so you could push your opty 170 upto 3Ghz if its capable of it.

Good luck.

Russty
 
Ok I have decided that I am now looking for SLi and not crossfire.

So it would be the DFI NF4 SLI-D out of the ones mentioned in your post.

Is the Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe nForce4 SLi X16 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard any good?

Cheers
 
DFI have best overclocks on socket 939.
if you have a bit more cash get the sli-dr or expert version.

Expert has slight better board layout but is practically identical performance wise.

The Asus is a great motherboard too. Very comparible to the DFI boards for overclocking (although without the option of some of the crazier settings) but it does cost more.

It does have dual 16x PCI-e interfaces rather than 8x but the benefits of this have been over hyped and don't really make a difference.

Both boards are great, if you have the cash go for the Asus. If not then you aren't really missing out on anything by getting the DFI.

Russty
 
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also the dfi ultra d, can be modded easy to sli, if u wanna go that way :)
great boards :)
 
DFI NF4 ultra d's good too but once you have modded them they don't always clock as high as sli-d's.

Modding the latest versions of the ultra d also requires you to take the cooler off the southbridge and do a physical mod in addition to the bios upgrade.

Great in the past if you could be bothered but I don't think todays small price difference would make it worth while voiding the warranty.

Russty
 
russty said:
The Asus is a great motherboard too. Very comparible to the DFI boards for overclocking (although without the option of some of the crazier settings) but it does cost more.

if you have the cash go for the Asus. If not then you aren't really missing out on anything by getting the DFI.

Russty
Click to expand...

I do have the cash for the asus. Do you think that this would be the board to buy then?

Its probably the one im edging towards at the moment.
 
Nazbit said:
I do have the cash for the asus. Do you think that this would be the board to buy then?
Click to expand...

personally I would take the Abit AN8 32X over the Asus, in fact I did & never regretted it :)
 
Im looking to steer away from abit really. My AV8 was relativley problem free but it ran out of overclocking options and became a limiting factor.

How does your board clock?
 
Never had an Abit S939 Mobo, but going by the older NF7S ( I have 2 ) they have been great boards.

I dont have S939 DFI either, only a 754 LP250UT and its near perfect.

For S939 I have gone for a Neo2 for AGP and a Neo4 for PCIE and to be honest, I cannot find a fault at all with any of them. The Neo2 has been to 3Ghz, the Neo4 I only took to 2.7 and thats only cos its new and a new CPU, so I dont want to risk anything just yet.

In fact, I do have a small issue and that is that when you fill up the RAM slots with Double sided RAM, it runs the RAM at 333 instead of 400 and while this seems to make people **** it off, I have found out a few other things too!

1 - I know it to 333 or lower anyway to clock the CPU up a bit

2 - The DFI LP Also does this anyway, so making arguements for the DFI a little bit thick!

Dotn do it with single sided, only double.

Apart from that, I have found the MSIs to be flawless.

My next 939 Mobo is going to be Abit for sure, although I am not settled on a model.
 
If I was in your situation and had the cash I would probably go with the ASUS.

I have a clear sidepanel on mine and the ASUS has lots of shiney bits on it and is the better looking Mobo IMO.

Would look great and if games come out that start using stupidly large textures then the dual 16x PCI-e slots may make a difference one day.

Go for it.

Russty
 
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FatRakoon said:
Never had an Abit S939 Mobo, but going by the older NF7S ( I have 2 ) they have been great boards.

I dont have S939 DFI either, only a 754 LP250UT and its near perfect.

For S939 I have gone for a Neo2 for AGP and a Neo4 for PCIE and to be honest, I cannot find a fault at all with any of them. The Neo2 has been to 3Ghz, the Neo4 I only took to 2.7 and thats only cos its new and a new CPU, so I dont want to risk anything just yet.

In fact, I do have a small issue and that is that when you fill up the RAM slots with Double sided RAM, it runs the RAM at 333 instead of 400 and while this seems to make people **** it off, I have found out a few other things too!

1 - I know it to 333 or lower anyway to clock the CPU up a bit

2 - The DFI LP Also does this anyway, so making arguements for the DFI a little bit thick!

Dotn do it with single sided, only double.

Apart from that, I have found the MSIs to be flawless.

My next 939 Mobo is going to be Abit for sure, although I am not settled on a model.
Click to expand...

Not using 4 sticks of RAM are you?
 
Yeah, in that PC ( Neo4 & x2 4400 ) I am using 4 single sided samsungs

Its not a problem in that though cos its clocked up anyway... Whether I have 2 or 4, I would have knocked it down anyway.

I would like to use the corsair, but a pair of TwinX and a Pair of Platinum ( Both pairs are evenly speced DDR550 sticks - but are not 100% the same as the DFI LanParty has issues with the platinums and love the TwinX? )
 
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