upgrading, yet stuck which mobo to get..

MrEd · 22 Feb 2006 at 21:36

hi guys,
im upgrading and pretty much clear on what i am going to buy:

Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ ( overclock it a bit)

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB
(why is that cheaper than the rest of XT-X?)

now the mobos which i cant decide on, either Abit AN8 SLi "Fatal1ty" nForce4 SLi, or
MSI K8N Diamond nForce4 SLi [<- more silent with the passive north bridge] or if i have missed a trick here please suggest another one

also one more thing. i have currently 1GB PC3200 of Kingston HyperX in my PC [you know the one with the pretty but relatively ineffectual blue heat spreader] will that bottle neck it and get faster RAM, or should i keep it a bit longer and save my precious cash?

thanks

BigDom · 22 Feb 2006 at 22:15

Don't go for the Abit. I have two and whilst it's nice and stable in single core CPU's it definatly is NOT stable with Dual Core's. Not to mention the fact it needs patching to supoprt them anything like properly.

I've since put Asus Crossfire boards in my two Dual Core systems and they are great. One of the Abit's is now in my single core based Project Red alert.

MrEd · 22 Feb 2006 at 22:41

BigDom said:
Don't go for the Abit. I have two and whilst it's nice and stable in single core CPU's it definatly is NOT stable with Dual Core's. Not to mention the fact it needs patching to supoprt them anything like properly.

I've since put Asus Crossfire boards in my two Dual Core systems and they are great. One of the Abit's is now in my single core based Project Red alert.

i have been leaning toward the MSI one anyway, due to my current mobo being a MSI 865PE Neo2, which is great.

StarShock · 23 Feb 2006 at 07:28

also see if you can find a crossfire board rather than an SLi one as you're going for the ATI card.... possably

MSI RD480 Neo2 Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-066-MS)

BigDom · 23 Feb 2006 at 07:56

StarShock said:
also see if you can find a crossfire board rather than an SLi one as you're going for the ATI card.... possably

MSI RD480 Neo2 Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-066-MS)

Agreed, not sure how good that mobo is though, worth checking reviews first.

MrEd · 23 Feb 2006 at 16:46

well here is a review of it from tom hardware........

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/01/26/msi_k8n_diamond_plus/page2.html

thanks

StarShock · 23 Feb 2006 at 19:26

Here is a review of the crossfire version

BigDom · 23 Feb 2006 at 19:42

StarShock said:
Here is a review of the crossfire version

Mmm appears to be a fairly run of the mill board. I'd go for the Asus Crossfire if going Crossfire. Solid board with a better spec than the MSI.