upgrading, yet stuck which mobo to get..

[MrEd]

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

 

[MrEd]

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.

 

[MrEd]

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

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

thanks