what to get instead of asrock dual

epeion · 17 Jan 2006 at 00:10

hi have already posted for more general advice in genral hardware section,
but now need more precise info on what m/b to get.

iwas going to buy to go with the rest of my kit an asrock dual, but as some has already pointed out this is limited for o/c as get an amd 144 or 146 not sure yet also as im getting pci-e card dual agp bit is redundant people have suggested dfi lan party but unfortunately place im getting other bits from don,t stock dfi in amd format

so other options please in £50 to £80ish mark

thankyou

twiceborn · 17 Jan 2006 at 01:22

I would really recommend getting a DFI board to go with your opteron, especially if you get a 144. It's worth paying a bit more postage to get one on its own, from OcUK for example.

However, if £80 really is the budget limit, try something by Epox or Asus. Someone else will have to recommend particular models though, as I've not used these boards myself

CB666 · 17 Jan 2006 at 02:05

£80 should be plenty to pick up a 2nd hand ultra-d, your only real choice if you want to overclock the life out of that opty.

twiceborn · 17 Jan 2006 at 02:36

OcUK has a B-grade DFI Ultra-D for £76.38 inc. VAT.

mp260767 · 17 Jan 2006 at 13:01

hi,

see if the site has any Epox EP-9NPA's, there are 2/3 varietys.

ajgoodfellow · 17 Jan 2006 at 13:29

I agree with mp260767 - Epox boards are great clockers and tend to be easier to setup than DFI boards

easyrider · 17 Jan 2006 at 17:40

Epox will easily do 300 FSB and are stable and built great and are good value

CB666 · 17 Jan 2006 at 18:52

ajgoodfellow said:
I agree with mp260767 - Epox boards are great clockers and tend to be easier to setup than DFI boards

isnt hard to setup and n00bs can use many existing threads for setting they dont know yet.

ajgoodfellow · 17 Jan 2006 at 18:57

Compared to an ASUS board it is harder to setup

It is also very picky with different memory types for example. If you want to quickly overclock something the fewer options available on ASUS boards are easier for people to manage

If you are new to PCs the DFI can be a daunting and off-putting experience.

I'm not saying that they're bad boards just that they take a bit of setting up

epeion · 17 Jan 2006 at 19:27

any advice on a good asus board between £50-80 ajgoodfellow

also thanks to the rest of you for the advice so far

ajgoodfellow · 17 Jan 2006 at 19:31

Either the Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS) or the Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS) would be good choices for that price range

Mekrel · 17 Jan 2006 at 20:58

The DFI Nforce4 boards aint hard to setup, they were when they first came out but since bios 3/10 a lot of issues were solved.

We're now on bios 6/23 and it took me 20 mins to get the bios flashed and windows installed. Same with all the DFI boards I have owned.

The nforce4 was probably the easiest as I had integrated the drivers into the windows CD including Raid. OS went on as sweet as a nut.

Running a 3Ghz Opty now, yummeh.

Barely Legal · 18 Jan 2006 at 00:51

I'm doing pretty well with the oc'ing of this opteron on an asrock - getting 2.7Ghz with 1.45v

mp260767 · 18 Jan 2006 at 09:02

just as an idea, i know u said the place doesnt stock dfi's, butfor that sort of price range you can get a dfi infinity from another place, may be worth a look if you fancy trying a dfi.