Good SLI motherboard with room to grow?

Verios · Aug 25, 2005, 07:02 PM

[color=black]Hi guys, i'm thinking of upgrading my motherboard (along with my video card to a 7800 GT) and was curious to know what motherboard you could recommend that would work with my current processor (Athlon 64 3500+) however I would like to be able to upgrade my processor down the road to dual core perhaps or something along those lines.[/color]

[color=black]The current store which I buy from has the following stock[/color]
[color=black][/color]
[color=black]Asus A8N-SLI Premium w/ DualDDR400, 7.1 Audio, Dual GB Lan, 2 x PCI-E x16 SLI, Cool-Pipe[/color]
[color=black][/color]
[color=black]DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR w/ DualDDR400, 7.1 Audio, Dual GB Lan, SATAII, PCI-E x16 SLI[/color]
[color=black][/color]
[color=black]Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI w/ DualDDR400, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, Wireless Lan, 2 x PCI-E x16 SLI[/color]
[color=black][/color]
[color=black]MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI w/ DualDDR400, SB Live! 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, PCI-E x16 SLI[/color]
[color=black][/color]
[color=black](I currently have an Neo2 Platinum and kinda leaning toward the Neo4 however I'm not compeltely sure if it will work with my current processor any reassurance would be greatly welcomed lol)[/color]
[color=black][/color]
[color=black]The link to all the motherboards that I have the opportunity of purcashing can be found below if you would like to have alook and suggest something I might have missed. Thanks in advanced guys.[/color]
[color=black][/color]
[color=black]http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=cat&memx_menu=212&SID=3507 5[/color]

Zelig · Aug 25, 2005, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Verios

[color=black]DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR w/ DualDDR400, 7.1 Audio, Dual GB Lan, SATAII, PCI-E x16 SLI[/color]
[color=black][/color]

I've been supremely impressed with mine, it's been the best motherboard I've ever personally owned so far.

Zardon · Aug 25, 2005, 08:12 PM

has to be the Asus A8n SLI or the Lanparty, the lanparty is a better overclocker but I would rate the Asus high also, extremely stable mobo.

dipstick · Aug 26, 2005, 06:34 PM

Another vote for the DFI from an extremely satisfied user

Sandok · Aug 26, 2005, 06:41 PM

I've always had ASUS and they never failed me yet.

SFOSOK · Aug 27, 2005, 08:14 AM

Well I was goin to get the ASUS A8N SLI Delux then change out the stock northbridge cooler with a heatsink but now I'm having second thoughts. Can anyone tell me what the true advantage the Lan Party board has on gaming?

O and also is the extra money worth buying the Premium board instead of the Delux?

Falstaff · Aug 27, 2005, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

has to be the Asus A8n SLI or the Lanparty, the lanparty is a better overclocker but I would rate the Asus high also, extremely stable mobo.

I agree, the DFI LAN Party NF4-SLI DR is a good choice but ya gotta pull six jumper blocks for SLI, and bios profiles enhances tinkering. Its about 220 dollars american.

The Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe gives you lots of slots for x1 PCIE, x16 and x32 PCI. and with PATA and SATA support and nforce4 this is a more formidible and stable platform for about 200 smackers..

Got some serious BLING?......try the Tyan K8WE S2895, dual card, dual proc and dual memory, hell it is really two mobos in one..but then it costs around 600 smackeroonis.

Lowfat · Aug 27, 2005, 08:40 PM

Are you a big time overclocker, a light OC'er, or hardly at all? Will you be using a soundcard or onboard?
If you want every singly MHz you can get out of your cpu/ram than the DFI board is definately the one you want.

If you overclock, but don't care about a few MHz, or don't overclock at all and are planning on using onboard sound, I recommend the MSI board. It has far superior sound than all the other NF4 boards. It uses a SBLive! codec verses the Reaktek ALC880. I do believe it does Dolby Digital encoding as well if you have a home theatre to hook up or have speaker system with SPDIF inputs.

If you OC slighty, not using onboard sound, and want the most stable board you can find, then go for the Asus board. I have never had a single problem with any Asus board I have owned. My last motherboard was a DFI, and it was a very picky board. A lot of tinkering around to do, however after done tweaking/tinkering it was very stable.

SFOSOK · Aug 28, 2005, 06:58 AM

I'll be using the sound card on the board with headphones (because buying another would be useless with headphones. I will be doin future overclocking and probably a lot right now for the 3dmark and to get F.E.A.R. to run on a 1600x1200 res LCD Screen with full everything and good FPS, also I decided to get a 3700 64. So yeah, since I' getting the Zalmans for it might as well keep it over clocked to the highest possible (with stability) if it keeps cool. So you thinkin Lan party then?

SFOSOK · Aug 28, 2005, 06:59 AM

What is MSI's best board and how much better is it compared to Asus's best with overclocking and everything?

Lowfat · Aug 28, 2005, 10:18 AM

That is MSI's best board. And its pretty much the same as Asus as an overclocker.

Overall its my favourite 939 board.

No_Style · Aug 28, 2005, 04:12 PM

Well I can't say enough good things about the DFI NF4 boards. The fact that I got two of them (One SLI and one Ultra-D) could mean that I love these boards. The only gripe I have about this board is the lack of a solid hard copy manual. There is a more intricate manual online, but that pales in comparison to the ones I'm used to from ASUS.

I made a personal goal of not using AMI BIOS based boards again. Which is one of the driving forces of my decision with the DFI over the ASUS. I've had the BIOS flunk out on me with my P4P800 and P4P800-E.

So, I would agree with everybody else's suggestion.

ASUS and MSI for ultimate reliability.
DFI for overclocking and acceptable reliability.

P.S - If you are going to try and run F.E.A.R. at 1600 x 1200 with everything maxed, you will need 2 GB of RAM. That is initial results based on the SP demo released thus far. Hopefully (and I'm really hoping) that it will be able to take high resolutions and quality settings with 1 GB of RAM.

SFOSOK · Aug 28, 2005, 05:27 PM

Jeez 2 gb? well time to make some extra money.

dipstick · Aug 28, 2005, 05:55 PM

I just noticed you also wanted to pick up a 7800GT. If so, you can save some $$ by going for the evga 7800GT with the free evga sli mobo(newegg has it for $449 and its not actually free since its $50 more than a plain GT) but its actually quite good and it OCs very well. I picked up a kit for my bro last week and it’s a great deal. Also the evga GT is the highest clocked atm which is always a nice bonus. A word of caution on the MSI tho, the older models cannot use 7800 sli due to some capacitors in the way of the bottom card. If you decide to pick one of those up and may want to add another card down the road make sure it’s the latest revision. gl

SFOSOK · Aug 29, 2005, 04:50 AM

I saw the deal and I'm getting a GTX no matter what so I mean I really have to know how the EVGA one compares to ASUS or MSI to make a decision.

Aug 25, 2005, 07:02 PM	#1
Verios DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 103 Rep Power: 0	Good SLI motherboard with room to grow? [color=black]Hi guys, i'm thinking of upgrading my motherboard (along with my video card to a 7800 GT) and was curious to know what motherboard you could recommend that would work with my current processor (Athlon 64 3500+) however I would like to be able to upgrade my processor down the road to dual core perhaps or something along those lines.[/color] [color=black]The current store which I buy from has the following stock[/color] [color=black][/color] [color=black]Asus A8N-SLI Premium w/ DualDDR400, 7.1 Audio, Dual GB Lan, 2 x PCI-E x16 SLI, Cool-Pipe[/color] [color=black][/color] [color=black]DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR w/ DualDDR400, 7.1 Audio, Dual GB Lan, SATAII, PCI-E x16 SLI[/color] [color=black][/color] [color=black]Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI w/ DualDDR400, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, Wireless Lan, 2 x PCI-E x16 SLI[/color] [color=black][/color] [color=black]MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI w/ DualDDR400, SB Live! 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, PCI-E x16 SLI[/color] [color=black][/color] [color=black](I currently have an Neo2 Platinum and kinda leaning toward the Neo4 however I'm not compeltely sure if it will work with my current processor any reassurance would be greatly welcomed lol)[/color] [color=black][/color] [color=black]The link to all the motherboards that I have the opportunity of purcashing can be found below if you would like to have alook and suggest something I might have missed. Thanks in advanced guys.[/color] [color=black][/color] [color=black]http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=cat&memx_menu=212&SID=3507 5[/color]

Aug 27, 2005, 08:14 AM	#6
SFOSOK 939 Goin Strong Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 7,033 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	Well I was goin to get the ASUS A8N SLI Delux then change out the stock northbridge cooler with a heatsink but now I'm having second thoughts. Can anyone tell me what the true advantage the Lan Party board has on gaming? O and also is the extra money worth buying the Premium board instead of the Delux? __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Aug 27, 2005, 08:40 PM	#8
Lowfat Xtreme Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can Posts: 4,251 Rep Power: 99	Are you a big time overclocker, a light OC'er, or hardly at all? Will you be using a soundcard or onboard? If you want every singly MHz you can get out of your cpu/ram than the DFI board is definately the one you want. If you overclock, but don't care about a few MHz, or don't overclock at all and are planning on using onboard sound, I recommend the MSI board. It has far superior sound than all the other NF4 boards. It uses a SBLive! codec verses the Reaktek ALC880. I do believe it does Dolby Digital encoding as well if you have a home theatre to hook up or have speaker system with SPDIF inputs. If you OC slighty, not using onboard sound, and want the most stable board you can find, then go for the Asus board. I have never had a single problem with any Asus board I have owned. My last motherboard was a DFI, and it was a very picky board. A lot of tinkering around to do, however after done tweaking/tinkering it was very stable. __________________ 27" iMac: i5 750 * 80GB X25-M G1 * 4GB DDR3 * HD4850 Stacker: 2600k * P8P67 Pro * 4GB DDR3 * 80GB ioXtreme * 30GB X25-E * (2) HD6950 * Asus D2 * Enermax Revo85+ HWD: (2) Xeon E5649 * EVGA SR-2 * 6GB DDR3 * 8800GTS * 1000W Antec FT01BW: (2) Xeon E5645 * EVGA SR-2 * 6GB DDR3 * GTS210 * Gigabyte 800W Odin GT Storage: (2) Sans Digital TR8M-B * 29TB

Aug 28, 2005, 06:58 AM	#9
SFOSOK 939 Goin Strong Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 7,033 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	I'll be using the sound card on the board with headphones (because buying another would be useless with headphones. I will be doin future overclocking and probably a lot right now for the 3dmark and to get F.E.A.R. to run on a 1600x1200 res LCD Screen with full everything and good FPS, also I decided to get a 3700 64. So yeah, since I' getting the Zalmans for it might as well keep it over clocked to the highest possible (with stability) if it keeps cool. So you thinkin Lan party then? __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Aug 28, 2005, 06:59 AM	#10
SFOSOK 939 Goin Strong Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 7,033 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	What is MSI's best board and how much better is it compared to Asus's best with overclocking and everything? __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Aug 25, 2005, 08:12 PM	#3
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 177	has to be the Asus A8n SLI or the Lanparty, the lanparty is a better overclocker but I would rate the Asus high also, extremely stable mobo.

Aug 26, 2005, 06:34 PM	#4
dipstick HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: USA Posts: 3,609 Rep Power: 70 System Specs	Another vote for the DFI from an extremely satisfied user

Aug 26, 2005, 06:41 PM	#5
Sandok DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9,472 Rep Power: 66	I've always had ASUS and they never failed me yet.

Aug 28, 2005, 10:18 AM	#11
Lowfat Xtreme Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can Posts: 4,251 Rep Power: 99	That is MSI's best board. And its pretty much the same as Asus as an overclocker. Overall its my favourite 939 board. __________________ 27" iMac: i5 750 * 80GB X25-M G1 * 4GB DDR3 * HD4850 Stacker: 2600k * P8P67 Pro * 4GB DDR3 * 80GB ioXtreme * 30GB X25-E * (2) HD6950 * Asus D2 * Enermax Revo85+ HWD: (2) Xeon E5649 * EVGA SR-2 * 6GB DDR3 * 8800GTS * 1000W Antec FT01BW: (2) Xeon E5645 * EVGA SR-2 * 6GB DDR3 * GTS210 * Gigabyte 800W Odin GT Storage: (2) Sans Digital TR8M-B * 29TB

Aug 28, 2005, 04:12 PM	#12
No_Style Styleless Wonder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Ottawa, Ontario Posts: 6,034 Rep Power: 0	Well I can't say enough good things about the DFI NF4 boards. The fact that I got two of them (One SLI and one Ultra-D) could mean that I love these boards. The only gripe I have about this board is the lack of a solid hard copy manual. There is a more intricate manual online, but that pales in comparison to the ones I'm used to from ASUS. I made a personal goal of not using AMI BIOS based boards again. Which is one of the driving forces of my decision with the DFI over the ASUS. I've had the BIOS flunk out on me with my P4P800 and P4P800-E. So, I would agree with everybody else's suggestion. ASUS and MSI for ultimate reliability. DFI for overclocking and acceptable reliability. P.S - If you are going to try and run F.E.A.R. at 1600 x 1200 with everything maxed, you will need 2 GB of RAM. That is initial results based on the SP demo released thus far. Hopefully (and I'm really hoping) that it will be able to take high resolutions and quality settings with 1 GB of RAM. __________________ "The Best Style Is No Style" Specifications Here

Aug 28, 2005, 05:27 PM	#13
SFOSOK 939 Goin Strong Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 7,033 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	Jeez 2 gb? well time to make some extra money. __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Aug 28, 2005, 05:55 PM	#14
dipstick HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: USA Posts: 3,609 Rep Power: 70 System Specs	I just noticed you also wanted to pick up a 7800GT. If so, you can save some $$ by going for the evga 7800GT with the free evga sli mobo(newegg has it for $449 and its not actually free since its $50 more than a plain GT) but its actually quite good and it OCs very well. I picked up a kit for my bro last week and it’s a great deal. Also the evga GT is the highest clocked atm which is always a nice bonus. A word of caution on the MSI tho, the older models cannot use 7800 sli due to some capacitors in the way of the bottom card. If you decide to pick one of those up and may want to add another card down the road make sure it’s the latest revision. gl

Aug 29, 2005, 04:50 AM	#15
SFOSOK 939 Goin Strong Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 7,033 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	I saw the deal and I'm getting a GTX no matter what so I mean I really have to know how the EVGA one compares to ASUS or MSI to make a decision. __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!