S754 Motherboards

[bob_the_builder]

Hello, I am looking for new motherboard, and I think that Socket S754 would make the biggest bang for the buck. I wonder what do you guys think? What is the "best" (and reasonably priced) motherboard with S754 would be? What chipset should I go with? I am looking for performance and stability... I was looking into ABIT KV8 or ASUS K8V or K8N, maybe Gigabyte... Please give me your thoughts or the place with more info. Thank you.

 

[Rugger]

What do you plan on using the system to do? How often do you upgrade and what do you upgrade the most often? The nForce3 250GB chipset is my recommendation for s754. Two great boards are the: <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-136-147&depa=1" target="_new">DFI Lanparty nF3 UT 250Gb</A> and the <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-190&depa=0" target="_new">Abit NF8</A>.
The NF8 is less expensive, but the DFI board is an OCing beast if you want to do that and the price difference is less than $15USD. Here are some more good reads:
1. <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2073" target="_new">Anandtech HDD review</A>
2. <A HREF="http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041110/index.html" target="_new">THGs graphics card buying guide</A>
3. <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20041223/index.html" target="_new">ATX12V v2.0</A>
4. <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050228/index.html" target="_new">THG Power Supply Review</A>



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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[bob_the_builder]

For more info in case I decide to choose Socket S939, what motherboards would be the "best" in that case using the same scenario? I upgrade very rare, almost when I have to or something brakes.

 

[Rugger]

There is a recent thread that AMD will no longer be producing A64 CPUs in s754 after June 15th - only the Turion, Mobile and Sempron will still be produced in s754. Since you don't upgrade often you should be good with a s754, but take that tidbit of info into consideration when making your final choice.

Make your mobo choice on what features you will need/use, price, performance and customer service from mfr. What other components are you thinking about using in the system? What will the system be used to for; gaming, video editing, music, internet, etc.? Will you be doing any OCing? Again, i would go with an nVidia chipset, either the the nF4 or the nF4 Ultra. I really like the performance and features of the
<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-136-152&depa=1" target="_new">DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D</A>, but you may not need all of the features/performance of that board. Here is an <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2337&p=2" target="_new">Anandtech DFI nF4 review</A>. Another option is the <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-197&depa=1" target="_new">Abit AN8</A>. Great product by a great company.

Here is a link to a bunch of <A HREF="http://www.nforcershq.com/modules.php?name=News&new_topic=45" target="_new">nForce4 Reviews</A> and a little dated <A HREF="http://www.behardware.com/articles/531/page1.html" target="_new">s754 vs s939 review</A>.

Do your research and make an informed decision when deciding s754 or s939...

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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[bob_the_builder]

I am just quickly looking at the picture of ABIT AN8 and I see only 3 PCI slots. Was there a sort of an evolution happened to motherboards that I am not avare of? Whats the differance between AN8, AN8-V AN8 3rd eye?

 

[Rugger]

Differences are features that are on the boards and what comes in the package - take a look at OTES, 1394, package contents, Guru clock, etc. Compare the features of each board and then decide which one best meets your needs. What do you need more than 3 PCI slots for? A lot of features/functions people used to upgrade for are integrated into the chipset. If this board doesn't have enough slots for you, then choose a board that does...

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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[endyen]

The three white ones are the old pci. The three black ones are the new pci-express. The long black one is for a pci-express graphics card (16X) while the short black ones a 1X pci-express slots.

 

[bob_the_builder]

I am confused... Is there AGP slot? Will i be able to use pci-express as regular pci? thanx

 

[fishmahn]

Not on that board. PCI-Express (aka PCIe) replaces PCI and AGP. The 16x slot is primarily for graphics cards and has 4x the bandwidth of AGP8x, and eventually graphics cards will be able to use that bandwidth.

PCIe can't be used as regular PCI, that's why there's a few regular PCI slots on the board. I expect to see some x1PCIe expansion cards (modem, sound, etc.) on the market soon.

This is a transition period. The PCI bus was reaching its bandwidth limits, so PCIe was created. PCIe is a serial protocol opposed to PCI being parallel, but it runs at a high clock rate so an x1 slot has about twice the bandwidth of a PCI slot.

For a while graphics cards will be made in both AGP and PCIe formats, so getting a new card in a year or so shouldn't be a problem whichever way you go. However, if you want to keep a current AGP card, you can't buy a PCIe motherboard. (there is one mobo mfg that has both AGP and PCIe on the same board, but I think the AGP is really a PCI format so that really cripples the speed)

Mike.

 

[bob_the_builder]

My problem is that I have the computer already. I have KG7-Raid board with 1800XP+, 512DDR, ASUS 128mb 4200TI video, with modem, tv tuner, dvds, etc. In my case my motherboard is broken. So I look for one to replace it along with the CPU. This is an opportunity to get something fast with new technology, however, I dont want to spend a fortune. In other words I want to keep all my old stuff, that is really sufficient for me right now. So is there a board with NF4 chipset, socket S939 with AGP and atleast 3 PCI? If not what should I lower myself to? Thanx...

 

[fishmahn]

nForce4 is the PCIe product. You won't get AGP on an nForce4. Get a board with an nForce3, they come in socket 939 versions, and you should still be able to upgrade your CPU and video card within the next couple years if you go that route.

Maybe DFI, Gigabyte, Abit, Asus, etc., all make nF3/939 boards, so pick your features and buy that one. Almost any nF3 board (except the microATX of course) will have 3+ PCI slots and an AGP.

Mike.

 

[bob_the_builder]

Which ones of nF3/939 boards would you recomend to look at? Or should I go with VIA chipset? I am looking for performance and stability...

 

[Rugger]

nF3 <b>Ultra</b> is the only nF3 chipset that supports AGP with s939. nF3 150/250/250gb are all s754. Abit, DFI and Asus don't have nF3 Ultra boards - at least none that I have been able to find...

Mfrs that I know have nF3 Ultra boards: Epox, MSI and Gigabyte.

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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[fishmahn]

Abit, DFI and Asus don't have nF3 Ultra boards ...

Thx for the heads up. Gah, that's what I get for opening my mouth before searching... I had a bad feeling about that too...

<quickly shuts mouth before you-know-who appears>

Mike.

 

[Rugger]

He'll be around eventually - there's no avoiding your punishment. <pre>you know you like being punished anyway...</pre><p>
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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[Cybercraig]

You want 939 get the Ultra chipset. You want a nice cheap 754 set-up get an MSI K8N-Neo and an A64-3000+. Just remember that socket 754 is going bye bye this summer. For a 4200Ti card a XP-2500+ on an NF7-S would be fine too. You won't get much of a boost going A64 with that GPU. Maybe 10% at best.

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
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