Gigabyte K8NF-9 VS MSI K8N Neo4-F

MjM2

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Jul 2, 2005
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ok, i have to choose between these two mobos for my system. Whihc one is better? The MSI's cousins, the K8N Neo4-Platinum gets a lot of good reviews and stuff, but im not so sure about this one. I read a thread in anandtech forums about users having problems with this mobo. With the Gigabyte board, the only reason that is stopping me buying it is that the palcement of the heat sink. Will teh placement of the heatsink right udner my graphics card have any ill-effect on my system?

Curiosity was framed. Stupidity killed the cat.
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TheRod

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Aug 2, 2002
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I'm a bit biased on this one since i got a GA-K8NF-9 motherboard. This board is very good in terms of performance, price, stability but it's not a top overclocker's board. For the HeatSink placement, there is no known issue, any PCI-EXPRESS GPU will fit on the board since the HeatSink is a "low profile". By the way, the new GA-K8NF-9 don't have an active cooling on the Chipset, only an heatsink (like mine).

The only problems I had with this board were related to the nVidia nForce4 chipset drivers. Mainly the Ethernet Adapter drivers.

Why did I bought the GA-K8NF-9?
- Lowest priced S939 nForce4 mobo around at the time.
- Reviews were good for that board (nothing bad about it).
- FireWire on-board (some low-cost nForce4 don't have firewire and I needed that).

These were the 3 main reason I got it. From what I have read about the MSI it don't have integrated FireWire port. For the rest both boards should satisfy you.

NOTE : I must admit that I had a very pleasant experience with the GigaByte Tech. Support. I flashed my board with a BETA BIOS (F3k) that prevent any further BIOS flash! Oups! :smile: The Mobo is still working fine, but I have to RMA it to get it flashed to the latest offcial BIOS, the F5 which supports Athlon X2.

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GA-K8NF-9 / <b><font color=green>Athlon 64 3200+</font color=green> @ 3800+</b>
Infineon DDR400 (CL2.5) 2x512Megs
<font color=green>GeForce 6600GT 128Megs</font color=green>
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dunklegend

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Apr 7, 2005
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Why do you have to choose between those 2?
Anandtech chose the Epox and DFI nforce 4 ultra boards as the best of the crop.

<font color=red>It's impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious<font color=red>
 

pat

Expert
I have the Gigabyte and while it is perfectly stable and overclock ok, I dont like it. The POST is sloooooow, it take long time to detect drives. but once past that, it is ok.

But my nforce3 Soltek was posting much more faster than this one. Looking to get the nforce4 Soltek soon..

I could sel you mine if you want, with the CPU, a 3000+ Winchester.

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