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Good motherboard for an Athlon 3800+ X2

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bront   02-02-2006 at 10:20:35 AM

I'm looking at EP-9NPA3ULTRA as an option.

I don't want to spend too much, don't realy need RAID, not sure if SATA II is realy needed, and not sure if the 800 FSB vs 1000 FSB makes a big difference.

I'm also not planning on overclocking, at least initialy. If the board has decent enough sound, that's a plus, though most look like they have the realtek adapter now. I don't need Crossfile or SLI (It'd be crossfire if I did).

Is there a better value or better mobo to suit my needs?

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bront   02-03-2006 at 10:43:35 AM
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Anyone? Any input would be much appreciated.

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Snale   02-03-2006 at 12:33:22 PM
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I've never bought an Epox, so i cant give an opinion...
Anyway, Gigabyte, Asus and Abit have good mobos... ^^

Reply to Snale
apache_lives   02-03-2006 at 01:37:47 PM
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thank god your not looking at a MSI product.

Reply to apache_lives
UNREAL   02-03-2006 at 03:06:40 PM
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I currently have the Fatal1ty AN8 SLi and it's a BEAST!
Same CPU as you.
Here is a link to Abit:
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/m [...] &model=246

This motherboard has SICK ratings anywhere you go. Here is one link 9.5 out of 10. http://www.thetechzone.com/?m=show&id=323

Reply to UNREAL
bront   02-04-2006 at 04:56:12 AM
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the Fatal1ty looks a bit excessive for what I need.

The reviews for the Epox boards seem good, and I remember they used to be one of the top 4 many years ago.

I have had Asus and Gigabyte boards, been very happy with the Asus, a little less so with the Gigabyte, but they're still good.

I'm going to keep looking to see if I can find a good review of the Epox, but I'm also open to suggestions for a good board still, preferably under $100, but I'm willing to splurge if it's right.

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dvdpiddy   02-04-2006 at 05:47:43 AM
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epox are ok just make sure you call for tech support before noon pacific time there is a tech named micheal there who is good at solvin problems (last time i talked to him was like a year i wonder if he's still there)

Reply to dvdpiddy
dvdpiddy   02-04-2006 at 05:49:17 AM
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go for epox if you need to save money but consider other brands too i mean thats how i became an amd fanboy!

Reply to dvdpiddy
bront   02-06-2006 at 05:02:42 PM
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Quote :

If 9NPA3 Ultra is too much for your then try the orginal 9NPA+ Ultra instead.
You need the 1000Mhz HTT for overclocking as to 800Mhz on nForce4 vanilla.

No, the 9NPA3 Ultra is perfect. It's missing a printer port, firewire, and the extra RAID options off the next step up, but has some of the options I want over the step down. I found it for a great price too ($81 /w the 3800+ X2 for $292), so can't complain.

Thanks for the help :)

Reply to bront
bront   02-07-2006 at 12:25:43 AM
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Nevermind, apparently I was confused when someone made a chart of them and listed some things on the 3 Ultra wrong.

I has a Printer port, I thought it didn't, I don't need one anyway.

It does not have a firewire port of any kind. I don't need it, so no biggie.

It has only 4 rear USB ports, no big deal. I have the hookups for 2 more in the front, and don't have a lot of USB stuff that I plug into the back anyway.

It apparently does all the RAID formats, someone posted somewhere it didn't do 0+1. I'm going single HD anyway, so no big deal.

It has a copper heat sink, looks good for OCing if I ever go that rought (got some CL2 memory for it, might toy with it later, nice to have the option)

It's pretty much exactly what I need, and the features it has that I don't want are part of the board anyway.

Reply to bront
00MaxSE   02-07-2006 at 07:37:15 AM
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I also need a motherboard for the same CPU.
I was thinking of one of the A8N boards. What should I get?

A9N-E, A8N-VM CSM, A9N5X? :?:

What's the difference between those models?

Reply to 00MaxSE
bront   02-08-2006 at 08:20:21 PM
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I looked at the Asus boards, and decided to go EPoX for the price. I've loved my Asus boards in the past though, as they've had excelent quality. (My old BX100 mobo is still going strong 8+ years later, the P2 300 on it runs better than some retail older P3 setups with nearly twice the CPU spec.)

Quote :

The two Firewire port like ones on my EPoX 8RDA+ are breakouts from the mobo and the mobo package comes with the Firewire port bracket to be used in spare PCI slot.

The nForce4 Ultra comes with RAID 0, 1,1+0(similar to 0+1)on it's own SATA controller..


Not on this board. At least according to the pictures and specifications. No internal or external Firewire.

Pics

Specs

Yeah, the RAID issue was a confusion point from a post by someone somewhere else, who listed it as supporting 0 or 1 only. I'm clear on that.

Thanks for the help though :)

Reply to bront
bront   02-09-2006 at 11:58:10 AM
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Quote :

Glad you're another upcomming EPoX owner.
As an overclocker myself, I just can't live without the Onboard Post-Port LED(Port80) which EPoX and a few Abit boards supplies.

As for ASUS, their AMD products hasn't been any special lately other than being overpriced.

Not being a true enthusiest for a while, I'm not quite familiar with that feature, but I'll look it up. What is is?

Reply to bront
bront   02-10-2006 at 09:10:58 AM
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Quote :

It lets you know at which stage during bootup the computer hangs. Useful if you're an overclocking wanting to know which is the 'limiting' part.
And when booted into Windows you can use it to display temperature through programs like MBM5.


Sweet. Another reason for a clear side case.

Reply to bront
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