good 939 board for video editing?

[tomknowsall]

I don't need SLI. (One video card costs enough.)

Someone pointed out that many boards have only a few pci slots, and one will be taken up by a sound card. So on-board 1394 is probably a good thing, but not required since I'll have a seperate capture card.

What's a good board for video editing?

I've had pretty good experience with Asus, but it seems they don't make a 939 non-SLI board with 1394. Maybe the AN8-E, and add 1394.
It seems some like DFI Ultra-D. Looks pretty good to me.

Any suggestions?

(Thanks to those for answering my question. Now I know a 1394 card works fine on a non-1394 board. So I'm leaning to the Asus AN8-E.)

 

[ih8makingupnames]

What is your capture card? The manufacture may have recommended motherboards. You should check that out first. I do like the DFI it is an excellent board.

 

[maxxum]

I agree that Asus is a good bet as are Tyan’s. The A8N32-SLI (my choice) is probably overkill or like you said, geared more toward SLI. I don’t think you are going to escape having to get a board with SLI that fits your criteria. Even the Tyan board I would recommend (Tomcat K8E-SLI) is an SLI.

 

[purelithium]

I own the Epox 9NPA+ Ultra, which is one of the best boards out there for the 939, SLI or not. This version is not SLI and I love it. Stable, no problems, looks good(white LED integrated) and has a great error code LED display on it for troubleshooting.

It also has 2 1394 headers on it(2 ports total). Great stuff.

 

[FlyGuy]

Someone pointed out that many boards have only a few pci slots, and one will be taken up by a sound card.

So you still have at least two left for a PCI firewire card, right?

 

[g-paw]

Someone pointed out that many boards have only a few pci slots, and one will be taken up by a sound card.

So you still have at least two left for a PCI firewire card, right?

The advantage of the EPoX MOBO is it has built in firewire.

 

[FlyGuy]

The advantage of the EPoX MOBO is it has built in firewire.

Bonus! I have read some good things about the latest S939 EPoX boards. Specifically on some other [H]ardware review sites I think.....

 

[tomknowsall]

So you still have at least two left for a PCI firewire card, right?

Yes, but sometimes a card needs more than one space depending on the board lay out. Also, I would like to keep one open just in case a NIC or something flakes out.

THANK YOU, EVERYONE. Much appriciated.
I see what you all are talking about with the Epox. It has some stellar reviews, except for some usb issues (that might be fixed by enabling the +5V standby voltage on the USB bus).

If other readers have a suggestion for a stable video mobo, jump in.

Again, THANK YOU!

 

[purelithium]

I've never had the problems with the USB... I sync my Ipod through USB, use usb flash drives and have had no stability problems with it. I'm thinking that the people who are complaining of it haven't updated the bios. Just use the Epox windows utility and you'll be good to go.

 

[avatar3k]

People don't seem to understand that an SLI version of the board, 99 percent of the time, is better than just the original board than SLI. They can't get it over their thick heads that the SLI boards are just in general better...

 

[purelithium]

Not true.

The NF4 Ultra chipset is basically the SLI chipset without the SLI. That's why I recommend any ultra board to someone who isn't looking for sli

 

[avatar3k]

first, that is not true... but aside from that, u'd be hard-pressed to find a nonsli board that is equivalent to its sli relation that offers the same exact..hell, hardware.

 

[purelithium]

What's your basis for this? What does an SLI board have that my Epox based on the NF4 Ultra doesn't have?

 

[avatar3k]

first of all, since i was talking about SLI vs nonSLI versions of boards, your comparison of the a8nsli premium to an epox nonsli makes zero sense. second of all, im going to opt not to copy and paste the asus board's features/specs, and ask that you actually check it out yourself before you pose such a ridiculous question

 

[purelithium]

I have owned the Asus A8N SLI Premium. I currently own the Epox 9NPA+ Ultra.

The ONLY 2 things that the Premium has that the Epox doesnt is the Extra Ethernet port(which is flaky at best) and the SI SATA RAID chip that sucks. I couldn't get either of the Lan ports to work reliably(they both lost their connections hourly) in Windows(32 bit and 64 bit) OR Linux. To me, even if a board has all these fancy features but none of them work properly, that is a severely limited board compared to one that has pretty much all the same features but missing a few, but all the features it has work FLAWLESSLY.

So you tell me which is the better board.

 

[avatar3k]

I like how you are so strongly swayed by the incredibly large sample space of 1.

 

[purelithium]

Well, have you had ANY experience with either board?

 

[avatar3k]

have one holding up the better of my two pcs, and i love it, as do many others i've seen who use it

in general, it's unfair to go around calling a particular product bad b/c the one you got was bad

 

[purelithium]

I never once said that the product was Bad, I just said that the Epox is Better. That is my opinion. You have yours, but every ASUS product I've owned (including my vid. card) has had problems in the past couple years.

I'm not the only one who have had problems with the Ethernet on the Premium. Search google for it, and you'll find multitudes of problems with it.

You're just as guilty as I am(according to you) of biasing an opinion on a single board. Just because it works for you doesn't mean that it worked great for everyone else.

 

[avatar3k]

Actually, you consistently spoke in absolutes until I made a point, at which point you decided that what you meant was actually something else. That's perfectly understandable.

Either way, this thread has probably become pointless for the other users, and since I don't find that we'd reach an agreement anytime soon, we might as well stop this bickering and each believe what we wish to believe.

 

[purelithium]

Woah woah, you must be talking about yourself. I was refuting your statement that SLI boards are better than Non boards. YOU brought the argument of the Epox VS Asus. SO, then I refuted your points on that, You're the only one who hasn't given any factual/observational data to the table.

 

[tomknowsall]

It's all good. You both make good and important points. THANKS!
In fact, SLI vs. non-SLI is a good question.
But I know nothing about EPoX.
I've built about 5 systems with Asus. Only one went bad, and when I RMAed it they sent me a used one that looked like it had been thrown around a playground. I was pi$+, and they sent another one.

Anyways, this brings us to a point that I think sets the men from the boys, or the pros from the hoes: tech support.
My thinking is that eventually everyone will need tech support/RMA.
Now I test them before I buy.
I was considering the Abit AN8-Ultra, so I emailed them and they got right back to me TWICE. Abit stays on my list.

I've read that DFI has a great forum.
I've been helped by the Asus forum with this p4p800-e. It rocks.
(While forums are not total tech support, they helped me.)

So all things being equal (a board with good reviews), my current line of thinking is to go with the one that is there when you need them. Anybody can get a bad board, but if it does go bad, I don't want to be left holding the static-proof bag. Know what I mean?

So, how is EPoX tech support and forums?

From what I'm hearing, the EPox Ultra, DFI UltraD, or an expensive ASUS SLI with all the bells and whistles, are pretty even. Given the price, I'm leaning EPoX Ultra or DFI Ultra.

And because I have an Abit guru box, I'm still considering the AN8-Ultra, or even the new xfire. As I said, the techs did get back to me fast. The only reason I haven't got one yet is that I know they were bought out and RUMOMED to be going more to networking hardware, so I'm concerned they wont keep hammering out the BIOS, which is why this p4p800-e is finally stable, IMO.

Have at my sometimes twisted logic... I won't be offended. lol
IN fact, I'll thank you... AGAIN.

 

[purelithium]

I've never had to deal with Epox support yet, so I'm not an expert on that, maybe try asking around the Epox Forums here on TGF.

 

[tomknowsall]

I read some bad things about EPoX support from newegg reviewers. But it does sound like a good board. Thank you.

So the list is narrowed down to DFI Ultra, Abit AN8-Ultra (discontinued) or Crossfire, or an Asus board.
Any feedback or suggestions?

 

[tomknowsall]

While a bit pricey, the A8N-SLI Premium seems to have it all, except they slack on tech support, IMO. But nothing is perfect, and they do have forums.
bump.