Passively Cooled Socket 939 Mobo Recommendations?

halcyon

Splendid
I'm looking for a truly truly truly reliable motherboard that meets the following criteria (in order of priority):

-Socket 939
-ATX
-Passively cooled north bridge (no fans allowed, this is for an audio rig)
-Places priority on reliability over performance (I'm willing to pay more for this)
-~$200 or less (don't want to spend $200 but if that's want high reliability costs, I'll pay it)
-Works fine with Hyudai-class memory in dual-channel (2GB of PNY PC3200 will be used, that stuff I overpaid CompUSA for) (apologies for the metaphor)
-SATA RAID (don't just about all contemporary boards offer this though?
-Excellent driver (WinXP Pro 32bit) and bios support ...out of the box, but of course I'll check for upgrades
-FireWire would be nice but is not critical if its a lower-end board with more PCI slots
-At least 3 PCI slots
-Easy Overclocker for overclocking-noobs (yeah, I'm a noob @overclocking, but everyone was once) 8O

I remain hopeful that these are all qualities that are not hard to find together and am trying not to be brand-prejudice but because of familiarity am looking to Asus and Gigabyte. If you know of other brands that meet this specs that meet or exceed their offerings, I'd truly appreciate any assistance you can render.

As a jumping off point, I'm considering the following from NewEgg :

ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 (no firewire :( )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081

Gigabyte GA-K8U-939 (no firewire :( )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128307

Asus A8N-SLI Premium (...getting expensive, would have to be, one of the best)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540

Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe (Expensive, if its the best, than maybe I'll treat myself...again)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131568

I know there's a ton of choices so I was hoping to get some subjective advice.


****

Background: This mobo is to replace a still-good-to-me-but-old-socket-technology Gigabyte GA-K8U s754 that i'll likely pass on to an ex-girlfriend or some other friend. This setup is for my iTunes driven jukebox machine so it doesn't need to break any speed barriers and I'll only be putting an A64 3000+ or 3200+ Venice with a very slight overclock upon it for now (but may choose a higher-end processor in a few months.
Why Socket 939? I don't feel like replacing my still okay 2GB of oh-so-cheap PNY memory just yet (so I don't want a board that only takes BMW class memory but I am going RAID-0 with 2 x Maxtor DMax 10s...just because I'd like a little faster HD throughput that's still quiet).
 

pat

Expert
gigabyte k8nf-9 has firewire and you should consider it too. I had this board for 8 months and it always been rock solid. passively cooled nforce4 4x chipset. I sold it to a friend and it is still working good. Another friend has his running his 3200+ at 2.3 Ghz for 2 years now without any problem even if passively cooled. Robust motherboard.

Otherwise, I now have the Asrock and it is performing good too with problem, but lack of firewire.
 

halcyon

Splendid
This rig is pretty much just a jukebox that I'll listen to iTunes on while surfing the net, etc. I'll likely do any wave editing on my other rig, so again, this rig is just for high-grade music listening. An X-Fi will be used for audio. The only reason I'm even setting up RAID is because I hate to wait for apps to load.
 

WhyFi

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Apr 12, 2006
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Hmmm... Abit AT8 and AT8 32X (newer CrossFire chipset) are passively cooled. Abit's uGuru makes it easy for the new overclockers. 2 PCI-E*16, 2 PCI, 2 PCI-E*1, firewire, SATA RAID... One-click BIOS upgrade from within Windows.
Cons - can be picky about ram. Some have had initial problems getting them up and running (myself included), but once up, they're solid.
 

elpresidente2075

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May 29, 2006
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As a user of the 939 Dual SataII, I can truthfully say that it is a very stable system. Also pretty simple to overclock, haven't burned it yet. Paired with a 3200+ (my rig) it has taken everything but the most demanding programs (VMware with 3 virtual machines running at the same time) without much struggle. It'll handle lower ram ok, I use it myself. Not to mention its plethora of other features including both PCI express X16 AND AGP 8x.

If you need firewire, here is a nice add on card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815124002

If you want lightning fast firewire transfers (and a use for the PCI Express X1 slot):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815161020

If you look at the first one, you may want to look into this too, it'll use those internal ports and put them on the front of your case. Also in black.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813999355
 

Herr_Fritz

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Jan 2, 2006
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Stability issues are usuallym (read usually) not a problem with most major maufacturers. I have to flaunt the fact that the ASUS boards (at least the A8N32) have 8-phase power to the CPU, which may or may not add to stability in some eyes (though it does in mine)
 

halcyon

Splendid
Thanks everyone for all the input. I'm going to try to get this ordered today so I have it by the weekend. Better CPU or Better mobo is the choice I've gotta make with my budget. Seems like I should spend the $$ on the foundation...on the motherboard. ...but the spoiled kid in me wants a faster CPU.

:twisted:
 

halcyon

Splendid
The ASUS A8N SLI Premium is passively cooled...heat pipe. ...but since I've placed my order I've read that some people have had trouble with getting it to POST. I hope I don't have that luck...but if I do...RMA and I'll get the ABIT AN8 SLI...its quite a bit cheaper but has only 2 PCI slots.

I'll just keep my fingers crossed on the ASUS, though...
 

Herr_Fritz

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The original BIOS was buggy, very buggy. Recent fabs of the board have a newer BIOS, but either way just flash it with the most recent from the ASUS site and you wont have a problem.
 

tchiwam

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Mar 10, 2006
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I got myself the Abit A8N 32X, the audio on board is crap but I have a very very good audio card, so I didn't care.

The idea of having chipset passively cooled make sense on that board. Very little heat stays IN the board area if you install one good fan in the right place.

Stability is so far excellent, it also has a good memory support. even supports 8GB of memory, if you find the DIMMS. 4GB without memory hole. Unlike other motherboard I tried (MSI Diamond plus).

The Asus / Giga need to have an extra fan if you use a passive cpu cooler or watercooling system. Abit A8N-32X's OTES is just enough cooling even without fans around that area.

The price itself is not too bad, I paid 160Euro for it. I don't know but many web site say it can be bought for 160-180$ range.