Socet 939 Motherboard with AGP

[zaphod66]

Am looking into upgreading to an Athlon X2 and would like to keep using my 6800GT video card and DDR Memory. So what are some good bang for your buck motherboards with socet 939 and 8X AGP? Most MB I find have an AGP Express or they don't suppost my 3.3v video card.

 

[jaguarskx]

I would get the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 ULi M1695. Unlike most other AGP/PCI-e x16 mobos who's AGP performance sucks, this one is actually pretty good.

Click here for a review from Anandtech.com.

Almost everyone likes a story where the little guy wins - David beats Goliath. The little guy comes up with a unique and useful product or tops the Performance charts with a new chipset. Certainly, the ULi M1695/M1567 is just such a success story.

Many buyers were begging for a PCIe board that would also support AGP, without compromise. Lots of companies tried and the market ended up with a lot of compromised solutions that didn't catch on. It took ULi to finally build the chipset that made top-performing AGP on a PCIe board a reality.

More than that, the ULi M1695/M1567 chipset does not need to apologize to any other chipset in its performance. The ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 shows a retail product that is as good, or even better, than the ULi Reference Boards that excited those sites that actually bothered to look at the ULi chipset with an open mind.

 

[cronic]

i was using that motherboard its dodgy as hell i would go with an msi neo-2 platenam

great mobo just find a review of it

 

[ikaz]

I have an arock duel and I haven't had any problem to report (had it for about 3-4 months) overall a good cheap board.

 

[misry]

abit ul8. Had to flash the BIOS to get it to see my RAID but found it to be a good incremental step that let me use the DDR as dual and keep the FX5500 until I was ready to move to AM2.

 

[Multiplectic]

I'd buy the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum.

Here's a review from PC Stats, and one review from [H]ardOCP.

 

[elpresidente2075]

I have an arock duel and I haven't had any problem to report (had it for about 3-4 months) overall a good cheap board.

Had it since January and no problems either. Its a solid performer that does very well right out of the box. Not to mention the fact that it has both AGP and PCI-e slots. The OP's reason is exactly why I bought this board. Not to mention its a fairly decent overclocker. I had my 3200+ running almost 2.5 (2.46, actually) on stock aircooling and off brand ram. Also, linux apparently loves it. The four distro's that I use (see sig + fedora 3-5) came with support right out of the box as well. You have to load the AGP drivers and such in windows for it to work right though, but that is just like every other motherboard in the whole world, right?

Not to mention, ASRock is still releasing new bios' for it. The latest one (at least a couple months ago) adds support for the AM2 daughtercard and DDR2 memory.

And you can't beat the price.

OOPS! Guess they changed the name for vista! Same exact piece of equipment though.

Edit:
Here's some more reviews:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASRock/939Dual-SATA2
http://www.pcstats.com/artvnl.cfm?articleID=1860
http://www.ocworkbench.com/2005/asrock/reviews/939Dual-SATA2/g1.htm
And of course:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/09/16/asrock_939dual/index.html

I also seem to remember seeing this board in one of the overclocking tests that they did. I'll try to find it.

Edit 2:
I found it! Here it is. It's in the second picture clearly visible on the lower left. I know it's a videocard review, but obviously tom's thought it was good enough for them to run benchmarks off of...

 

[Wolfshadw]

Just look in my signature. 8)

 

[makrossv]

Get the ASROCK Dual SATA 2

I'm running one at 2.7ghz along with an x2 3800 Toledo on air. It's beautifully fast. Best 230$ I ever spent in a while. You can use your old ram, gpu, etc like me.

Compared to the cost of building a new C2D computer and going PCIe, this should hold you over until DX10 for gaming, etc.

PM me if you want screenshots of this board at work, it makes my x2 3800 perform close to the stock FX-60s.

 

[chrizt4adam]

I have a spare ABIT AV8 Motherboard lying around, never been used, in its original box. It run digital opt. audio, 8x agp, sata raid, firewire,gigabit. Lemme know if you wanna get it off me.

 

[bourgeoisdude]

i was using that motherboard its dodgy as hell

Question: What exactly do you mean by that statement? I've used it with 3 different cpu's, different memory speeds, dual-channel, single channel--and it is the first motherboard I have not had difficulty with changing configuration that much.

I'm sure there are some bad ones, but it seems nice as can be for the price. Forgive me if "everyone knows" what "dodgy as hell" means except me--but could you enlighten me?

 

[cronic]

i mean iv had 2 diffrent asrock s939 dual iv used them with an opty 144 3800 venice and a x2 4600 and it was never stable iv used diffrent hdds gfxs cardsect then i found out it was mobo so i got msi neo-2 platinam and my rig has been stable since

DO NOT BUY IT

 

[panicatak]

Sound like the 1T issue, I have been lucky and have had no issues with my board running at 1T but a lot of people have stability issues at 1T

 

[cronic]

it wasnt a 1t issue i tried everything to get it to work

 

[Mr_Wang]

I have an MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum that I've been itching to upgrade to a PCI-E board. I have the retail box and all of the accessories as well. It's currently running with a 3500+ and I have had no problems since I built it. PM me with an offer if you are interested.

 

[Anoobis]

it wasnt a 1t issue i tried everything to get it to work

Them. I believe you meant them because you said you had 2 of them and they both apparently didn't work for you.

 

[elpresidente2075]

Perhaps its an id10t issue...

 

[bourgeoisdude]

Perhaps its an id10t issue...

lol, forgot about that one. Bravo!

Cut my comment out...sorry for hijacking the thread a minute there but my comments were off topic...

 

[zaphod66]

Thanks for everyone for the informative comments and suggestions. I am sold on the ASRock 939 Dual SATA II or the VSTA version of the same board. This board will allow me to use my current 6800GT AGP card and 2Gig OCZ platinum. And will also let me upgrade to a PCI video card and to an AM2 platform.

Regards to all,

 

[oldgreyhead]

I think you should buy my Asus A8V (not delux) off me.

Price 30 UK pounds.

 

[panicatak]

Well to me for not much more he can get the Asrock complete with warranty!

 

[holymacaroni]

hmm yeah i was thinking of buying this one as well cause it also has an AM2 socket on it. Can anyone confirm AM2 processors work proper on this mobo? and any chance of overclocking?

 

[elpresidente2075]

Refer to some of my links above.

Edit:
And this too...

Also,
I did a bit of reading up on the VSTA and the Dual Sata II: Turns out that the VSTA is more than just a rename, its actually a true product refresh. Apparently the chipset has been revamped and has dropped the compatibility issue with some x300 cards from ati. It also has improved overclocking features, including locked PCI and PCIE busses and what I believe to be a windows software suite called Hybrid Booster. So pretty much they made a good board even better. I wonder if anyone has done any reviews with this model...

 

[holymacaroni]

thnx elpresidente. so I'm gonna need to buy a ASRock AM2CPU Board to put in my motherboard to be able to run a AM2 cpu right? Or is it included with the board. Cause I dont see it when i check the accesories. But i cant find it on the internet too lol

EDIT: owh wait I've found it
http://www.asrock.com/PRODUCT/AM2CPU%20Board.htm
It's about €30,- BUT it gives you AM2 socket AND DDR2 up to 800
I'd say a pretty good deal if you're a slow-time upgrader like me

 

[zaphod66]

There is a review for the ASRrock 939Dual-VSTA at OCWorkbench.com

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2006/asrock/939dual-vsta/g1.htm