S939 M/b...

[yoni45]

alright, so, looking for a solid socket 939 motherboard, overclockable, with most of the features that one could potentially use (dual channel ram, dual RAID SATA, PCI-E and such... )

now I've had good luck with Asus in the past, but i have a few questions...

are motherboards in any way video card specific or video card tailored? for example, the ASUS A8NSLI-DELUXE and ASUS A8NSLI-PREMIUM i would assume are tailored for SLi capable nVidia vid cards... is there any downside of using an ATI based card on them? is there anything else that I should note when matching a video card to a motherboard (for example the nVidia nForce 4 chipset...), and if so what's tailored for nvidia cards and what for ati cards?

now, i've heard of bad things about abit and s939 so i'm probably going to stay away, but something struck me as odd on the AX8 model... which was labebeled as

Memory Supported: 400MHz DDR2

is this just a misprint? last I checked 400 MHz was still DDR and there arent any motherboards that support s939 and DDR2

one of the features of this board is "Dual DDR 400", is that what the DDR2 is relating to, and isnt that just dual channel or is it something more?

1 more thing, Asus A8N SLI Deluxe vs Premium, is there a fundamental difference between the 2 or is it something minor that can be overlooked?

also, if neone has any other suggestions for a good S939 m/b feel free to share =D

 

[bloodthirst]

alright, so, looking for a solid socket 939 motherboard, overclockable, with most of the features that one could potentially use (dual channel ram, dual RAID SATA, PCI-E and such... )

now I've had good luck with Asus in the past, but i have a few questions...

are motherboards in any way video card specific or video card tailored? for example, the ASUS A8NSLI-DELUXE and ASUS A8NSLI-PREMIUM i would assume are tailored for SLi capable nVidia vid cards... is there any downside of using an ATI based card on them? is there anything else that I should note when matching a video card to a motherboard (for example the nVidia nForce 4 chipset...), and if so what's tailored for nvidia cards and what for ati cards?

now, i've heard of bad things about abit and s939 so i'm probably going to stay away, but something struck me as odd on the AX8 model... which was labebeled as

Memory Supported: 400MHz DDR2

is this just a misprint? last I checked 400 MHz was still DDR and there arent any motherboards that support s939 and DDR2

one of the features of this board is "Dual DDR 400", is that what the DDR2 is relating to, and isnt that just dual channel or is it something more?

1 more thing, Asus A8N SLI Deluxe vs Premium, is there a fundamental difference between the 2 or is it something minor that can be overlooked?

also, if neone has any other suggestions for a good S939 m/b feel free to share =D

Asus amd motherboards are shit for overclocking your better off getting the dfi lanparty SLi-dr or something, no nf4 motherboards arent graphics card specific just as long as there pci-e, you can use any pci-e card on a pci-e compliant slot no matter whether its ati or nvidia.

at the moment ddr2 is only with intel boards so you dont need to worry about that.

personally i would never waste my money on an asus there not that great

 

[Eguy]

Asus amd motherboards are shit for overclocking your better off getting the dfi lanparty SLi-dr or something, no nf4 motherboards arent graphics card specific just as long as there pci-e, you can use any pci-e card on a pci-e compliant slot no matter whether its ati or nvidia.

at the moment ddr2 is only with intel boards so you dont need to worry about that.

personally i would never waste my money on an asus there not that great

:worship: :worship: :worship:

 

[yoni45]

alright, SLi and Crossfire IS a motherboard based feature that is video card specific though, correct?

 

[Raging]

alright, SLi though IS a motherboard based feature that is video card specific correct?

yes it is.

sli is-Scaleable Link Interface,which is being able to use 2 gpu's together for 2x

the power compared to a single gpu on its own :yumyum:

thanks.

 

[yoni45]

ok, now looking at the various DFI boards available, the only differences i can catch between them are SLi and Crossfire capability, as well as improved sound cards on some (so you can hook up a 6 channel speaker set AND use mic/line in at the same time), and possibly dual gigabit ports... other than that is there any other difference as to why the more expensive ones are well, more expensive (other than things like more USB headers... 34 is enough )?

for example: DFI LP UT NF4 Ultra-D vs DFI NF4 Infinity

or

DFI Lanparty NF4 UT SLI-DR vs DFI Lanparty NF4 SLI-D...

 

[WC Annihilus]

SLI is the multi-GPU solution for nvidia and thus only nvidia cards can be used in the SLI configuration. However, if you are just going to use one video card, ATI is fine. If you want multi-GPUs with ATI, you will have to look into the Crossfire solution. However, since it is much newer technology, it isn't really tested so we don't have the greatest idea of how well ATI's new ATI Xpress 200 mobo chipset works and how good the boards are. The only Crossfire-ready board that I know of (so far) is the DFI one here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136165 .

The preliminary results from AnandTech of the Crossfire chipset (based on a reference board) seem to be quite impressive, proving to be a powerful overclocker (just barely behind DFI boards, and as far as I can tell, the reference board wasn't DFI). Article shown here: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2542 & http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2269 .

As to the basic performance of the Crossfire solution itself, x850 xt's in Crossfire configuration it was either a little ahead or a little behind the 6800 ultras in SLI, and depending, ahead or behind a single 7800 GTX and a fair amount behind 7800 GTXs in SLI, except of course Half Life 2 which is built for ATI. Article shown here: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2541&p=5 . So, that's a basic analysis.

Edit: DFI Crossfire board performed fairly well, achieving solid OC performance (still behind nForce 4 DFI boards and the ATI reference board) and middle-of-the-pack to upper results in other tests. Article here: http://anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2572&p=10 .

 

[bloodthirst]

yes it is.

sli is-Scaleable Link Interface,which is being able to use 2 gpu's together for 2x

the power compared to a single gpu on its own :yumyum:

thanks.

no not really, that is only when you are thinking about going SLi or crossfire which he hasnt yet said he will

 

[Eguy]

ok, now looking at the various DFI boards available, the only differences i can catch between them are SLi and Crossfire capability, as well as improved sound cards on some (so you can hook up a 6 channel speaker set AND use mic/line in at the same time), and possibly dual gigabit ports... other than that is there any other difference as to why the more expensive ones are well, more expensive (other than things like more USB headers... 34 is enough )?

for example: DFI LP UT NF4 Ultra-D vs DFI NF4 Infinity

or

DFI Lanparty NF4 UT SLI-DR vs DFI Lanparty NF4 SLI-D...

UT is retail box with UV and extras

Just get a LP UT SLI-DR and be done with it

 

[bloodthirst]

infinity motherboards are great but they look like shit remind me to much of gaysus

 

[FarFarAway]

For a stock board the Asus SLi Premium gets a lot of people's money. Its a good solid and cheap(ish) board.

DFI Lanparty SLi-D or SLI-DR are the ones you really want to go for though

 

[|3ourne]

Asus amd motherboards are shit for overclocking your better off getting the dfi lanparty SLi-dr or something, no nf4 motherboards arent graphics card specific just as long as there pci-e, you can use any pci-e card on a pci-e compliant slot no matter whether its ati or nvidia.

at the moment ddr2 is only with intel boards so you dont need to worry about that.

personally i would never waste my money on an asus there not that great

Say the same thing after looking at the new Asus A8N-32 board.

Vdimm max = 3.2 V , 8 phase power regulation , Heatpipe cooling of the northbridge and mosfets. Absolutely no voltage droop/jump underload meaning cleaner voltage for overclocking.

Stop being so damn Biased.

 

[jaber]

The A8N-32 still limits vcore depending on ur proccy and starts undervolting if u cross the set threshold just like all the other asus boards. This is the main reason y asus is shit and nothing has changed with the A8N-32

 

[mrbeef]

i use a dfi lanparty sli-dr and it is awsome for overclocking alothough the chipset fan aint quiet but the proformacne makes up for it

 

[gazdude]

from reading I have been doing the DFI is the ultimate board for overclocking at the moment