which mainboad - socket 939

voxpop

Im looking to sort out a new mainboard and was thinking about the MSI K8N Diamond Plus (http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=316732&view=detailed) - any opinions on this board, should I go for something else ?

slade_x

For that kind of money i'd go with a DFI around the same price range

voxpop

are the DFI boards def. better ? or what the difference ?

Drapper

Asus AN8 SLI Delux or Premium

Dman_15

The DFI are better, but not for the faint hearted. They can be picky and difficult to get stable, but for overclocking theres nothing better.

The Asus boards come a close second, but people have had trouble with fluctuating voltages.

voxpop

Im a dabbler when it comes to overclocking, dont mind spending a bit of time tweaking but Im not wanting to spend days working with different combinations of bios settings just to squeeze an extra 100 mhz out the machine.

The DFI board seem a little overpriced for what your getting plus there is about 5 different variations that all look the same to me anyway

The MSI K8N Diamond Plus then isnt worth the money, is that the general concensus - im not sure i like the words "fluctuating voltages", which puts a bit of dampner on the asus

hairball

I've a dfi, like the above poster said, difficulty getting it stable, i 've just rma'd my power supply, but when they are stable, they're supposed to be great

BeatFreak

Another vote for DFI NF4 well worth the money, and I haven't had any problems with stability. Just make sure you buy the UT version the non UT is packed with (mostly unnecessary) crap.

Inquitus

ASUS = POS

DFI = DIFFICULT but worth it

:O)

voxpop

so what the difference them between except the price

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-D, nForce4 SLI, Socket-939, S-ATA,GbLAN,Fw,DDR,PCI-EX16

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR Expert, FW, nForce4 SLI, Socket-939, GbLAN, PCI-Ex16

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 ULTRA-D, nF4 Ultra, Socket-939,S-ATA, GbLAN, Fw, PCI-Ex16

The all only have 2 pci slots as well , ill prob need 3 (soundcard,wifi card,tv card) unless the onboard sound is decent ?
Plus these dont seem to support SATA2

Dman_15

voxpop wrote:

so what the difference them between except the price

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-D, nForce4 SLI, Socket-939, S-ATA,GbLAN,Fw,DDR,PCI-EX16

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR Expert, FW, nForce4 SLI, Socket-939, GbLAN, PCI-Ex16

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 ULTRA-D, nF4 Ultra, Socket-939,S-ATA, GbLAN, Fw, PCI-Ex16

The all only have 2 pci slots as well , ill prob need 3 (soundcard,wifi card,tv card) unless the onboard sound is decent ?
Plus these dont seem to support SATA2

expert is a newer revision of the SLI-D, better board layout.

The SLI-D has SLI and SATA-2 support,

THe Ultra D doesnt but can easily be modded to a SLI-D afaik

I'd say go for the expert. If your running SLI you automatically loose one of the PCI slots because the bottom card wont be able to take in air. I only have one useable PCI slot in my SLI-DR because of the size of the WC setup.

I got p1ssed off with the onboard sound, its good for onboard sound but still wont match a good soundcard

savemejebus

expert is also extremely finicky most of the time but makes up for it if she's in a good mood

voxpop

well im leaning toward the expert - 3 pci slots, sataII,the recommendations of all ye guys/gals and of course the nice colour scheme . When you guys say its finicky - should it work straight off with default settings and only give problems with ocing ?

WizZard

voxpop wrote:

should it work straight off with default settings and only give problems with ocing ?

It depends on many, many factors.

Fancy an A8N-SLI Premium? I now someone who's selling one. www.aus.com;)

astrofool

U upgrading to an A8N32-SLI wizz?

WizZard

Possibly......... If I sell the Premium

voxpop

WizZard wrote:

It depends on many, many factors.

Fancy an A8N-SLI Premium? I now someone who's selling one. www.aus.com;)

Might be interested - what about the fluctuating voltages problems - how much would this person be looking for ?

gline

voxpop wrote:

Might be interested - what about the fluctuating voltages problems - how much would this person be looking for ?

flucuating voltages "aparently" only happens with dual core cpus.

I'd recommend dfi, though i had major problems with mine (on my 3rd one now, due to rmas) but when it worked for a brief time it was really good.
Though if u need loads of pci slots then i suppose you'll need to avoid dfi, in that case i find asus to be 2nd best.

By the sounds of it you dont need a mobo for EXTREME overclocking, like u said - not every last mhz out of it, in that case asus would do you fine. You get a nice overclock but probably wont be as good as a dfi, but not a bad overclock either.

WizZard

voxpop wrote:

Might be interested - what about the fluctuating voltages problems - how much would this person be looking for ?

The fluctuating voltages only happen with Dual cores - I can verify that as I had an FX-57 in her before with no problems.

I'd be looking for €150. PM if interested.