939 Motherboard

[Novaoblivion]

I am hoping to get the following soon:

Athlon64 3500+
OCZ DDR 433 512mb x 2
Geforce 6800 GT
SATA HDD's, DVD-RW etc.

My question is though what motherboard should I get? I have been reading these forums and it seems all of the S939 motherboards have some serious problems. I would prefere a nForce chipset but are the VIA more stable? Also will that RAM work with this system? From what I have read there are a lot of people having memory problems with these newer boards. Thanks for your help!

 

[pirred908]

The MSI board seems to be popular, yet problamatic(sp?). I suggest either the ASUS or ABIT board. There both equally as good.

 

[pirred908]

Oh, and for the RAM, Crucial Ballistix.

 

[User5]

Seems like the via chipset boards are giving people less problems than the nvidia chipsets with the socket 754s. If you want to go s939, go with the Asus or the Abit.

 

[Novaoblivion]

Great thanks for the info! This is a little off topic but what powersupply would you suggest? Thanks again.

 

[pirred908]

Anything from OCZ or Antec for the power supply. Just get as much wattage as you need/want.

 

[TourGuide]

I bought the MSI Neo2 Plat and the first one came in defective. I had all kinds of read errors when I was trying to install XP. I think the onboard IDE controller was borked. I basically could not get through an install at all because random files could not be "read" by the installer.

Board #1 goes back on Monday. I am really hoping board #2 comes in golden. This is where ordering over the Internet is a PITA.

 

[Novaoblivion]

Thanks for the Powersupply info. I have read that other people are having problems with that board too. I hope your new board works better.

 

[nycxandy]

:thumbsup: for the Asus A8V Deluxe.

 

[Novaoblivion]

I have had a few Asus boards and none of them have let me down so I think Ill go with them. Thanks again.

 

[PClark99]

see the signature. It was very problem free, flashing the bios fixed the temp reporting issues.

 

[Phanbot]

I have a MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum and I can vouch that the 1.2 bios fixes the incorrect temp problems that this mb suffered from. Cool N Quiet is enabled with no problems. I had an Asus K8N-E Dlx and Cool N Quiet didn't work for me even after 3 bios upgrades. I was using a Thermalright SLK-948U with a Zalman ZM-F2 92mm fan and the Asus's manual stated that if you use a 3rd party HSF, you should use Q-Fan 2 and not use Cool N Quiet.

 

[Novaoblivion]

And you two didnt have any memory problems with the MSI board? I saw that a lot of people were having problems with Dual Channel Memory. Also are you running WinXP with SP2? because I heard that some people have had problems with that as well and I intend to use SP2. Thanks

Oh btw how does the onboard sound on any of these boards work? Would I be better off with a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 for 5.1 speakers?

 

[Tetsuo316]

I've had no problems with my crucial ballistix pc4000 or the onboard sound.

I am not currently using SP2 because it kills my wireless connection.

 

[masshass81]

If you have not gotten it yet, I would suggest getting this

s939 A64 3000+ for $173 (OEM)!!

Much cheaper and better price/performance ratio than the 3500+

As for the mobo, any of these would be great

s939 mobo review

Also, I read that A64s go much better with OCZ EB or Ballistix memory

With the PSU, anything from OCZ and Antec would be great.. You may also want to check out the Ultra-X Connect (I'm pretty sure thats what its called). Personally I would spring for an OCZ PowerStream, their PSUs can go way above their rated wattage.. (i.e. PowerStream 520W is capable of reaching over 600W!)

 

[masshass81]

Originally posted by: Novaoblivion
And you two didnt have any memory problems with the MSI board? I saw that a lot of people were having problems with Dual Channel Memory. Also are you running WinXP with SP2? because I heard that some people have had problems with that as well and I intend to use SP2. Thanks

Oh btw how does the onboard sound on any of these boards work? Would I be better off with a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 for 5.1 speakers?

I think you would be OK with the onboard sound. I dont think you would notice a big difference between the onboard sound and the audigy unless youre an audiophile. Onboard audio has been getting better and better the past few years.

 

[Novaoblivion]

Originally posted by: masshass81
If you have not gotten it yet, I would suggest getting this

s939 A64 3000+ for $173 (OEM)!!

Much cheaper and better price/performance ratio than the 3500+

As for the mobo, any of these would be great

s939 mobo review

Also, I read that A64s go much better with OCZ EB or Ballistix memory

With the PSU, anything from OCZ and Antec would be great.. You may also want to check out the Ultra-X Connect (I'm pretty sure thats what its called). Personally I would spring for an OCZ PowerStream, their PSUs can go way above their rated wattage.. (i.e. PowerStream 520W is capable of reaching over 600W!)

Hmmm interesting I noticed it said it was a 90nm. Do you know if the motherboard will need a bios update to run it? I know this is getting off topic but what are the benifits of 90nm? I know its smaller but is it also less hot or perform better? I know that Intels Prescots are 90nm and from what I have heard hotter then hell. But I also heard that was because of the way they were designed and didnt have to do with the fact that they are 90nm. Thanks again.

 

[Zoomeez]

check my sig for spec - dont even think about the Gigabyte board - I just RMA'd mine - gots this MSI one and it rocks with stability even dual channel with my memory at 400mhz :>

 

[Novaoblivion]

I have been reading some more and have heard some rumors of a DFI s939 motherboard coming out soon. Does anyone know if this is true? If so do you think it will be better then the current mobos?

 

[lenjack]

There's also an Epox 939 board coming, based I believe, on nforce3 350 ultra.

 

[Fuhglee]

Here's one more vote for the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum.
3500+, 2x512MB Corsair 3200XL non-pro, Zalman heatsink, Antec power supply, zero problems.

 

[Novaoblivion]

Hmmm I am leaning towards the MSI then I think as I would like the nForce chipset since I hear it is very fast and seems that Bios 1.2 fixes the problems. Does anyone know if a 90nm chip will work on the MSI or any of the others? and if so will I need a bios update? Thanks for all your help guys!

 

[masshass81]

Originally posted by: Novaoblivion

Hmmm interesting I noticed it said it was a 90nm. Do you know if the motherboard will need a bios update to run it? I know this is getting off topic but what are the benifits of 90nm? I know its smaller but is it also less hot or perform better? I know that Intels Prescots are 90nm and from what I have heard hotter then hell. But I also heard that was because of the way they were designed and didnt have to do with the fact that they are 90nm. Thanks again.

90 nm improvements as shown below and posted in previous threads:

3-5% faster than 130nm at equivelent clock speeds
Full SSE3 implementation
* Improved hardware data prefetch mechanism
* Increased number of writing combine buffers (D0 stepping A64's can now combine up to four non-cacheable streams compared to 2 on the C0 and CG stepping A64's)
* Improved on-die memory controller with more advanced open page policy
* On-die thermal throttling
* Black Diamond Low-K technology (slower less power hungry transistors in less used sections and faster and more power hungry transistors in frequently used sections of the cpu)

...I think I read that all you need is a bios update for your mobo to recognize the new 90nm, anyone wanna comfirm this?