Best Socket 939 AGP mobo for OC'ing?

[Arkodominion]

My subject line really sums it up. I'm about to buy and build a rig, but need to know which mobo is best for getting the most out of my CPU.

Anyone have any experience with the Abit AV8 3rd Eye K8T800 for OC'ing?

Here's the system I'm about to buy

Athlon 64 4000+ (to overclock hopefully, will the mobo I picked handle a 2-400 mhz bump)
Cooler Master Hyper 6+ fan
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo
ATI X-850 XT AGP (already have it)
Power Supply that can handle SLI (so when I rebuild with these parts in a year, only the mobo and video card have to go)
2 36.7 gb WD Raptor's (Raid 0)
2gb Corsair RAM (4x512)
Plextor 716AL DVD writer
Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty (this is off in the future, maybe when the price comes down to earth, and it's actually available, onboard should hold me over fine)

 

[GML3G0]

The Abit AV8 is rock stable and can hit 260. I know for a fact you can hit 267 using the 8:2:1 divider instead of the AGP lock, but I haven't tried higher than 260 with the lock. Some people are claiming to hit 280+ on the Abit forums. It's a great motherboard overall. Simple to use. If you end up getting it, there's a few options to tweak that I can help you with.

 

[Furen]

First off, the higher the CPU's default clock, the less "free" performance you'll gain out of it. For example:

I'd guess that your cpu will get to around 2.7-2.8GHz tops. If you went for a 3700, on the other hand, you'd probably hit 2.7GHz rather easily as well, while saving a bunch of cash.

The K8T800 pro should get to around 260-70 HTT which is not much at all by today's standards. So you'd be better served by going with an Nvidia nForce3 mobo. I'd be tempted to recommend the ASRock mobo that Anandtech just reviewed since it has both AGP and PCI-e but it seems to have a bit of an Issue with high CPU voltage (though a pinmod might fix this, if you care to look into that), which would be necessary to reach the highest possible clockspeed. Have you thought about getting an X2 3800? Just wondering.

Do you already have your ram? Corsair value sucks, as does getting 4x dual sided modules. I'd go for 2x1GB crucial value or some Patriot 1GB 2-3-2 modules.

 

[coomar]

to get the 3700+ to 2750 only requires 250 htt, i think most boards can do it, it just needs the locks

 

[Arkodominion]

Do you have the AV8 3rd eye or the AV8 K8T800? I see that the 3rd eye comes with the "guru clock" which sounds cool, but is it useful? The Tom's Hardware Guide review says overclockers will like the guru clcok, but are people really using it and getting higher OC's with that board?

Also, is 2-400 mhz a realisitic OC? Or would another board make that more possible?

 

[Furen]

Oh, 200-400MHz overclock? Most motherboards can do that. I thought you meant that you wanted your HTT range from 200 (the original HTT) to 400 (double the original), that's quite a bit different. A 4000+ should be able to do the 200MHz overclock easy, the 400MHz one might need a few voltage bumps or you may not reach it at all. The Guru Clock is worthless, in my opinion. It will be nice to have when you are overclocking but as soon as you're done and have finalized your settings it becomes useless.

 

[imported_Vanden]

Why the 4000+? For that price i would go for the X2 3800+, way better value imho. If you really want a San Diego for oc'ing the 3700+ should do fine. I dont think an 11 multi will limit your oc unless you plan do go very extreme and try for more than 3.3 GHz with some cascade phase cooling.

 

[GML3G0]

The AV8 and AV8 3rd Eye are the exact same board, except the 3rd Eye comes with that sensor. I think it's useless. I have the regular AV8. I can easily hit 250 HTT. You won't get a higher clock with the 3rd Eye.

 

[Arkodominion]

"Do you already have your ram? Corsair value sucks, as does getting 4x dual sided modules. I'd go for 2x1GB crucial value or some Patriot 1GB 2-3-2 modules. "


No, I have not bought the RAM yet, but I was going to get this stuff

Corsair TWINX1024-3200XL with 2-2-2-5 latency

I know low latency is good, especially for gaming... which is what this rig will be all about, but I've never OC'd. So forgive me for all of my naivety

Basically I'd like to get whatever processor can get me to the FX-57's 2.8ghz range (or even a tad higher) for the cheapest $$$ on high end air

 

[GML3G0]

If 3 fps is important to you, ok... low latency...

 

[RichUK]

MSI K8N NEO2 Platinum .. and not just cuz i got one but you will find alot of other people have it as well, and they are the best overclocking mobo's you can get on AGP .. ohh and DFI have recently released a new AGP NF3 mobo aswell which i would presume is gonna be good.

 

[Sentential]

To be honest now that ULI's M1695 chipset is out, I would go with that. It bears AGP and PCI-E. Right now it is sold out at the egg but it ought to be back in stock soon. So far Asrock is the only MFG who is using the chipset (more are expected to follow)

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Sentential
To be honest now that ULI's M1695 chipset is out, I would go with that. It bears AGP and PCI-E. Right now it is sold out at the egg but it ought to be back in stock soon. So far Asrock is the only MFG who is using the chipset (more are expected to follow)

I agree. It's cheap, seems to overclock well, and will spare you the trouble (and expense) of buying a NF3 motherboard and then having to dump it for a NF4 later when you want a new PCI-E video card.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: RichUK
MSI K8N NEO2 Platinum .. and not just cuz i got one but you will find alot of other people have it as well, and they are the best overclocking mobo's you can get on AGP .. ohh and DFI have recently released a new AGP NF3 mobo aswell which i would presume is gonna be good.

So far, I have heard of a lot of problems with the very late DFI NF3 ultra board. They may have fixed them via BIOS updates finally, but caveat emptor

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: RichUK
MSI K8N NEO2 Platinum .. and not just cuz i got one but you will find alot of other people have it as well, and they are the best overclocking mobo's you can get on AGP .. ohh and DFI have recently released a new AGP NF3 mobo aswell which i would presume is gonna be good.

I agree....I have had my Neo2 up to 353HTT prime stable...I ran it at 296HTT with my winchester 3000+@2.664ghz...Also fully prime stable for 4 months....

It is getting a walk in the park now at 234HTT with my X2....cant seem to get the 10x or 9x multi to work yet right...

Neo2 is great for everything other then the X2....there it is nice but has some work to do.....

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Sentential
To be honest now that ULI's M1695 chipset is out, I would go with that. It bears AGP and PCI-E. Right now it is sold out at the egg but it ought to be back in stock soon. So far Asrock is the only MFG who is using the chipset (more are expected to follow)

:thumbsup:

If you don't wish to go this route, then the Neo2 is easily the best choice.

The Neo2 is by no means a perfect mobo, but for OCing, i think you will find an almost unanimous agreement on it being the best AGP s939 mobo for OCing.

 

[Ricemarine]

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: Sentential
To be honest now that ULI's M1695 chipset is out, I would go with that. It bears AGP and PCI-E. Right now it is sold out at the egg but it ought to be back in stock soon. So far Asrock is the only MFG who is using the chipset (more are expected to follow)

:thumbsup:

If you don't wish to go this route, then the Neo2 is easily the best choice.

The Neo2 is by no means a perfect mobo, but for OCing, i think you will find an almost unanimous agreement on it being the best AGP s939 mobo for OCing.

QFT.

 

[mindgam3]

My ASUS A8V-DX K8T800 939PIN SATA GBLAN will post with a HTT speed of 299 its also very cheap.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: Sentential
To be honest now that ULI's M1695 chipset is out, I would go with that. It bears AGP and PCI-E. Right now it is sold out at the egg but it ought to be back in stock soon. So far Asrock is the only MFG who is using the chipset (more are expected to follow)

:thumbsup:

If you don't wish to go this route, then the Neo2 is easily the best choice.

The Neo2 is by no means a perfect mobo, but for OCing, i think you will find an almost unanimous agreement on it being the best AGP s939 mobo for OCing.

Epox's nForce3 Ultra boards are also very, very good and they are working on an X2 compatible BIOS (a beta version is available).

 

[Bona Fide]

Just a question...have you OC'd that X850XT to Platinum speeds? If not, do so.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: Sentential
To be honest now that ULI's M1695 chipset is out, I would go with that. It bears AGP and PCI-E. Right now it is sold out at the egg but it ought to be back in stock soon. So far Asrock is the only MFG who is using the chipset (more are expected to follow)

:thumbsup:

If you don't wish to go this route, then the Neo2 is easily the best choice.

The Neo2 is by no means a perfect mobo, but for OCing, i think you will find an almost unanimous agreement on it being the best AGP s939 mobo for OCing.

Yes, and I have an AV* 3rd eye, and I can;t get my 3200 (stock at 2000) above 2200 !

But my neo2 was running my 3000 at 2560, and I get the same out of my 4400+ X2 !