Chaintech VNF4 or Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9

[akassasin]

Just RMA'd my DFI Ultra-D due to memory/LAN problems. Im looking to replace it with something much more stable. I've narrowed it down to these two, but other recommendations are welcome. Price is NOT an issue, but i dont want to pay for crap i dont need.

Ive read up on the Chaintech having LAN issues and I notice that the Gigabyte is not "Ultra".

Any suggestions on these?

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

I've seen one person having problems with Chaintech's onboard LAN, and that was when overclocked past 250MHz. Between the two I would go with the Chaintech.

Another option if you want stability is Soltek's SL-K890Pro-939.

 

[akassasin]

anyone else?

 

[Sniper82]

You just got unlucky with that DFI. Same thing can happen with any other brand. Besides the DFI I would go with the Chaintech of those 2 just because it was the first Ultra board to be released and issues could have been fixed.

Have you considered the MSI Neo 4?

 

[akassasin]

actually there were tons of people having the same problems as me over at dfi-street.com.

yeah ive considered the neo4 but i get the feeling msi boards are problem prone from what i've been reading. this is my first build so all I really want is for the thing to work, overclocking is not a priority.

Im thinking chaintech for now..

 

[jose]

I've heard if you get the Chaintech, it is wise to put a fan on the heatsink for the NF4 chip..

I just ordered a VNF4 mobo, for my Linux server machine. The main reason I got this mobo, is because of the parallel port..

I'm still running fine w/ the DFI Untra-D mobo...

Regards,
Jose

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: akassasin
actually there were tons of people having the same problems as me over at dfi-street.com.

yeah ive considered the neo4 but i get the feeling msi boards are problem prone from what i've been reading. this is my first build so all I really want is for the thing to work, overclocking is not a priority.

Im thinking chaintech for now..

Eh? I went through TWO chaintech boards before i just told them to give me a refund (plus $25 for shipping TWO mobos to LA). I go the MSI neo4--couldnt be happier! The build went smooth as hell! I would go with MSI. Do you know about this D-Bracket that comes with MSI? Its an LED diagnostic that shows you what is up during POST. The only problem i had was due to inexperience. I POSTED outside of the case just to make sure it would (remember i had TWO chaintechs before this), but the power kept cutting out at the "decompressing ROM...." stage (according to the D-Bracket). I figured the problem out myself, but it was totally stupid (look to the manual jumper if this happens to you )

 

[MajorPayne]

I bought the Chaintech board at X-mas, and I LOVE it. I have never had a board overclock so well, and the thing is rock stable. I am running mine overclocked to 300HTT (which puts my A64 3000+ at 2.7GHZ), and have had it this way for almost a month now. I also can assure you that I have no issues with my NIC (even above 250HTT).

The caveat about this board is ANYONE who overclocks it should add a fan to the chipset's heatsink (do not get rid of the stock heatsink tho, because it actually works better than most replacements). Any cheap small fan (including a vidcard one) mounted to it will work great, and I think the NIC issues above 250 are from folks who have NOT added a chipset fan.

I have heard from some who have issues with the onboard sound on this board (1 person with static, and a couple with 1 or more surround sound jack dead), so if you plan on using the onboard sound, you might want to look at the other board (or like me, just have a Soundblaster Audigy 2!).

I recommend this board wholeheartedly for pretty much anyone. Stock it is fast, stable, and cheap. Overclocked (with a chipset fan) it rockets, and is still very stable, and all for not much money.

 

[akassasin]

Yeah, I would buy a fan, except for the fact that I already had to clip off part of my videocard's heatsink for the thing to even fit in the motherboard (it was touching the chipset heatsink)

the PCI Express slot leaves VERY little room for a video card. Im very disappointed with this aspect of the board. The rest seems to be fine though.

Do you actually remove the heatsink for the chipset to mount a fan or does it go on top of it?

edit: can you send me a link to the chipset fan you used?

 

[MajorPayne]

Originally posted by: akassasin
Yeah, I would buy a fan, except for the fact that I already had to clip off part of my videocard's heatsink for the thing to even fit in the motherboard (it was touching the chipset heatsink)

the PCI Express slot leaves VERY little room for a video card. Im very disappointed with this aspect of the board. The rest seems to be fine though.

Do you actually remove the heatsink for the chipset to mount a fan or does it go on top of it?

edit: can you send me a link to the chipset fan you used?

It is interesting, but I had NO issues getting my 6600GT in there, it did not even come close to the chipset heatsink (good thing too, since I made it TALLER by adding a fan to it!). I wonder if they changed the location of the chipset since I got my board, but I doubt it -- you probably just have a longer card.

You do not HAVE to remove the heatsink, you can just stick a fan to it like I did, but this will only make it taller. I would remove your heatsink, and purchase a metal encased fan made for use on a videocard to replace it. It will likely be shorter than the stock heatsink, so it should make it easier to fit your videocard. The stock heatsink comes off easily (once the board is removed from the machine that is) by just pinching the retaining clips together. You will probably want to replace the stock thermal paste with AS5 or something similar before mounting your new fan's base to it tho (I DID remove my heatsink and put AS5 there before remounting it and adding the fan to it).

 

[fr0thing]

I've had 0 problems thus far with the Chaintech. I had an MSI KT600 board that worked most of the time, but on some games it would crash and drop me back to the OS. No such problems here.

I've also noticed a lot of debate about power supplies on these and other nForce4 boards. I'm running mine on a 320W Enermax Noisetaker with a 24-pin adapter from Fry's.