Last motherboard post

[orwell84]

I have been having a tough time choosing a motherboard. I'm not building an SLI rig right away, but definately would like to have that option open to me for future upgrades. I've never tried overclocking, but I would like to learn more in the future and have options open to me. I am building my first dedictaed gaming rig with the best components I can afford.

First question: Is there any disadvantage to buying an SLI board compared to a single card board? If so, I might not go SLI at all inc which case I would choose the DFI Lan Party NF4 Ultra-D.

IF an SLI board wouldn't limit future upgradeability and performance, my choices would be between the A8N-SLI Premium and the DFI Lanparty NF-4 SLI-DR.

I have heard the DFI board is best for tweakers and overclockers and definately not for beginners. In my case, I would set it up at stock settings at first and learn more as I went along.

The Asus board I have heard is good and stable but not as good an overclocker. I know the DFI has got very good reviews.

Here are the rest of my specs:

AMD 4000 San Diego
Cooler MAster Stacker
EVGA 7800 GTX
1G Crucial PC 3200 RAM (to be upgraded at a later date
Enermax Whisper II 535 watt power supply.

Thanks for everyone's help on this forum.

 

[John]

Flip a coin. Seriously.....either one is a good choice, and the responses that you will receive are going to be mixed.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=29&threadid=1509413&enterthread=y

 

[orwell84]

Thanks for the link. I would like to go with the NF4 SLI-DR. I notice there are 2:

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard

DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCo...3136157,N82E16813136151&SubCategory=22

Would I be ok with the cheaper one?

 

[ChiPCGuy]

Originally posted by: orwell84
I have been having a tough time choosing a motherboard. I'm not building an SLI rig right away, but definately would like to have that option open to me for future upgrades. I've never tried overclocking, but I would like to learn more in the future and have options open to me. I am building my first dedictaed gaming rig with the best components I can afford.

First question: Is there any disadvantage to buying an SLI board compared to a single card board? If so, I might not go SLI at all inc which case I would choose the DFI Lan Party NF4 Ultra-D.

IF an SLI board wouldn't limit future upgradeability and performance, my choices would be between the A8N-SLI Premium and the DFI Lanparty NF-4 SLI-DR.

I have heard the DFI board is best for tweakers and overclockers and definately not for beginners. In my case, I would set it up at stock settings at first and learn more as I went along.

The Asus board I have heard is good and stable but not as good an overclocker. I know the DFI has got very good reviews.

Here are the rest of my specs:

AMD 4000 San Diego
Cooler MAster Stacker
EVGA 7800 GTX
1G Crucial PC 3200 RAM (to be upgraded at a later date
Enermax Whisper II 535 watt power supply.

Thanks for everyone's help on this forum.

Don't forget about the Jetway. It apparently overclocks just as well as the DFI and happens to be an easier board to work with (less picky).

 

[jose]

I'd stick to one of your prev. selections.. personally I like the DFI mobo's....

 

[orwell84]

Well, I'm pretty set of the DFI board:

Just not sure what the difference is between the

UT SLI-DR and the more expensive SLI-DR

I would prefer to go wtih the cheaper board obviously.

 

[Aenslead]

Well, the SLI-DR is a tweaked versión of the normal Lan Party, so it can run SLI. But it works perfectly.

You might wish to consider ABIT Fatal1ty series, too.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: orwell84
Well, I'm pretty set of the DFI board:

Just not sure what the difference is between the

UT SLI-DR and the more expensive SLI-DR

I would prefer to go wtih the cheaper board obviously.

Both run SLI, and the more expensive one comes with a FrontX 5.25" kit.

 

[orwell84]

Both run SLI, and the more expensive one comes with a FrontX 5.25" kit.
[/quote]


What is the FrontX5.25" kit?

Sorry to be such a noob.

 

[virtualrain]

If this is your first overclocking Mobo... go the Asus route.

There are so many people who don't have a clue using a DFI board that half the advice you get from so-called experts on the net is only going to have you struggling to find stability with a DFI board. Although the DFI board is a tweaker's dream, I suspect that not 10% of the people who own one, actually know what half the settings mean. Most just copy "recommended" bios settings from some "expert" online and who knows what kind of crap is being propigated in this way.

The advantage of the Asus, in my experience, is that it will allow you to change all the essential settings while selecting optimum settings for the rest for you. If you go to the bleeding edge OCZ RAM forums, you will see that I have my memory timings running a lot tighter than most DFI owners (as reported by A64 tweaker - which will show you all the RAM settings - even the ones you can't adjust in the ASUS bios). It turns out the ASUS bios does a better job at setting timings than some DFI experts!

I laugh every time I see an ignorant DFI poster asking "What timings do you run?".

 

[orwell84]

Thanks for all your help

 

[SolMiester]

Jetway 939GT4, no question, just check out Anand review!

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2506

 

[Kung Lau]

I second what virtualrain said. I'm no overclocking noob but the DFI board I had for two weeks drove me nuts. It worked, but required more tweaking then I could give, so I sent it back for an Asus A8N SLI Deluxe. This board is vastly more "friendly" yet it gives overclocking options. The main beef with the "Deluxe" model of the A8N is the chipset heatsink fan crapping out. To avoid this, get the "Premium" version.

You stated that you have never tried overclocking. I'm willing to bet that not ONE person on these boards that have any kind of experience with the DFI's is going to recommend the DFI for you.

 

[doc2345]

Originally posted by: SolMiester
Jetway 939GT4, no question, just check out Anand review!

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2506

There's plenty to question........ A few reviews of hand picked boards don't make it a winner. I haven't seen a single user here or at Xtreme that have the board up and running and are bragging 'bout it. Make it easy, the Asus or MSI...........

 

[SolMiester]

Whatever!

 

[Steeldragonnyc]

 

[Steeldragonnyc]

Originally posted by: virtualrain
If this is your first overclocking Mobo... go the Asus route.

There are so many people who don't have a clue using a DFI board that half the advice you get from so-called experts on the net is only going to have you struggling to find stability with a DFI board. Although the DFI board is a tweaker's dream, I suspect that not 10% of the people who own one, actually know what half the settings mean. Most just copy "recommended" bios settings from some "expert" online and who knows what kind of crap is being propigated in this way.

The advantage of the Asus, in my experience, is that it will allow you to change all the essential settings while selecting optimum settings for the rest for you. If you go to the bleeding edge OCZ RAM forums, you will see that I have my memory timings running a lot tighter than most DFI owners (as reported by A64 tweaker - which will show you all the RAM settings - even the ones you can't adjust in the ASUS bios). It turns out the ASUS bios does a better job at setting timings than some DFI experts!

I laugh every time I see an ignorant DFI poster asking "What timings do you run?".

AMEN brotha. I just orderd the asus premium to replace my dfi board... I am not getting rid of it, I am just going to use it to learn howto OC on another build.

 

[rise]

Originally posted by: orwell84


Both run SLI, and the more expensive one comes with a FrontX 5.25" kit.

What is the FrontX5.25" kit?

Sorry to be such a noob.
[/quote]

something you don't need

seriously, its some diagnostic front panel. you don't need it. the board itself has diagnostic leds. if you should ever want it later you can buy one seperately.

i'd get the ultra-d and mod it to sli or if you aren't comfortable doing that then i'd get the ut sli-dr.