mATX Roundup

[yehuda]

So did newegg.

 

[nulio]

Originally posted by: Steeeeve
My store, SFFStore.com, stopped selling these boards. I wonder if Gary is going to figure out whats wrong with them or take it into account

Originally posted by: yehuda
So did newegg.

To which board are you referring to? abit f-i90hd?

 

[Skott]

Originally posted by: nulio

Originally posted by: Steeeeve
My store, SFFStore.com, stopped selling these boards. I wonder if Gary is going to figure out whats wrong with them or take it into account

Originally posted by: yehuda
So did newegg.

To which board are you referring to? abit f-i90hd?

Yes, thats the one Steeeeve is referring to. As far as NE goes they could have sold out. No way to know for sure without a statement from them unfortunately.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

Steve, what happened within last two weeks?
I mean from...this:

Originally posted by: Steeeeve
This board didn't really have an abnormal amount of deaths for a 1st batch but they were highly publized since this board was supposed to be the 2nd coming for the mATX C2D world. The expectations were 400FSB solid atleast plus great HDMI support. What happened was a few boards died, HDMI problems, 370FSB but only with a modded bios, and high amounts of people posted this. Many consumers seem to be waiting for the chips to fall where they may and this caused a decrease from 100 to 25 buyers of this board on my website...literally overnight.

This board was supposed to be everything and it turned out to just be a good board. Perhaps with lower expectations we coulda seen a lot more of these sell. Oh well

To be honest, I'm a little disappointed with abit. Clearly they talked up a mobo that would do what we want but the failed...lets hope they notice this and do a few fixes.

For now I'd still say this is the best mATX board out there but as normal, we are disappointed that it didn't make up enough ground on the ATX folks.

to that:

Originally posted by: Steeeeve
My store, SFFStore.com, stopped selling these boards. I wonder if Gary is going to figure out whats wrong with them or take it into account

 

[Steeeeve]

Too many died for me to feel comfortable selling them. Motherboards are already a pain to sell and this one was just too "up in the air" for me to continue selling.

This isn't too say the board has a problem but it does let you know that enough people think their is a problem for me to give up It is harder for a small business.

EDIT: Meh, I caved cause people wanted them anyway....they are back on sale -_-...I can't win haha

 

[cisco kidd]

So where is the review. I had to buy a 690 board for an matx build, I wanted to have a C2Duo desktop and an AM2 matx for secondary pc.

I went with the Gigabyte matx 690 board and a 3600, I have not been able to find any reviews. I had considered the Asus but it did not overclock well at all however the GB may be the same, anyone got comment

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

najames found that the Biostar TA690G seems to OC the best (~264FSB) apart from the 690G from Sapphire (which was reported to obtain a ~300FSB).
I should have a TA690G in by this weekend if anyone's interested

 

[GEOrifle]

AMD????
Noooo, wait to INTEL......

 

[najames]

WhoBeDaPlaya, I am waiting for your results!!

I don't need to push it farther myself, but would like to see what someone who is an overclocker could do with this board and the mysterious April 2 BIOS.

I don't deserve any credit here. I am not an overclocker, was just a guy who tried a few things and followed renethx's request. I think he deserves far more credit than I do. Just look at his compiled information at the top of the mortherboard forum. I don't have time for anything remotely close to this.


Jim

 

[Skott]

Originally posted by: cisco kidd
So where is the review. I had to buy a 690 board for an matx build, I wanted to have a C2Duo desktop and an AM2 matx for secondary pc.

I went with the Gigabyte matx 690 board and a 3600, I have not been able to find any reviews. I had considered the Asus but it did not overclock well at all however the GB may be the same, anyone got comment

I'd like to know where this review is myself as well. Its a week overdue already.

 

[Double Trouble]

I'm leaning toward the Asus 690 HDMI board, but the fact that you have to lose one PCI slot to put in the HDMI output is an issue. I'd like to see the review to help clear up some questions!

 

[adnoto]

Per some site called "The Inquirer," the initial Nvidia MCP68 (7050-630a) boards are to be available on the 19th. I am very interested in these boards and am wondering if anyone thinks they will be at least marginally better than the 690g chipset boards? I realize it is a complete guess at this point but I almost can't stand the waiting anymore and if the consensus is that the Nvidia chipsets won't really be any better then I will just go with the 690g and be done with it. I have been waiting for nearly 2 months now and I desperately need to get a new rig up and running ASAP.

So, any guesses?

 

[Wirrunna]

adnoto, have alook at http://www.ocworkbench.com/2007/epox/ep-ap68p-g/g1.htm for a preview of the nVidia MCP68.
But remember, if you wait for it to be released, don't get a rev 1 board, wait for the the bugs to get ironed out. However, by the time that the rev 2 boards are out there will be a new AMD board that supports the K10 about to be released, so you should wait for that. But then don't get a rev 1 board, wait for .............

 

[hans007]

who knows if it will be better or not. but the 690g is already down to $55 at newegg... so even if it were slightly better it might not be worth it if it costs more.

 

[adnoto]

Originally posted by: Wirrunna
But remember, if you wait for it to be released, don't get a rev 1 board, wait for the the bugs to get ironed out. However, by the time that the rev 2 boards are out there will be a new AMD board that supports the K10 about to be released, so you should wait for that. But then don't get a rev 1 board, wait for .............

Point taken. I suppose it was an idiotic question in the first place. There is always something to wait on. Though your argument is somewhat blunted buy the fact that the 690G boards are all still in their first revision also, no?

I guess I just really want one of the MCP68 boards for some "gut level" reason (again if they are at least marginally better than the 690G). The plan is to build this X2 rig and then, in mid 3rd Q, build a Intel monster with with the E6750 or the Q6600 and a Bearlake board. I just don't want to buy a 690G and be pissed at myself if the MCP68 turns out to be significantly better.

Originally posted by: hans007
who knows if it will be better or not. but the 690g is already down to $55 at newegg... so even if it were slightly better it might not be worth it if it costs more.

Also a good point. One more day of beating my head against a wall and then I will decide... probably in favor of the 690G since it is available now and I can no long stand the heaping pile of dung I am working with.

Thanks for the responses fellas.

 

[Wirrunna]

 

[Wirrunna]

I was trying to be flippant. I have not worked out how to insert the smileys !

This industry moves so fast these days that a lot of mobos don't seem to go to rev 2, rather they are abandoned (with a BIOS that works in a most basic way but with a bit of tweaking would make a really good board) while the manufacturer moves on to the next chipset. I've been caught with an MSI RS480, ASUS A8N-VM CSM and an Abit AT8-32X all of which would be better with a few BIOS updates - the MSI won't run an Nvidia video card, the ASUS won't overclock and the ABIT had a product support life of 3 weeks - they all still work though. By the time people start posting their victories or problems with a board it can be discontinued or hard to get - when the K8NGM2-FID was crowned as the king of the 6150 boards it was unavailable in Australia

I think you have to go with the board that most meets your requirements and be prepared to bin it if a demonstrably better one becomes available, just swap out the mobo and do a repair install of the OS (works for XP), otherwise you will wait forever and never be satisfied.

 

[Skott]

Another week come and gone and no review :-(

 

[FireTech]

Hmmm, really ready to buy an mATX for an HTPC. Need this review soon Gary, please.

 

[rexian96]

I think he's going to include that nvidia 7050 board too, which is good thing

 

[FireTech]

Originally posted by: rexian96
I think he's going to include that nvidia 7050 board too, which is good thing

All Good but where do you draw the line? If Gary waits to review every new chipset/MB announced then we might never get this review....

 

[Skott]

Originally posted by: FireTech

Originally posted by: rexian96
I think he's going to include that nvidia 7050 board too, which is good thing

All Good but where do you draw the line? If Gary waits to review every new chipset/MB announced then we might never get this review....

Which is why I was lamenting earlier there needs to be a better way of doing these reviews. Big roundups are nice but they dont help the consumer when they come out many weeks or months after the product is out on the market and the consumer still doesnt have any info and he's forced to wait or jump in blindly.

 

[rexian96]

I respectfully disagree. If we don't know how the competing chipsets perform, what's the point in having a roundup? Gary's definitely not waiting for EVERY chipset, he's waiting for all the chipsets in the same generation, which is what makes the roundup interesting and worth the wait. Most impatient users already got one and the rest are waiting for April 22 and this roundup is mostly for these patient users IMO

 

[chucky2]

I think Gary had said they let all the boards run 300 hours straight to determine stability. If he's getting the MCP68 board today. Even if he had started the 300 hour burn at 12:00 AM this morning, that'd be 12:00 PM on the 26th that the burn would be done. Then the rest of the testing on it would need to take place.

I don't think he'd wait that long to put the review out...he's got to be really close to having it done, so it ought to be here soon.

Chuck

 

[PokerGuy]

Unfortunately, I have to order my new board on Monday. If the roundup isn't available by then, it will be too late and useless to me. I'm sure it will be useful to a lot of other folks, but useless to me. I'd much rather have seen parts of the roundup released as they became available instead of waiting for every board and every bios revision to test.