Most Stable A64 Motherboard?

[merkinofbaphomet]

I am having an Athlon 64 machine built, and am looking for motherboard recommendations.

Yeah, just like everyone else.

My main criterion is for the system to be 100% stable. Raid 0 is a secondary consideration, but it looks like almost all motherboards support Raid 0 at this time.

Previously the Asus K8V and K8V SE Deluxe were at the top of my list, based on features, but I am seeing too many people having major issues with them.

Can anyone recommend an extremely stable 754 board?

My planned system specs:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ or 3400+
2x512 MB Ram Kingston or Mushkin
2xWestern Digital Raptor 34 GB Raid 0
ATI X800XT (as soon as it comes out)
Plextor PX-708A
Sony Floppy
Chieftec Matrix case
Ultra 500W power supply (included with above case)

System would be primarily used for gaming and internet use. I do not plan to overclock. I will have all assembly, operating system and drivers done for me by a local shop. They custom build many machines each year, and offer 90 days warranty/support for systems they build.

Feel free to include specific memory recommendations, keeping in mind my need for a extremely stable system.

Thanks in advance.

-Pete

PS. My girlfriend will kill me if I blow $2000 on an unusable system, heh heh. Call me whipped!

 

[Bar81]

It doesn't get better than this:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-157-025&depa=0

Enjoy

 

[formulav8]

I have never really had a unstable motherboard. Even mobo's where people said they were having problems I never had any problems. I think 90% of the problems is the people themselves. That is just IMO of course.

BTW: I have a Chaintech VNF3-250 Motherboard. IT is perfectly stable for me. I have not seen any others having any problems either. I am using a 3000+. It runs at 220mhz - 2200mhz without any problems. It has a working agp/pci divider too. The new Beta Bios adds support for Multiplyer Adjustments. It has every other ocing feature. Voltages, HT, FSB, ect... changes all available. Supports the 1ghz HT link. I paid $69 shipped for mine. I got it at zipzoomfly.com. I think the price is now $89 shipped 2nd day. It is still cheaper than newegg.com afaik. The shipping included in the price is better than neweggs included shipping. Anyways, that is just my $.02. Take care.


Jason

 

[tennesota]

It is too early in the A64 game to be recommending anything stable.

What few choices are currently available are being pushed to their limits as we speak. Performance data on the current mobos is lacking; that makes it 'difficult' at best to make any purchase decisions based on what anyone posts here or elsewhere.

 

[Bar81]

That's not true at all.

 

[tennesota]

Why do you say that Bar81?

There are not that many choices right now...and the A64 is evolving so more choices are on the way.

 

[Bar81]

I agree with you that there aren't a crazy amount of choices but for a person not looking to overclock or a slight overclock there are stable motherboards in the market already. The K8S8X is a perfect example of this; with elite performance to boot. If you were referring to stable true overclockers' overclocking motherboards, then I would agree with you and say that I have yet to find one A64 mobo I would characterize as such, although hopefully that is now changing with the second generation A64 mobos.

 

[tennesota]

And we both know "it's gonna get better"...

 

[tennesota]

hmm...double post

 

[Bar81]

I'll see when my MSI K8N Neo Platinum gets here

 

[nycxandy]

Originally posted by: Bar81
I'll see when my MSI K8N Neo Platinum gets here

What?! WHERE?!

 

[preAARP]

FYI you can preorder the X800 XT Platinum from CompUSA...$499.99 total...at least I was able to as of last night...

 

[Bar81]

Originally posted by: nycxandy

Originally posted by: Bar81
I'll see when my MSI K8N Neo Platinum gets here

What?! WHERE?!

It's not on the way; I meant when it's available.

 

[merkinofbaphomet]

I think 90% of the problems is the people themselves

I think you may be on to something! I question the skill of some who build their own systems. I find it difficult to believe that many bad boards ship from any manufacturer. Asus' bad capacitor issue, nonwithstanding.

Funny that Alienware and Voodoo manage quite well with the Asus motherboards. Not that they are the be-all-and-end-all of system builders. Additionally, none of the tech/review sites seem to have run int the issues found on this forum or others.

I am still open to suggestions, but may stick with my previous Asus gameplan. Just so long as the vendor will allow returns.

Thanks again.

-Pete

 

[3LEMENT0]

well you can get the chaintech then wait for the new boards to come and prove themselves. I'm waiting for ABIT/ASUS or GIGABYTE offering with good overclocking potential. Probably will wait till July-August, hopefully by that time a some great A64 boards will have proven themselves.

 

[CraigRT]

yeah, i agree.. most motherboards are stable.
it pretty much comes down to features/overclocking prowess...

 

[Caminetto]

When I think stability I think Asus. There is a reason that the K8V is near the top in every review I have seen. Atleast 95% of the problems reported in the K8V forum here at AT are from first time builders, and too the capacitor problem is over.

Certainly agree that you are bound to find someone with bad experiences with any MB. Don't forget that many times system builders "put the bad mouth" on the MB because they are having problems with 2 or 3 other hardware devices. In your situation I would make my choice on features, and who has proven to build quality over time.

 

[Evian]

Mine is a Gigabyte K8NS, and it is very stable based on my last 2 weeks experience - never has crashed, every thing works properly, survives after 8 hours of prime95 load test.

The followings are my sys config:

CPU: A64 3200+ w/1M cache
RAM: Consair ValueSelect CL2.5 512MB
HD: Seagate 7200.7 SATA 160GB
CPU HS/Fan: Zalmon 7000 AlCu
DVD/RW: Liteon 812s 8x
Floppy: Panasonice 1.44
TV Card: Compro Gold Plus
Video Card: ATI 9800SE
Firewire: Card w/Ti Chip
Case: LianLi PC-60/F
Power: Antec TrueBlue 480W

 

[piscario]

I have just got a Chaintech ZNF3-250 and have been running a 64 3000+ chip at 2400.4Mhz and its been completing pifast, aquamark, 3DMark03 with idle temps being 37C and load at 47C. I know there have been problems with chaintech temp reading but i haven't a problem or lockup yet

 

[SniperWulf]

i just picked up the MSI K8T Neo FIS2R and I love it! tons of features and has given me no problems compared to the Gigabyte K8VT800M (which was good too, but pick about RAM)

 

[Markfw]

K8V. Rock solid stock, and at small OC's by many members.

 

[Diogenes2]

I have had the Gigabyte GA-K8NPRO for a couple of months and I'm cracking RC5, 7 x 24
at 235 x 10 ..

I'm fixing to give the VNF3 a shot...

 

[Axon]

I have the MSI Neo-FISR and it has been relatively unstable. It has serious issues with my WD SATA hard drive - it crashes randomly when I'm installing programs (Shutting down to prevent hardware failure) and every so often forces me to format by reporting that the hard drive is full. (Just for kicks, it gives me all the fun errors that come with a HD filled to capacity, even though all I have installed on there is WinXP and AIM.) I tried the HD in my XP 2500+/ASUS A7N8X rig for 2 weeks - it ran flawlessly.


I cannot change the FSB at all. The system will instantly crash and go into a reboot loop at any change to the FSB in BIOS or through MSI's Core Center Utility. I have been forced to reset the BIOS with the jumpers a number of times.


To be fair, a regular IDE drive ran fairly smoothly provided I made no attempts to overclock. The system decided it didn't want to run 3DMark03 for a few days, but finally caved later on. Go figure.


I'm a fairly knowledgeable guy and these errors, in my opinion, have little to do with my skill or lack thereof. When I'm not overclocking the system, I should not experience a random crash.


I think MSI's SATA controllers are flawed at this point in the game, as I see many of the same errors on their website forums. I also see a lot of reports re: random crashes on the A64 platform. When the board works, everything is great - smooth, responsive, quick. But when I go to install a fairly large program like Office XP or NSWs, the HD suddenly slows down. Something is wrong with either the SATA controller or the SATA input port.

I'm pretty much at my wits end with this board and am about 10 seconds from buying a Gigabyte N250.

 

[tboo]

Ive had a MSI K8T Neo FIS2R for several months now & it has been rock stable. This is with 2 Raptor SATA drives running in RAID 0 formation as well!!

 

[Axon]

I have no idea what's going on with it. It could be the ram, but I ran a WMD and got nothing. Could just be my particular board.