Recommend me a socket 939 AGP motherboard for overclocking

[cirthix]

must have large vcore range, large fsb range, and lots of memory dividers and settings to play with (1t/2t is a must)

ram voltage adjustments dont matter, i wont be going above 2.7v

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

The top 3 939 AGP boards for overclocking are, in my opinion:

ASUS A8V Deluxe
EPoX EP-9NDA3J/9NDA3+
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum

 

[cirthix]

i'll be googling for reviews, thanks. anybody else have something to add to my 'to be researched' list?

 

[ts3433]

Originally posted by: ChineseDemocracyGNR
The top 3 939 AGP boards for overclocking are, in my opinion:

ASUS A8V Deluxe
EPoX EP-9NDA3J/9NDA3+
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum

Probably the definitive AGP 939 list right there.

 

[cirthix]

which of those three si the best for overclocking a winchester 3000+?

 

[fireontheway]

Originally posted by: cirthix
which of those three si the best for overclocking a winchester 3000+?

All three are popular but if you want an Nforce based mobo the list comes down to 2:

EPox 9NDA3J/9NDA3+
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum

 

[VideoQuasar]

http://www17.tomshardware.com/...rd/20050103/index.html

This is the one that finally pushed me over the top for a Neo2. I must have read every review you could think of. Fell back to this for it's large comparison.

 

[MrCodeDude]

I'm an EPoX whore, so I'd go for the EPoX 9NDA3J. It's $102 shipped at NewEgg. The MSI K8N Neo2 is almost $40 more.

 

[Insomniak]

I'd say Epox or DFI. That's just me.

 

[fireontheway]

9NDA3J $93.50 at mwave.com

 

[arswihart]

shipping at mwave was $8.53 for me, final price = $92.03, compared to NewEgg, 86 cents cheaper...

 

[SolMiester]

Gigabyte boards have more features & better support from the makers

 

[Amaroque]

See sig.


Unless you're looking for an NF4 board.

 

[CP5670]

I am thinking of getting that MSI one due to the ratings it has received but the clearance around the processor socket looks a bit small. Do any of the Thermalright XP-90, Thermalright XP-120, Zalman 7000B or Zalman 7700 heatsinks work with this board? (without anything complicated like the thing I've heard about removing the backplate with a hairdryer)

 

[Amaroque]

Both the Thermalright XP-90, and XP-120 HSF solutions fit the Neo2 Platinum. Only thing is, if you use the XP-120, you won't be able to use the RAM slot closest to the CPU.

 

[ironique]

WARNING!!! The Zalman 7700Cu is not compatible with this board!! (According to Zalman's site) It's a really tight squeeze. I've got a thin insulating pad between the cooler and the back of my video card. They'd be in contact otherwise. If your card has a heatsink on the back to cool the RAM chips, it definately wont fit! But I believe the Zalman 7000 fits.

 

[cirthix]

i instead got a replacement socket a board (dfi infinity) to save me the money (i dont have to get a new cpu), so question effectively answered

 

[imported_DaveA]

abit av8 is my recomendation. nice and stable. bought one to replace my msi k8n neo2 that died for no reason. (probably single phase power). able to reach same clock speeds of 2.5GHz with my 3200+ winchester. temperature is reading correctly too

 

[CP5670]

Originally posted by: Amaroque
Both the Thermalright XP-90, and XP-120 HSF solutions fit the Neo2 Platinum. Only thing is, if you use the XP-120, you won't be able to use the RAM slot closest to the CPU.

Thanks. Is there any difference in using memory slots 3 and 4 instead of slots 1 and 2 (the ones away from the cpu)? If 3 and 4 work just as well then this wouldn't be too much of an issue. The XP-120 is only about $5 more than the XP-90 but is supposed to be somewhat better with the larger fan it takes, so it would be nice if I could use that.

 

[arswihart]

seems to me the Epox 9NDA3J is an amazing bargain, if you can do with 2 SATA ports and no firewire, I would go with it if I was buying something today

 

[sauria]

Originally posted by: arswihart
seems to me the Epox 9NDA3J is an amazing bargain, if you can do with 2 SATA ports and no firewire, I would go with it if I was buying something today

Will the BFG 6800 Ultra OC fit this board or obscure the serial ATA ports?

 

[imported_Bleh]

I heard that you cant really fit the Sata plug with a 6800 line and NV5 so I would get the 9NDA3J+ which has 2 extra sata ports.

 

[sauria]

If you have the low profile Sata connectors and you bend them to a right angle you can use the SATA 1 port only with BFG 6800 Ultra OC

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

The extra ports on the 9NDA3+ are not locked for overclocking, so you'll want to do what sauria suggested (if you overclock).

 

[nimba]

Look around hardforums.com for sale/for trade and anandech's own forsale/trade forum and see what you can pick up there. I bought my MSI k8n Neo 2 Platinum for only $80 from a person. Thats 80! not 140. and yes, thats shipped price. So i recommend checking that out. You can really save a few bucks. Especially now when alot of people are upgrading from AGP to PCI express