shopping for a socket 939 board

[st3]

I'm shopping for a board to get with my winnie 3500+. I don't OC so that isn't a consideration, and the board has to be AGP, so I can use my video card and my PCI cards (don't want to jump to PCI-E just yet.
I can spend up to around $175 or so and as such price isn't much of a concern.So far I have narrowed it down to:
Asus A8V
Abit AV8
Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum

I have an Asus now and have always had great luck with their stuff, that board looks good and is well featured, it is the one I am leaning towards most.

I have only ever had one Abit board but they are supposed to be good as well. The only thing I don't like about this board is it only has 2 SATA ports, significant drawback as I plan to install 2 different SATA RAID arrays.

Never owned Gigabyte board, but this one seems to be a good performer. However I would like a Digital audio out, on the jacks in the back instead of one of the little stand off things (or whatever they are called).

I have had a few friends who have had MSI boards all with good luck (except 1). The jack pack is pretty good on this one, and everything else seems to be pretty quality.

Any other input on boards is fine, keep in mind the price limit and the need for an AGP board. There are certain companies I refuse to buy from as well, these include but are not limited to: ECS, Chaintech, Aopen, PCChips...

Thnx,
Pete

 

[dashiki]

as a stock board the Soltek K8T800-PRO performs the best in benchmarks and looks pretty sweet too I just received mine in the mail today hooking it up right now I got the 3200+ Win.

 

[st3]

I am a bit leery about buying a board from a mfr that I don't have any experience with. Epox bit me in the ass that way. I suppose a few other people with good stories might change my mind.

 

[Insomniak]

lol I was just about to recommend Epox because I have built so many great NF3 systems using their 8KDA3+.
The 9NDA3+ was going to be my suggestion.

Oh well

 

[daveshel]

Originally posted by: Insomniak
lol I was just about to recommend Epox because I have built so many great NF3 systems using their 8KDA3+.
The 9NDA3+ was going to be my suggestion.

Oh well

I have had a pretty good experience with the EP-9NDA3J. The price was right.

 

[tr1kstanc3]

soltek is a very good company. just read their newegg user reviews.

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: tr1kstanc3
soltek is a very good company. just read their newegg user reviews.

The ones Newegg recommends not making buying decisions off of?

 

[freshspace]

Originally posted by: st3
I'm shopping for a board to get with my winnie 3500+. I don't OC so that isn't a consideration, and the board has to be AGP, so I can use my video card and my PCI cards (don't want to jump to PCI-E just yet.
I can spend up to around $175 or so and as such price isn't much of a concern.So far I have narrowed it down to:
Asus A8V
Abit AV8
Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum

I have an Asus now and have always had great luck with their stuff, that board looks good and is well featured, it is the one I am leaning towards most.

I have only ever had one Abit board but they are supposed to be good as well. The only thing I don't like about this board is it only has 2 SATA ports, significant drawback as I plan to install 2 different SATA RAID arrays.

Never owned Gigabyte board, but this one seems to be a good performer. However I would like a Digital audio out, on the jacks in the back instead of one of the little stand off things (or whatever they are called).

I have had a few friends who have had MSI boards all with good luck (except 1). The jack pack is pretty good on this one, and everything else seems to be pretty quality.

Any other input on boards is fine, keep in mind the price limit and the need for an AGP board. There are certain companies I refuse to buy from as well, these include but are not limited to: ECS, Chaintech, Aopen, PCChips...

Thnx,
Pete

I think the more prudent approach should be to decide which chipset you want to use first. Then, you can choose your board from there. Since you are not going to OC, I'm sure there are many boards out there that may attract you at a much cheaper price.

I have always used Soltek, and it has never disappointed me. Soltek K8T800-PRO is supposed to be a real fine board, especially if you are not going to overclock. Once again it is a good choice if the chipset is for you. Everyone has had a good or bad experience with one company or another. I swear by Soltek, MSI and Gigabyte. My friend "hates" Asus, and another Abit. You get the idea.

 

[st3]

lol I was just about to recommend Epox because I have built so many great NF3 systems using their 8KDA3+.
The 9NDA3+ was going to be my suggestion.

Oh well

About 3 years ago I bought an 8KHA+ which had some good reccomendations. It worked fine for a little while but the QC was pretty craptastic. :disgust:

Originally posted by: freshspace


I think the more prudent approach should be to decide which chipset you want to use first. Then, you can choose your board from there. Since you are not going to OC, I'm sure there are many boards out there that may attract you at a much cheaper price.

I have always used Soltek, and it has never disappointed me. Soltek K8T800-PRO is supposed to be a real fine board, especially if you are not going to overclock. Once again it is a good choice if the chipset is for you. Everyone has had a good or bad experience with one company or another. I swear by Soltek, MSI and Gigabyte. My friend "hates" Asus, and another Abit. You get the idea.

I think the nforce3 is probably the better chipset, although there aren't as many boards that use it.

 

[MarkM]

If you are considering the Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 (I'm nto gonna get into the pros & cons of that here, jsut saying IF you are), you might want to consider the GA-K8NS Ultra-939 too. It's pretty much verified to be the same board, just without DPS (which I've never heard what the real value of it is anyway). People are even flashing the NXP F7 bios to the Ultra-939. The Ultra-939 goes at many places for just over $100, I bought one Wednewsday for $112 (still haven't received though). A very feature rich board for that price point, the crowning ones are dual bios, dual lan, 8-channel sound, and firewire.

 

[JRez]

I'll throw a vote for the ASUS and the ABIT. Used both and they're very decent boards.

 

[st3]

It's down to the MSI and the ASUS. I like the MSI board better (better chipset IMO) but I have never had a bad Asus board, so I am still torn.