Which 1 to buy????

[DaddyDC650]

I will be overclocking my Opteron 144 cpu and I want a motherboard that will let me hit 2.8 ghz if the cpu let's me that is. I will also be running an EVGA 7800GT video card and will run SLI by the end of this year. Which motherboard is the best all around? I will be ordering by today so please reply as soon as possible.

 

[Yreka]

Either board should meet your requirements. The Asus is the better board, wether its worth the extra $$ *and hassle finding it* or not is up to you.

 

[X Neo X]

as long as your not using 2 dual slot gfx cards, go with the asus.

 

[Pens1566]

Asus is also ~$50 more expensive.

 

[X Neo X]

its genuinly better in every way though, and i dont think the dfi supports s ata II

 

[Yreka]

Originally posted by: X Neo X
as long as your not using 2 dual slot gfx cards, go with the asus.

The asus has room for 2 dual slot gfx cards also. The spacing is about the same on the two boards. Now using 2 dual slot gfx and additional PCI cards is another story.

 

[Pens1566]

4 SATA II ports. And "betterin every way" is your opinion.

 

[X Neo X]

Originally posted by: Pens1566
4 SATA II ports. And "betterin every way" is your opinion.

The dfi is arguably a better overclocker. the asus looks better, passive cooling is silent , has better connections available, even the supplied wires are better quality with the asus. as for the spec of the board they are both very similar. I cant see any advantage the dfi would have over the asus apart from it being cheaper.

And are you likely to use more than 4 sata II ports?

 

[DaddyDC650]

I would probably only use 2 sata II ports at the most. Would that asus board do at least 312 htt by x9??? That's what I would need in order to hit 2.8 ghz. Anyone?

 

[X Neo X]

I think the asus and the dfi are 2 of the best overclockers arround

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2589&p=12 - hope that helps you a bit

 

[DaddyDC650]

Thanks for that link X Neo X. Seems that it tops out at 310 which is not bad but that will not give me 2.8 ghz. I wonder if I could raise it to 312 and stlll have it be stable... The DFI SLI Expert board would probably have no problem hittin 312+ htt. Too bad it does not feature dual x16 pci-e lanes.

 

[ericeash]

i don't see how everyone thinks the more expensive board is better? before they went OoS, the asus board was down to $209. plus, read anandtech's review of the expert which was reviewed after the asus board. i don't remember anywhere in that thread where they said the asus was better, and in all but maybe one benchmark, the expert was out ahead. read it for yourself http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2620

 

[DaddyDC650]

Hmm, seems as if the DFI SLI Expert board is in fact the better board. Thanks for the reply ericeash.

 

[Yreka]

Originally posted by: ericeash
i don't see how everyone thinks the more expensive board is better? before they went OoS, the asus board was down to $209. plus, read anandtech's review of the expert which was reviewed after the asus board. i don't remember anywhere in that thread where they said the asus was better, and in all but maybe one benchmark, the expert was out ahead. read it for yourself http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2620

Well I think its a better board because it has a more recent chipset, has 8 phase power for the CPU *the main selling point for me*, and no active cooling on the chipset. Plus Asus is a tier 1 MB maker, DFI, while a solid tier 2, isn't quite there yet. Not because some review told me it was "better" or "best".

When I look at MB reviews, I look for major problems large deltas, etc. When stuff is as close as it is in this case, I call them a wash. There are sooooooo many variables to take into account, you really getting down to splitting hairs.

I could care less about the 1fps, in the benchmarks, or the leet pimplefarmer on the box showing off the UV reactive highlights. That type of marketing just dosn't appeal to me. I also don't care about the extra 1.7mhz oc as much as the other features mentioned above.

If those things are important to you, by all means get the DFI, and in your case it would be the "better" board. There isnt one absolute answer, so I would advise you guys save your energy and quit looking

 

[X Neo X]

Originally posted by: ericeash
i don't see how everyone thinks the more expensive board is better? before they went OoS, the asus board was down to $209. plus, read anandtech's review of the expert which was reviewed after the asus board. i don't remember anywhere in that thread where they said the asus was better, and in all but maybe one benchmark, the expert was out ahead. read it for yourself http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2620

Almost all of those differences are withing the margin of error they allow as they say in the review, they are based on the same chipset and are almost the same board in terms or spec, you have to look at other stuff you get, like extras in the box, passive cooling etc.

 

[ericeash]

i'm not trying to knock the asus, i just think one person saying the board is better than another should have a better argument, which is why i put the link to the expert review. passive cooling is great, in fact my lanparty expert will be running in a HTPC in my home theater, so being quiet is great. but if you are OCing everything in your case, in order for the passive cooling to do any good you better have a bunch of airflow, and lots of airflow leads to noise which takes away the cool factor the passive heatsink had in the first place. 8 phase power is great, compared to the experts 4 phase, but you'll be able to overclock higher on the dfi and still be stable, so maybe the 8 phase is too redundant. extra crap in the box? the asus comes with windvd, ooh! and a couple of useless pci slot crap. the asus board does look better, as i'm not a huge fan of the yellow everywhere, but i'm also not into case windows either. and so far x16 sli has not proven to be a big step forward, albeit a nice feature. so in sli, the asus will get a few more fps than the dfi, but with the dfi, you'll be able to overclock higher, and gain those valuable fps back, all for $50 less and readily available. if you read the original post, availability and overclocking were the 2 main points, and i think the dfi fits the bill better.

 

[DaddyDC650]

Went with the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe. Thanks for all of the replies!

 

[Sentry2]

Originally posted by: Yreka

Originally posted by: X Neo X
as long as your not using 2 dual slot gfx cards, go with the asus.

The asus has room for 2 dual slot gfx cards also. The spacing is about the same on the two boards. Now using 2 dual slot gfx and additional PCI cards is another story.

Exactly, who wants to run onboard sound with 2 dual slot video cards???? Honestly, thats what kept me away from the Asus. The MSI 16x board will do 2 dual slot cards with another pci card but I don't know about it's oc'ing abilities.

The Expert has 4 Sata II ports and 4 Sata ports. I would praise the Expert more except for the fact I couldn't get 2 GTX 512's to run in SLI on this board. Others have had the same problem too. I'm sure there are no problems running 2 7800GT's though. I hope I won't have the same problem with the G71 in SLI when it comes out. GL

For a top notch board the layout of the Asus's pci-e/pci slots suck.

 

[MADMAX23]

Originally posted by: Yreka
Either board should meet your requirements. The Asus is the better board, wether its worth the extra $$ *and hassle finding it* or not is up to you.

For overclocking an Opty 144 and squeeze every Mhz out of it you need a mobo capable of being stable at High HTT speeds and the Asus does not support that, I had it and I sold it after a few months, now I am with the DFI and I am very happy.
If you are not very experienced in overclocking, buy the ASUS A8N SLI Premium, not the Deluxe and if you need the MAX powerful mobo, get the DFI SLI-DR normal or Expert.

 

[MADMAX23]

Originally posted by: X Neo X
its genuinly better in every way though, and i dont think the dfi supports s ata II

Man, you are definitively WRONG, the DFI has everything you'll need (including SATA II of course, that has to do with the nFORCE4 chipset, not with the DFI board, are you a rookie?) and overclocks way BETTER than ASUS boards!! I've had both!!

 

[CP5670]

The A8N32's newer x16 chipset seems to be actually a bad thing according to the xbit review. The difference isn't much, but I wouldn't pay significantly more for a board that's in fact slower than the 8x SLI ones.

The Expert looks nice, but I don't know why they changed the socket/memory layout. The one on the older DFI boards works better for cooling, at least inside my case.

 

[Skott]

The ASUS A8N32 will allow you to run two 7800GTX cards *and* a sound card. Enough people have them already and posted here on AT Forums as proof it can be done. DFI is going to allow more overclocking possibilities I'm guessing although the ASUS is no slouch in that department. That may or may not make a difference to the buyer. Depends on how hardcore of an overclocker the individual is. Personally I prefer the heatpipe technology over the chipset fan technology but thats just me. I dont think you can go wrong with either mobo really.

 

[FSH42NA]

Originally posted by: Skott
The ASUS A8N32 will allow you to run two 7800GTX cards *and* a sound card. Enough people have them already and posted here on AT Forums as proof it can be done. DFI is going to allow more overclocking possibilities I'm guessing although the ASUS is no slouch in that department. That may or may not make a difference to the buyer. Depends on how hardcore of an overclocker the individual is. Personally I prefer the heatpipe technology over the chipset fan technology but thats just me. I dont think you can go wrong with either mobo really.

I've got this board and 2 6600gt's in sli with Artic Cooler silencers and I don't see how you can fit a sound card in between them. Also, the last pci slot on the bottom doesn't look like it can accomodate a sound card - it's freaking cramped down there.

 

[Sentry2]

Originally posted by: Skott
The ASUS A8N32 will allow you to run two 7800GTX cards *and* a sound card. Enough people have them already and posted here on AT Forums as proof it can be done. DFI is going to allow more overclocking possibilities I'm guessing although the ASUS is no slouch in that department. That may or may not make a difference to the buyer. Depends on how hardcore of an overclocker the individual is. Personally I prefer the heatpipe technology over the chipset fan technology but thats just me. I dont think you can go wrong with either mobo really.

You CAN NOT run 2 dual slot video cards and a pci sound card. Tell me where you would put the extra PCI card at. Sure, if you got a small sound card you could try to stick it in the 3rd slot up from the bottom in between the 2 DS Video cards but you'd have to make it under the SLI bridge. I don't think an X-Fi will do that. The layout of the pci/pci-e slots just plain sucks for people who want to run SLI with dual slot cards and a nice sound card.

A8N32-SLI

 

[cpacini]

Originally posted by: Sentry2

Originally posted by: Skott
The ASUS A8N32 will allow you to run two 7800GTX cards *and* a sound card. Enough people have them already and posted here on AT Forums as proof it can be done. DFI is going to allow more overclocking possibilities I'm guessing although the ASUS is no slouch in that department. That may or may not make a difference to the buyer. Depends on how hardcore of an overclocker the individual is. Personally I prefer the heatpipe technology over the chipset fan technology but thats just me. I dont think you can go wrong with either mobo really.

You CAN NOT run 2 dual slot video cards and a pci sound card. Tell me where you would put the extra PCI card at. Sure, if you got a small sound card you could try to stick it in the 3rd slot up from the bottom in between the 2 DS Video cards but you'd have to make it under the SLI bridge. I don't think an X-Fi will do that. The layout of the pci/pci-e slots just plain sucks for people who want to run SLI with dual slot cards and a nice sound card.

A8N32-SLI

QFT

And some of us have 2 PCI cards, for that the Asus is right out.