Author Topic: Which board to buy, and why? (Read 5859 times)

Arcmanov · « **on:** December 31, 2005, 08:55:10 PM »

I will have to buy a new motherboard eventually, when I migrate to PCI-Express. I have decided on MSI as the brand.
Question is, which one to buy? I don't need SLI, so my choices are down to these two:

The Neo4 F: http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8N_Neo4-F&class=mb

or the Neo4 Platinum: http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8N_Neo4_Platinum&class=mb

Now, I am getting conflicting info on the Neo4 Platinum as to the type of memory needed. Some sites saying DDR, others saying DDR2. The only things I want to have to buy is the motherboard, and the PCIe card.

Your thoughts?.........

Carigamers · « **on:** December 31, 2005, 08:55:10 PM »

TrinireturnofGamez · « **Reply #1 on:** December 31, 2005, 10:14:54 PM »

No AMD board uses DDRII yet so don't worry , either one will do , but the Platinum will have an advantage if you plan to use onboard sound or have a SATA 2 raid , the non plat is fine for a build otherwise .

TriniXaeno · « **Reply #2 on:** January 01, 2006, 03:02:29 AM »

I have seem some quirky USB boot issues and trouble getting the giga-ethernet network chip to run in dos with those MSI Boards.

Not a major problem for the average user but just so you know.

Hopefully the former will get fixed in bios update or so. The latter requires new drivers from Marvel that don't seem to be forthcoming.

It is more of an enterprise issue and those AMD MSI boards aren't exactly heading to the enterprise.

Beomagi · « **Reply #3 on:** January 01, 2006, 03:25:27 AM »

Consider the features you really need.
The really high end boards (not singling out MSI) have firewire, dual channel ethernet, gigabyte ethernet, better onboard sound, more raid options etc. Most of the time, you dont need these extras. I favor DFI for their tweakability. For lower end choices, there's the DAGF aka infinity board. If you just want a quality board to get the job done and nothing more, spending as little as possible, asrock dual sata2 939 is very nice.

theShark · « **Reply #4 on:** January 01, 2006, 04:55:55 PM »

http://hardocp.com/article.html?art=NzE0LDE=

Carigamers · « **Reply #4 on:** January 01, 2006, 04:55:55 PM »

Arcmanov · « **Reply #5 on:** January 02, 2006, 12:15:32 AM »

As usual, thanks to you guys for all the sound info. I think I'll buy the Neo4 Platinum, and a 6600 GT PCIe video card.

EDIT!!!: ah watchin this one hard too, the Asus A8N-E: http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=171&model=455&modelmenu=1

I am really taking a liking to the AI-NOS (Non-delay Overclocking System) on this board, which automatically boosts system performance as more stress is placed on it. I'll have to do more research as to how this actually performs.

Kaizen · « **Reply #6 on:** January 03, 2006, 08:09:20 AM »

from a msi plat user
i went throguh 3 neo 4s so far nor problems
but if you have the paper. like wat im gonna do get teh dfi ut lan party

Crixx_Creww · « **Reply #7 on:** January 03, 2006, 10:54:01 AM »

dfi lan party is particularly uber

asus has some level sicko boards that ive been dying to experiment on, especially with one of there v9 cards.

Arcmanov · « **Reply #8 on:** January 03, 2006, 05:52:49 PM »

True, those DFI boards are kickazz, but I can't afford em, and I don't need SLI (yet).

Beomagi · « **Reply #9 on:** January 09, 2006, 09:42:25 PM »

Quote from: Arcman on January 03, 2006, 05:52:49 PM

True, those DFI boards are kickazz, but I can't afford em, and I don't need SLI (yet).

you dont need a lanparty.

DFI caters mostly to tweakers and overclockers. You'll find other brands catering features more - like MSI and Gigabyte. But even Dfi's lowly infinity nf4 board for under $90US packs the same overclocking voltages their high end dfi nf4 sli dr-expert does. Asus is great, stable and unintimidating, but dwarfed next to dfi for tweakability. Abit has a bigger history of overclocking than DFI, though lately there hasn't been much fuss about em. The DFI infinity is one of the popular picks on the pc board I frequent. It's one of the cheaper tweakable boards out there. If that's still to much, there's asrock's dual sata2 boaard on ULi's chipset, which costs $72 on newegg.

Arcmanov · « **Reply #10 on:** January 10, 2006, 01:04:07 AM »

Does Newegg accept international credit cards? Mih head startin to hurt now from all the choices. The race is between the DFI Infinity, The MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum and the Asus A8N-E.

When ah ready to buy, whichever one is the cheapest might just win yes.

Beomagi · « **Reply #11 on:** January 15, 2006, 05:14:44 PM »

Shipping internationally is pretty expensive. What boards are available back home?

Narcissus · « **Reply #12 on:** January 15, 2006, 06:08:15 PM »

I'm lookin to buy an Asus a8n sli deluxe and it's $1600...i hopin to get a discount cuz i'll be buyin alot more hardware from the ppl....
I likin the sli idea cuz of the greater flexiblity when u have to upgrade...i see buytrinidad an dem have the MSI board they fuh about a grand i think

Arcmanov · « **Reply #13 on:** January 15, 2006, 07:35:17 PM »

Quote from: Beomagi on January 15, 2006, 05:14:44 PM

Shipping internationally is pretty expensive. What boards are available back home?

I normally buy stuff from Amazon, and ship it here via E Couriers. It works out a lot cheaper, but some of the sites I would like to buy from do not accept international credit cards, so if Amazon dont have what I want, then I will have to buy what they have, which is not always the best.

Czar · « **Reply #14 on:** January 15, 2006, 09:08:43 PM »

Sorry...you're outta luck there Arcman...NewEgg will not accept TT cards...or rather, I should say, they were not accepting TT cards up to when last I was orderin my parts from them in October 05. I know of a guy who is on their system tho...but only cos he been a longtime customer...before they made the switch in policy on int'l cards...

Arcmanov · « **Reply #15 on:** January 15, 2006, 09:23:47 PM »

Damn!!! Newegg have all the boss stuff, and more diversity too.

Czar · « **Reply #16 on:** January 16, 2006, 12:04:04 AM »

Quote from: Arcman on January 15, 2006, 09:23:47 PM

Damn!!! Newegg have all the boss stuff, and more diversity too.

That they do...so do I like I did and call a tantie who livin in the States to conduc the credit card scene for ya...

Kaizen · « **Reply #17 on:** January 16, 2006, 06:36:34 AM »

doh worry arc..check this site
www.mwave.com

Czar · « **Reply #18 on:** January 16, 2006, 12:58:34 PM »

mwave is also pretty decent...I purchased the parts to one of my pc's back in 2000 from them...they wouldn't take my card back then either...so I did a wire transfer. Costs an extra US$15 or so more...but it was worth it for the savings that I was getting

Narcissus · « **Reply #19 on:** January 16, 2006, 06:53:32 PM »

they don't do international shippin right now

Carigamers · « **Reply #19 on:** January 16, 2006, 06:53:32 PM »

Author Topic: Which board to buy, and why? (Read 5859 times)

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