Opinions on this motherboard

[Wayne Luke]

Looking to use the motherboard below as the cornerstone of a new machine. The entire budget for the machine is $1000. The board with be complemented with an AMD 64 3200+ processor, nVidia 6600 graphics card, 2 GB of RAM (4 X 512) and a 160 GB SATA hard drive. Current build price is just over $900.00

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ASUS "A8N-SLI" nForce4 SLI Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL

Model# A8N-SLI
Item # N82E16813131524

Specifications:
Supported CPU: Socket 939 for AMD Athlon 64FX/Athlon 64
Chipset: NVIDIA nForce4 SLI
FSB: 2000 MT/s, 1600MT/s
RAM: 4x 184-pin DIMM for Dual-Channel DDR 400/333/266 (Max. 4GB)
IDE: 1x Ultra ATA 133 up to 2 Devices, support RAID 0/1/0+1/JBOD
Slots: 2x PCI-E x16, 2x PCI-E x1, 3x PCI
Ports: 2x PS/2, 1x LPT, Coaxial/Optical S/PDIF out, 10x USB2.0(Rear 4), 2x IEEE1394(Rear 1), 1x LAN, Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: Realtek ALC850, 8-channel CODEC
Onboard LAN: Gigabit Ethernet
Onboard SATA/RAID: 4x SATA2,RAID 0/1/0+1/JBOD
Form Factor: ATX

[tgillespie]

Heard nothing but good news about that board. Good socket and chipset.

[Vile]

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ASUS "A8N-SLI" nForce4 SLI Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL

Model# A8N-SLI
Item # N82E16813131524


This mobo has received great reviews and is highly recommended by many (reviews) that I've read.

IIRC, it's also reviewed in the latest Maximum PC and they aslo said it's one of the better boards for an A64 setup.

[ManagerJosh]

The A8N-SLI is a really good board, but I've heard a ton of rave reviews on the MSI K8N Neo4 Plantium/SLI

[Wayne Luke]

I looked at that MSI board and while I am generally happy with their products (all three of my computers have MSI motherboards), there are small problems that I am not happy with. For example on one computer, the BIOS screen won't come up unless you leave the PC off for over an hour, it just gives a blue bar otherwise, and then you can only access it once and then get the blue bar. Was a pain to setup. Even returned the board and got a replacement of the same model which had the same issue. There have been a few other issues as well in layout and performance.

[Primal Rage]

From my tickering with diferent baords i have to say ASUS have never let me down. Also the reviews on the board you mentioned have been superb.

[Mike Anime]

the soyo boards are also good i got their firedragon limited edition 9/11 tribute one. the software it came with was sweet

i got the hardware monitor it watches the CPU and the CHA temps also the current voltage use of the system.

i also got ultrawin cleaner, casper XP, and system mehanic 4.

if you go with that m board in your post why not get a pent 4 HT ?

[bahawolf]

Going by the review, its loud.

[Wayne Luke]

if you go with that m board in your post why not get a pent 4 HT ?

Because I don't want a 32 bit processor.

[Wayne Luke]

Going by the review, its loud.
Which review was that? I mean it does have a small fan for the chipset but that shouldn't make noticeable noise at least nothing that wouldn't be mitigated from the case.

[ManagerJosh]

I currently have an MSI 865PE Neo2-LS, and I have nothing but complements for this motherboards, so I don't know about the negative experiences you've had with MSI...I got nothing but praises for them.

[tgillespie]

the soyo boards are also good i got their firedragon limited edition 9/11 tribute one. the software it came with was sweet

i got the hardware monitor it watches the CPU and the CHA temps also the current voltage use of the system.

i also got ultrawin cleaner, casper XP, and system mehanic 4.

if you go with that m board in your post why not get a pent 4 HT ?Soyo is nothing but troubles. I had a P3 Soyo board that went to crap in about 6 months. They don't OC and their RMA service is horrible. Asus and Abit are probably the only to companies I'd use at the momment.

[Vile]

Soyo is nothing but troubles. I had a P3 Soyo board that went to crap in about 6 months. They don't OC and their RMA service is horrible. Asus and Abit are probably the only to companies I'd use at the momment.
Soyo *used* to be quite good (years ago) but not so much anymore.
I do agree though, I wouldn't use anything but Abit or ASUS.

[Wayne Luke]

Soyo *used* to be quite good (years ago) but not so much anymore.
I do agree though, I wouldn't use anything but Abit or ASUS.

Last time I used a Soyo board was in the Pentium Days and had nothing but troubles then.

[Wayne Luke]

I currently have an MSI 865PE Neo2-LS, and I have nothing but complements for this motherboards, so I don't know about the negative experiences you've had with MSI...I got nothing but praises for them.
The boards are okay, just not as astonishing as I was expecting. Like I said I have three of them currently and have built 20 computers with them over the last 2 years. Just wondering if there is something better.

Do have an MSI video card based on the Radeon 9800 that I have nothing but problems with. Can't even play games with it as it locks up within 5 minutes of playtime. However, I attribute that to the chipset because I have always had problems with ATI chips going all the way back to when the Rage was the in-thing. Bought it on a recommendation but somehow knew that I should have stayed with nVidia. Ended up replacing it with an nVidia 5700 based card and have not had any graphics related problems since.

[bahawolf]

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=13-131-517&DEPA=1

Right with the reviews, they say is loud.

[Wayne Luke]

I don't usually follow opinionated reviews like that. I mean it is a definite exxageration. Have you ever heard an F-14 in Afterburner mode? If it sounded like that he would have been arrested for civic noise violation ordinances the first day.

That isn't the motherboard I am looking at though. Just the standard one. I have no need for 8 SATA connections. It is going to be for general use and games not a file server. Even with only 4 SATA connections, I can get roughly 1.6 terabytes of storage, more if I use external drives on the 10 USB ports.

This is the exact model that I am looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-524&depa=0

[ManagerJosh]

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,119984,00.asp

[Vile]

Last time I used a Soyo board was in the Pentium Days and had nothing but troubles then.

I used them back in the day with my Athlon XP setup and had a pretty good experience, but they have gone downhill.
Abit & Asus = king of the hill. It doesn't get any better than them

[Mike Anime]

my soyo board is a few years old and has been great so far.the only reason my bro gave it to me was he wanted a pent 4 machine with hyper threading.