Motherboard Search

[ddrueding]

I'm looking for a Socket 939 board with 16x PCI-Express slot available today. Anyone? Anything?

Newegg doesn't even seem to be equipped for PCI-e. ASUS and Gigabyte both have SLI-capable boards, but I can't find them in the channel. help?

Anything else I should be considering?

 

[mubs]

Pricewatch shows 2 entries for the Asus (I know, I know) A8N-SLI Deluxe for ~ $300. Has 2*16x, 2*1x PCI-E, 3xPCI. nForce4 SLI chipset. 4 Dimm slots, 4GB Ram max, GbE, 4+4 SATA, onboard audio.

The only other board I know of is the Abit AX8-3rd Eye which I don't see anywhere.

 

[ddrueding]

This guy wants leading-edge, but under $200 for the mobo would be nice.

 

[Handruin]

I've been waiting patiently and have not seen anything yet. I continue to hear they will be available early december, so it may be too soon to see anything yet. If you do find anything, let me know.

Anandtech has the gigabyte K8NXP-SLI on review. They gave it good praise.

 

[Buck]

Sorry Dave, no SLI boards from my distributors yet.

 

[ddrueding]

I don't really want SLI, it's just that the only boards I could find were SLI. Having a single 16x slot is all I really want.

 

[P5-133XL]

Actually, I think having multiple PCI-e slots is an important MB longevity characteristic. At the moment, there are only graphics cards using the slot but that won't remain. In the long run, the industry's goal is to replace all the PCI slots in favor of PCI-e slots as a better choice. If that is the case then you will be better served, in the long run, having at least one unoccupied high performance 16x slot.

 

[ddrueding]

Firstly, from what I've gathered, there is only one board that actually has 2x 16x slots. All the "SLI" boards talked about here are actually splitting the 16 channels into 2 8x connections using 16x slots.

Secondly, I don;t know all that many people who "upgrade" their systems anymore. I know I've been replacing my system as a whole for at least the last 4 rounds. Most of the people I know do the same. This will be sold as a high-end gaming system, and will be used for about 6 months before he sells it and I build him a new one. The system I built for him 6 months ago is socket 754 3400+ and a 9800XT.

 

[P5-133XL]

Dual x16's are in the pipeline: It is just a matter of time before they appear. But, you are correct that currently the MB makers are only offering to split the x16 bus into two x8 slots. I look at that as a very short-term kludge till multiple real PCI-e slots take over.

As long as there is no large-scale performance improvements in CPU's, I expect the lifespan of the average MB to be greatly extended via upgrading. Why bother replacing the entire machine for equivilant performance just to get the current hot accessories. That means the upgrade market will boom while the PC replacement market place will bust.

The newest and greatest accessories will be offered first using the newest standards:i.e. PCI-e. Currently that is only happenening with video cards but eventually it will occur with network cards; HD controllers; and others as they appear. If you already have at least two high performance PCI-e slots then you will be able to take advantage of those new cards without replacing everything.

 

[ddrueding]

I'm of the opinion that most everything will continue the current trend of motherboard integration with the sole exception of video cards. It's been a long time since I had a card besides video in a gaming machine.

 

[Handruin]

Let me ask this. In those motherboards which support two PCIe slots, can they run non-video cards when they are both enabled? Even though their speed is cut in half, I suspect they might not be able to handle any device other than an SLI enabled graphics card. From some of the pictures I've seen, the riser card that needs to be flipped over states SLI/non-SLI...that's what makes me wonder.

If they can handle any device when both enabled, having an 8x PCIe slot is by no means slow. Each X factor equates to 250MB/s in each direction. An 8x slot then equals 2GBps. Given some overhead, I think it would be hard to saturate this with anything other than a graphics card. Am I misinterpreting the numbers?

 

[ddrueding]

From a current thread @ SR, it implys that an ASUS rep stated the cards are for graphics cards only.

 

[sechs]

You mean that they don't comply with the PCI-E standard or are simply ignorant of what their board can do?

 

[Handruin]

I just found this post regarding Asus 939 PCI-E with SLI for pre-order...the price is insane... an average of $299. The one store I looked at was $339.

 

[Handruin]

nForce 4 is getting closer...so they say. I'm really interested in the gigabyte board. I've seen a few good reviews of both SLI and non-sli.

 

[Pradeep]

So being in mad rush to purchase a machine to test some applications at work, I ordered an MSI K8N Neo2 socket 939 mobo, and an AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache (0.09 micron) to match. Hope it works OK.

 

[Handruin]

I hear ya. I'm sure it'll work fine, the MSI K8N board has been out for a while now. It looks like a good board, but you already know my story with MSI. What ram are you using with it?

 

[Pradeep]

CORSAIR XMS Xtreme Memory Speed Series

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=20-145-522&DEPA=0

 

[Handruin]

Newegg has the gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI listed. It's out of stock of course...but at least they now list it!

 

[Piyono]

Sorry to veer this thread off topic, but what's the purpose of that blue multi-pin slot near the CPU socket?

Also, what's with this this new trend of dual integrated LAN? Does this fill any real-world need for the average gamer or power user?

I feel so 'out of the loop'.


]-[

 

[Pradeep]

The blue slot is where the power doodad sits I think.

I look at dual gigabit like this. One is going to be good (the Marvell one). The other is going to be some Realtek POS.

 

[i]

Good thing that baby's got a 34-pin floppy connector!

People might have been unable to take it seriously as a modern piece of technology without it!

 

[ddrueding]

I'm digging the 8 SATA connectors...

 

[i]

I should have added a :wink: to my post.

(Just in case anyone was thinking about sending me one as a belated Christmas gift. :mrgrn: )

 

[CityK]

I should have added a :wink: to my post.

(Just in case anyone was thinking about sending me one as a belated Christmas gift. :mrgrn: )

It's too late, I already returned it to the store.

 

[CityK]

I had the GA-K8NF-9 in my hands yesterday and was all set to pick it up, but they were out of lower tier PCI-e graphics cards...I have no need for a gaming card, nor do I particularly want a video card with a little screamer. Just want a decent passive card with DVI. Oh well, maybe in a few weeks.

In the meantime, desperate for a new computer, I switched to plan Bee: Soltek EQ-3901. I have my likes and dislikes about it. Number one problem right now is heat. When you first turn the system on, the fans fire up but then drop quickly to a very respectable level. However, heat builds up relatively quickly, and the fans in turn rev up. I would say you can get about an hour or so of light computer duty time in before the ICy-Q fan (as they call it) kicks up from ~1250 to ~2000 and persists. At that speed, the sound exceedingly annoys me. Bah. I so wish I had picked up the nF4 board now.

 

[Bozo]

Why would the NF4 been any cooler?
Same CPU...Same workload, right?


Bozo :mrgrn:

 

[CityK]

Mid tower case vs SFF case