Debating on changing Mobo

[Zenzetsu]

Well, a few years back i bought an A8R-MVP with the setup of:

CPU: AMD Opteron 185
RAM: 2 Gigs (4X512 DDR 400)
Vid: X1800XT 512MB
Sound: Creatives Soundblaster X-Fi FPS
HDD: 1 IDE X 80 Gig - 1 SATA 80 Gig

I've read a lot of the reviews on this board and it has served me well on and off but I didn't get into overclocking until recently, I notice this board has a lot of problems maintaining stability when i try to push for some power (yes i have sufficient cooling). Now i'm thinking about getting a new mobo. I've been looking at a ABIT AT8 32X Socket 939 ATI CrossFire Radeon Xpress 3200 ATX motherboard for a replacement. My question is, Will this be a big improvement over the A8R-MVP and does it have a strong stability compared to the A8R-MVP? (I noticed the northbridges are different my Xpress 1600 Vs Xpress 3200(ABIT))

[GJSNeptune]

Is getting a good OC worth the small, relatively cheap upgrade, or would you consider building a new, fresh system?

[Zenzetsu]

well I want to achieve excellent results with the hardware I have currently have. The vcore and a few other bugs are starting to make me sway away from this current board i have, i want to avoid building a fresh new system until the quad core phenom's show up

[sneekypeet]

Look into some reviews of the system with ABIT's OC'ing...its a tad wierd.....ABIT loves TCCD and not much else will climb for RAM well....so I've found myself also, my HyperX does about half in the ABIT what it does on my DFI. Back to the GURU read up as I say , comming from an ASUS with mutiple load bios' it may not seem wierd, As a DFI user I'm used to a no boot situation when OC'd wrong, whereas ABIT has a failsafe boot. If the settings are wrong ,the mobo resets on boot and posts at 197 FSB.
you may call me a FANBOY but give DFI a good look B4 you buy....Great mobo, lots of settings for getting out that last MHz. Drawback to DFI is same as ABIT tho , they just really want that TCCD or RAM that performs in the same nature.

@GJS.....an ebay upgrade can be had for as low as $50 for 939's just need to be patient and willing to bid @ 3:00AM. The ABIT Fatl1ty in my lady's pc was a $70 find . Great upgrade for the money for the HyperX and X2 4600 that were on hand.

[GJSNeptune]

DFI is pretty pricey though. I like Abit boards. The only gripe would be the Northbridge fans on the older boards. They usually died early.

[sneekypeet]

Never had an issue with the DFI fans myself. Altho there is an evercool that works great as a replacement for maybe $12.

[GJSNeptune]

I was talking about the Abit fans. I replaced mine with a Zalman passive cooler. Just about every board nowadays has passive bridge cooling.

It's up to you. The new board will likely give you some more umph, especially if it's known to have solid overclocking abilities. On the other hand, you're still using your old hardware, so you probably won't get that much of a "wow" out of it.

[sneekypeet]

I have to agree with you there GJS . no WOW factor, but yes scores and ....well just score can get better. OH ! and your E-P___s...lol

Hey Zen please fill out SPECS in USER CP tab @ top.....I hate to say it but other things such as a PSU may also cause said issues!!!

[erocker]

Where can you find those mobos?

[sneekypeet]

E-Bay is where i got mine and have seen DFI SLI-DR Experts also go for the $50-70 dollar range!


http://cgi.ebay.com/DFI-LanParty-UT-nF4-SLI-D-Socket-939-MB_W0QQitemZ320128142897QQihZ011QQcategoryZ99245QQ rdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Not an expert but you get the point!

[Demos_sav]

I don't know much about AMD motherboards but here is the top overclocking of your processor held by a DFI board.

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=186341

[sneekypeet]

I don't know much about AMD motherboards but here is the top overclocking of your processor held by a DFI board.

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=186341

Most AMD records are on some sort of DFI mobo But the cooling at 3.8 is the real question in my mind.

[Zenzetsu]

to sneekypeet, do you recommend i go for the Ati Chipset or Nforce for a 939 DFI board?

[sneekypeet]

thats up to you...if you plan to do Xfire go ATI....personally I ran single ATI cards on Nf4 no issues. As of late I got a hold of 2 7600gt's for SLI. Its really up to where you want to go!

By chance is that RAM value, or is it an XMS flavor? thanks for the specs, as for the PSU issue stated earlier, that PSU should be plenty.

[Random Murderer]

...I hate to say it but other things such as a PSU may also cause said issues!!!

lol, sneeky knows all about psu related issues!:nutkick:

[sneekypeet]

WTF did I do to deserve that random?

[Random Murderer]

WTF did I do to deserve that random?

just messin around, no offense!

[sneekypeet]

Oh no problem then, the nutkick just hurts man...lmao

[suraswami]

Well, a few years back i bought an A8R-MVP with the setup of:

CPU: AMD Opteron 185
RAM: 2 Gigs (4X512 DDR 400)
Vid: X1800XT 512MB
Sound: Creatives Soundblaster X-Fi FPS
HDD: 1 IDE X 80 Gig - 1 SATA 80 Gig

I've read a lot of the reviews on this board and it has served me well on and off but I didn't get into overclocking until recently, I notice this board has a lot of problems maintaining stability when i try to push for some power (yes i have sufficient cooling). Now i'm thinking about getting a new mobo. I've been looking at a ABIT AT8 32X Socket 939 ATI CrossFire Radeon Xpress 3200 ATX motherboard for a replacement. My question is, Will this be a big improvement over the A8R-MVP and does it have a strong stability compared to the A8R-MVP? (I noticed the northbridges are different my Xpress 1600 Vs Xpress 3200(ABIT))


This might be a basic question. Do you have the latest bios?

[Zenzetsu]

yep i'm using the beta bios that recently came out

to sneakypeet, XMS type (Heatspreaders included)

[sneekypeet]

Should do just peachy on most boards but be sure to look over some reviews and forums for compatability for sure......Leaning toward DFI take a look at DIY-Street.com...Great OCDB and angry goes through lots of parts to get all the tests done...lol. Lots of great mods there and if you look close enough , you can find tutorials for builds too . just to make sure it's right!


BTW sale is still going , like 30 mins and still 48 dollars.....just as I say it can be done cheaply...LMAO

[Zenzetsu]

well i'm hoping to get some crossfire running pretty soon, when i can get a deal on the crossfire version of the x1800.....for the time being my pocket has a hole ha ha ha.

btw, whats your take on this type of mobo:

Here (sorry for the long chars)
http://cgi.ebay.com/DFI-LanParty-UT-CFX3200-DR-G-socket-939-crossfire-AMD_W0QQitemZ300122830088QQihZ020QQcategoryZ99245Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[sneekypeet]

my take is this. 3200 chipset is supposed to be a very good chipset from what i READ. Never owning one myself I'm hoping someone here will step in and help with that. the mobo layout is as good as it gets with DFI.....uses the same layout as the Expert! Let me do some quick googling and see what i can come up with.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/894/dfi_lanparty_ut_cfx3200_dr_another_xpress_3200_tes ted/index.html

Heads up against your mobo and another as well , read the final thoughts tho! Also my claims of it being like the Expert are correct . 4 phase power (best DFI offered in 939) , also has high end pieces that the Ultra and SLI-DR lack......GOOD PICK!

[nav3]

Hey Zenzetsu, if you really want to change mobo's for really cheap I have an Abit an8 that I could trade you for your asus, it has an nforce4 chipset, I know I'm new here but I have heatware if you consider it.