What makes a good mobo ?

[tdotcbc84]

Hey everyone,

once again my computer interests would like to seek some attention.....and answers of course!


What is the real different between all the mobos ?????

Everyone says DFi and ASUS are the best, but what really makes them the best ? Don't tell me the obvious stuff like "it has SLi!" or "it is 3gb transfer as oppose to 1.5gb"

but i mean...... i cant tell the real difference between lets say the ASUS A8N32 and the Deluxe :S

and what makes a mobo a GOOD OC'ing mobo :S


anyone care to share what they know ? :?:

[matkun]

Other then bullet point features, and voltage regulation stuff (ie: the A8N32 is the only 8-phase power supply board consumer board..), there's general quality of components.

Also, bios options, chipset cooling... Compatibility issues...

The DFI Lanparty series and A8N32 and A8R-MVP are all good overclocking boards because they offer lots of overclocking options in the bios, and are stable under high voltages/frequencies.

Other things to consider for example are recovering from being unable to boot into bios (my A8N32 just reboots itself after 5 seconds if it can't boot into BIOS, booting with non-oced speeds and reporting that overclocking failed. Then you can go into bios, and it loads up the last settings you had (the ones that made it fail) so you can modify 'em and try again)..

It's a mix of things.

[squall458]

asus makes rock solid boards so that u can use a ton of different hardware and it should generally work well together. cheap boards can have issues with certain hardware which defeats the purpose of building a pc. DFI is an awesome OCing board cuz u can change all the voltages to extreme levels if need be, the layout of the board also matter and are well designed by DFI. theres just so much to say for this question.

[tdotcbc84]

hmmm i c i c....


right now i have a Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 and i dont really know if i am limited to my OC'ing cuz of my RAM or my motherboard....



gonna be getting some sweet TCCD ram from fellow RFDer..... and see if all goes well with my OC'ing.... if not.... gonna sell this Gigabyte mobo and get myself a DFi Ultra-D...heard those puppies are DAMN GOOD :)


but do you guys think my mobo will really hold me back THAT much in OC'ing ?

[squall458]

a quick google reveals that ur mobo does have a lot of ocing options, though this caught my eye:

Regarding the overlocking and the tuning options of the components Gigabyte gave the BIOS several options, which are made accessible partially only with a hidden CTRL+F1 key combination.
Because it's possible to get further features in the BIOS, if one presses CTRL + F1 key, since this releases the Advanced chipset menu with many memory timing and the HT clock options.

http://www.ocinside.de/go_e.html?/html/results/mainboard_gigabyte_ga_k8nf9.html

[windwaker]

DFI - best overclocker, ton of features in bios, maybe overwhelming for beginners

ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI - solid boards at stock speeds, adequate overclocking options

ASRock & ECS - budget boards, nice features, people who had ONE bad experience or have never used them WILL hate them with a passion

[Cafe_333]

???I've never heard complaints about ASrock boards, they're pretty solid in my opinion especially knowing that they are simply the value segment from Asus.

Most solid techies I've known don't really like MSI all that much and i've read posts where people had problems with them... While personally I've never had a problem with MSI, I never liked their positioning of compenents on the pcb.

[kud0s69]

Happier with my ASRock MB than my Asus m/b. Funny how that works seeing how ASRock is Asus's sister company. Sorta like Honda and Acura ;)

My Asrock s939 Dual M/B was purchased as a transition board. But it really has been completely hassle free and will wait a while. Computer is running flawlessly :)

[tdotcbc84]

i dont really like my mobo's "passive cooling" on the mobo's chipset~!


do chipsets get THAT hot when OC'ing ?

i want to get a new HSF combo for the chipset, but my X1800XL is soooo long it will definitely get in the way~!!! it already almost touches my HDD! which makes it hard to bend power cables for the VC and HDD !

[Cafe_333]

Looking at your passive heatsink on your northbridge here (http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_EnlargeView_GA-K8NF9%20Ultra.htm), i'm really not sure what aftermarket solution would work with your mobo. Perhaps the Vantec Iceberg chipset cooler (pic (http://www.bigfootcomputers.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/devices/iceberqcopper_big.jpg)) might work? You'll have to measure out the holes to see if it'll fit though. Also check some gigabyte forums and see what some people have successfully done with their mobos.

[matkun]

DFI - best overclocker, ton of features in bios, maybe overwhelming for beginners

ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI - solid boards at stock speeds, adequate overclocking options

I would like to point out that the latest Asus boards, the A8N32-SLI Deluxe and A8R-MVP both have ocing options that match the DFI ocing options, and in Anandtech's tests OCed better then the DFI boards.

Sorry, I'm just getting tired of everyone saying that DFI is the undisputed best for OCing, when atleast Asus and a few other manufacturers have matched their OCability.

[DaLurker]

I would like to point out that the latest Asus boards, the A8N32-SLI Deluxe and A8R-MVP both have ocing options that match the DFI ocing options, and in Anandtech's tests OCed better then the DFI boards.

Sorry, I'm just getting tired of everyone saying that DFI is the undisputed best for OCing, when atleast Asus and a few other manufacturers have matched their OCability.

I'm not sure about the new A8N32-SLI but comparing DFI's budget NF4 Infinity SLI to my new Asus A8N-SLI Premium, the DFI's definately better for oc'ing.

The most important differences are in the voltage options:
CPU DFI [0.8v - 1.85v] Asus [0.8v - 1.65v]
Mem DFI [2.5v - 3.2v] Asus [2.5v - 3.0v]
Chipset DFI [1.5v - 1.7v] Asus [1.5v - 1.6v]

No doubt DFI may get you a higher overclock.

That said though, my DFI went up in a puff of smoke and I bought an Asus A8N-SLI Premium so take that as you may.

[tdotcbc84]

Looking at your passive heatsink on your northbridge here (http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_EnlargeView_GA-K8NF9%20Ultra.htm), i'm really not sure what aftermarket solution would work with your mobo. Perhaps the Vantec Iceberg chipset cooler (pic (http://www.bigfootcomputers.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/devices/iceberqcopper_big.jpg)) might work? You'll have to measure out the holes to see if it'll fit though. Also check some gigabyte forums and see what some people have successfully done with their mobos.


yeah, havnt seen too much written about gigabyte mobos :S
either way.... i have my system running @ 2.2ghz from 2.0ghz... which is really nothing..... (3200+ speeds to 3500+)

not gonna be worried about my temps (for chipset) until i go higher ...

if im gonna do some serious OC'ing... probably gonna get a DFi Ultra-D, the A8N32 is too pricy for me at the moment :S

[matkun]

if im gonna do some serious OC'ing... probably gonna get a DFi Ultra-D, the A8N32 is too pricy for me at the moment :S

If your looking for price, the A8R-MVP is actually 30 bucks cheaper then the Ultra-D. Don't know what your looking for feature wise though. The A8R is also an ATI R200 chipset as opposed to the Ultra-D Nforce 4.

Honestly, it seems you are not really experienced enough with overclocking to take full advantage of all the overclocking options on those boards, and they have enough ocing capability to fry your hardware.

Why are you unhappy with your current motherboard to begin with?

[tdotcbc84]

dont like how the CHIPSET is being cooled :(
you can see how it looks like with CAFE_333's post up above...

and i dont think i can change the HS on it.... the videocard is right above it..... i need to find something that would be really short and has a fan on it :S

[Deimos]

yeah, havnt seen too much written about gigabyte mobos :S
either way.... i have my system running @ 2.2ghz from 2.0ghz... which is really nothing..... (3200+ speeds to 3500+)

not gonna be worried about my temps (for chipset) until i go higher ...

if im gonna do some serious OC'ing... probably gonna get a DFi Ultra-D, the A8N32 is too pricy for me at the moment :S

What is fricken wrong with you? You are running a Winchester 3200+ @ 2.2Ghz... thats just weak man. Are you trying to use passive cooling, or using <1.2V or something?

Using 3xHTT you should have no problems pushing the HTT higher. Ofcourse you also need to lower the memory divider as you go up, to keep the memory in operating range. With those two things in mind, and a good cooler, there's no stopping you from getting 2.5, 2.7 or even higher.

[alpha_tot]

What is fricken wrong with you? You are running a Winchester 3200+ @ 2.2Ghz... thats just weak man. Are you trying to use passive cooling, or using <1.2V or something?

Using 3xHTT you should have no problems pushing the HTT higher. Ofcourse you also need to lower the memory divider as you go up, to keep the memory in operating range. With those two things in mind, and a good cooler, there's no stopping you from getting 2.5, 2.7 or even higher.

lol, what he said. put your HTT and ram on big dividers, then push your mobo+cpu as far as you can go. Once you lose stability, give your cpu some more volts...if that doesnt fix the problem, then you know your mobos limiting you. If you keep going up to a point where you dont wanna give the proc more voltage or your temps are too high, then your CPU and/or cooling is limiting you. No sense replacing your mobo if you dont even know if its limiting you.

[tdotcbc84]

yeah doesnt matter now...


i just keep AT stock speeds since it doesnt really improve much....

well at least i dont notice it... and its not everyday i encrypt items and i need to lower my times by 2 minutes..... :S




i have gotten my CPU up to 2.60Ghz.... but its not stable at all... i tried EVERYTHING!!! its just not stable.. and i get glitches :S

if i need to OC my cpu cuz my computer cant perform at stock.. i would probably just buy new stuff :)

[dmdmd]

You can't go wrong with Asus. Trust me. They are the leader in the field.

[alpha_tot]

You can't go wrong with Asus. Trust me. They are the leader in the field.

Yeah you can...the a8v's a POS as far as overclocking goes. A8Ns and A8Rs are pretty good though...but go DFI if you really want to overclock.