- Joined
- Dec 19, 2000
- Location
- Lawrenceville, GA
Well, I've pretty much been away from the forums and totally away from overclocking for about 2 years due to being stationed overseas with the military, but am about 2 months away from returning home. So, this will be my first build since the early part of 2003, basically. Considering my time away with only a Dell i8600, I'm having to relearn practically everything all over again as things have changed so much, so please, bear with me.
I'm pretty well settled on the bulk of the system and have already purchased (and probably have it waiting at home for me) roughly 75% of what I need, however, the three main components remain.
What I have so far is this:
Raidmax mid tower case (it was cheap, but I also have a Yeong Yang cube server case I may use instead)
Cooler Master ACLY 450W PS
MSI RX800PRO-TD256E (I know it's not on par with most 800Pros, but it was a good price for my needs)
2 X 36GB WD Raptors (these will be in RAID 0) + ATA133 250GB Seagate HDD + 80GB WD external USB HDD
NEC 3520A DVDRW
Zalman CNPS7000-CU heatsink
Various other accessories (fans, grills, rounded cables, etc.)
So that basically leaves the board, CPU, and memory. I'm pretty well set on the CPU as I'm just waiting another month or so for prices to drop on the Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo. As far as memory, well, I'm sticking in the $200US price range as I'm not after any serious overclocking - if any at all.
My dilemma is the board. For the past two weeks I've read at least 50 reviews regarding most all of the nForce4 Ultra boards and really am not any closer to picking a board. First off, I am not considering any SLI boards. Second, I'm needing the least amount of noise possible from the chipset cooling. Noise is a big factor in this system, so I'm trying to keep it to a minimum. I think that the wife will be able to handle a low-level rumble alot better than a shrieking high-pitched whine.
The boards I've looked at the most are the:
1. Chaintech VNF4U as this looks to have most everything I'm looking for plus a very good price. Only downside is that is encompasses passive chipset cooling. While that is plenty quiet, I'm afraid of overheating if I choose to do a little overclocking. (EDIT: Appears REV2.0 of this board includes active chipset cooling. Helps me lean more towards this board)
2. Epox 9NPA+ Ultra. I like the layout, always had a good experience from Epox, and the price is right as well. Downside is I've read the chipset fan is a bit loud (alternate opinions are very welcomed).
3. ECS KN1 Extreme. Like all the others, has what I'm looking for. I haven't owned an ECS board since their dual PIII offering nearly 5 years ago, so I don't know much about it. Downside is that it's relatively unknown to me, only 6-CH sound as compared to 8-CH in other offerings, and just looks to be a noisy board.
4. BFG NF4 Ultra. I like it, but it appears to be a +$30 version of the Chaintech board with active chipset cooling and more BIOS options. Can't really justify the extra cost for that.
5. Biostar NF4UL-A9. This board, along with the Chaintech, are the two I'm leaning towards the most. Everything seems standard in comparison to other boards in this price range. I get some conflicting opinions in chipset fan noise, however.
So those are pretty much what I'd like to choose from. I've looked at higher-end boards, but have come to the realization that I don't need most of what they include (like the DFI Lanparty, for instance). If I overclock at all, I'd only be shooting for a couple extra hundred MHz anyway, so modest BIOS options are fine. As stated before, I'm mostly concerned with noise and stability. This board will be the platform for mostly video/sound editing with a little gaming thrown in :]
As for memory, I'm waiting until CPU purchase on that in hopes prices may drop a little as well. This will probably consist of some budget PC3200 like the Rosewill, pqi, mushkin, or OCZ value lines. Tight timings are nice and all, but I really have no interest in paying the extra $100US or so I doubt I'll notice in anything other than a benchmark. I'm getting a couple of 1GB modules anyway, so overclocking those doesn't look to be too venturous anyway from what I've read.
Well, there you have it. Pick a board for me. I'd make it a poll with the choices I've listed, but I am more than willing to take other considerations. Thanks for reading this novel and taking the time to get me back up to speed!
I'm pretty well settled on the bulk of the system and have already purchased (and probably have it waiting at home for me) roughly 75% of what I need, however, the three main components remain.
What I have so far is this:
Raidmax mid tower case (it was cheap, but I also have a Yeong Yang cube server case I may use instead)
Cooler Master ACLY 450W PS
MSI RX800PRO-TD256E (I know it's not on par with most 800Pros, but it was a good price for my needs)
2 X 36GB WD Raptors (these will be in RAID 0) + ATA133 250GB Seagate HDD + 80GB WD external USB HDD
NEC 3520A DVDRW
Zalman CNPS7000-CU heatsink
Various other accessories (fans, grills, rounded cables, etc.)
So that basically leaves the board, CPU, and memory. I'm pretty well set on the CPU as I'm just waiting another month or so for prices to drop on the Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo. As far as memory, well, I'm sticking in the $200US price range as I'm not after any serious overclocking - if any at all.
My dilemma is the board. For the past two weeks I've read at least 50 reviews regarding most all of the nForce4 Ultra boards and really am not any closer to picking a board. First off, I am not considering any SLI boards. Second, I'm needing the least amount of noise possible from the chipset cooling. Noise is a big factor in this system, so I'm trying to keep it to a minimum. I think that the wife will be able to handle a low-level rumble alot better than a shrieking high-pitched whine.
The boards I've looked at the most are the:
1. Chaintech VNF4U as this looks to have most everything I'm looking for plus a very good price. Only downside is that is encompasses passive chipset cooling. While that is plenty quiet, I'm afraid of overheating if I choose to do a little overclocking. (EDIT: Appears REV2.0 of this board includes active chipset cooling. Helps me lean more towards this board)
2. Epox 9NPA+ Ultra. I like the layout, always had a good experience from Epox, and the price is right as well. Downside is I've read the chipset fan is a bit loud (alternate opinions are very welcomed).
3. ECS KN1 Extreme. Like all the others, has what I'm looking for. I haven't owned an ECS board since their dual PIII offering nearly 5 years ago, so I don't know much about it. Downside is that it's relatively unknown to me, only 6-CH sound as compared to 8-CH in other offerings, and just looks to be a noisy board.
4. BFG NF4 Ultra. I like it, but it appears to be a +$30 version of the Chaintech board with active chipset cooling and more BIOS options. Can't really justify the extra cost for that.
5. Biostar NF4UL-A9. This board, along with the Chaintech, are the two I'm leaning towards the most. Everything seems standard in comparison to other boards in this price range. I get some conflicting opinions in chipset fan noise, however.
So those are pretty much what I'd like to choose from. I've looked at higher-end boards, but have come to the realization that I don't need most of what they include (like the DFI Lanparty, for instance). If I overclock at all, I'd only be shooting for a couple extra hundred MHz anyway, so modest BIOS options are fine. As stated before, I'm mostly concerned with noise and stability. This board will be the platform for mostly video/sound editing with a little gaming thrown in :]
As for memory, I'm waiting until CPU purchase on that in hopes prices may drop a little as well. This will probably consist of some budget PC3200 like the Rosewill, pqi, mushkin, or OCZ value lines. Tight timings are nice and all, but I really have no interest in paying the extra $100US or so I doubt I'll notice in anything other than a benchmark. I'm getting a couple of 1GB modules anyway, so overclocking those doesn't look to be too venturous anyway from what I've read.
Well, there you have it. Pick a board for me. I'd make it a poll with the choices I've listed, but I am more than willing to take other considerations. Thanks for reading this novel and taking the time to get me back up to speed!
Last edited: