Opty 148 next upgrade: mobo or PSU?

Okay, I have a 148 0545 CAB2E CPAW that I think will make it to the 3 ghz club if I push it hard enough. At the least, I can see the 2.9 mark, and would be happy to make it that far; anything past that would be great. Why I can't be happy with fx-57 speeds is beyond me...
Originally, I had it on the stock cooler, and it wouldn't go above 2700mHz without crashing. Anything above stock volts no matter the speed would kill it.
Now I have it under a Scythe Ninja, and it seems I have hit a wall around 2850mHz although my load temps barely pass the 40c mark. Regardless, trying to prime at anything above 2850 will cause death after an hour or so. I can boot into Windows at 3gHz to get a suicide shot, but it crash as soon as I start prime.
Methinks it is most likely due to either my choice to buy a $5.99 20-24pin plug and continue using my Antec TP-480 instead of upgrading to a new PSU, or my eVGA motherboard that may or may not be providing stable enough voltages.
Would test with a multimeter to be sure, but the screen on mine cracked and is bleeding liquid crystals. According to the Jetway motherboard utility, my vCore is fluctuating between 1.49 and 1.52 when I have voltages set to 1.475. Not acceptable at all: Everytime the voltage reading refreshes, it is giving a different value...

So, I am going to be making an upgrade in the very near future to see whether or not I will be able to pass the 2.9 or even 3.0 mark. Given my situation, does anyone have a recommendation as to whether I should upgrade to a new high quality PSU such as a Seasonic or Silverstone and continue playing with my current mobo for a while, or whether I should get a DFI Expert or A8N-32 and hope that my 480 watt Antec is up to task?
Ultimately I will be upgrading both, but for now I would like to upgrade whichever one has the highest probability to make the biggest difference.

Anyone?

I'd say if you want to hit clocks like that, you need the DFI Expert. The A8N32 is a great performing motherboard, OCs really well too, but most people know the DFIs tend to OC higher.

If you were to upgrade your PSU, you should move up to the OCZ Powerstream520 for $120, rock stable rails and many OCers use it.

I would upgrade the motherboard first, the eVGA board has been seen to get decent clocks, but that would be the first thought in holding you back.

darksparkz said:

I'd say if you want to hit clocks like that, you need the DFI Expert. The A8N32 is a great performing motherboard, OCs really well too, but most people know the DFIs tend to OC higher.

If you were to upgrade your PSU, you should move up to the OCZ Powerstream520 for $120, rock stable rails and many OCers use it.

I would upgrade the motherboard first, the eVGA board has been seen to get decent clocks, but that would be the first thought in holding you back.

Click to expand...

Really? Hmmm...
I've run the board at 8x311 and it passed prime for the 16 hours I was away from my computer, so it seems to be able to handle high HT speeds. This was on stock volts, and voltage regulation above that seems to leave a bit to be desired...
About my power supply: I am running a TP-480. The original 20 pin version that handles 22 amps on the 12v line. In addition to the Opteron, the 12v rail is also powering a 7800gt on top of everything else. Not quite sure how close I am to the 22a limit right now, but trying to run a 148 at [email protected] can't be doing it any good.
Should have bought that Fortron 550w for $50.00 instead of the $10.00 20>24pin converter...

Edit: Hmmm... seems like these are my options:
FSP-550-60PLN for $49.99
A8n32/Expert for $200-250.00
Silverstone ST56ZF for $130.00

Well, if you desire to upgrade a component I would upgrade the PSU. Sparkle, Fortron, Seasonic, OCZ Powerstream, PC Power and Cooling...etc. But, I'm not sure that upgrading will increase your CPU clock. It is entirely possible that your 148 is approaching the wall...something no one wants to accept. I have high quality components and mine tops out at around 2.9 gHz stable...can benchmark into 3.1 gHz on 20 C ambient air.

Also, first invest in new multimeter as they are inexpensive.

Okay, raised the volts to 1.6 and is prime stable at 264x11, heh. Wonder how long it will last at those volts...
Currently running prime at 266x11 at the same volts, will have to see if it has crashed and burned when I get off work.
The mobo seems to be able to handle what I've been throwing at it so far so I think I will keep it for another paycheck or so. Gonna replace it one of these days, but I might want to hold off until I take advantage of eVGA's tradeup program to see if they are going to want the mobo back with the 7800gt as it came in a combo.
A new multimeter and psu will probably be in the very near future for me, followed by a gtx-512, and then a new motherboard.