New MOBO NF-7S or new DFI?

Hello there! It's time for me to upgrade again, and I was wondering if anyone has a take on which mobo I should go for, the NF7-S Vers.2 or the new DFI Lanparty NFII Ultra.

The NF-7S certainly looks like the board of choice for most guys, however the DFI board is new and is being heralded by the review sites like it's the best thing since sliced bread!

The only thing that makes me hesitant about the DFI is the lack of mounting holes for the CPU cooler. I am currently using a small heatpipe that uses a clip for the mount, however somewhere along the road I would like to explore using a Peltier/Chillwater setup. Any leads on peltier-capable waterblocks that mount with a clip would be useful as well.

Finally, I also need a new power supply because my old Enermax 630W shorted and caught fire. Any ideas on which PS is better for either board?

Thanx in advance for any input you guys might have.

DFI is examining putting hte mount holes on the NF2 board for revision2, but I have no definite answers yet.

An SLK-900A (any SLK- "A" flavor will work) will fit on the NF2. In my experience, the only real advantage to this is the stability of the hs being locked tight to the board, not hte socket. I have personally seen the SLK900A rip off the ziff socket on a board before.

In terms of performance, I am hearing excellent things about the NF7-S. I do have the DFI board, and I can honestly say its the top performing motherboard I have ever owned. I do not own any other NF2 board at this moment though, and my experience with NF2s are spotty at best, having been a VIA KT man for a long time.

I can tell you that if you choose DFI, you will have access to personalized support from me and the crew at DFI. Thats about the only nudge i will give you in the direction of choosing a board. I believe that almost all of the high-end NF2 boards perform similarly. Its usually about the options that come with them vs the price you pay.

As a side note, A LOT of guys are getting incredible clocks out of the Epox 8RDA+, but I realize that is an older board. You can hardmod the vdimm to put out extra voltage also. The 8RDA3+ i do not recommend, having seen numerous issues with it.

hope this helps, and if you have any questions about the DFI board, or your RAM/Cpu/hdd/etc being compatible with a new DFI, just ask!

Travis

edit: oops, forgot to mention, i have seen some sort of mounting device for boards that do not have the mount holes. If you are interested, I can dig that up somewhere =)

Well I can help you with some input on the NF7-S. Its an amazing board IMHO. By far the best board I have owned. It blows away my old Asus A7N8X in terms of stability and overclockability. I did a good deal of research before purchasing it. I had already set my sights on the epox 8rda+ for some time but there was just too much evidence that the nf7-s was the way to go to stick with my original decision when the time came to order.

As for the DFI I can't help ya there. I would just say though that listen more to the people on the forums that own the DFI and not the reviews. I don't think you can get a true idea of how good a motherboard is in just a couple of days of use while you write a review. Most motherboard reviews I have read are pretty incomplete and are quick to praise the sexy new board with the cool features while ignoring the 100% rock stable board with the boring color and short list of features (features that many people probably don't use).

I have to agree. I bought a few mobos solely on a couple sites giving good reviews, and they turned out to be less than stellar after a month or more.

I generally try to find out from actual owners (that dont work for the company lol) how they feel about their board after so much time.

always buy from a reputable dealer, as returns are much easier if you decide you hate the board before the return limitation has been reached.

Hey Travis,

Thanks for the link to the thread on the microcool solution at amdmb.com, I am known over there as "Kid Cisco".

Yes I want to see revision 2 of that NB cooler, also any idea when to expect revision 2 of the DFI board, when you know pm me as I plan to get the board after I email some other users as I come up with more questions that need to be answered. So I am looking at about 4-6 weeks before I buy, however i have said this before when it comes to pc gear purchases , then I end up grabbing the item like 2 weeks later.

So far I have done alright with my mobo choices, LOL.

Cisco KID

no word on rev2 bro. I pm'd you another positive link on that NB cooler also.

Dang you, I KNEW THAT WAS YOU at amdmb...you had me doing double duty!!! heh.

Travis

Enermax fire.

Welcome to the Enermax fire & smoke club. I replaced mine with a Fortron 350W and it works fine.

Can't tell you about the boards as I'm an EPOX man.

As for N Bridge cooling, they use a square pink pad that covers about 60% of the HS & chip, so take the HS off and put some decent compound on it then mount a 40mm fan on top and you're good.

Why these MB makers don't get off their duff and start putting a cooling fan on the N Bridge is beyond me. Soltek does it, why can't the rest? To darn cheap ? ? ? They can buy those fans for 25 cents a piece all day long.

I'm pretty sure removing the HS voids the warranty so it's our choice, leave it be or improve on their obvious short comings.

Deathknight said:

Well I can help you with some input on the NF7-S. Its an amazing board IMHO. By far the best board I have owned.

Click to expand...

Mee too.


Gah, I hate enermax, but I use em... man I need a credit card, or a better local PC store.

ENERMAX - BLAH!

Right on Crash. I could tell you a story that would make anyone mad as he-- about Enermax. I contacted customer service and got a pitiful reply from someone who obviously had little command of the Kings English. I simply asked if I sent it to them would they test and see if it was bad and if so replace it under warranty because it was only three months old. The reply went something like this (paraphrasing).

What is this you say? What is it you tell me? What is it you want me to do?

IMHO, a very dumb reply from a company not worthy of my business spending my hard earned bucks. I gotta' hand it to Enermax, they sure are pretty with the gold fan grills, shrink wrap wires and dual fans. But pretty on the outside don't necessarily mean there's quality inside and to support my conclusion I offer these links:

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/index.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/column/20011012/index.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20030609/index.html

Tom rated it very high and I use the Fortron 350W and have no problems at all. In another forum a guy wrote when building a computer people will spare no expense and buy the best components they can find and completely over look the importance of a good PSU. Yup, the PSU is the most over looked component and a cheap PSU can cause problems galore.

As for MB's; Now a'days there's so much good stuff out there it's like being a kid in a candy store. You get settled in with a good rig and BAM!, here they come out with a real Hog, better n' faster n' meaner and a real screamer. Need I say, technology is advancing at such a run-a-way pace it's just hard to keep up. That is, unless you build a new rig every six months . . . .
OldBird

amen @ psu importance =)

at least travis has command of leet speek

jk travis hehe but im sure ya do

i speek a lil geek, leet, and some technobabble...not really fluent in any of them, but I could infiltrate and bring down the entire organization if need be =)

hehe