[Blackjack_21]

I'm about to purchase a new mobo, and these two come to the front of the list. I like the LanParty boards, but price is an issue. I'm looking for a sub-$100 board, and I can get both for around $95 or less. I plan to do a little OC work, and maybe slap a watercooler on later. So, which board gives the most bang for the buck?

[TheDogFather]

I'd say give the Infinity a go.

You know exactly what your getting with a NF7, most get stuck around the 220/230 mark, the latest ones being mostly poor performers. If your willing to mod it, then you can get more from it.

But the Infinity, the new kid on the block. Lots of people are hitting 240/250 a few 260/270.

Theres some signs of poorer 3d performance with cards other than ATI but this may be fixed with a new Bios.

Talking of Bios, DFI and in particular Oskar Wu, theyre Bios expert (ex Abit) is working real hard on them, and is active on a few other forums.

When are Abit going to sort the NF7's Bios ? I'll tell you, never.

I've got both NF7 and Infinity, my NF7 went up to 223x11, still working on the DFI, but its running Prime right now at 245.

Anyway, you can guess my vote, DFI. I'm surprised theres few of them here.

TDF.

[Blackjack_21]

That's 1 vote for the DFI. Thanks.

[Chaos Snake]

I've been really Eyeing the DFI boards, my NF7-S jsut craped out, and will pick up a Lan Party B probaly on my next check. I'd say go for the DFI.

[UjinR]

I had the same dilemma when I decided to replace my Epox.
I'll buy the Infinity today!

[Blackjack_21]

Well, I placed my order with Newegg.com yesterday for the DFI Ultra Infinity. It oughta be here Monday, or Saturday, depending on when FedEx ships it out. This board should be a good platform for my system now, and when I upgrade to a better CPU, RAM, etc. Thanks for the info, everyone.

[Angry_Games]

LanParty B and Infinity NF2 boards are same PCB, BIOS, voltages, etc. LanParty has gigalan and UV stuff + all the goodies/extras, Infinity is red PCB (like MSI boards heh) with standard mobo stuff.

3.3vdimm
4-channel SATA w/RAID
Oskar Wu, of Abit fame, is the Infinity's project leader. Most of his BIOSes for Infinity are easily ported to the LanPartyB board since again, they share same pcb and bios and features other than gigabit lan.

many easily hit 250FSB, especially with BH-5 Winbonds. Never can guarantee a specific overclock, or if it will even overclock, but that of course what i have to say as disclaimer =)

[AC Slater]

Good choice with the Infinity. You won't be dissapointed with it.

[XtremepH]

Well my board will here on Thursday

[Rocko[DPC]]

I just ordered this board too Replacing my NF7-S. Should be here by Friday, I'll let you know.

[Angry_Games]

oskar just released another bios for the Infinity (DFI), and it addresses the AGP latency/bandwidth issue among other things:

http://forums.amdmb.com/showthread.p...hreadid=290211

[Blackjack_21]

Has anyone tried this update yet?
Oh, I got the board yesterday, and had one bit of trouble with the installation. The placement of the CPU socket made it hard to get my Coolermaster X-Dream HSF back on, due to the power supply being in the way. I finally got it, after a few minutes of cursing the thing out...
Also, my HDD decided to go whacko on me, so I had to reinstall Win2k to get it working again...Time for a 100Gb drive, eh? Well, time to see what I can do with my 1800+ CPU. I'm trying to remember, but I think it's a T-bird that's unlocked. It's CPU numbers are 6, 8, and 0, but I can't remember WTF that meant...Oh well, time to play around a bit. Thanks for the recommendations, guys.

[Angry_Games]

the 'magical' steppings of Tbreds 1700 and 1800;s are:

DLT3C JIUHB

there's another stepping later that is almost as good as this, butcannot remember it off the top of my head.

if your 1800 has the above code on teh cpu sticker, you have one of the great 1.5v tbreds that will do 2.4-2.5Ghz under the best conditions =)

[Blackjack_21]

Oh hell no, I'm not gonna fight with that HSF again...
I seem to recall that it's a T-bred, but i'm not sure if it's unlocked or not. Is there any other way to tell, without taking the whole thing apart again?

[Angry_Games]

change your multiplier in the BIOS nad reboot, and then check the boot screen or go back into bios nad see if the changed mutli is still set at what you set it at =)

[Tebore]

Wow the infinity sounds like a really great board, too bad I can't find any in my Area. If anyone has any idea where I can get a DFI in the GTA please tell me.

[Blackjack_21]

Tebore, I ordered mine from NewEgg.com. The local place had the LanParty model, but I didn't have the cash or I would have bought it instead. There should be a place that sells the Infinity cheap enough online, if you wanna go that route. It worked for me.

[Tebore]

The problem is Newegg don't ship to Canada and I'm trying to save a few bucks on shipping by biking to most of my local stores(not to mention it's part of the fun of overclocking).

[Angry_Games]

tiger direct sells them as far as i know.

also check the DFI webpage as they list resellers across the world. if you still cannot find a place in Canada, please post over at the AMDMB DFI section as we have many canadian users that can tell you where to purchase one in CDN =)

[Blackjack_21]

AG, funny you should mention Tiger Direct. A guy at work, who has an MSI K7N2-L mentioned that they have some nice low prices on stuff, but the brand of mobo he mentioned (Soyo) left me lacking in enthusiasm.