Help a nub buy a cheap AGP venice mobo...

I'm going to post venice mobos with AGP, cheapest to most expensive...

I want to know which one would probably give me the most bang for my buck, in terms of overclocking, Or if you know any horror stories or bad overclocking stories about any of these mobos, feel free to chime in:

CHAINTECH S1689 Socket 939 ALi M1689 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813152052

MSI K8T NEO2-F Socket 939 VIA K8T800 Pro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130469

EPoX EP-9NDA3J Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce3 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813123230

ECS KV2 Extreme Socket 939 VIA K8T800 Pro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135162

GIGABYTE GA-K8NSC-939 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128286

These mobos above range from 68 (lowest one) to 95 (highest one) dollars according to newegg.com. 100bux is my limit for a venice mobo, feel free to let me know whats up =)

The regular MSI NEO2 will work with the Vinnies also...

I personally would go with the NEO2 over the NEO2-F just for the simple fact you are far away from the VIA chipset...

But if the NEO2 is out of your price range (sometimes can find the NEO2 on sale around 100.00 range)...the Epox EP-9NDA3J would be the second choice...

ya i would like to know this too as im in the same situation....though im still undecided between venice and san diego.....

already have a kickass video card (bfg 6800gt oc) so im def not switchin over to pci-e.....

I'd go with the Epox or Gigabyte.

ALi = Junk, pretty much always has been.

I vote for the Epox. It's a bargain overclocker and the nf3 platform is the best at overclocking.

Another vote for the epox; mine's been problem free from day 1. Prime stable @ 9 X 280, 1:1, CBBFD 0441 winchester. Limited by my cpu.

garste said:

Another vote for the epox; mine's been problem free from day 1. Prime stable @ 9 X 280, 1:1, CBBFD 0441 winchester. Limited by my cpu.

Click to expand...

That's interesting as I have the same cpu and stepping only mine was made 0442, and mine runs at the exact same speed 1:1. I take it your Epox is not as quirky as my MSI, but at least it's stable.

ok so epox or gigabyte if your on a budget....and more said epox....


are those still the boards to get if your not on a budget?? not tryin to hijack the thread but was just wondering....

If you are talking nf3 yes, I'd go with the Epox. They make two models. One is a little more and has more features. The only drawback of significance is that it can't handle an OCZ booster, but if you use tccd there is really no need for high vdimm.

If you go with the epox, you could try this mod to up your vdimm. As of now, my J has passed my NF7 as the best board I've had.