BFGs 939 Board

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0
I've been looking at this board for some time. I'm looking at it for a furture system running the 4400 X2.
Any thoughts or experiances, post them here, thanks.

karl pell said:

I assume you saw the [h]ocp review ...
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Nzcw
They liked it at a much higher price.

Click to expand...

Yes it looked good but I'm still waiting to see what results come out. In the mean time I'm looking to swap out a P4 for A64 and reuse my 9800XT AGP, too much money invested in that VC.

It's supposed to be the same exact board as the Chaintech VNF4 from what I've read, and that only costs $80 at newegg.

BFG Kicked it up a few notches. Changed board to blue, added active cooling to NB which from reports generates a fair amount of heat. This may be one of the factors that allows better OCing. [H] seems to have gotten better OC on the BFG than PCReview did on the CT though the CT-Zenith did get some high marks.
I plan to run stock for the first week, then bump to 5% for the first month. In a few months microsinks go on and OC goes to 1G FSB.

I'm ordering this puppy Aug 21 to supplant my MSI RS480 (the RS stands for Real Sh**ty). I like the MSI-K7 Delta an awesome classic, I Don't know what happened on their 939s.

i have been looking at this board for the last 2 weeks..i read the review on it and its got good marks and it seems to be a great board..did you get it yet? if so let me know how you like it..

[Mudd] said:

i have been looking at this board for the last 2 weeks..i read the review on it and its got good marks and it seems to be a great board..did you get it yet? if so let me know how you like it..

Click to expand...

No a deal came along on graphics cards (X850XT) that I could not pass up. Needless to say I blew the budget I had for the mobo and cpu (3700). I'm still going to get the board at a later time unless the M2 socket CPUs and Mobos hit first. Those are supposed to be early in 2006 so I've got 4 months to decide whether to go for another 939 or M2. I did manage to get my current 939 to behave now but still not OCed, but it runs real smooth even with Longhorn/Vista.

[Mudd] said:

i have been looking at this board for the last 2 weeks..i read the review on it and its got good marks and it seems to be a great board..did you get it yet? if so let me know how you like it..

Click to expand...

OK broke out the duckies and order the BFG board should be here by Oct 5 and I'll install it this week end. It will be a little while before I open this puppy up but after a few days at stock I'll take it to FSB 220 or so and run for a few weeks then see If I can get 250 on the FSB with OCZ 4000ELDGRs.

so as good as the dfi?

>HyperlogiK< said:

so as good as the dfi?

Click to expand...

Quality and Service wise from what I here it is at least equal if not better. Where DFI gains a notch is in it's hardcore OC tweeking. I just go for getting the most I can get on air without pushing a lot of extra voltage through the chips. I'll post the finding as I get them.

Ok could'nt wait for the weekend had to install.
Board went in with a snap and fired up on first try and nuked my Windows Vista Demo (Oh Well Hosta La Vista).

Negative Stuff:
Power connectors near back of mobo, sucks in wiring but a little snaking got the wires kind of neat.
Instruction book serveres only to plug things in and install software, no memory specs or bios instructions.
No sinks on MOSFETS! *see positive

Positive Stuff:
Four fan connectors (CPU,Chipset and 2 case).
CPU is in the center of the MOBO and positions sink near rear exhaust and input/front fan.
Memory sits horizontal near the updraft of the PSU, free cooling.
No sinks on MOSFETS, thats what MicroSinks(tm) are for!
Lots of bios features to tweek
Blue board color is a nice touch.
Nice quiet NB cooler.
Lots of Big caps and an abundance of MOSFETs around the CPU.
Video slot lower in slots providing more clearance around CPU.Memory and NB.
Nice collection of cables and stuff.
Its an NForce4 Ultra

Ratting: 4-1/2

I would have given it 5 except for 3 negs. I will reevaluate once I get a chance to play with the OC. Would I reccomend it, probably yes but I need more time to play with it.

Also got a new FSP-AX400PN - runs cool and looks stable so far.

karl pell said:

gosh!! what a surprise

AC, as you go along could you provide a post with simple hardware details for reference (PSU, ram, proc, etc ...)? best of luck with your new rig.

Click to expand...

Well not quite a new rig bu nothing in its over 6 mos.

Chenbro XPider with 120mm exhaust fan, generic 90mm pusher fan (blows across mobo.
BFGR4NU Mobo
AMD64 Winnie 3200+
Thermaltake Fanless 103 Heatpipe
1G Kingston HyperX PC3200 2.5,3,3,6. (Will put in OCZ-PC4000 later).
FSP AX400PN PSU Dual Rail 12V runs cool in stock mode.
Radeon X600XT or Radeon X850XT later when I crank up the OC.
80G 7200 Maxtor9 Sata, 60G 7200 WD-IDE
DVD-R,CDRW
OSs FedoraCore4-64(for development) and Win2K(for gaming).

Stats to follow.

I found no web links in the manual but as I get more time messing with the CD(s) I may find a PDF file or html with links.
Fedora is my Primary Linux OS but I do experiment with the others which is why I have all these rigs. knoppix and its little brothers such as overclockix are some flavors that I have that I want to try. King Warg2 has a project started in Folding that we are all looking at called Borgix with the intent of setting rigs with the intent to fold for science. I have drive space where Windows Vista was (Hosta-La-Vista) that I can load it up. I'll let you know by take on it. AC

BFG installed! (not cleaned up yet!)


Note where the CPU-HS is in proximity to the 120mm exhaust (which purrs). I can't get this thing over 31C. (Not OCed, YET!).

Note position of memory sticks and PSU fan Those HyperXes may get replaced with OCZ Gold EL4000 or better .

Over in the lower left, that is 90mm fan that came with the case, not the quietest but serves well in washing air over the mobo and that (Chicken Head) VM101 cooler on my ATI-X600XT.

Sorry the pic is of poor quality but I was in such a hurry, I couldn't wait to fire this puppy up.

Update:
Replaced ATI X600 with ATI X850.
Bumped oc to 5% 210 FSB, Cpu 2.1G. (not primed yet, still messing with system).
3DMARK03 at 12075.

Knoppix Update:

Yes Knoppix does load with no hitches. I did notice that during boot the sound driver complained about recognizing the sound device but found and alternate. When the KDE desk loaded the "sexy" female voice said somthing about initiating system load with no cracks or pops just a clear clean audio. I ran for 1/2 hour messing with Star Chart and looking at system stuff. Looks like it's all there, networking, USB, dynamic SATA drive mounts etc. I did look for LM sensors as I noticed the boot loader reconized the bios interface to NVidia 4 hardware. LM Sensors or Ksensors may not be on the Distro! I started XBattle but it never ran, possibly the drivers for ATI PCI-E hardware acceleration is still not available. This is true on all my Linux D's.

Put another star next to BFG?Chaintech for compatbility!

To Date:
Fedora 4-64 Gnome.
Knoppix Kde
Win 2K
Win Vista

Wow... I disappear for a while and you snag up the BFG. Looks good! I'll have to get the entire skinny from you later.

All this is doing is making me more anxious to move up to a DFI / X2 combo. Watch out!

karl pell said:

Thanks for the note, AC. I've been out for a few days visiting my son @ Duke ... funny story, thought we were smart to avoid Parent's Wknd and showed up on the Rolling Stones concert weekend

Click to expand...

Come-on, we know you went to see the Stones

harlam357 said:

Wow... I disappear for a while and you snag up the BFG. Looks good! I'll have to get the entire skinny from you later.

All this is doing is making me more anxious to move up to a DFI / X2 combo. Watch out!

Click to expand...

What are you waiting for

karl pell said:

nah ... they're older than I am (53). Took the kids to see Architecture in Helsinki @ NC State instead.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a great trip.
I'd take in the Arch. during the day for eyecandy then catch the Stones at night for some earcandy at (43)! We saw their concerts in the 70,'s and 80's and it's amazing to see these guys still performing. Now all that music sits on a 3 inch platter in this computer and the CDs stay on the shelf. Sort of like the days of recording records on tape to preserve the vinyl.
Mick's in his 60s still jumping around on the stage!

AlabamaCajun said:

What are you waiting for

Click to expand...

space my friend... space. I've got some moving around to do in the house before I get all my rigs where I want them. Plus I'm still working on my twin mid-towers project. One thing at a time...