[Francocomp]

what are the key differences

[zetachi]

I believe that the 3+ has 4 SATA ports as opposed to 2 on the J model. I have the J and it is a great board but the biggest issue I have had so far is that on my J model the 2 SATA ports are right next to the AGP slot. Not horrible if you have a regular AGP card with a small stock cooler. With my XFX 6600AGP with Zalman VF700 there was barely enough room for a SATA cable to fit. Then I went an bought an X800 Pro with Arctic Silencer 5 ouch too big so I had to buy an add on SATA card.

[Francocomp]

I looked at both and it seems, like zetachi said, that the only difference between the 2 is the fact that the 3+ has 4 sata ports while the J model only has two. But i don't know if the J model supports dual channel. It doesn't show the option on newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Ntk=all&page=2

can someone verify if it does?

[zetachi]

dual channel confimed on the J model mine is running opty 144 and 2 x 1gb patriot LL 3200 dual channel. the Opty is running great with the lattest BIOS

[Spion]

all s939 board support dual channel b/c the memory contoller on the processor. s754 chips have a 64bit (single channel) memory controler so all s754 boards only support single channel. s939 chips have a 128bit (dual channel) memory controller so therefore all s939 boards support dual channel

@zetachi
did you happen to look at the stepping/week before you installed your 144?

[zetachi]

cab2e 0540

[Electric Bill]

When I put the X800GTO card in my 9NDA3+ it interfered with my SATA 1 and 2 headers.
Since these ports are locked and SATA 3 & 4 aren't I took a hair dryer and heated the data cable connector for about 5 minutes then carefully bent it with 2 pairs of needle nose pliers about 45° - just enough to clear the card.
Works great.