Need a good 939 Mobo for new Opty 146

bill_k123 · Apr 19, 2006

I'm building a cheap gaming computer, somewhere around $500 Just bought a Opt 146 from monarch for $148 and need a solid, good overclocking AGP board. I know, AGP but have a X850XT and that is enough for now, until Vista and DX10. Don't plan on biulding another system for a least a year. Then I will move over to PCI-E. I have a Dell Dimension 8130 with a 3ghz Northwood P4 and it's not cutting it when I play BF2 and other games. Not real familar with AMD stuff. :shrug:

Thanks for all the help !

rseven · Apr 20, 2006

The Epox 9NDA3J is about the best NF3 board and it would be my first choice for an AGP socket 939 board. If you need firewire there is a slightly more expensive model out there. The biggest weakness is it only has 2.8volts of vdimm. The next best board would be the ASRock SATAII ULI 1695 board. That also has weak vdimm and you can't go over 274htt with an official bios, but there are a number of modded ones to choose from that go higher. The advantage of the ASRock is that it has both AGP and a pci-e slots. Being an inexpensive board it's not exactly full featured, but it does have SATA2, which the NF3 boards do not have. Good luck with whatever you pick.

Asr940 · Apr 20, 2006

I would definitely go with the Asrock Dual SATA. With both PCI express and AGP, you have the option to upgrade the video card later, and not have to get a new motherboard for a while.
The one major problem with the ASROCK is that you have to be willing to gamble the 50/50 chance that you will have to RMA it for a replacement. It is very cheap though. Good luck

rseven · Apr 20, 2006

Am I missing something here? Why would you recommend a board that you think would have a 50% chance of needing an RMA?

bill_k123 · Apr 20, 2006

I will look into the Epox board but what about a Gigabyte K8NSC-939 nForce3 250Gb Chipset Socket 939 Motherboard. Would this be a good alternative ? I can get for about around $100 at a number of stores. I've been looking for a DFI nf3 but dang it's hard to find. If it's not on ebay good luck finding it

. I just want a board I know I can push that 146 to 2.8 at a minimum. Thanf for all the input it's a big help.

rseven · Apr 20, 2006

The NF3 boards have a tricky track record and no board is worse in that department than the DFI. Do not get one as it is even worse than my Neo2. I wouldn't recommend the Gigabyte either as they have had a number of voltage related problems.

And I agree with Karl, that claiming a 50% rma rate on the ASRock needs some documentation as it is a pretty shocking number.

bill_k123 · Apr 20, 2006

Ok I really don't think I will go PCI-E until next year. Am going to push this X850Xt as far as I can. I think it has enough in it for one more year. So the only advantage for the ASRock is SATA2 and a moddded BIOS that pushed VDimm over 2.8. Ok so it's down to NF3 chipset or ULI, SATA2 or not.

Rattle · Apr 20, 2006

didnt see the agp thang never mind

bill_k123 · Apr 20, 2006

ok think I'm going to go with the Epox 9NDA3J . Looks like a descent board and only $56 on newegg. I looked everywhere for the DFI NF3 boards but can't find any. I would of went with ASrock but I need more pci slots. I have D-link wireless and SB X-Fi in two slots already plus that X850XT takes up a lot off room. Thanks for all the help guys !

rseven · Apr 20, 2006

Good luck with it, Bill!

fiji · Apr 23, 2006

i just got the asrock up and installed about 3 days ago

for what its worth

pros: cheap, agp/pcie, it overclocks a decent amount, onboard lan/audio

cons: bad connector layout (with respect to the ata cables, and sata), not enough pci slots

i think its great, for being a part of a cheap system
it really does everything i want

Need a good 939 Mobo for new Opty 146

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