3 mobos, which one should I get?

[Beavis]

4 mobos, which one should I get?

My current mobo has a weird problem where if I turn off my computer for an extended period or even do a hardware change, the bios resets. It's kind of a pain clearing the cmos every time I do this so I'm looking for a new mobo. I want one where you can lock the AGP/PCI speed, I believe the new nforce2 boards do this but I don't know if other chipsets can do it also. There are 4 boards I'm looking at, the Albatron is what I'm leaning towards. Since I have a window case, I want to go with a blue/purple color mobo.

Shuttle KT400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "AK39N" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-150-037&catalog=22&depa=1

GIGABYTE KT600 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "GA-7VT600-L" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-193&catalog=22&depa=1

GIGABYTE nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "GA-7N400-L" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-194&catalog=22&depa=1

Albatron nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "KX18D Pro" -RETAIL
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-170-113&catalog=22&depa=1

Importance:

1.) function (AGP/PCI lock needed)
2.) looks good in an Antec SX1000 Blue Tower case w/ window
3.) cost
4.) higher cpu support (Barton)

 

[CCW]

Isn't the Abit NF7(-S) Rev2.0 a possibility? Other than maybe the newly released DFI LAN PArty (of which i know little about but everyone claims to be great) its the best nForce 2 based board about.

Importance:

1.) function (AGP/PCI lock needed)

Well the KT400 and KT600 boards dont have an AGP/PCI lock so that leaves you donw to the nForce 2 chipset. About the aesthetics of the board, the NF7 has red PCB, dont know if that will go well with your case...

Craig

 

[Beavis]

The NF7 boards look kinda yellow/brown in the pictures. I would be all over the regular NF7 for $70 if it was red. Are there different pcbs avaliable? I can't really afford anything above $75, don't need any extras really.

 

[CCW]

Its the Rev 2.0 NF7(-S) that has the reddish PCB.

Craig

 

[Balrog]

The Shuttle AN35N Ultra has a nice blue PCB and support for 200FSB processors. Its only $55.00 and OCs decent, 220FSB with my Buffalo\Winbond CH-5 PC3200 and 230FSB+ using Mushkin Black.

Regards, Balrog

 

[Quailane]

3 mobos

Out of your selection of FOUR motherboards, I'd have to settle with the gigabyte, although I think the an35n is a better deal.

 

[Tawcan]

Out of your selection of FOUR motherboards, I'd have to settle with the gigabyte, although I think the an35n is a better deal.

What he said. The Gigabyte nforce2 mobo.

 

[Beavis]

I heavily considered the Shuttle AN35N however the one thing I don't like about the board is the black colored heatsink. I like the silver heatsink on the Via KT400 Shuttle mobo though. I wish they were switched around.

Just wondering, why did yall pick the Gigabyte mobo over the Albatron? Was it because of looks, performance? Basically, is it worth $13 more?

 

[SPQQKY]

Just slap a new northbridge fan on the Shuttle. My wife has one in her system and it is a good board, although it has very few features.
Albatron makes a good board, too. The company was started by some ex-Gigabyte employees.

 

[Balrog]

SPQQKY! How you been bro! Its Szandor from AMDMB and nForcers, I lost the damn password for the Szandor nic here and the damn mods won't answer my e-mails! Hey, I never got the invite for the house warming party Its not to late for New Years if I leave tonight! Yup looks like there is a growing market for color coordinated MoBos and HSFs Ohhh, you switched to the dark side huh? Specs look nice.

Happy New Year!

Regards, Balrog\Szandor

 

[tehnull]

I've heard nothing but good things about the DFI NFII ultra infinity

 

[CCW]

I've heard nothing but good things about the DFI NFII ultra infinity

Bit more expensive though that this person wishes to spend, if any overclocking is to happen at all? Then the NF7 from Abit is the one toi go for over the others for definite. If there is no overclocking to be done then it should be fine to go with the gigabyte.

Craig

 

[Mr.Rotory]

If your not gonna go with the Abit then I'd advice the Albitron, I've heard good things about it. The gigabyte mobo I dont like, I was thinking about buying that board but then read some reviews that saids its on board IDE raid was useless and did not preform well. I personally was in the same spot and choose to go with the Abit NF7. If you buy a ver 2.0 which costs about $70 it will be red, so it will look nice in your case.

 

[tehnull]

dfi

DFI NFII Ultra Infinity on newegg $95 shipped here

 

[StinkNBreff]

go with the albatron if you must choose from your original choices

 

[Artisan]

Of the four, based on the criteria provided, I'd go with albatron as its the least expensive nforce 2 board and I think it looks better than the gigabyte.

Also, you may want to try a new battery in your current mobo, if you havn't already.

 

[Mr.Rotory]

hmm, i dont know, i'm digging the AOpen, liking the black

 

[DrSlinky]

Shuttle KT400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "AK39N" -RETAIL

I don't know how much of a difference the manufacturer will make, as I was under the impression it was the chipset itself that was causing me the problems. My old board, a very uneducated purchase, was an Asus A7V8X-something. KT400 chipset, not the KT400a. Here's the problems I ran into:

1] The 8x AGP on the board was released before the AGP 3.0 standard was finalized. Or at least that is what I read after doing a lot of research when trying to get my 9600pro to work with it. Basically, to get the system to run stable, I had to neuter my video card by only running it at 4x speeds.

2] The board came with 3 dimm slots, and claimed to support DDR400. After I get it home, I find out that it will only support PC3200 in one slot. If I want to use two dimms, I'm limited to PC2700 speeds. And if I want to use all 3? You got it, PC2100! About a week and a half to two weeks later I started noticing vendors and resellers changing their listings, to point this out, and the Asus help boards are full of people complaining about it.

Like I said, I don't know how different the chipset is with different board manufacturers, but my experience with the KT400 has sucked, blown, and sucked again.

 

[Beavis]

Thanks for the advice! I bet most of you are thinking, why do I care what the mobo looks like when I should care about performance. The reason is I spent too much on lighted fans, cathodes, and the window case to put an ugly mobo in there basically. I went to Fry's so I can look at the motherboards up close and I really like the way the Albatron and Shuttle boards look. They are dark blue and shiny which would match my case perfectly. I've pretty much decided to buy the Albatron nforce2 mobo. I also saw the Abit NF7-S on display but the color is too browny for my case unfortunetly. It's too bad the Abit, Epox, and Asus boards are not as pleasing to the eye for me anyways. I have a red mobo already and I want something different so DFI and MSI are out too.