Best non SLI S939 mobo (3rd try)

Which mobo is the best?

  • Total voters
    60
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|oR|Spetsnaz

2[H]4U
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Jul 20, 2004
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I am in the market for a non SLI nf4u mobo and wanted to see which one of the following is the most highly reccomended. If there is something missing from the list that you think is even better for reasons other than "this board has given me no problems," by all means, post it. Otherwise, please choose from the ones in the poll.

Overclocking ability would be nice, but I'd rather have a motherboard that is rock solid, reliable, and wont crap out after a year like every other mobo I've ever owned.

Thanks!
 
If the sli mobo's are better why dont you get one of those? Do you really need the extra PCI slots or something? And why arn't boards like the DFI NF4 Ultra-D and other NF4 Ultra based boards on the list? They also lack SLI support if you didn't know. The reson I ask this is most members of this board have a lot more experience with these other motherboards than most of the lower-end offerings and will probably be able to give you a more educated opinion of the boards in question.
 
Yeah, your list is sorely lacking the Ultra-D, which really isn't that hard to use and is about as solid as any motherboard ever as long as you don't muck with it. That and most everyone on the forum here would be in a lot better posititon to help should you have any problems setting it up or something.
 
I think the majority would say Ultra-D, yeah.

I personally wouldn't even consider the other ones, but I care more about OCing than much else.
 
I'm not against getting an SLI board. If they really are better, I dont have a problem with getting one. Like if the chipset is better than the non SLI or it is faster, I dont have a problem with paying the extra money. If its better just because it has dual 16x slots, it would have to be pretty close in price for me to get it. I am just trying to upgrade on a budget right now (under $150 on the mobo if I can). I have owned Abit, Gigabyte, Epox, and Asus motherboards and they have all crapped out within like a year. I am sick of crappy motherboards. I just want to buy the best and most reliable motherboard with the features I am looking for and be done with it. I'm not big into overclocking and I dont really want to spend the time trouble shooting and trial and error. I just want it to be rock solid and reliable, but still have the ability to overclock if I get the hair up my ass to mess with it. When I say reliable, I mean the motherboard is made with quality components like high grade caps and other electronics that I can depend on for a long time to come. With this in mind, would you still reccomend the Ultra-D?

People posting newegg reviews say that it is hard to get this mobo to post without tweaking the memory settings. I dont know a whole lot about my ram. I just know that its hardcorecooling PC3200 2-3-3-7 512mb sticks. Is this mobo gonna work ok with this memory? It seems like you really have to tweak that board to get it running stable. I'd kindof prefer something that is stable from the first time you boot it and then you can start tweaking stuff afterwards. Are these people correct in what they are saying?
 
Well I'll give Chaintech it's first vote on this poll. A couple of months ago I upgraded from a Socket 754 setup to the Chaintech mobo along with an X2 cpu. I do not overclock and I keep the computer on 24/7 for Seti@Home. I have no problems with stability. I occasionally play games on the computer (lately it's been Dungeon Siege II, Fable, and a little bit of Battlefield 2) and the computer had no trouble with that too.
 
I voted for the Asus A8N-E for two reasons, it's an Asus, and therefore of Asus quality, and two, because it's a pretty decent over clocker.

|oR|Spetsnaz said:
I'm not against getting an SLI board. If they really are better, I dont have a problem with getting one. Like if the chipset is better than the non SLI or it is faster, I dont have a problem with paying the extra money. If its better just because it has dual 16x slots, it would have to be pretty close in price for me to get it. I am just trying to upgrade on a budget right now (under $150 on the mobo if I can). I have owned Abit, Gigabyte, Epox, and Asus motherboards and they have all crapped out within like a year. I am sick of crappy motherboards. I just want to buy the best and most reliable motherboard with the features I am looking for and be done with it. I'm not big into overclocking and I dont really want to spend the time trouble shooting and trial and error. I just want it to be rock solid and reliable, but still have the ability to overclock if I get the hair up my ass to mess with it. When I say reliable, I mean the motherboard is made with quality components like high grade caps and other electronics that I can depend on for a long time to come. With this in mind, would you still reccomend the Ultra-D?

People posting newegg reviews say that it is hard to get this mobo to post without tweaking the memory settings. I dont know a whole lot about my ram. I just know that its hardcorecooling PC3200 2-3-3-7 512mb sticks. Is this mobo gonna work ok with this memory? It seems like you really have to tweak that board to get it running stable. I'd kindof prefer something that is stable from the first time you boot it and then you can start tweaking stuff afterwards. Are these people correct in what they are saying?
Click to expand...

The NF4 SLi chipset won't do you any good if you won't use that feature.
 
If I had to choose between the above choices, I would vote for the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra.
But my real choice on the BEST 939 board is the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2.
 
I just got an Ultra-D and it works great. I did have a Chaintech VNF4 and it worked great with a 3000+ Venice. Ran 2.6Ghz with no stability problems. I'd say either the DFI or the Chaintech.
 
My über overclocker/madshrimps writer/works for mushkin friend in my clan reccomended the Chaintech board as well. Is there a good reason to spend an extra $50 on the Ultra-D?
 
EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra.....get the best of both world, it carries a low price, is very reliable and is also a very great overclocker with nice voltages options as well.....it placed second to the DFi Ultra-D in Anandtech's NF4 ultra round up and only lost by a few mhz ;)
 
you have to plug in a bunch of extra power connectors into the ultra-d, don't you?

also, the chipset heatsink/fan is crap... it's got bad voltage regulation...

It may overclock well... but if overclocking is not your main sport, I would go for the asus a8n-e.

The DFI board has it's market in the gaming/overclocking-for-sport community... it has UV reactive slots, for crying out loud...

Asus may have shitty tech support but they are pretty well built and stable.

I don't know... maybe it is a toss up... they both have their plusses. When you have an itch to tweak and chat up the board on dfi-street it is better to have a DFI... but when you just want it "to work for a long time" and you care not about enthusiast forum community, you want to have an asus.
 
For stability you simply can not beat Asus. Period. I don't know why many of the choices are given here such as Chaintech and DFI. The DFI boards can be a serious pain in the ass to work with. The Chaintech's quality isn't all that great.

I've been a computer technician and enthusiest for 9 years. In that time I've never seen a manufacturer with more consistantly good motherboards than Asus.

Now the A8N-E certainly isn't their top model. The Asus A8N-SLI Premium, certainly has more features. The A8N32-SLi Deluxe is just about the perfect board with the exception of PCI slot placement.

If more features are you're thing I'd check those boards out. I've lost count of how many motherboards I've owned over the years, after all is said and done, only two companies consistantly stood out and never let me down, Intel and Asus. Obviously Intel isn't a choice here. However, I believe you can get the idea of what I am saying.

Just my $.02.
 
i think ima go with the an8 ultra in a few days. i hope all goes well
 
You do not enclude the Abit AV8.
If you are not gonna OC, I would suggest this board because of super performance at default speeds.
The only kikker is this board has to use TCCD chips on BrainPower PCB's.
With this combo, you will not regret the purchase.
 
bobyjo said:
You do not enclude the Abit AV8.
If you are not gonna OC, I would suggest this board because of super performance at default speeds.
The only kikker is this board has to use TCCD chips on BrainPower PCB's.
With this combo, you will not regret the purchase.
Click to expand...
AV8 is an AGP board....read the thread's title ;)
 
WOW Sorry, I saw non SLI and took for granted AGP. I guess I need to get my head on right. )(*&^%
 
I currently have a vanilla AN8 and have had NO problems. 2nd Abit board and a friend has one and he says it's the best mobo hes had. I hear the SLI version is good and am thinking of getting. Only thing drawing me back is I do have a PCI soundcard and hearing a few SLI boards will give u a tight situation.

MSI overall a decent company have one at work. DFI must be able to play with heavy bios.
Hearing good things on Epox.

MC FLMJIG

AN8 also the cheapest sli
 
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