ideas for replacement, cheap reliable 754 board

[black_b[ ]x]

No overclocking, A64 2800+, SATA, preferably 3 DDR slots at DDR400, onboard sound. Gigabyte is out. Lower cost is better if its still reliable.

Looking at Asus K8N
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131512
and K8N-E
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131548

One issue with memory, I have 2 sticks of 256MB single sided corsair valueselect and 1 stick of 512MB double sided corsair valueselect, I want to run these 3 at DDR400 speeds, possible? or do i need to buy another double-sided stick to get 1 gig? I may be able to go to a 2 DIMM board if i need to get another 512 stick.

Thanks, looking to order today or tomorrow.

 

[coolpurplefan]

No, it`s the memory controler on the CPU. Mobo won`t make a difference. Just sell all your RAM and get one stick of 1GB. You can add another 1GB later if you want.

 

[altcon]

There seem to be some nice 754 boards on Nforce 4 supporting PCIe lately.
I know you said no Gigabytes, but regrestfully it's the only one I know GA-K8Ne. Im sure Asus, Abit and MSI have this out too since its currently the best upgrade option for 754 if you don't want to switch CPU.
Good luck...

 

[wesleys_dad]

i ran that board with 2 single sided dimms and 1 double sided dimm on the asus board and it ran fine.had the 2800 and the 3200 a64 cpus and both of them did fine.i had a total of 768 megs.tryed 1 gig of corsair double sided dimms and had problems so i ran the 768 config.1 gig stick would work also.that asus board was a great board.sold it and built my current system 3200 venice and asus a8n-e board 1 gig of ram and it runs great.but i still like my 754 setup not much faster with 939but i wanted to try it out.i always liked the abit 754 nf4 board also,only 2 dimms but with new bios it o/clocked well.asus was no slouch either.id have to say from my experience the asus board would do you fine as ling as your not looking for dfi o/clocks.mine did on the asus from what i remember about 400-500mhz with near stock voltage.1.42 or so if memory serves me rite.

 

[zone_86]

If you are already at the point of getting a new mobo i would not get an AGP mobo i would go with PCIe S754. Biostar, Epox, Asus, Abit, AsRock, Gigabyte, all have S754 PCIe boards.

 

[BlackTigers91]

If you are already at the point of getting a new mobo i would not get an AGP mobo i would go with PCIe S754. Biostar, Epox, Asus, Abit, AsRock, Gigabyte, all have S754 PCIe boards.

Well, that is not always an option, maybe he already has an AGP card

BUT, OP, check around the FS forum here, just make a "WTB: Socket 754 Mobo" Thread, and you will get plenty of replies.

I know

 

[zone_86]

No overclocking, A64 2800+, SATA, preferably 3 DDR slots at DDR400, onboard sound. Gigabyte is out. Lower cost is better if its still reliable.

If you end up looking for another AGP board and/or two dimm board and you know you will not overclock the ECS 755-A2 is very good and cheap as you requested. If you really need the three dimms the Abit NF3, the Asus you mentioned, the Giga boards, and the DFI Lan Party are the only ones i know of with three dimm slots (besides a few S754 ULI boards of which gigabye is one of them). My 3rd rig runs a 755-A2 and it runs flawlessly with two dimms @ DDR400.

 

[black_b[ ]x]

Thanks everyone, I went with the Asus K8N. Install was quite painless, it seemed much easier to install the heatsink on this mobo from what i remembered of the gigabyte. Plugged in all 3 DIMM's that I had (512, 256, 256) and it defaulted to 166Mhz timing. Backed off the timings a bit and it works fine at 200Mhz. I was surprised at how well windows behaved when I booted with the new board. Took several reboots to get all the drivers installed and new stuff recognized, but I was pleased. Oh, and I needed the AGP because I wanted to reuse the existing video card (6600GT).

now i need to decide if i should RMA the old board. I'd have to pay shipping, and then turn around and sell the fresh replacement. Not sure its worth it for a $50 retail board.