which 939 board for overclocking?

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mikelz85

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 3, 2004
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Obviously I want a board/chipset that can hit decent 200+ fsb speeds, and give memory performance that is good. (though I don't think I can afford 4 sticks of ram to run dual channel) and I can't justify spending $170 on a board when DDR2 doesn't seem that far off. I'd really keep my purchase for a board under or close to $100 is possible, as I don't need SLI, pci-express, etc (ide raid would be nice though). After reading hardocp's article on the NV4 chipset I guess my only real question is this: which board will offer the needed overclocking features (voltage adjustment on vcore/vdimm as high as needed, stability under higher +200 fsb, and good dividers) I need, at the lowest/low price (nvforce3 ultra/via chipsets seems to be equal in performance, however I'm not sure how they compare in overclocking). Upon further comparison based on features and price I'm wondering which of these 3 boards to go with GIGABYTE "GA-K8NS-939 @ $85 new, MSI "K8T NEO2-FIR" refurbed @ $89, or ASUS "A8V Deluxe" @ $92 refurbed. Do any of these boards have a problem with overclocking features? (all have raid, and I care most about overclocking)
 
well....since 200 is stock any board would do.....260-270 is what you wanna shoot for.

the new DFI SLI board just came out...that would be the BEST OCing board for 939....otherwise the one stated above will do great!

the board your looking for is for s754 only (for now...) and its the one in my sig :p
 
the MSI Neo2 board is the best if you're sticking with AGP, and if you had to choose one from your choices that you gave i'd go with the Asus A8V, and if you're going pci-e i'd look into the DFI boards.
 
screw buying a refurb man. get yourself a epox ep-9nda3j, its the best board in the pricerange. i got one for my 939 build and its running a 290mhz fsb. I had to have a board that was gonna oc well, have agp and be cheap. I wanted nforce3 ultra chipset for the nvidia raid , on chip gigabit ethernet, onboard hardware firewall, ect. at 99$ it fit the bill nicely.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-123-230&depa=0

did i mention it has lots of voltage tweaking options?
 
i can't see any reason for going with the neo2 plat, as opposed to the neo-FIR, as both nvforce and via chipsets perform almost identically (unless one hits much higher fsb speeds) and all I really need in a board is ide raid and decent sound. I know a refurbed board isn't the best idea at first glance, but if it works fine after being rma'd by someone, what could be wrong with it? Whatever wasn't working got fixed and the fact that it got sent back shouldn't effect how it overclocks (maybe some are just open box returns), and it shaves a good $20-$35 off of the retail price. The epox board looks good though, anybody have this board running?
 
What's wrong with the other boards suggested? We are only given you suggestions on the ones that overclock. Besides, if you are spending $100 on a board already, what's the problem spending an extra $20 for something that is new?
 
GIGABYTE "GA-K8NS-939 @ $85 new I have this one and it's rock solid, looks nice too.

also the epox board the poster above me mentioned would also be a good pick.
 
Do not buy the Asus A8V or the Abit AV8 if you plan on high OCing.

These two boards came out early, and have the Via K8T800Pro chipset.

I hit a road block at 230mz and can't go any higher than that. I've been reading other posts, and find others stuck at the same spot, some at 220mz. I've dropped the multiplier on my chip, and the board runs at 250mz, but if I try to OC my FX53 from 2400 to 2800, it gets errors in memtest. I can't go above 2800 on the CPU, there is a wall there.

Go with the Nforce3 or Nforce4 MB. Of coarse, the MSI is a proven winner, just picky to set up.
 
NoGodForMe said:
Do not buy the Asus A8V or the Abit AV8 if you plan on high OCing.

These two boards came out early, and have the Via KTK800Pro chipset.

I hit a road block at 230mz and can't go any higher than that. I've been reading other posts, and find others stuck at the same spot, some at 220mz. I've dropped the multiplier on my chip, and the board runs at 250mz, but if I try to OC my FX53 from 2400 to 2800, it gets errors in memtest. I can't go above 2800 on the CPU, there is a wall there.

Go with the Nforce3 or Nforce4 MB. Of coarse, the MSI is a proven winner, just picky to set up.
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im 100 percent stable at 240HTT with 10X multi at 1.4Volts with the HTT at 4x. Havent tried any higher due to my memory.
 
What's wrong with the A8V deluxe? I'm getting version 2.0 which is supposed to have a lot of the initial board's problems fixed.
 
Azhreal said:
What's wrong with the A8V deluxe? I'm getting version 2.0 which is supposed to have a lot of the initial board's problems fixed.
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correct, and I had a version 1.0 A8V and i was stable at 260HTT x10 (HTT set to 4x). I had my A8V when they first came out and never had any problems getting above 230HTT. My A8V was a great board especially being one of the first boards for the s939 cpu. Mine had 0 problems and mine was even a rev. 1, but i wanted to test out the NF3 chipset so i sold it off, but i have no complaints with that board.
 
I don't have any complaints with the Asus A8V, just that if you want to do some HIGH OCing, you're better off with the MSI. The Asus A8V is rock solid otherwise and you can easily OC it by 10% to 220mz.
If you get the board, it will run great, but you may hit a road block if you are trying for extreme OCing. Just like I said up above, it's the Via K8T800Pro chipset that is holding people back.
Find people running an FX53 above 2800, you won't. Before I bought my G.Skill memory, I went back and re-read all reviews. Most sites such as the H OCed the board to 250mz, but did it by lowering the multiplier of the CPU so it was only running at 2600. I have yet to find anyone running an FX53 above 2800 on an A8V or AV8, and they both have the same chipset. Actually there was one, and he used Vapochill, but that's it.
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=231
 
my asus a8v deluxe is very comfortable up to 277 fsb ,i think they are brillianltly designed boards and well made in fact i bought 2,both rev 2.
 
so for fsb speeds is there any reason at all to pick one chipset over the other? does dual channel nvforce give any real boost over single channel via in memory performance? As it is I'm looking at the epox (nvforce), the gigabyte (via), and the two msi boards, neo-fir (via) and neo-plat. (nvforce). All of these boards seem to sport very similar features, and I unless one is way better than the others, it comes down to price, which is between the epox, neo-fir, and gigabyte.
 
I'm just a modest overclocker so the a8v should do me justice. I had a rev 1.0 MSI board for the 754 chipset and it left a bad taste in my mouth, so I decided to give asus a try.. they've never failed me. Right now I'm running prime95.. stock cooling 3500+ 240x10 for 2.4ghz. MBM5 does not have a cpu temp setting for A8V, but using the k8v setting it says my cpu is loading at 43c, so that's probably correct. The bios says im idling at 37c so that's more then likely correct. I got a rounding error at 250x10... you think that's memory or cpu? The a64 oc guide said memory, but I have pc4000 geil so it "should" do 250fsb at the rated 2.5-3-3-7 timings.
 
Uhm, all 939 are dual channel, thats a function of the CPU and NOT the mobo/chipset.

That said the nforce4 is out and thats where my tax returns goin'

Well unless they get the K8T890 shipped before then.
 
well, i guess after reading reviews, the neo platinum looks like a good bet for hitting high fsb speeds, but I am wondering about how these two boards GA-K8NS Ultra and the GA-K8NSNXP are different (besides a ton of cash). The review of the epox board says that the vcore is limited to +.2 volts, which seems a little limited to me (with watercooling maybe more would be useful), or maybe this is plenty for a winchester. I really like the price on the GA-K8NS Ultra, but once again I'd like to know how it differs from the GA-K8NSNXP (I liked the review anandtech did of this board, but I don't know if it is the same as the K8NS)
 
DONT get the AV8 just dont... its a piece of shit...

i was scoping the a8v, i WOULD go with the neo2 but my HSF wouldnt fit on it... shame on me for worrying about cooling over performance.. shame on me...
 
Azhreal - tuff to say how far you will be able to OC the Asus A8V.
PrOzac responded in the other thread saying he took his 3500+ up to 240mz.
I'll guess and say you'll be able to do the same, but not much more.

And like I said, the A8V is a rock solid board, and easy to OC. But if you're looking for Extreme OCs above 250mz, you're not going to get it unless you go with an Nforce3 board.

What I'm really hoping for, is that they come out with an Nforce4 board that supports AGP, but right now I'm not seeing that on the Nvidia website. I wonder if AGP support stops at Nforce3?
 
NoGodForMe said:
What I'm really hoping for, is that they come out with an Nforce4 board that supports AGP, but right now I'm not seeing that on the Nvidia website. I wonder if AGP support stops at Nforce3?
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AGP does stop at nforce3. PCI-E is basically what the nforce4 chipset is all about, there won't be any support for AGP with nforce4
 
Sittin at 2.4ghz 240x10 right now on stock air cooling with my a8v 2.00.. 3500+ winchester cpu. Temp is 44c load... it boots fine at 2.5 but i dont want to push it on stock cooling even if it is still somewhat low in temp.
 
go with the MSI neo2. i am running at 2.7(245x11) on a 3500 and 2.4(265x9) on a 3000
it seems like the neo2 is a sure thing.

must change sig
 
The DFI Lanparty SLI-DR

even though its an SLI board it still has great overclocking stability. Plus if you ever decide to go for an SLI solution your set
 
I'd upgrade to Nforce4, but it's PCI-E only, and I've already got a BFG 6800 Ultra, which costed almost $600. That's why I was hoping they'd come out with an AGP version of NF4, but it doesn't look like it will happen. For me to move up to NF4 would be like building a new system. Or I go with the MSI Neo2 Platinum. Or I sell the parts, but gosh, I've only had them 4 months. That's too bad AGP is done when some could have upgraded to NF4 to get more speed out of their existing equipment.
 
NoGodForMe said:
Azhreal - tuff to say how far you will be able to OC the Asus A8V.
PrOzac responded in the other thread saying he took his 3500+ up to 240mz.
I'll guess and say you'll be able to do the same, but not much more.

And like I said, the A8V is a rock solid board, and easy to OC. But if you're looking for Extreme OCs above 250mz, you're not going to get it unless you go with an Nforce3 board.

What I'm really hoping for, is that they come out with an Nforce4 board that supports AGP, but right now I'm not seeing that on the Nvidia website. I wonder if AGP support stops at Nforce3?
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Hmm... so the rounding error I got in prime95 was probably memory then and not cpu? I was running 250x10 and I got errors.. Right now I'm running 240x10 on the stock cooler 44c load. If it can do 240x11 for 2640 then that's probably nearing the cpu limit anyway.. but yea, I guess this board TOPS out at fsb x 11? That's very odd... or is 11 mult just a cpu limit? That makes more sense, but that sucks that you can only raise the mult as high as the cpu is rated at. Probably should have gotten the MSI board, but this is perfectly stable.. wouldn't want to ruin anything. 1 thing I did notice though was the promise sata controller opposed to SI.. which I don't care for, but no biggy I have a SI controller card.

I've only got pc4000 ram.. so 250fsb is my ram limit, I may as well stick with this board.
 
I got incredible results from my K8N Neo2 Plt. 300mhz HTT no problems at all. :D
 
NoGodForMe said:
I'd upgrade to Nforce4, but it's PCI-E only, and I've already got a BFG 6800 Ultra, which costed almost $600. That's why I was hoping they'd come out with an AGP version of NF4, but it doesn't look like it will happen. For me to move up to NF4 would be like building a new system. Or I go with the MSI Neo2 Platinum. Or I sell the parts, but gosh, I've only had them 4 months. That's too bad AGP is done when some could have upgraded to NF4 to get more speed out of their existing equipment.
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I had ALMOST bought a 6800 card with my older system but then decided to wait for the NF4 (which was alot longer than I had thought it would be) before I finally upgraded from my XP system. But you are right, it was pretty much a forklift upgrade, I wound replacing almost everything.
 
Akuma said:
I got incredible results from my K8N Neo2 Plt. 300mhz HTT no problems at all. :D
Click to expand...

How do you get 300fsb out of pc3200 ram? I thought running asynch was really more of a performance hinderance then help.
 
Azhreal said:
How do you get 300fsb out of pc3200 ram? I thought running asynch was really more of a performance hinderance then help.
Click to expand...

async was bad for AXP's not A64's. the way the A64's are, memory speed and HTT aren't related. Whatever your memory speed is is what your memory speed is regardless of what your HTT is set to. since there is no FSB or Northbridge on A64's, the memory speed is independent of everything else. so nothing else besides the memory cares what it's set to. The way the boards are setup is they just use the HTT setting in the bios to determine the memory speed so it's easier for you to figure out what it's set at and easier for you to change your memory speed. But there really is no running sync or async on these boards since HTT and memory are independent of each other.
 
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