Best mainstream pci-e mobo

i am trying to upgrade to a 7800gt, so i need a mobo that is PCI. I do not want to waste the money on sata,raid, or SLI., nor am i into overclocking Try and keep it to below $80 as well. I prefer the following in order: Reliability, price, noise, performance. I am trying to make this mobo as silent as possible, and the reason i am not too concerned with performance is becuase most mobos tend to perform around the same.

I am looking at the Epox EP-9NDA+ Ultra, and anandtech gave that a gold medal, but then xbit and a few others had it seriously lagging behind performance wise.


Any ideas? Please list price and reviews if you are going to rec. a board. No refurbishments either

DFI LP Ultra-D.. it has sata and raid, but not many pci-e boards do not
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152R refurb

that is refurbished, so no thank you

DFI Ultra-D or SLI-DR.

how about the DFI NF4 ULTRA INFINITY at zipzoomfly for $99?

he said he doesnt want an overclockers board, so why the hell are you guys recomending DFI? did you read the post? last i checked, stability wasnt one of DFI's major selling points...

i would go with teh EPoX or this Chaintech, it seems to be a very popular value board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813152053

Test it before you put your foot in your mouth.

DFI Ultra-D/SLI DR's are STABLE AS HELL when properly set up, and the later bios' seem to be more stable without fvcking around with a ton of settings. So all the user has to do is update to a good beta bios like the 702-BTA and boom. STABLE. A broken board of course wouldn't be stable, but as long as it arrives and isn't DOA, stability will be there.

doesn't mean it isn't overpriced

get the epox, they have a reputation for reliability and price

Epox is a GREAT brand also. I have a old Epox LX board still kicking along almost 8 years later. Tough as nails.

ShuttleLuv said:

Test it before you put your foot in your mouth.

DFI Ultra-D/SLI DR's are STABLE AS HELL when properly set up, and the later bios' seem to be more stable without fvcking around with a ton of settings. So all the user has to do is update to a good beta bios like the 702-BTA and boom. STABLE. A broken board of course wouldn't be stable, but as long as it arrives and isn't DOA, stability will be there.

Click to expand...

yes, when you get a good board. i have an ultra-d waiting in my room to be RMA'd, my friend has a dead SLI-DR waiting to be RMA'd, and tons of people have had countless problems with memory incompatability, PSU screwups, and general instability. when someone says htey dont want overclocking or any fancy frills under $80 and you say the highest priced DFI board around, one can only wonder what was going through your head.

plain and simple, they arent as reliable as other brands. they have a higher DOA rate and general incompatability/instability rate than any other high end boards

IMO, you shouldnt have to flash a board with a BETA bios just to get it generally stable, or to get it to flat out work with whatever components you are using.

Ultra-D is not the most expensive board around...

A8N SLi is the best for non-OC and stability imo. It is way more stable than dfi nf4 sli and does not take much tweaking (such as ram tweaking on the dfi). I have both so I can make fair judgements about each. However if you get the A8N SLI watch out if you wanna stick 4 x 512 sticks in it, it doesn't seem to like a few types (2x 1gig or 2x whatever is fine).

However if you were talking about OCing the DFI would blow it outta the water, but I wouldn't say the DFI was friendlier OR more stable.