939 + Agp = ???

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KevinO

[H]ard|Gawd
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I have been out of the loop way too long and would like a recommendation for a good 939 board with AGP. I have heard good things about DFI, but I can't seem to find the NForce3 version with 939 + AGP. I have looked on their website and Newegg. I have even searched google, but it seems to be hinted on but no definite.

I know MSI and Gigabyte both make those boards, are they worth it? Like I said, I would prefer the DFI if there is one.

Thanks.
 
I was thinking of this just today as well, so instead of making a new thread I would also like to ask if there are any "bridge" boards that exist that have AGP as well as dual PCI-E.
 
theres a couple of socket 939 boards that have agp slots on newegg. Just search by socket 939 and look for n-force3 boards instead of n-force4 boards.
 
2 show up on newegg doing a search with AGP = Any PCI-X = None and Socket = 939. A Soletek and Gigabyte and unfortunately those are 2 companies I do not want to purchase from.
 
danielj315 said:
My Abit AV-8

Socket 939
Agp
Via K8T800
Click to expand...

I know I am being picky, but I prefer the nforce chipsets. I know VIA has matured as far as their chipsets are concerned, but they left a bad taste in my mouth a couple years back :(. The reason I don't want PCI Express is because I have a 6800U @ GT speeds that I have invested in (AGP flavor that is). I might just have to suck it up and get the 754 pin. I know dual channel isn't that much of a benefit, but it is nice to have.
 
There is no DFI nForce3 939pin motherboard. Sorry. :(

I would recommend the MSI Neo2 Platinum or the Epox 9NDA3+ or 9NDA3J.
 
PCI-X is a high-speed high-band implementation of PCI for servers used for RAID controllers and NICs mostly.

PCI-E is PCI-Express, used mostly at this point for graphics cards but theoretically for alot of things any time now. Too much hype, not enough shipped parts.

VIA, Gigabyte, Soltek = not things you want on your motherboard.

Here is one for starters. They're out there.
 
I just went from a $85.00 Gigabyte K8NS 939 to a $140.00 MSI K8N Neo2- my ram now works right, the temps are displayed correctly, etc etc.
Sometimes, you do get what you pay for.

Lovin my Neo2....
 
I was in the exact same position as you. I wanted a nforce4 agp, which is nonexistant. I ended up getting a Epox 9NDA3+. It was the right choice, i've had bad experience with MSI and via chipsets in the past and will never do that again. Check out the Epox, from what I saw less problems then the MSI as well. Good Luck.
 
ashmedai said:
PCI-X is a high-speed high-band implementation of PCI for servers used for RAID controllers and NICs mostly.

PCI-E is PCI-Express, used mostly at this point for graphics cards but theoretically for alot of things any time now. Too much hype, not enough shipped parts.

VIA, Gigabyte, Soltek = not things you want on your motherboard.

Here is one for starters. They're out there.
Click to expand...

Doh... I always put PCI-X and I always know it is incorrect. Eventually I will learn :D.

Anyway. Thanks everyone for the help. I think I am going to go with the MSI. Wish me luck :D
 
scotty do said:
I was in the exact same position as you. I wanted a nforce4 agp, which is nonexistant. I ended up getting a Epox 9NDA3+. It was the right choice, i've had bad experience with MSI and via chipsets in the past and will never do that again. Check out the Epox, from what I saw less problems then the MSI as well. Good Luck.
Click to expand...

NForce3 and NForce4 aren't that much different other than AGP vs. PCI-E graphics (and SATA2 support).
 
KevinO said:
I know I am being picky, but I prefer the nforce chipsets. I know VIA has matured as far as their chipsets are concerned, but they left a bad taste in my mouth a couple years back :(. The reason I don't want PCI Express is because I have a 6800U @ GT speeds that I have invested in (AGP flavor that is). I might just have to suck it up and get the 754 pin. I know dual channel isn't that much of a benefit, but it is nice to have.
Click to expand...

I actually just picked up that AV8 from abit a few days ago- it was a tough call for me too because I was in the same boat as you as far as VIA was concerned. I bit the bullet though and am very pleased. For a budget board, the AV8 is performing great... running one of the new 90nm A64's perfectly.
 
Ok, so not many people like Gigabyte apparently, but I've been very happy with my K8NS Ultra 939. Paired with my BFG 6800 Ultra is plays games like mad. Plus the EasyTune 4 software makes overclocking a breeze and there are plenty of adjustment settings in the BIOS. The downside is that Motherboard Monitor (which appears to be dead in terms of updates...can't even send an email to the author) does not support the board.
 
Astral Abyss said:
There is no DFI nForce3 939pin motherboard. Sorry. :(

I would recommend the MSI Neo2 Platinum or the Epox 9NDA3+ or 9NDA3J.
Click to expand...

There will be a DFI s939 UT Ultra-D at the end of this month, and there already is a UT 250gb board.
 
Xpl1c1t said:
There will be a DFI s939 UT Ultra-D at the end of this month, and there already is a UT 250gb board.
Click to expand...
The Ultra-D is NF4, not NF3. The UT 250gb board is socket 754, not 939.
There is no DFI NForce3 socket 939 board.
 
If you would do your research instead of posting as if you know everything, you would realize that DFI is in fact coming out with a nForce3-Ultra motherboard, the LanParty UT nF3 Ultra-D. This board is set to come out at the end of this month/early May. kthx

Here's some linkage for you to examine as well:
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5112

Astral Abyss said:
The Ultra-D is NF4, not NF3. The UT 250gb board is socket 754, not 939.
There is no DFI NForce3 socket 939 board.
Click to expand...
 
what happened? i remember the msi k8n neo2 platinum being all over these boards about a month ago. now that nf4 is out it's not a viable option?

you get two choices.

msi k8n neo2
or
Epox 9NDA3+

;)
 
I got the Epox ... and lovin it ... will try to OC once my Watercooling parts arrive. sigh
 
Xpl1c1t said:
If you would do your research instead of posting as if you know everything, you would realize that DFI is in fact coming out with a nForce3-Ultra motherboard, the LanParty UT nF3 Ultra-D. This board is set to come out at the end of this month/early May. kthx

Here's some linkage for you to examine as well:
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5112
Click to expand...
What research? You're speculating on, as yet, unannounced products that DFI doesn't even have a name or picture of. My comment is still correct. There is no DFI NF3 939pin board. IF this NF3 they are maybe going to release ever comes out, that will change... and I'll be glad if they do release it, because it'll probably be a nice board.

But that does not make my statement incorrect.
 
Xpl1c1t said:
If you would do your research instead of posting as if you know everything, you would realize that DFI is in fact coming out with a nForce3-Ultra motherboard, the LanParty UT nF3 Ultra-D. This board is set to come out at the end of this month/early May. kthx

Here's some linkage for you to examine as well:
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5112
Click to expand...

Hmmm. Instead of flaming the guy how about saying it nicely. As far as it goes RIGHT NOW DFI has nothing thats AGP and socket 939. I have yet to see an official anoucment from DFI on its release or even its existance. The link you provided was forum chatter and may not be factual..(it could be but....) I like to see things first hand from actual manufactures. If they are doing it they are being real quite about it. BUT if they do release it i say bad idea. They should have done it long ago. The revenue they have lost out on and the fact that this is now considered an old platform is not good for them. The migration of AGP to PCI-E is allready in the works (even by their own platform/boards) That would be like intoducing a car with an engine and then giving people the flinstones vehicle as an upgrade...and expecting them to move like hot cakes..sure way to confuse you customer base.. makes no sense. I am sure there are still plenty of people out there that use AGP...even I do...(all though I have a DFI Nforce4 board now cause im making the move) BUT to release an AGP board with high expectations after trying to promote and move from AGP is not a good thought out idea bussines wise....at least by me and thats my opinion. SO we will see. But i can tell you I have had my Neo2 and it works great. OC's pretty good and not really any problems at all. I had the Abit AV8 and hated it, Also used the Asus and the same dislike. so take it for what its worth..
 
I think that what you really want to think about is if you want to OC. If you want to, then Nforce chipsets are the best thing going, but it appears (in my experiences in reading in various forums) that they tend to be a little more problematic than the VIA chipset boards. That said, VIAs don't tend to OC as well as the Nforce boards, though there have been some exceptions.
 
Captin Insano said:
Hmmm. Instead of flaming the guy how about saying it nicely. As far as it goes RIGHT NOW DFI has nothing thats AGP and socket 939. I have yet to see an official anoucment from DFI on its release or even its existance. The link you provided was forum chatter and may not be factual..(it could be but....) I like to see things first hand from actual manufactures. If they are doing it they are being real quite about it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Cap'n, you put it in better perspective than I did.
 
DamienThorn said:
I think that what you really want to think about is if you want to OC. If you want to, then Nforce chipsets are the best thing going, but it appears (in my experiences in reading in various forums) that they tend to be a little more problematic than the VIA chipset boards. That said, VIAs don't tend to OC as well as the Nforce boards, though there have been some exceptions.
Click to expand...


Unfortunatly I would dissagree with a large part of that. Mainly that nforce sets tend to be more problematic. I have had 2 of the Via chipset boards (three if you count my 2nd AV8) the Asus A8V and the ABIT AV8. Bother were way more issued then any of my Nforce set up have ever been and that includes bothe the Neo2 and the DFI Nforce4 Ultra i have. Not only did they OC better but I had less issues. Via has made some fair products. But this is just not one of them. They are very hit and miss for a good board. I would say out of 50 Via boards that 1 3rd will have issues. The Nforce set ups Have less then half that for the same amount. Just to prove what I am saying. When the AV8 and the A8V both came out they had so many issues that the only way to fix them was to update the chipset and do new revisions of boards. That really sucks when you buy rev 1 (and sometimes you have no choice) and because of the issues you have to buy the next revision. Nothing like that ever in the Nforce3 or 4 at all. all issues are and have been corrected with Bios issues for the most part.
 
*shrug*

Of the 200+ VIA boards that I have going at work, I've had perhaps 4-10 problems, tops. We tested out 30 ASUS NF3s, and 10 were RMAed in less than 2 months. VIA has, traditionally, had stable, if less potent chipsets, whereas NF chipsets tend to have more issues - the NF2 was plagued with problems (ie dying SATA controllers, etc). It is true the in the initial release of the KT800Pro there were some features that weren't working properly, but any board purchased now has that resolved. Still, to each their own...
 
Yeah, enough VIA bashing. Don't know why it keeps popping up, kinda like that damn RAID 0 thing that JUST WON'T FSKING DIE. My brand new DFI nF4 board has VIA chips on it, and is generally acknowledged to be the best A64 OC motherboard. There's nothing wrong with VIA, they're quite good actually. They just don't target high end OC buyers with their chipsets, they design them with intent to work cheaply and work with minimal tweaking. This is very good if you're doing the specs for a few dozen office machines, but not likely to suit an overclocker who (in theory) wants it to be as tweakable as possible and is willing to pay for a part that can do more than an office desktop computer would be expected to.
 
Just thought I would offer up these...


These boards are all AGP 8x, 939 pin, and NForce chipsets...

EPoX "EP-9NDA3J" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL

GIGABYTE "GA-K8NSC-939" NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL

GIGABYTE "GA-K8NS Ultra-939" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL

MSI "K8N Neo2 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL

GIGABYTE "GA-K8NSNXP-939" nForce3 Ultra Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL

EPoX "EP-9NDA3+" NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL

And that is just a start...

Pretty much, I believe any of the above boards would be scorching, but YMMV. All of the above boards are under $115 for the boards, have tweak options, and NF chipsets. Not too bad...
 
The only reason I don't have my MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum anymore is that I saw an opportunity to get a Neo 4 Platinum and an ATI X800XL without losing much money. The Neo 2 Platinum board is second only to the Neo 4 (imho, have to say I like the new board even better) as a quality single-graphics-card Socket 939 mainboard. I loved mine, and if you want a good AGP S939 board it's hard to do better.

Plus, there's a lot of user support for the board, including a dedicated threat over at xtremesystems.org. I don't think you could find a better source of information.
 
Astral Abyss said:
What research? You're speculating on, as yet, unannounced products that DFI doesn't even have a name or picture of. My comment is still correct. There is no DFI NF3 939pin board. IF this NF3 they are maybe going to release ever comes out, that will change... and I'll be glad if they do release it, because it'll probably be a nice board.

But that does not make my statement incorrect.
Click to expand...

http://www.thetechlounge.com/image.php?img_url=articles/ces_05_wrap_up/images/07.jpg
kthx again
 
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