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Cheap AM2 Board

B

bruins004

Weaksauce
Joined
Apr 26, 2006
Messages
119
Hey all.

I am looking for a cheap AM2 mobo.
The only things I need in this mobo is that it is reliable, has 4 DIMM Slots (can support up to 4GBs of RAM) and has 2 IDE slots.
I need it to go with my X2 3600+ Brisbane.
 
Quite a few good inexpensive boards for am2..First comes to mind the biostar tf 550 board which newegg has a bundle deal for with the 3600 brisbane and the biostar board tf 550.
Also dont pass up on abit either. They have 3 boards that are very good also. The nf4 am2 board and the nf5 550 board and the 570 ultra and sli board. All are under 100$ and o/clock well.The layout is also a better design than some of their 939 boards.Their new bios release for the boards gives compatability to the brisbane line of cpu's.
I just finished a build with the abit kn9/nf4 am2 board and abit sent me the latest bios with brisbane support..I used gskill ddr2 800 ram with the 3600 brisbane and this board rocks.For 75$ it cant be beat so to say.I then switched to a
3800x2 and had it up to 2.6 with a very minor voltage bump..The customer that bought the rig on saturday has called me several times to brag on how well and fast this setup runs...As a system builder ive found lately that the abit boards perform very well and are priced very affordable..I don't know why so many of the newegg reviews are problematic. Ive built 6 systems in the last 2 months with abit lower line am2 boards and all were fine..Just did a little research on what ram was the best for that board...With the abit boards ive had zero problems with gskill, crucial ballistix and corsair xms all using ddr2 800.
So good luck with your build...
 
I can confirm from first hand experience that the Biostar TForce 550 v1.3 board that newegg is shipping with the Brisbane combo deal works right out of the box with the 3600+ CPU. No bios flash needed. Vista 32 was a simple install, recognizing all onbard devices (sound, lan, USB, etc) without a hitch. It's been the most pain free build I've done, and so far it's been extremely stable running all my apps.

The only caviat for the OP is that it only has one IDE port, supporting two devices. It also only has 4 SATA ports. In my case, with SATA DVD/RW drive, one SATA HD, and one external SATA drive plugged in, I'm already running out of ports. Its the only thing I've been annoyed with the TForce 550, otherwise I like it a lot.
 
Theoretically it's possible to run both on one IDE port, but I've never done it and I haven't plugged anything into the IDE on the TForce 550 as I'm totally SATA from the get go.

Anyone out there running HD & DVD burner on single IDE line?
 
Newegg also has a combo deal on the DFI Iinfinity NF UltraII-M2. You also get an extra IDE port.
 
i'd go for the Asus M2A-VM as its an RS690G with VGA and DVI onboard. and its the best onboard Graphics one can get currently.
 
I think Epox MGF6100-M fits exactly your needs. So that makes two people using this board in the whole world :)
 
I use the TForce 550 board in my work computer and it works great with the X2 3600+. The combo is tough to beat for dual core. All you need is a heatsink.
 
wesleys_dad said:
As a system builder ive found lately that the abit boards perform very well and are priced very affordable..I don't know why so many of the newegg reviews are problematic..
Click to expand...
becuase they don't set the right voltage for their DDR2 or use a crap PSU or don't rtfm :p
 
Any chance you can send me the new bios for this board? My board and processor are due to arrive from Newegg and I would love to monitor my temps correctly and adjust my volts.
budzos
 
With the abit boards ive had zero problems with gskill, crucial ballistix and corsair xms all using ddr2 800.

those memories are not in Abit's official list of rec'd sticks. Can you answer a question for me. Do I look for memory that is just 1.8v or can, or should I, get memory that has a range? Like some of the mem at newegg is listed as 1.8 to 2.0. should any memory that is 1.8v work in this Abit board? What do you do, start it up at 1.8 then go into the bios and jack it up some? I have never been clear on how on that works. And CAS 4 or 5?
Hey, thanks a lot for being here.
 
Im in the same boat as OP. I was looking at the TF550 and the one thing I noticed was the placement of the 24pin ATX header.:mad:
 
Last I checked newegg isn't running the tforce 550/brisbane 3600+ combo anymore. Its still a good deal regardless.
 
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