Good Non-OC SLI Mobo

S

spin02

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 13, 2004
Messages
196
I am building a new rig for a friend. He has no interest in overclocking and little knowledge of tweaking. I am hoping to be able to build a good SLI system for under $1000. Initially we will start with one video card with plans of adding another soon.

Any suggestions on a good mobo? The rest of the system is going to be something like this:

A64 3200+
2x512 memory 2-2-2, probably some PC3200 patriot
1xEVGA 7600GT, the 2nd added within a few months.
Antec Truepower II 550W

Please offer any suggestions. I have searched this topic, but the results are overwhelming. Also, will the 3200+ be sufficient for 2x7600GTs?
 
ASUS A8N-E is a good, solid board. It's what I used for my sister's computer (X2 3800+, 1GB Mushkin something, 7600 GT) and it's worked from the day I built it, no problems what-so-ever.

EDIT: Sorry, thought you meant non-OC and non-SLI. If you're going SLI, check out the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium. It's what I have in my computer (X2 4400+, 2GB Corsair XMS, 7800 GTX), again, no problems whatsoever.
 
for a good less expensive board id go with the asus a8n sli board for about 100.00.has firewire and just about every thing else.ive built 3 systems with these boards and all 3 were perfect setups.2 o/clocked and 1 stock.its a fine board.a8n premium is a great board also but alot more money for the same performance and the heatpipe boards run hotter than the fan models.seems everyone is going heatpipes but me,i prefer the fan models as they generally run cooler and can be modified to put stronger fans on and larger heatsinks if you want.but to each his own.any of the asus a8n series boards are fine boards,they have a great layout and the bios is mature and proven.they are very very stable boards and most of the time are trouble free.they arent real picky with hardware like dfi boards but 2 things apply for all nf4 boards especially sli models is a good power supply 500w or better ,name brand not off brand and good ram.asus likes corsair xms sticks real well too.good luck with your new build.
 
Abit KN8 SLI is worth a look.
Solid board with the advantage of silent chipset cooling via heatpipe at a reasonable price
 
they arent real picky with hardware like dfi boards but 2 things apply for all nf4 boards especially sli models is a good power supply 500w or better ,name brand not off brand and good ram.asus likes corsair xms sticks real well too.good luck with your new build.
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I think the Antec 550W PS should be fine. Has there been any problems using Patriot memory? I have had pretty good luck with it in the past. I am also a fan of Crucial Ballistix. Any thoughts?
 
BUFF said:
Abit KN8 SLI is worth a look.
Solid board with the advantage of silent chipset cooling via heatpipe at a reasonable price
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What is the big difference between the AN8 and the KN8, besides the $30 price tag?
 
is a 3200 sufficient for 2 7600gts??...

hum... that's a good question... the hardcop cpu scaleing article recommends 2.4ghz i think it is ... to bad he's not clockin it up a little ... a venice 3200 will do 2.4 easily but come stock at 2.0.... hell if you buget is 1000 bucks you could get a golden sample opteron for 210 that will do 3ghz .... but he's not clockign is he...

as far as boards goes ... who knows... sli boards are so cheap now .. even the good ones... i saw a Asus A8n-sli fs in the forums for 75 shipped ... you can get the evga sli boards dirt cheap bec lots of people got them for free with gpu purchase or waterever...
 
the asus has a much better layout than the abit board.look at where the floppy connector is located and the molex connector.the abit runs x8 in both sli slots and cant be changed.the asus model you can change the slot config to run x16 for the upper slot if you decide to run 1 video card.the heatpipe cooler setups run hotter than the fan models.the abit nf4 boards have had usb issues and stability problems but they may have been addressed by now.it just dosent set rite with me that you cant adjust the pcie express slots from x8 to x16,and the layout is not well thought out.the ide connectors are to far down the board and you cant use the board mount on the rt lower side due to the ide connector covering the mounting hole,the floppy connector is in the most stupid place,cant adjust the sli slots for single card to run x16,history of unstable bios and usb issues.the asus is just a much better design and a much more popular board.the abit boards have been a real dissappointment with the nf4 series and really havent sold very well.just read some of the forums on the abit boards and youll see there are a ton of issues with them.most avid abit fans have passed up on this series of boards,and during this time abit was suffering from financial problems that show in the design and performance of the nf4 boards.some people have had a good board but they seem to be the lucky ones .more so than not your more likely to get a quirky board.hopefully there am2 boards will be better as their reputation has been hurt with these nf4 series boards.if they put out am2 boards with the problems they have had with the nf4 boards they will go out of business.they have lost alot of customers with the fatality line of boards and the lousy design and engineering of these boards.i used to buy quite a few abit boards but for the last 2 years all the ones ive had have been troublesome and most people have had issues with them and gotten rid of them.they have a long road ahead to win back the large amount customers they have lost and loosing oscar as there primary designer to dfi has been a real blow to them.just look at the board design and ask your self if the guy that designed these boards has ever put together a tower before.when oscar left its like the second guy in linedidnt learn anything from the best designer in the industry..........
 
malicious said:
you can get the evga sli boards dirt cheap bec lots of people got them for free with gpu purchase or waterever...
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Are these EVGA boards competitive with the entry level Asus or Abit??
 
there ok boards but from what i remember they are chaintech boards.ok for stock use but dont o/clock well.i believe they are a smaller board also,look at the dimentions of the board its like 8.5 in instead of 9.5 in.thinner which can crowd things.i prefer the full size atx board.they were giving these boards away when you bought the 7800 video card also.not a bad deal.if buying a board id choose another brand.really any name brand board will be fine at stock speeds.just look at layout and features.msi also has decent boards also.
 
spin02 said:
What is the big difference between the AN8 and the KN8, besides the $30 price tag?
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basically uGuru & a 4-phase instead of 3-phase supply.

Ignore wesleysdad ;) he's an Asus fan same way that I'm an Abit fan.
It's not like the Asus boards are problem free either (find me a board that is) & you can adjust the PCI-E slots from X16 to X8 (not that it makes a difference as there isn't a gfx card that saturates x8).
 
Any board you buy should be able to run SLI without issue in non-OC situations. Maybe the ECS KN1-SLI thing?
 
Jetway makes the eVGA board. Theres a BIG thread somewhere about it. Not a bad board for free.

Me, I'd definately get the ASUS board. I have 2 A8N-SLI Deluxe boards and love 'em. Yeah they are the "oldest" for the bunch, but Ive had them both for about a year with no problems at all. My 1st one even has the "old" chipset fan running without a glitch.

The deluxe and the premium arent that much different, with the deluxe you manually switch a hardward PCB to engage the SLI, both use a molex dedicated to power for the PCI-E slots for SLI.

Good luck. Think about 2 used 7800GTXs, you could get 7900GT speed and spend only about 200 dollars each. Ive seen some guys selling 2 BFG 7800 GTX 256 on eBay for around 400 dollars. They are only going to be 6 months old maximum in most cases.
 
I like the Asus SLI Premuim (even though one of my systems has the non deluxe with the noisy fan). I shoud have bought the premuim as the NB fan is too noisy. I would go with a passivly cooled board like the Asus SLI premuim.
 
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