MSI or ASUS for A64

S

sflshooter

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Dec 27, 2004
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I am looking for a mobo for my new pc m going to build.

I have it down to two:

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (nforce3 ultra chipset)

-or-

Asus A8V Deluxe (Via K8T800 pro chipset)

Both would be used with:
AMD athlon 64 3500+ (90nm, winchester)
1GB (2x512MB) corsair XMS XL (2-2-2-5)
ATI radeon 9800 pro 128mb
74GB raptor 10k rpm

Witch one? MSI or Asus
please comment and give advise!
 
I'm trying to decide the same thing myself, MSI or ASUS, but I'm leaning towards the MSI right now. I would however like to know if the MSI Neo2 is really such a problem board. I plan to do little or no overclocking. I've read that at stock the Neo2 is an awesome board. Am I going to run into that many problems, if in fact I do decide to do some heavy overclocking?
 
on another forum im in the MSI is the clear winner and ive heard alotof good things about each mobo. on this forum i see alot of people have trouble with the MSI

before today(based on research through out th day) i was already to buy the MSI but today i did some more reading and am dont know any more. the MSI is supposted to be a better mobo all around(incuding overclocking) and the asus has more features (i like that it has an extra IDE channel[i have 2 optical drives and one IDE hard drive and i like to keep them all on different channels ]) and also the asus has instant music(listen to cds wioth out going into windows) and Wifi(with wifi model)

read the newegg reveiws also
 
I would definitely steer clear of the MSI board. My brother in law purchased one and has had to RMA because it would not post with Mushkin dual channel ram. He received another one but the memory is only running at 100Mhz instead of 200. I have looked through the bios and can find no way to change it. We have tested the Mushkin memory in several other dual channel systems and it works perfectly.

Novensu
 
what about the Epox EP-9NDA3+ ?? I've heard some good things about this board, MSI makes me kind of weary.
 
I like my MSI, and had no problems with it, everything installed smoothly and ran well out of the box. I flashed the latest bios tonight (with the included windows flash utility) and got my 3000+ up to 2520MHz (9x280), my el-cheapo 2x512 PDP 2-2-2-5 PC3200 ram is doing DDR560 with 2.5-3-3-10 1T timings. The only issue I have is that the bios reports a different CPU temp than sandra...I think I'll live.
 
I've had zero issues with my Neo2. It takes a little more to find the right combo for overclocking, but once you do the performance is great. Stick with memory that you can run tighter latencies with and for top performance memroy that will run a 1T command rate is a must.

I was running my 1GB KHX PC4000 1:1 at 255x10 and my memory benches were lower than what I was seeing on most reviews at default speeds. But that memory will NOT run a 1T CMD. I switched it out for some Mushkin basic green 1GB dual channel ($126@newegg) and with a divider I'm runnning at 262x10 with the memory at 218 with 2.5 3,7,3 1T timings and my memory benches are about 600 pts higher in sandra. So, not to get too long winded I am running slower (and cheaper) memory at tighter timings with a divider and getting more performance. It's all in the timings.

If you really want to go all out get you some G.Skill 4400 (LE part) with the TCCD chips and you can really get the Neo2 to fly.
 
I run a very similar setup with an Asus A8V board. Been trouble free and rock solid for the past three months. Easy to flash the BIOS, no troubles recognizing additional memory or add-ons. I made my decision on the reputation of the company and the mobo itself for AMD 64 on a 939.
 
It's been a good board for me. It overclocks well as I am running my FX55 at FX59 speeds now. I'm actually wanting to sell it so I can get a nForce 4 board for an SLI setup, otherwise I wouldn't part with it ;) PM if interested.
 
I have had the luck to try the Abit AV8, the Asus A8v and the MSI Neo2 platinum and the MSI is my favorite. Has had the least issues and problems runs faster right out of the box then the others. Most the issues with the board people are having is compatabilliy and settings. 939 stuff is different and still fairly new and there are gonna be bugs to work out on anyones platform. I would also say that most problems that people have are easily 50% user error as well and thats on any board. The MSI definitly is a better overclocker then the rest and is pretty feature packed as well. As far as the people on this forum with Issues on MSI not sure about their problems, but I would say just as many have good experinces as well if not more. My 2Cents
 
scotty do said:
what about the Epox EP-9NDA3+ ?? I've heard some good things about this board, MSI makes me kind of weary.
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I second this recomendation. I have had the Abit the MSI and the Epox and the Epox is my favorite, its one drawback is you should run dual channel ram in slots 3 and 4 instead of 1 and 2
 
If your going for the MSI, you will need a mainboard if you want quality sound, as we got from soundstorm.
This board wont take the Nforce NVmixer or control panel from Nvidia, only a crappy MSI Control Panel which is very difficult to work with.

Excuse the pun but, this is as bad as it "sounds"
 
I avoid MSI boards. MSI is notorious for using shitty caps on their boards. Asus is a quality and respected brand name with a good product history. However their boards do come at a higher price bracket than most.

EpoX is right there with ECS in my opinion. I know they get great reviews, but I've seen them come up with really odd types of failures. For no apparent reason. They're great while they work, I just don't bet on their longevity.

I work as a servie tech and I replace alot of MSI boards. And I do mean alot for swelling caps.

Gigabyte's seem to have combustable south bridge chips. I haven't figured that one out. It's happend more than once though.
 
Sir-Fragalot said:
I avoid MSI boards. MSI is notorious for using shitty caps on their boards. Asus is a quality and respected brand name with a good product history. However their boards do come at a higher price bracket than most.

EpoX is right there with ECS in my opinion. I know they get great reviews, but I've seen them come up with really odd types of failures. For no apparent reason. They're great while they work, I just don't bet on their longevity.

I work as a servie tech and I replace alot of MSI boards. And I do mean alot for swelling caps.

Gigabyte's seem to have combustable south bridge chips. I haven't figured that one out. It's happend more than once though.
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I will agree with your opinion on Epox being right there with ECS and I also agree that the Asus is a very high quality board at that high price. But not better then the Neo2 platinum. As for the bad caps its been sometime since MSI used any crappy Caps. And if most people recall it wasnt just MSI. Asus and Abit also had the same issues. The MSI K8 Neo2 Plat is a very quality board and runs quite well. Many sites have done reviews on this board as well as the Asus and the Abit with others and it always seems to score at the top. So they cant be doing all that bad!!!
 
Sir-Fragalot said:
EpoX is right there with ECS in my opinion. I know they get great reviews, but I've seen them come up with really odd types of failures. For no apparent reason. They're great while they work, I just don't bet on their longevity.
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Well I am still running a 8KHA+ in my sons rig. This board is well over 3 years old and continues to run without issue.
 
Captin Insano said:
I will agree with your opinion on Epox being right there with ECS and I also agree that the Asus is a very high quality board at that high price. But not better then the Neo2 platinum. As for the bad caps its been sometime since MSI used any crappy Caps. And if most people recall it wasnt just MSI. Asus and Abit also had the same issues. The MSI K8 Neo2 Plat is a very quality board and runs quite well. Many sites have done reviews on this board as well as the Asus and the Abit with others and it always seems to score at the top. So they cant be doing all that bad!!!
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I understand the problem with caps your reffering to. Still I replace alot of newer MSI boards due to failing caps.
 
asus just came out with their nforce4 sli board the other day so maybe that will change your plans.
 
Not to argue with anyone however, my experience with msi has absolutly sucksauced.
every single msi product i have bought has not worked, first it was a 4600 ti, no overclocking all sorts of artifacting and distortion, i rma the card and never got one back, after continued bickering and fighting i finaly said fuck it, then my retartedness bought a neo2 from newegg, i couldn't overclock for crap on the board but i thought fine whatever nothings garunteed to overclock right? well about a week later one of the capacitors kinda melted away , at stock speed stock voltage and a 560w ps, anyway that just my experience, on the asus side i love the a7n8x-d i had .. it wouldn't post with corsair memory for some reason but outside of that worked great overclocks like crazy
 
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