The Unofficial List of Good mATX Motherboards (Overclocking and Not)

Why is the Asus P4P800-VMs listed twice, I know one shows OCing and the other doesn't but why? Also someone mentioned that the X-Qpack has a height restriction... just how much elevation do you have to work with?
 
Sorry for the errors, that post can get pretty messy with that little white box i have to work with to post and edit, and all that coding for the astericks'.
 
I've got a Biostar P4TSV (i865G based) that has a few overclocking features; there are some limitations (that I've been a little disappointed in) but it seems to me that every s478 mATX board has limitations in overclocking :(

Anyway here is a list of what it can do...

-Intel 865G Chipset w/ICH5 (No RAID support)
-FSB Adjustments in 1Mhz [up to max. of 255]
-CPU Multiplier [only for unlocked CPUs of course]
-vCore Adjustments (Called "CPU Voltage" in BIOS) in percentages [default, +2.5%, +5.5%, +8.1%]
-vDIMM [2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8] *see Note below
-FSB/PCI/PCI-E Locks [PCI/AGP seems to be locked at 33.3/66.6 regardless of FSB setting.] **see Note2 below
-DRAM Timings [By SPD or Manual--standard 4 settings] ***see Note3 below

*Note1: Though the BIOS gives options for upto 2.8V for vDIMM, I have not gotten 2.7 or 2.8 to work. Using Kingston HyperX PC3000 (Confirmed BH-5) the mobo will not POST if I set it to 2.7 or 2.8--I have to jumper-clear the CMOS in order to get it to boot again :( Unfortunately this means I can only get the BH-5 to run at about 200Mhz 2-6-2-2 (or whatever the order is supposed to be) at maximum.

**Note2: Though it does not show in the BIOS that the PCI/AGP stays at 33.3/66.6, the Biostar Windows OC program (not necessary for OCing) shows the locked clock rate as do other programs which detect the PCI/AGP clock.

***Note3: Settings include:
CAS Latency Time
Active to Precharge Delay
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay
DRAM RAS# Precharge
Also DDR speed can be set to Auto, DDR266, DDR320, or DDR400. The DDR speed is afffected by OCing the FSB. I.e. If I set the FSB to 245Mhz then selecting DDR320 will run the RAM at approx. 200Mhz; so it essentially is the DDR:CPU ratio adjuster (dunno if it is like this on every board but I thought I'd mention it).

My personal useage/experience:
I'm running an Intel P4 2.6Ghz ES CPU (unfortunately it only has 12 and 13 multipliers so no multiplier overclocking on this one :( )
FSB runs pretty stable at 245Mhz (980FSB, 3.2Ghz CPU) ~33% OC on the CPU
RAM (HyperX BH-5 as noted above) at 2.6V and "DDR320" = ~200Mhz/DDR400 2-6-2-2 with the FSB @ 245 seems to run well.
A little disappointed with the non-functioning higher vDIMM settings and therefore low clock speed for this type of RAM. Other than that it seems alright compared to other mATX s478 boards mentioned here.
(Power Supply if anyone wanted to know, is a 250W Enermax mATX/SFX EG265S-VE; the best SFX supply I could find at the time).

The mothrboard comes in 3 revisions, apparently. I have rev1.0 but there are also revs. 1.5 and 7.x. The latter two have only 2 DIMM slots (instead of 4 on the 1.0), is slightly smaller (due to less DIMM slots), and also seems to have a newer C-Media sound chipset on it (CMI9739A for the 1.0 vs. CMI9761 for the other revisions). Other differences I'm not sure about.

Biostar USA Link:
http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails.asp?model=p4tsv
 
I have the Foxconn 915M07-G-8LRS. The max, no matter what kind of ram i put in, was 217FSB. My 3.2 went to 3.45. Not the best overclock at all. I was excited when I first got it because it had a decent amount of bios features but.. they all useless. They work but useless as the max no matter what I did was 217 FSB.
:(

MC FLMJIG

If anybody finds any socket t' with good oc ability let us know!!!
 
MC FLMJIG said:
I have the Foxconn 915M07-G-8LRS. The max, no matter what kind of ram i put in, was 217FSB. My 3.2 went to 3.45. Not the best overclock at all. I was excited when I first got it because it had a decent amount of bios features but.. they all useless. They work but useless as the max no matter what I did was 217 FSB.
:(

MC FLMJIG

If anybody finds any socket t' with good oc ability let us know!!!
Click to expand...

The AOpen i915GM-I/PL are the best overclockers for mATX S775. No vcore, but if you get a good 6X0 or 5X0J series chipthat does like 230-250fsb on stock vcore, your're good to go. Ive owned one, its great.
 
I am still confused and do not want to shell out the cash for the ASUS P4P800-VM unless it really will OC in the bios, can anyone verify it does and post a link to the information?
 
I just received an email back from Foxconn about their NF4K8MC-ERS. The lack of voltage adjustments are a hardware limitation, so you can scratch this board off your list of overclocking hopefuls.
 
Gyrfalcon said:
I am still confused and do not want to shell out the cash for the ASUS P4P800-VM unless it really will OC in the bios, can anyone verify it does and post a link to the information?
Click to expand...


I have this board up and running. There are no overclocking options in the 1016 bios that mine came with. I have not been able to flash to the 1017 bios to see if options are available. Keep getting error when I try. I would not recommend this board.
 
Probably the chipset drivers:
http://www.jetway.com.tw/evisn/index.html

MassiveOverkill said:
I just received an email back from Foxconn about their NF4K8MC-ERS. The lack of voltage adjustments are a hardware limitation, so you can scratch this board off your list of overclocking hopefuls.
Click to expand...
That could be true... I had the nForce3/AGP version of that board and Clockgen would only boost it to 1.45v. Still there is always a place to lower the resistance to allow more voltage to flow.
 
Anyone here tested the Biostar P4TSV with a CT-479 and a Pentium-m CPU. This would be an excellent combo for overclocking in SFF when most people are hitting 2.6-2.8 with the 1.6ghz Pentium-m on the stock AIR cooling
 
rktmn247 said:
I have this board up and running. There are no overclocking options in the 1016 bios that mine came with. I have not been able to flash to the 1017 bios to see if options are available. Keep getting error when I try. I would not recommend this board.
Click to expand...

exactly the same thing that hapened to me, would'nt take the 1017 bios plus it
would'nt run 800fsb. I sent the turd back :p
 
Letni said:
Anyone here tested the Biostar P4TSV with a CT-479 and a Pentium-m CPU. This would be an excellent combo for overclocking in SFF when most people are hitting 2.6-2.8 with the 1.6ghz Pentium-m on the stock AIR cooling
Click to expand...

The CT-479 wont work in anything besides the P4C800 or w/e series of boards, maybe it will work later on with a BIOS update with the P4whatever microATX boards, but i doubt it.
 
My new Asus P5LD2-VM has options for FSB, vCORE, vChipset/vHTT, vDIMM, FSB/PCI/PCI-E Locks and DRAM Timings.

No Multiplier settings. Not sure if that's just for my Pentium 820 or for all chips.
 
Here are 2 A64 boards I don't see on the list.

Socket 939
Leadtek WinFast NF4K8MC-ERS nForce 4 (there is alsoa WinFast NF4K8MC-RS nForce4 which has no firewire)

Its Nforce 4 standard not ultra

Socket 754
Asus K8S-MX
Sis chipset, but oddly enough a PCI-Expres 1x slot, but AGP? Why not just PCI-Express graphics slot also.
 
Jetway says that the JetWay A210GDMS-Pro is also dual-core ready:


Athlon64 x2 Dual Core
1.4V / L2 512K / E4

4200+ OK
4600+ OK
4800+ OK
 
Does anyone have any idea whenever the *more* enthusiast mATX skt 939 boards are going to be released, like the Gigabyte ones, etc. I thought they were suppose to be out at the beginning of June, but I have yet to see a single one?

Any info?
 
PC-HAngover said:
Does anyone have any idea whenever the *more* enthusiast mATX skt 939 boards are going to be released, like the Gigabyte ones, etc. I thought they were suppose to be out at the beginning of June, but I have yet to see a single one?

Any info?
Click to expand...

I seem to recall Gigabyte went and waffled at taking the tweaking options out of that board. :(
 
Satyrist said:
I seem to recall Gigabyte went and waffled at taking the tweaking options out of that board. :(
Click to expand...

Huh? You mean Gigabyte scrapped the "enthusiast" mATX skt 939 motherboard? noooo
 
PC-HAngover said:
Huh? You mean Gigabyte scrapped the "enthusiast" mATX skt 939 motherboard? noooo
Click to expand...

Scrapped? I had heard they simply neutered it...

But that was ages ago, I doubt anybody truly knows for sure.
 
I have a couple of suggestions for your list on the first page.
Personally, I think it would be a lot easier to compare features if you kept the colors in order.
For example:
The JetWay A210GDMS-Pro and ECS RS480-M V1.0 have very similiar features, but look at the order they're listed in - completely random.

Also, I would make the asterisks a larger size, cause I have to get like 2 inches from the screen to read it at the current size.


And while we're talking about the JetWay A210GDMS-Pro and ECS RS480-M V1.0, which one would you guys choose and why?
 
Don't look for any new MSI mATX boards in the near future...

I just got this email from a rep at MSI

MSI rep said:
At this moment, it seems that we won't be having nForce chipset based
micro-ATX socket 939 boards in the short run.
Please go ahead and purchase our other micro-ATX boards at your
preference.

Thank you for contacting MSI.

Sincerely,

Jill Su
MSI Computer Corp.
Click to expand...
 
EnderW said:
And while we're talking about the JetWay A210GDMS-Pro and ECS RS480-M V1.0, which one would you guys choose and why?
Click to expand...
ECS:
250fsb
VCore: 1.45v
VDimm: 2.9v
VDD: 1.6v?
Full timings only adjustable in windows (not a big deal for most)
2 mem slots

Jetway:
287fsb?
VCore: 1.6v
VDimm: 2.9v
VDD: 1.9v
Full timings adjustable in bios
4 mem slots

Only negative to the Jetway is the 20-pin power plug. Also, an nForce4 Ultra would probably clock higher, but it is still more than respectable and the best thing out.
 
I just got word that DFI will be releasing their socket 939 mATX board come end Q3. I might have to once again hold off on buying my mATX board until we actually get some good ones in.
 
Steeeeve said:
I just got word that DFI will be releasing their socket 939 mATX board come end Q3. I might have to once again hold off on buying my mATX board until we actually get some good ones in.
Click to expand...

linky?
 
sleepeeg3 said:
ECS:
250fsb
VCore: 1.45v
VDimm: 2.9v
VDD: 1.6v?
Full timings only adjustable in windows (not a big deal for most)
2 mem slots

Jetway:
287fsb?
VCore: 1.6v
VDimm: 2.9v
VDD: 1.9v
Full timings adjustable in bios
4 mem slots

Only negative to the Jetway is the 20-pin power plug. Also, an nForce4 Ultra would probably clock higher, but it is still more than respectable and the best thing out.
Click to expand...

Why is the 20pin a negative? It also has a four-pin connector near the I/O.

I also picked the Jetway for the 4gig support.
 
..expect this one

I normally go right to the source and either call up the company or email them...I recently emailed or called ASUS, DFI, MSI, and Abit regarding socket 939 mATX boards..earlier I stated that MSI has no plans. This is the mail from DFI...

Dear Sirs,

Many thanks for your email and glad to hear that you are satisfied with DFI.

Yes, we wil have mATX socket 939 and the available time should be end of Q3.

Just for your reference.

Best regards,


Greta Kuo
Sales Manager
Tel: 886-2-26942986 ext. 659
Fax: 886-2-26943221
MSN: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
SKYPE: gretakuo1964
www.dfi.com <http://www.dfi.com>

Design For Innovation
 
wait, wouldnt end of Q3 be in nearly another year? correct me if im wrong, but i think Q3 ends in june, and since its july, that would make it Q4, so the end of the next Q3 would b in nearly a year. that sux! i want one sooner. preferrably magically out at the same time as ATI's new video card.
 
I don't know if they are referring to a Fiscal Year or Calander year (assuming they are different). If it is calander year then end of Q3 would be in September.
 
Steeeeve said:
..expect this one

I normally go right to the source and either call up the company or email them...I recently emailed or called ASUS, DFI, MSI, and Abit regarding socket 939 mATX boards..earlier I stated that MSI has no plans. This is the mail from DFI...

Dear Sirs,

Many thanks for your email and glad to hear that you are satisfied with DFI.

Yes, we wil have mATX socket 939 and the available time should be end of Q3.

Just for your reference.

Best regards,


Greta Kuo
Sales Manager
Tel: 886-2-26942986 ext. 659
Fax: 886-2-26943221
MSN: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
SKYPE: gretakuo1964
www.dfi.com <http://www.dfi.com>

Design For Innovation
Click to expand...

I wonder...GF4 or XPress200/220?
 
i think u mean nF4, not GF4 for the chipset. im thinking they'll probably go with the nf4 (ultra?) cuz thats where they have more experience making chipsets (i.e. their lanparty line of mobos), and most ppl still prefer that one i think.
 
anyone suggestions for a socket 754mATX mobo under 80$ with good oc features?

what about socket 478?
 
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