What motherboard for s754 (AGP) to s754 (PCI express) upgrade + overclocking

M@iden

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Ok, I have an s754 that I really love and want to keep a while longer with me

MB is DFI Lanparty UT NF3 250Gb with a A64 3200 Clawhammer 250X10 2.5Ghz @ 1.56Volts on a Zalman CNPS7000A-ALCU @ 34C idle
Ram is Kingston Hyper X (tccd) 2X512mb @ 250 Cas 2 3,3,3,6 1T @ 3.1 volts
Enermax EG465P-VE 460W Power Supply
EVGA Geforce 6800 GT (AGP :( ) Main reason for Upgrade
Case Silverstone SST-TJ06-B

I mainly play Oblivion currently and I just got a Dell 2007WFP (widescreen) and the play is to choppy for my taste at 1600X1050 and that plus future games are the reason for looking at this upgrade

I'm looking at replacing the motherboard and video for PCI express but keeping s754

I'm looking at these brands Abit NV8, Gigabyte, DFI infinity and Biostar

I would love to be able to at least over clock with the new board to the same settings I currently have if not better :D.

I will also listen to Video card suggestion, I have been looking at the X1800XL that can be flashed to X1800XT if you can find one or a 7900GT plus I might upgrade my Hitachi 160 sata drive to a new 74 or 150 gb raptor

So my intended budget
MB less than 100$
Video less than 250$

Thanks

M@iden
 
Biostar T-force was a solid s754 board for me.

I think the 7900Gt is your best bet for sub-$250 graphics.
 
MSI K8N NEO3-F Socket 754 NVIDIA nForce4 4X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130493



I was in the same situation, and I got that board last week. Seems real solid, I have no complaints thus far. Watch out with the RAM slots, it only has two of them. Not a problem for me, I won't be buying any memory before I upgrade to DDR2 or beyond.

If only the eVGA 7600 GT KO I received didn't freeze up instantly in games and require me to return it... I'd be one happy camper right now. Nice that I can use my AGP FX5900 XT in the meantime. Again, I have no complaints with this board.
 
My thread (the one that is linked to by Zoogle) ended up in me selecting the NV8 from Abit and I'm very pleased with my selection.

It's got all the features I need in a nice package, and once you've flashed the bios it can be one hell of an overclocker.
 
Thanks for the Replies

quadnad, how is your overclocking; Could you post the settings that you have achieved (ram and CPU)?

My main concern is that I have what I consider a very nice overclock and I'm worried that I will not reach those settings on the new board, see below

"CPU 250X10 2.5Ghz @ 1.56Volts on a Zalman CNPS7000A-ALCU @ 34C idle, Ram is (tccd) 2X512mb @ 250 Cas 2 3,3,3,6 1T @ 3.1 volts"

Thanks and the comments are appreciated

M@iden
 
I was in the same place you are now with a 754. I made the move to PCI-E and a Abit NV8. I couldn't be happer then I am now. Great to OC and no problems. I did have to uodate the Bios, but I got my MB when it first came out. As for the video card. I got the VEGA 7800 gt, so now I find myself behind on the video card.Over all I'm still happy
 
M@iden said:
Thanks for the Replies

quadnad, how is your overclocking; Could you post the settings that you have achieved (ram and CPU)?

My main concern is that I have what I consider a very nice overclock and I'm worried that I will not reach those settings on the new board, see below

"CPU 250X10 2.5Ghz @ 1.56Volts on a Zalman CNPS7000A-ALCU @ 34C idle, Ram is (tccd) 2X512mb @ 250 Cas 2 3,3,3,6 1T @ 3.1 volts"

Thanks and the comments are appreciated

M@iden

Well, I can reach well over 300 htt, but since my 3700+ clawhammer isn't exactly a star overclocker, it doesn't help me :( It takes 1.7 volts to get it to 2.5....

While it's always a bit of a gamble when considering overclocking, I sincerely doubt you'll have problems hitting 250 on this motherboard.
 
Biostar is the best s754 board, im running 360x8 right now with my sempron, i bought the board for 38bucks open box from newegg, worth every penny
 
Ok I took the plunge (thanks for the advice)

I went with the Abit NV8 and also got me a ATI X1900GT both for 260$ shipped (73 + 187), I will let you know once I get everything setup and see what I think of this setup and what performance I get

I will have to sell my DFI NF3 250GB LP board and a EVGA 6800 GT AGP with a NV Silencer when I get done :( they have been very good to me and I will be sad to let them go, I hope it was worth it but more on that latter.

Thanks,

M@iden
 
Honestly, you'll probably be able to get at least $200 for your old parts if you sold them in the FS/FT threads. People are always looking for high end AGP parts, plus that board is the classic AGP/s754 board.
 
kirbyrj said:
Honestly, you'll probably be able to get at least $200 for your old parts if you sold them in the FS/FT threads. People are always looking for high end AGP parts, plus that board is the classic AGP/s754 board.

agreed. It'll definitely soften the blow.
 
You read my mind, I was thinking about that exact price point (200$) but that will have to wait untill I have the new toys in place since the DFI and 6800GT are part of my main rig for now :D
 
I decided to try the red team this time (ATI) and the price I got for the X1900GT was to good (in my mind) to pas up so I did not need SLI, also I have not had an Abit since the BP6 days (good old days) and wanted to try them again and from what I was reading I thought that I could get a better overclock on the Abit + it was also little bit cheaper.

We will see if it was a wise choice

M@iden

P.S. If anyone knows of any good sites for bios, special bios and other tweaks for the NV8 please let me know, I had a bunch for the DFI but it looks like they are harder to find for the NV8 probably because its an older board
 
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