Best S939 nForce3 mobo?

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 8:58 am

Hello:

I'm wondering what folks would recommend for a top-notch S939 nForce3 motherboard? I am currently considering the Gigbyte "GA-K8NS Ultra":

As you can see the problem immediately: it has a fan on the NB. But the pros are that the layout looks great, it has Dual BIOS, and every other feature under the sun. It even has a game port (via an add-in slot) which was requested by my client.

Are there any other mothboards out there that I need to consider? I would especially be interested in undervolting at the stock speed: I looking at a 3200+ Winchester and a Zalman 7000 Al/Cu.

TIA

zoob · Post by **zoob** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 9:37 am

Here are a couple of 939 roundups

http://anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2128&p=1
http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle. ... =574&cid=3

Not sure how many motherboards have game ports now though.. that might be the deciding factor.

BTW, the fans on Gigabyte motherboards (I had a 754 K8NNXP before) are horridly loud.

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 10:03 am

Are those two SATA ports in a horrible place or am I seeing things? And the PATA & Floppy placements pretty much rule out any nice cablegami

zoob · Post by **zoob** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 11:22 am

The two SATA ports between the AGP slot and the CPU are a "feature" of all the nF3 boards. >.<

Prahella · Post by **Prahella** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 4:41 pm

Just wondering, why no nForce4-based board? Because of their availability?

samwc912 · Post by **samwc912** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 5:02 pm

I've read quite a few of 939 round ups. For nforce3 boards, the best of the group should be MSI Neo2 nforce3 from what i've read.

There's a good round up of all the board (+supports and problems) at XtremeSystems forums
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... hp?t=46730

I think that you might have to create an accoutn to get in though.

EDIT: added the following:

If you're considering somethign else than nforce3 chipset. the Abit AV8 via k8t800pro seems to be a nice board, mainly because it's dirt cheap! around CAD$148.

teknerd · Post by **teknerd** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 5:03 pm

I would agree to look for an nForce 4 board, they have a lot of features that make it worth it. However there is one fatal flaw (as far as silencing goes) that I have seen on every nForce 3 and 4 mo, and that is the location of the nForce Chip, it is almost always right behind the graphics slot, making it impossible to fit a passive northbridge cooler on it.

ddrueding1 · Post by **ddrueding1** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 11:11 pm

teknerd wrote:I would agree to look for an nForce 4 board, they have a lot of features that make it worth it. However there is one fatal flaw (as far as silencing goes) that I have seen on every nForce 3 and 4 mo, and that is the location of the nForce Chip, it is almost always right behind the graphics slot, making it impossible to fit a passive northbridge cooler on it.

I'll second that, it has me looking for a heatpipe-based mechanism....we'll see how it goes.

Spod · Post by **Spod** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 12:58 am

ddrueding1 wrote:I'll second that, it has me looking for a heatpipe-based mechanism....we'll see how it goes.

A heatpipe based chipset cooling mechanism? Tell me more! (See the thread in my sig for why, if you want).

teknerd · Post by **teknerd** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 10:30 am

Spod, is your mobo 754 or 939. Cause the 754 MSI K8N Neo2 that i did a build with (for a client, not me) had a passive northbridge cooler. (It's the only one i have seen that does).

zoob · Post by **zoob** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 10:59 am

The 754 MSI K8N is Neo. It has a passive NB cooler.

The 939 MSI K8N is Neo2. It has an active NB cooler.

teknerd · Post by **teknerd** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 11:03 am

Just looking at the picture of that board again, depending on how comfortable you are with a dremel, and the size of your VGA cooler, you should be able to cut down a few of the fins on a passive northbridge cooler, and be able to fit it on there.

ddrueding1 · Post by **ddrueding1** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 12:44 pm

My motherboard (see sig) has passive NB cooling, but with the lower airflow in my chassis, it reaches 70C+

I don't have a digital camera, so I'll try to describe what I have in mind.

When you buy a Zalman ZM80D-HP cooler, it includes blocks that attach to the GPU and another that goes on the other side of the card. It includes 2 versions of each of these blocks, one designed or the older GeForce4 cards which is wider, and one for newer cards which is narrower.

This image shows all the parts very well

The blocks that attach to the GPU side are too thick, but the ones for the back are thin, include adjustable brackets for proper motherboard mounting, and also have a groove for a heatpipe machined into the top.

My plan is to use both of the "backside" blocks to sandwich one of the heatpipes that came with the package. By bending the heatpipe, one end could be at the northbridge and the other could be attached to both of the massive "sides" of the ZM80D-HP screwed together. That would be enough surface area I think, the only problem would be securing the giant heatsink at the end of a long lever that's attached to your motherboard

*edited for grammar, clarity, and repetitive typos

Tobias · Post by **Tobias** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 2:34 pm

ddrueding, if you do not use the floppy, wouldn't it be easier to cut one of the heatsinks och the zalman vga-cooler a bit and mount it on the "back"-block? The lenght of the GPU could be critical, though, depending on how much you dare to cut the heatsink. On the other hand, not all R9200 cards extend beyond the AGP-slot and maybe yours doesn't, so it might just not be an issue...

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 3:54 pm

Hello:

Here's another interesting mobo -- the NB HSF looks like it clears the video card!

...no game port, though.

And it looks like the clearance tight spot is between the HSF and the video card!

My hesitation with the nForce4 motherboards are their price ($180 min vs $125-ish) and the PCI-E video...you can choose between about two cards?

ddrueding1 · Post by **ddrueding1** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 5:16 pm

The 9200 isn't long for this world, I've decided to make my silent system a gaming machine as well. This system will also need to hold a high-end graphics card likely with a massive heatsink, that will certainly block any normal attempts to cool the NB.

Spod · Post by **Spod** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 11:05 pm

NeilBlanchard - that's the K8N Neo2, the same I've got (see my sig thread for what fits and what doesn't). The chipset HSF does clear the motherboard, but it's pretty noisy if the rest of your system is quiet.
I've seen some nForce4 boards have the chipset on the other side of the PCIe graphics slot, (or is that just the SLI boards?), so the Arctic Cooling Silencer would work, but a tall chipset cooler might still foul a heatpipe based cooler with heatsinks on both sides.

ddrueding - that's an interesting idea. I think I'll try mutilating my NB-47J to fit, for now, but I'll be interested to see how your project works out.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 6:05 am

Hello Spod:

Would the Zalman 7000 fit? If my memory serves, the Zalman 7000 is bigger than the XP-90...which direction does the overhanging part of the XP-90 sit? Or, conversely which direction do the heat pipes go from the socket?

Also, does it come with a game port?

And how hot does the NB HS get with the fan turned off? Is it getting "over-blow" air from the XP-90?

TIA

Spod · Post by **Spod** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:46 am

I believe the 7000 does fit, though many reviews or the Zalman website should be able to confirm this for you.

The XP-90 would only fit with the overhanging bit over the memory - the graphics card prevents it from fitting the other way round.

The chipset doesn't get any significant airflow from the XP-90, being the other side of the graphics card from the CPU HSF. Also, I've got the fan sucking upwards - maybe you'd get more airflow from the downward blowing fan on the Zalman.

The NB HS is cool enough to keep a finger on at the top, but rather too hot to touch if you touch it close to the chip underneath. I've installed MBM5, but it doesn't (seem to) report chipset temps with this board, so I can't be more accurate unfortunately.

See the thread in my sig for any updates on the NB cooling.

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:54 am

Does anyone know or have a photo of the Neo/Neo2 from the side (the IDE connector edge) so we can see how high that NB contraption is?

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 5:50 am

Hello Spod:

The only question you didn't answer: does it have a game port?

Tyrdium · Post by **Tyrdium** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 6:42 am

Question... Couldn't you just use an game port -> USB adaptor or something? You'd get a much better selection of motherboards...

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 7:38 am

Hello:

Tyrdium wrote:Question... Couldn't you just use an game port -> USB adaptor or something? You'd get a much better selection of motherboards...

Yeah, that's certainly an option -- actually with today's mobo's, you almost don't need *any* PCI slots!

My client really wants all the USB ports for his own purposes, so I'll look for a PCI-game port card -- and actually use one of the five PCI slots...

Tyrdium · Post by **Tyrdium** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 8:45 am

Oh, I still use the PCI slots. Sound card, wireless card, TV tuner... It adds up.

Spod · Post by **Spod** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 8:57 am

No game port included - use a PCI game port, or add a USB bracket for about £6 and a USB to game port adaptor.

teknerd · Post by **teknerd** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 8:58 am

yah but if you use a bracket that uses up the internal headers so you can't have as many front ports.

ddrueding1 · Post by **ddrueding1** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 11:12 am

Or just fill your PCI slots with additional USB cards. Another 20 root ports never hurt anyone

Tyrdium · Post by **Tyrdium** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 11:42 am

Bah! Throw on some backplanes, and go for a full 127 USB ports.

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 12:07 pm

RE: The Heatsink.

Someone please tell me if I am wrong, the nForce 3 Chip(set) is exactly the same regardless of the CPU socket type.???

If I am right, then why not take of the heatsink fan, and put on a low profile heatsink, just like the one on the MSI K8N NEO(1 not 2).

I have one and the NB temperature is currently sitting at 37, the highest it has hit is only 42.

Also people, I have a Arctic Cooling Silencer Ultra 64 TC, it's quiet, auto speed controlled, and keeps the CPU cool, doesnt foul any board components, and is dead easy to fit.

Andy

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 3:17 pm

Hi, andyb. Welcome to SPCR Forums!

andyb wrote:Someone please tell me if I am wrong, the nForce 3 Chip(set) is exactly the same regardless of the CPU socket type.???

5 mins of google was not able to return me the package information for the nForce 3 250gb/Ultra. But I'm sure you're right.

andyb wrote:If I am right, then why not take off the heatsink fan, and put on a low profile heatsink, just like the one on the MSI K8N NEO(1 not 2).

Would a low profile heatsink be sufficient? I'd say probably. But some may not want to take the risk, esp if overclocking or running with minimal airflow. The only NB heat sinks I have experience with are the Zalmans (and never used them as NB heatsinks, actually). Do you have a Neo or Neo2?

andyb wrote:I have one and the NB temperature is currently sitting at 37, the highest it has hit is only 42.

I recall reading somewhere that someone took out their NB heat sink and found that TIM is not evenly applied in their Neo (or Neo2 - not sure). Might be worth checking if you're interested. His NB heat sink temp went up after re-applying the TIM. Which is a good thing, I guess, since as you're not introducing more heat, it means that heat is being transferred to the heat sink more effectively.

Anyway after digging through a bunch of reviews, I ended up getting an Asus A8V when it was on sale somewhere. No CPU and memory yet, so I can't post my opinions on this board. My reason for the Asus : reputation, ability to use XP-120 and passive NB. I've also heard some speculation that the VIA K8T800 Pro draws less power than the nVidia nForce3 250 Ultra, but the difference is unlikely to be big even if it exists.

Edit : ooo... # of posts broke the 3 digit barrier. Guess I talk too much

Best S939 nForce3 mobo?

Best S939 nForce3 mobo?

Another interesting mobo

questions

Game port?

Yeah...