AGP AMD64 board

CoolGav · Post by **CoolGav** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 8:29 am

Today I've had a board die on me, an i865PE based MATX Gigabyte that was only just over 2.5 years old. The LAN had gone about a year ago, my only Gigabyte failure. The Northwood 2.0 can now be pensioned off into retirement I guess... I've had problems with Asus boards in the past, so want to steer clear of them, but am now looking for a board that meets the following:

- Skt-939 for an X2 (3800+ I expect, will be buying as well)
- Takes PC3200 DDR (I have 1GB sitting around now)
- ATX or MATX. (I'll have to get another Full ATX case if it's not MATX, probably another SLK3000B as it's cheap and very good)
- Works with Seasonic SS-12 380W I recently got
- Takes my Zalman 7000A Cu (I'll look at getting another Ninja, but ideally for now reuse what I have)
- MUST BE AGP. I have good AGP graphics cards already, I have no PCI-E, and I don't need its perfomrance, nor do I need any problems with audio droputs at low latency if I ever use this board for audio.
- Onboard LAN, 10/100/1000 preferred, but not essential
- Passive northbridge (yes I could convert it if not)
- I don't hate Via, their chipsets have always worked for me
- undervoltable, C&Q, whatever - I'm new to AMD64. I do fold, but I want to keep it as cool as possible...

Cost is kind of an issue, at least for now, as recently I had someone cut my cars fuel lines (£100 repair), booked a holiday in the caribean and it's Christmas! Timescale is expected to slip from urgent to being a mid-january build. This will become my main WIndows machine, while my current one (Barton Mobile) replaces the dead one in becoming my Linux desktop.

plympton · Post by **plympton** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 10:18 am

I picked one up - it's Socket 939, AGP, C'n'Q, undervoltable (can't do both 1 or the other, but my undervolt = C'n'Q, so same thing), takes X2 or Opterons (I have a Opty 170), works with just the standard ATX power supply, has gig-e onboard, and 4 DIMM slots, and passive Northbridge.

Not sure where you'd pick one up these days, as everyone is PCIe at this point, but you might be able to find a local reseller that has one.

The Cheaper cousin is here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131541

Good luck!

hvengel · Post by **hvengel** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 11:27 am

I just finished a build of a X2 machine. I tried to find AGP boards locally because I did not want to send money on a PCI-E video card. Like you I was happy with my AGP card and didn't need anything high powered.

I did not find anything that worked up to my expectations. Went through and returned 4 boards and that was all that was available with an AGP slot locally.

Ended up getting a low end 6000 series nVidia PCI-E card and the MB I have now seems to be working very well. But I am still testing and finalizing the configuration.

I will say this. Some of the AGP boards I tried were ECS models. After my experience with these ECS is now officaly in my "this is juck" list.

Number12 · Post by **Number12** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 1:10 pm

well, just looking at undervoltable mobos, see the latest list from spcr's own jojo4u:
http://home.arcor.de/jojo4u/silentstuff ... 06-09.html

as you can see, there are only 3 latest AGP socket 939s: (disregarding ECS, which I don't like myself; and the older chipsets)
- Asus A8V Deluxe, K8T800Pro (I know you don't like it, but it works great, It's been problem free and will accept dual core, unlike the 890 chipset, and it fulfills all of your criteria including GbLAN)
- Asrock Dual SATA (ULI 1695) which has some enthusiasts here.
- Soltek, but it is a SFF which might not be for you.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 10:16 pm

asrock dual sata board is kinda the way to go. no gigabit lan though. never saw a need for it personally. that and firewire it doesnt have. I have that from my audigy 2 zs card though, so it's ok for my plans.

Bar81 · Post by **Bar81** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 12:04 am

second that. the asrock 939Dual-SATA2 is the way to go.

Christopher · Post by **Christopher** » Sun Dec 25, 2005 2:50 am

I can also recommend a 939Dual-SATA2. Given it's price it's a good buy. But you need to use an unofficial bios for CnQ down to 1.1V.

Your Zalman 7000A Cu doesn't fit a 939 mobo does it? Shouldn't it be 7000B?

If you are on a budget you should get a cheap venice 3000+ instead of a 3800+. Chances are you could easily oc that 3000+ to 3800+ performance level. If you need it, and if you are a regular average user you don't.

derekva · Post by **derekva** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 2:20 pm

I just upgraded to an Opteron 144 on an ASRock DUAL939-SATA2 (I don't want to buy a new video card until my FX5950 Ultra 256 becomes well and truly obsolete). I'm running the Opteron at stock 1.8GHz (equivalent to a Venice 3000+ or 3200+), but I've overclocked it for grins to 2.4GHz (equivalent to an Athlon FX-53) with no stability issues. My next trick is to undervolt (need to figure out how to do that...). Either way, the combination is extremely good.

-Derek

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:25 am

Asrock will work nicely. For an alternative suggestion: I have a DFI nForce3 Ultra AGP board (socket 939) that overclocks like a charm and won't break the bank... more expensive than the Asrock suggestion though.

Renegade87 · Post by **Renegade87** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 7:20 am

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum

deksawyer · Post by **deksawyer** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 5:02 pm

I'm very happy with my Neo2 Platinum but wouldn't recommend it because of a poor layout.

The CPU socket is rotated 90° compared to most 939 boards and because of the proximity of the AGP slot, getting a big cooler in there is nigh on impossible, especially if your AGP card has anything mounted on its back.

I currently have a Zalman 9500 in there, as I had to remove my Thermaltake Big T as it didn't fit with my new gfx card (passive Gigabyte 6600). The Zalman is ok, but I'm currently thinking about the taking the watercooling route..........

D.

Renegade87 · Post by **Renegade87** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 8:24 pm

deksawyer wrote:I'm very happy with my Neo2 Platinum but wouldn't recommend it because of a poor layout.

The CPU socket is rotated 90° compared to most 939 boards and because of the proximity of the AGP slot, getting a big cooler in there is nigh on impossible, especially if your AGP card has anything mounted on its back.

I currently have a Zalman 9500 in there, as I had to remove my Thermaltake Big T as it didn't fit with my new gfx card (passive Gigabyte 6600). The Zalman is ok, but I'm currently thinking about the taking the watercooling route..........

D.

I'm using a Swiftech MCX6400-V Heatsink which is pretty good size with no clearance issues at all.

deksawyer · Post by **deksawyer** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:00 am

Renegade87 wrote:I'm using a Swiftech MCX6400-V Heatsink which is pretty good size with no clearance issues at all.

But the Swiftech doesn't take a big, slow, quiet fan...............

D.

Renegade87 · Post by **Renegade87** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 6:10 am

deksawyer wrote:
Renegade87 wrote:I'm using a Swiftech MCX6400-V Heatsink which is pretty good size with no clearance issues at all.
But the Swiftech doesn't take a big, slow, quiet fan...............

D.

While it's true you can't put a 120mm fan on it, you can mount a 92mm on it.

AGP AMD64 board

AGP AMD64 board

ASUS A8V Deluxe

ASRock DUAL939-SATA2 + Opteron 144 is a great (cheap) system