Which board?

[biggiy6]

So after getting some more ideas for my case I decided that since the case is gonna be decked out I need a nice setup on the inside so I decided to go 64 bit. When I started looking at reviews of boards I found a few that I really liked but they each had some problems. So I need some more experienced help in deciding which board to get. I want to go with an nforce4 chipset or a nforce4 ULTRA chipset.

Here are the boards I have found so far.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-268&depa=0

GIGABYTE "GA-K8N Ultra-9"
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-283&depa=0

DFI "LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-136-152&depa=0

MSI "K8N Neo4 Platinum"
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-130-484&depa=0

CHAINTECH NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-152-049&depa=0

Those are the boards that I have found so far, I am open to suggestions on other boards as well.

[Starbuck3733T]

Not a suggestion, but the chaintech is the least blingy of them all. I hate mobo bling, hate hate hate!!

[fillip]

Don't fancy an SLI board then?

Nvidia just added support for another 60 games aswell as the option for folks to write their own game profiles to make the most of 2 x gpu's

[Starbuck3733T]

That's no bling, that's purpose. What I refer to as bling is gold colored heatsinks, neon green slots, glow in the dark headers, all that crap. My ideal mobo = ALL ONE COLOR!!! (Black, preferrably.)

[fillip]

Sorry, I meant Biggiy6, and the Asus A8N Deluxe SLI (http://uk.asus.com/products/mb/socket939/a8nsli-d/overview.htm#) isn't too blingy anyway.

[biggiy6]

Starbuck3733T I am not really going for a bling mobo because the whole system is going to be wc and uv green or any other funky colors since it will be red dye with red lighting.

@ fillip: SLI is out of my price range right now, I had looked into it and I would have been broke after I bought everything.

[Starbuck3733T]

wasn't accusing you of going for it, I'm just upset that so many enthusiast boards are blinged to the gills.

That Asus doesn't look too bad though. If I ever buy one of these bling'd boards for whatever reason, the soldering iron and vinyl dye are coming out!

[fillip]

wasn't accusing you of going for it, I'm just upset that so many enthusiast boards are blinged to the gills.

I wont mentioned the Abit Fatal1ty then... ooops http://wizdforums.co.uk/images/smilies/wink.gif

I know what your saying though, it's part of the reason i've never gone for a DFI board, I probably wouldn't buy a Gigabyte board again since they've gone for some really awful colours of late.

[dutchcedar]

:lol: Starbuck... I couldn't possibly agree with you more. Trix are for kids.

For what its worth, I'm thinking about using that Asus board for a new "wife's 'puter", but don't plan on using SLI... just think it would be nice to have for a later date when everyone sells off their "outdated" video cards. B)

There's no law that says you have to fill both slots. <_<

[fivecheebs]

I know what your all saying about the bling factor, the all black board sounds good, however, the DFI is sposed to perform bloomin' well last i looked. For me function has to come first when considering a motherboard, but ill never likely get the time or skills to be an excellent modder like most of you guys (doesnt mean i wont try;) ) so i guess aesthetics matters less anyway.

[biggiy6]

It is down to the DFI and the chaintech. If the DFI performs much better than the Chaintech then I will put up with all the yellow and get that board.

Why does every board have to have bling written all over it now?http://wizdforums.co.uk/images/smilies/rant.gif

[mnpctech]

Encasing the board in perforated mesh (painted black) is an idea.

[Risky]

Aopen generally have black PCBs

[fillip]

Encasing the board in perforated mesh (painted black) is an idea.
Just make sure it doesn't make contact with anything on the board.

[mnpctech]

^ lol :wacko:

[Fibbles]

The DFI is blingy cause that was the market they were going for. People who like to show their stuff off, like me, but I'm the only one who's looking. Of all those I'd take the Chaintech or the MSI. Gigabyte is a close third, but if the blue turns you off, they've been blue for a while. I have an old P3 board that's blue, when the colors of the day were uh, what color is the Asus?

If I were building a PCI-E system today, I'd probably buy the Chaintech. It's the one I build mock/fantasy systems with. When I go the SLI route, I go for the MSI version.

How about encasing it in black painted mesh with rubber standoffs everywhere?

[cools]

I'm really liking the vinyl dye idea :)

If it doesn't adhere to metal whatsoever that is. No chance I'd mask off all the slots and sockets necessary.

Quick wash in some distilled water once the plastic parts have been dried to clean it off the metal perhaps?

[jiff]

DFI all the way, cant beat there bios release's, Chaintech support stinks. DFI is the best board I have owned. (Ive owned a few ;))

Plus if at some stage you wish to OC, you have the best board for it:D

[biggiy6]

I have decided to go with the DFI board, the yellow will be drowned out by all the red leds in the case anyways.

[Marquee]

Nice to hee you went for the DFI "LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D. Its like my fav board. Not because bling but overclocking erformance.

BTW when you do get it can you please take picture on the how the heatsink it mounted cause I saw that star-ice cooler by ASUS had some problams cause the PCI-E card was right at the intake on the heatsink.

check out the link to understand the set up.
http://www.pro-clockers.com/reviews/asusstar/asusstar=4.htm

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Marquee thats a hideous graphical sig. :p

[Vis]

I'm really liking the vinyl dye idea :)

If it doesn't adhere to metal whatsoever that is. No chance I'd mask off all the slots and sockets necessary.

Quick wash in some distilled water once the plastic parts have been dried to clean it off the metal perhaps? :lol::lol::lol: I'd do that just to be able to tell people that I washed my motherboard!

As for the Star Ice... can we say "UGH!" yes, I thought we could. Those huge heat pipe coolers are some of the most hideously ugly things ever strapped to a motherboard. On the other hand its so friggin huge it should cover up most of the bling!

[walkitiki]

Maybe this isn't an issue, but the Chaintech board is considerable cheaper than any of the other three.

[jiff]

DFI DFI DFI:wub:Best boards out there,bios support second to none.

But if you never plan to O/C Asus are rock solid never had a flakey Asus;)

Bling quality I have no idea, I like tank tops so dont ask me:D

[fivecheebs]

Bling quality I have no idea, I like tank tops so dont ask me:D
LMAO :lol: