Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939 or MSI Neo2 Pltnm or DFI or what?

[tepabajo]

I want to purchase a high quality board for $200 or less that will allow me to go over the 300mhz FSB barrier if possible (of course it depends on what CPU I use) and offer the AGP slot and the NF3 Ultra chipset. I'm not interested in any post trying to persuade me not to upgrade, thank you. Your feedback is anxiously awaited.

My research thus far:

Gibabyte: GA-K8NSNXP-939: I really like this board for the 100-455mhz FSB options, the DPS and Dual Bios features. But, I have seen some posts about the DPS voltage fluctuating and I think this was with the add in card they offered the first time around. Now the board comes with the DPS built in, did it make any difference? What have you guys seen with regards to OCing this board?

DFI: LANPARTY UT nF3 ULTRA-D: Just started looking at this board so I don't know the track record yet. Price and availability is there, so far so good. CMOS is in a reasonble location for resetting. (see the next one)

MSI: K8N Neo2 Platinum: Found only 1 new in the US and its $168, trying to verfity that it is new still in box. I could find tons of used ones but I want a new one or nothing at all. Have seen posts about the bios being flaky. CMOS is in a bad spot for resetting, under the PCI card. Do you need to reset the CMOS when OCing? On my Asus board I don't have to do that?

Asus: A8V Deluxe: Not an option, already have Asus and they can't or won't correct the bios problems for their 754 boards. Not impressed with their support either.

 

[boudi]

I have an abit fatal1ty A8n mobo. It's a very good mobo and it never has problems. It has a lot of tweaking options but it's expensive. That's the only downside of this great motherboard. I can really recommend it

 

[Jimmy 2004]

With regards to the MSI board, one of my mates has that board and LOADS of bios problems. Stay away from it if you want a nice easy upgrade.

 

[regg187]

I have this board right now and I think its great, I have an xp64 3200 in it but want to upgrade to a xp64 3800 X2. I had an ASUS A7n8xe delux with a xp3200 in it before. I got my board at fry's for 99.99. Only prob was upgtade of gfx card, had 9800 pro ,wanted something in the 800-850 series. looked for a while and everything seemed pci-e. finally decided onan x800xl for 199.95. and very happy with the bang for buck result.