What Socket A Board should i get?

[BankshOt]

i want to hear all your opions :)

i want:D :

raid
usb 2.0
ajustable vcore
mult
ram
and agp too plz :D (if possible)

its gotta be a kt333 there the best obviously (arent they?? i'm a little bit of a n00b hehe)

i aint reeeeeeally worried too much about price as all the boards seem to be fairly similar (i could pay upto like $350)

i want a board that will go hard overclockin WITH lots of nice features.

well what board for your Socket A processor would you buy right now if you were gonna get yerself a new one?

give me the dirty on all teh boards :D

also i was wonderin (this may be totally in my head, but ..) is there a new south bridge chip come out, thats number ends in 25, instead of the 33 in the first kt333 systems (ie on the new chaintech and new MSI boards)**I may be totally wrong here**

so spam it up guys :D

[BankshOt]

*corrections*

line 1 *opinions


also i just saw theres asus boards for about $600 - thats WAY outta my price range

[KingJackal]

Well, I spent a similar amount on my last motherboard, and probably will on my next. ( You can't build a quality rig on crap foundations ;) )

I'd be looking at the Abit range - the ASUS boards are too expensive ( even with that sort of budget :rolleyes: ), and Abit is really still the only other manufacturer aiming for the high-end ( or should I say the HIGH-end? ).

ABIT KX7-333 Raid would be what I'd buy. They're around $350, and would do all of the above with the possible exception of USB 2.0 ( I'm not 100% on that one ).
THE OFFICIAL PAGE (http://www.abit.com.tw/abitweb/webjsp/english/pt_main_back.jsp?pPRODUCT_TYPE=MotherBoard&pMODEL_NAME=KX7-333)

The other choice I'd consider would be the EP 8K3A+. The downside is it's definately only got USB 1.1. The upside being Epox's usually have a bit more ceiling on their Vcore ( not an issue if you're just going to Vmod anyway ).
THE OFFICIAL PAGE (http://www.epox.com/html/english/products/motherboard/ep-8k3a+.htm)

I know top overclockers would probably take the Abit ( and Vmod ), but if you're not doing extreme overclocking, or modding the s**t out of your board, either of the above would make a good start for a power-rig! ;)

[NTBlowz]

U can get ASUS A7V333 RAID for $350...

[BankshOt]

yeah i was think about that asus board for about 350 - raid 8x USBs, firewire,

although i am definately not gonna be Vmoddin, thaT wqould scare the **** outta me :eek: :eek:

[KingJackal]

Originally posted by BankshOt
yeah i was think about that asus board for about 350 - raid 8x USBs, firewire,

although i am definately not gonna be Vmoddin, thaT wqould scare the **** outta me :eek: :eek:

Well, this IS OCNZ after all - and you DID ask for a board that would 'go [H]ard' ( excuse the embellishment ;) ) from an overclocking perspective.

So I assume you're watercooling, using phase-change, or at least a top of the line aircooler?? :confused:

Cos if you've just got a $40 heat-sink, most of my advice was a little bit of overkill ( you might not notice the differences down there ).

I mean, there's nothing WRONG with not spending lots on cooling. It's just that floating around here all the time means you wind up thinking watercooling is NORMAL.
( lol :D )

[Antimatter]

I'd suggest also looking at non-RAID capable boards and using an add-in RAID controller.
You might want to save the expense of buying a RAID capable mainboard next time you upgrade. ;)

[Grrr!!]

And RAID cards often have better/more options than onboard RAID.

[BankshOt]

i waS thinkin about gettin a watercoolin system but the things that put me off were the untidiness of it all (gotta love neatness :) ) and havin to mod my case even more to jam a radiator in it somewhere. To be honest i dont know too much about watercoolin

i had this wonder plan for a week (lol) for a basic water system, have a surge block little ole pump and a radiator, but i canned it :) the thing is it would all be so simple (i reckon) if you didnt need a radiator

but back to the mobo, waddya all think of that asus board, i think its the AV7333 or the like