where's our AM2 SFF guys?

[Lestat]

so im building a nice little mATX system for an HTPC.
im torn between the 939 flavor or the AM2 flavor.

now so far im seeing the biostar tforce AM2 board is having issues and the bios has very key features missing, such as mem timings. and possibly others.

I frequently talk to Dillusion who runs the mATX thread over at H.
and he wasnt too pleased with it.

He's now testing the EPoX EP-MGF6100-M and is having some fair luck with it.
atleast he isnt telling me to avoid it lol.

any of you gents had the opportunity to really sink your teeth into any of the mATX AM2 boards yet ?

oh yeah cpu will be a 3800 X2.
im still undecided if i want to go AM2 or 939,,, so... any absolute definately gotta have mATX 939 boards,,, let me know.
otherwise i was just going to grab the Biostar TForce 939 mATX board. (i had one before on my 0519 venice and it worked out very nicely)

[breakfromyou]

the biostar tforce 6100-939 has memory timing options...why would the AM2 version be any different?

pretty decent boards IMO.

[Lestat]

so you think that every single board made by a company has the same options ?
please look around for yourself.

it has ZERO to do with AM2 or 939 or 754 biostar removed the CAS timings for a reason.
just like the original bios for the TForce 939 has chipset voltages but they quickly removed it.

they do sh|t like that so people arent frying boards and ram.

so why dont you ask yourself why all boards dont have CAS timings and FSB or HTT options or vcore or vdimm or chipst voltages.

cuz they make all boards differently.

[WeedJunk]

How about shuttle?

[Mats]

Well if you have talked to Dillusion I don't understand why he didn't tell you (http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=900405):
BIOSTAR TForce 6100 AM2 ******* Note: Modded BIOS available @ RebelsHaven.com to unlock Memory Timings

However, I also think the Epox AM2 mobo is the one to get. Even if the Epox 939 counterpart doesn't have all the features Biostar got it still was one of the best overclocker.

What do you know about ASUS M2NPV-VM? Are they any good? Or do they also have max 240 MHz like the older Asus boards?

Check out rebels haven (http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sis-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=53;hardset=0;start_poin t=0;DaysPrune=0) for more info (http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sis-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=38;hardset=0;start_poin t=0;DaysPrune=0).

[Mats]

Another board to check out might be DFI Infinity RS485-M2-G (http://www.ati.com/buy/promotions/radeonxpressmobo/1500am2.html), even though they don't mention overclockability. Not available yet though, I think.

One mobo that you must stay away from if you want µATX is DFI INFINITY C51PV-M2/G. While it probably is a good overclocker, IT'S NOT µATX!!!!

OMFG good luck fitting that one into a µATX case... it's one slot wider than a µATX (http://www.dfi.cz/popup.php?filename=sharedimages/images/hardware/hw0mb/INFINITYu20C51PV-M2-G.jpg) and still it's called µATX (http://us.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?PRODUCT_ID=4718&CATEGORY_TYPE=INFINITY&SITE=US). Compare with this pic (ATI 939) (http://www.dfi.cz/popup.php?filename=sharedimages/images/hardware/hw0mb/rsinfinityb.jpg).
:horse: :wierd: :slapass: :stick:
microATX form factor
24.4cm (9.6") x 26.4cm (10.4"):confused:

[Lestat]

actually they are not wider. not when you measure them on screen.(but the picture could be resized. all you gotta do is hold a piece of paper to the screen and mark the edges of the baord and switch tot he 2nd pic.
they are the same size. ( i havent went ot each respective mobo page to check for the officially listed sizes,. but when they are listed as mATX they must be exactly that.

when your talking boards and form factors you have to abide by the specifications set down by the god's of the pc industry. OEM makers can and have gotten away with odd sizes because they make specific cases to fit their oddball baords.

NLX (bookend) mATX, ATX, BTX and.. err one other sff mobo are whats normally used.


anyways, i'd love to get a shuttle but good lord those things are so expensive.

Dillusion hasnt formulated a conclusion yet about the Epox AM2 board yet as he is having ram troubles.
i may send him my HZ's to play with but am not sure yet. he just has to agree to "break them, he buys them"

asus, no unfortunately asus can kiss my grits i will never buy another asus anything, not even a stupid sticker.

there is another 939 DFI mATX board i believe its the ATI chipset, that has been reported to overclock very well, its just hard to find sometimes.
the bios screens i show are almost identicle to the ultra-D even loaded with all the extra ram timings and everything. i dont recall if that was the RS485 or not but it was 939.


*edit* i found it, its the DFI RS482 and is supposed to be a dang good board.

[Lestat]

here is the thread i started about it over at dfi-street
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59594

mostly good reviews.

[Mats]

Actually, if you look at the two pics I posted you'll see that the distances between the mounting holes and the lower edge of the board are different, the non-µATX mobo is 20 mm wider just as DFI says. 20 mm is the distance between two slots. Look again.

I guess you missed the DFI RS482 thread here at XS. I think WindWithMe showed it first, then people started getting it. The last thing I remember was that people had trouble getting above 270 MHz 1:1, dunno what happened after that. Do some searching.

I think I gonna wait for the DFI Infinity RS485-M2-G and see what it can do.

[Lestat]

yeah i havent been been on SFF just for the ,, well.. small form factor limiting how much crap i can stuff in there lol.

so ill look thru here on the RS482.

270 1:1 hhmm sounds exactly like the Biostar TForce 6100 939 that i had.
which was a dang good board. i wish i had not sold it. :\

right now im lookin at the new Epox AM2 and a 3800 X2
i jsut get nervous about buying such hardware when its not proven.
i cant afford to spend alot of money at the moment. the 225 for the board and cpu is about all i can do.

[Mats]

Found the RS482 thread (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=89544).

Infinity RS485-M2/g "should" show up in october together with Infinity RS690-M2/g (X700 GPU), according to this (http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=3889).

[Mats]

270 1:1 hhmm sounds exactly like the Biostar TForce 6100 939 that i had.

Not so sure anymore, maybe I was thinking about some other board who did 270 max...
Checking the thread right now.

[mackanz]

Lestat,

Silverstone LC-17 http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc17.htm
DFI RS482 m-atx S939
3800+ S939 cpu
A nice and cheap 2GB memory kit but BH5 works really well on this board. I have had 4 sticks at 230 at 2-2-2-5 timings and 3.2 volts.

The case is really good and cheap and looks awesome. You can perfectly fit a black ice extreme 120mm radiator in there and a full size psu. Still plenty of space for a dvd-rom and a few hdd's. I fitted a 7900GT in there as well.

http://www.danghardware.com/htpcradiator2.jpg
http://www.danghardware.com/htpcdualrad.jpg

Last picture is with a dual 120mm rad which gets a little tight in there, but it works.

[Lestat]

interesting mack thanks for the pics!
what psu are you using ?
unfortunately silverstone cases are typically so ungodly expensive.

[mackanz]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811163055&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&ATT=11-163-055

Not expensive at all for a case of that quality.
The psu is a OCZ Gamextream 600W. Overkill, i know, but it's quiet and the only "spare" psu i had at the moment. I have the system hooked up on a 32" LCD in the living room. Perfect for both gaming and HTPC.

[Lestat]

just picked up a DFI RS482 with a killer 315mhz HTT max from one of the guys at DFI street.
im happy bout that couldnt pass it up for 50 bucks and he threw in an opteron heatpipe heatsink.
so
soon enough ill be kickin it back in the amd game