Trade up from DFI Ultra-D to Asus A8R-MVP?

[aMp]

I'm thinking of going Crossfire, and trying to avoid the X-Fi/NF4 "bug." I've got a trade offer for an A8R-MVP. The reviews looked fantastic, but the more I look around the more suspicious I get. Seems like a lot of folks have had a lot of trouble with that board. BIOS updates seem to addressed some of the problems, but not all. Bugs I should worry about?

Probably the most important thing: My current DFI Ultra-D pushes an Opty 165 to 2.9 (323x9). Good odds that the Asus can do the same?

[Black Phoenix]

why you don't keep in the same field and change for an ATI powered board from dfi...

[SkunK]

I've done the opposite thing (I went from an A8R-MVP to an Ultra-D) and never regretted it. The only advantage I could find is that the chipset ran very cool (that's what Asus Probe was telling me anyway) and that with a passive HS.

Major annoyances with the A8R:

1T command rate almost impossible above 200Mhz;
CPU voltage big fluctuations;
ULI crappy drivers (that may have changed, though);


From what I remember, Asus butchered a little more their BIOS with each new revision.

Be warned that some people with dual-core CPU said that vcore was barely enough to run at stock speeds (I can't confirm that, though).

Have a look at this thread (http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?t=102139) at driverheaven. Maybe it will enlighten you.

[Zone^55 Live!]

Mate, don't do that, ATI chip7 are crap compared to nvidia, ASUS A8R32 :nono: .

I recomend you to go to a ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe or a DFI LanPartu UT SLI DR.



Cumps, :wink:

[MadMikeSS]

What is the best OCing board for s939 these days? I have loved my Ultra-D for ages and it just never seems to be bad for the overclock. Has there been anything that has been able to replace the Ultra-D/SLI-D/R? I have been so out of keeping up with current boards, I'm just curious if anythings doing better than the well established DFI boards.

[aMp]

I love the Ultra-D, but like I said, I've got the X-Fi/NF4 bug. I'm also interested in setting up a Crossfire rig, so that rules out the nVidia gear. So the DFI 3200 is my best bet?

[steve258]

Mate if you're looking for ocing then the A8R-MVP will dissapoint you, it is no where near your current DFI Ultra-D. Feels like this is just a beta board to get ASUS ready for the proper A8R32-MVP, and you should look into this if you are seriously considering crossfir; it has less bugs and offers more oc options, the ULi southbridge isn't that bad but the driver could use a make-over.

With regards to the board not offering enough juice for dual cores, it is not true - I just recently received mine with a X2 3800+ and it is now happily running @ 2.6G 1.40V 100% stable, although vcore fluctuate from 1.39~1.43 form time to time. The max vcore it can achieve with X2 is around 1.49, that's when you set 1.40V in BIOS and enable overvolt option, so not enough juice for serious ocer.

I've only tried 1T in stock speed and it worked fine, though not sure how far it will go before you have to switch to 2T. The thread in driverheaven mentioned a lot of problems which I have not experienced yet, so I think I'll stick with this board for now.

Anyway if you want a good CF mobo then go for the A8R32-MVP or the DFI equivalent.

A64 X2 3800+ @ 2.6Ghz 1.40V
ASUS A8R-MVP 0402
OCZ 1Gb EL Plat. Rev.2 Dual Channel
Connect3D 1800XT