Best mATX MB

[dogsx2]

Today I gave up on trying to use Intel in my Aria. I had a 4000 939 in it and never had any problems with it. I have tried many Intel mAtX boards and none are any good. Yesterday I got an Abit F-190HD and it ran for about 10 hours and when I tried to turn it back on it was dead. I swore I would never by Abit again before but I got fooled into thinking this time would be better.:slap:

Anyways, I'm just going to get the $65 special at Newegg and I need a mb that will clock good. What to buy and will K10 work in it?

I do not care what brand as long as it clocks and is not an Abit and I can get it at Newegg.

Also, what about a HSF that will fit in an Aria?

[funnyperson1]

The TForce6100 AM2 is a decent choice, but they don't seem to like to go much past 300HTT, still a 2.8ghz combo is great for $140. Other than that the only mATX board that gets much attention is the Abit NF-M2 nView, but we know how you feel about that :p.

[dogsx2]

Well, I went back to AMD for my Aria but am not happy. I listened to NN Step who said he took his 3600 to 3.1 GHz on a MSI K9AGM2 so I bought one. There are only 4 basic memory options and no voltage options. I have not ran 1.8 GHz since socket A days and do not want to now. This board is going back.

I am looking for 2900+, is there a micro mb under $90 that will take me there or am I barking up the wrong tree?

[Lestat]

dogs grab the 3600 brisbane and ECS 485 combo.

its vcore is limited to 1.35 but a guy at work has one and slapped it right up to 250mhz HTT and she is purring right along.

i have my brisbane in an NF-M2 and i yet to max it out.

i would get the biostar Tforce 939 if you want one for that 4000+

DFI also has their 939 board on sale, the ATI chipset the RS485? board i believe. i cant recall
wicked board, man i hate myself for selling mine.

if you want am2 then yes the biostar or the abit NF-M2 but you wont find it anywhere. its been E.O.L.
but its the best AM2 board.

and jesus man your F-i90 is dead already,, you gotta be kidding me.

[dogsx2]

I only put a celly 326 in it and ran it at 170 FSB. It ran 5 hours the first night and 5 hours the next day. I watched a DVD on it and turned it off. When I came back and turned it on the fans would spin and led lights were on but dead mb. All hardware worked in another mb. I used the celly so no one would say I clocked it to much.
Stay away from this mb. Got a 3600 but need a mb that will clock.

[L'enFer]

but they don't seem to like to go much past 300HTT
look here: Biostar TForce 6100-AM2 Overclocking: 425HTT Achieved! mATX OC! (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=115830&highlight=BIOSTAR+TForce+6100).

[dogsx2]

look here: Reload this Page Biostar TForce 6100-AM2 Overclocking: 425HTT Achieved! mATX OC! (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=115830&highlight=BIOSTAR+TForce+6100).





Known Issues:
- CPU Multiplier: Only 9x, 6x, 5x and 4x works

3600 = 9.5:( or that's not what it means?

[L'enFer]

dogsx2, may be. Actually, i don't know much about this motherboard, i didn't use it. But i think it can be solved by updating of BIOS.

[dogsx2]

Biostar is not that good on bios updates on a full size mb let alone micro boards. Micro boards seem to get forgotten very quickly by mb makers once the are on the market.

[Radamanthys]

Abit Nview i think is the best. Other is the Tforce 6100-am2

[dogsx2]

Abit Nview i think is the best. Other is the Tforce 6100-am2

The Abit Nview dropped off the face of the earth for some reason. Will the Tforce work with 9.5 multi? Anyone using a Tforce with a 3600?

[Trunks]

And how does the MSI K9AGM2-FIH overclock? I cant find any usefull info about this mainboard.

[dogsx2]

And how does the MSI K9AGM2-FIH overclock? I cant find any usefull info about this mainboard.


Read post #3.

[funnyperson1]

3600 = 9.5:( or that's not what it means?

It works fine at 9.5 if you leave it at default, but the bios doesn't let you select decimal multipliers manually.

[L'enFer]

It works fine at 9.5 if you leave it at default, but the bios doesn't let you select decimal multipliers manually.
and there's no soft that can do it?

[funnyperson1]

I see no reason why CBID or something similar wouldn't be able to do it, after all this cpu does support Cool and Quiet, but I haven't seen any of those utilities updated for half-multis yet.

Of course I see no reason why anyone would ever want to lower the multi on a 3600+, you would need 350+ HTT to hit 3ghz with an 8.5 multiplier, and most of these chips are capable of that imho. There are very few AM2 motherboards that can hit those HTTs with these chips, and the TForce6100 is not one of them.

I saw that thread where the guy hit 425mhz, but high HTT at low multiplier really doesn't mean much with these boards. I could hit 350+ HTT on my TForce550 with a 4X multiplier, but the board wouldn't go past 305HTT with the full 9.5x multi. Of course I eventually found that to be a bug with the 400 memory divider, and changing to 533 actually helped me get to 3ghz+.

[alpha0ne]

The K9AGM2-FIH looks the goods :banana:

[dogsx2]

The K9AGM2-FIH looks the goods :banana:

If you're looking to build a media PC with a high priced cpu, yes. If you're looking to buy a 3600 and clock it, no.

nn step is the only one who says he took a 3600 to 3.1GHz on a K9AGM2 but I do not know how. There are no oc options and I cannot even find a PLL that will make clockgen work. The boards works great but will not clock at all.

[mAJORD]

I'd love to know his secret :)

I've just started testing the M2A-VM / M2A-VM HDMI board and yeah, excellent board so far, but Ocing wise, will not budge above 235 FSB :)

[dogsx2]

Newegg has at least 100 of the Abit M2 nView boards here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127013).

Are the that much better then the Tforce boards? Have there been problems with the Abit M2 boards like the c2d boards?

I hate to get another Abit mb but if it's lots better then the Tforce :rolleyes:

[SnipingWaste]

I'd love to know his secret :)

I've just started testing the M2A-VM / M2A-VM HDMI board and yeah, excellent board so far, but Ocing wise, will not budge above 235 FSB :)

A reviewer reviewing the Asus M2A-VM and M2A-VM HDMI found that the PCI and PCI-E are not locked so that is why you hit the 235 wall.

One reviewer was able to OC the Sapphire 690G mobo past 300HTT. Newegg has them for $99. The nice thing with the Sapphire 690G is they put about every thing on the mobo.

[mAJORD]

Snippet.

That would explain it, but clockgen tells me they are locked.. at least on the latest bios.

I was able to ramp up to 280 HTT from clockgen, but it went black screen after that.. same failure mode to 235 htt in windows.

Perhaps, somehow the IGP's link is not locked.. I would assume it hung off a standard PCI-E lane, but perhaps not in fact?

[TEkNØ]

I'm waiting a Sapphire Pure PI-AM2RS690MHD.:toast:

REVIEW (http://www.techpowerup.com/printreview.php?id=/Sapphire/PI-AM2RS690MHD)

[SEA]

A reviewer reviewing the Asus M2A-VM and M2A-VM HDMI found that the PCI and PCI-E are not locked so that is why you hit the 235 wall.


My M2A-VM HDMI is rock stable at 280. With last bios. There is just one flaw in all bios'es that i've found (and broke the 235 wall ;) Knowlege is a power :) ) - when you use your memory timings not as "Auto" - it switches memory Command Rate from 2T to 1T.
So. a way to go:
memory should be good to work with 1T and lowerew freq.
You boot it, say, at FSB=230, mem=lowered 1 or 2 steps, and then, from windows set memory to 2T command rate and then push fsb to whatever you need.

[alpha0ne]

I and others have found the max FSB set in bios to be 260 on the M2A-VM HDMI, anything over and no boot though 260FSB is still pretty good for an mATX :)

[mAJORD]

Yeah, 260 I've foudn to be the limit too on latest bios :)

what SEA has said sounds interesting though... a bios level solution would be nice though, damn them and there stupid lack of timing options in BIOS

[SEA]

I and others have found the max FSB set in bios to be 260 on the M2A-VM HDMI, anything over and no boot though 260FSB is still pretty good for an mATX :)

Yesterday i pushed FSB to 295. There is no wall. Try to lower HT or mem.

Regarding HT - mine is stable at 1150, did not try higher though. Btw, i think that integrated video will benefit from HT overclock, so i will give a try.

[funnyperson1]

The Biostar TA690G seems to be a solid choice as well"
http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sisubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=53;t=000407

[tictac]

Abit Nview i think is the best. Other is the Tforce 6100-am2

agreed... i have seen up to 320MHz... not mine btw

http://img.oc.com.tw/281d03/200610182138017277320074.jpg

[alpha0ne]

Yesterday i pushed FSB to 295. There is no wall. Try to lower HT or mem.

We are talking about what is the max BOOTABLE FSB

[Sommer]

I have the M2A-VM HDMI mobo. You have to trick it to boot high fsb.

I have a x2 3600+ cpu.

269 FSB are my start point. Boots ok.

Use memtest cd to boot to. Seems you have to full boot to get further.

Next step 271fsb, boot to memtest, 276FSB boot to memtest and finally I change to 277FSB for stable bootable setting. In windows use clockgen to
284FSB, set to oc on start up from 277 to 284.

The IGP core goes easy from 400 to 600MHz with a slow fan on the nb h/s.

I'm very happy with this setup, just wanne see 3GHz...

[SEA]

We are talking about what is the max BOOTABLE FSB

Hmmmm...
I did not try more than 270, actually. But why any doubt?

Btw, last bios 0603 has FSB up to 300, also they say they improved overclock stability.

[Yakyb]

thread rivival time anyidea how to overclock the k9agm2 i have a 3600ee just waiting for an OC it very annoying

[nullface]

My NF-M2 nView does 300 stable 340 bootable.

[nullface]

How do i test the FSB best, just normal Prime or Orthos?

330 - http://8d.dk/nano/files/fsbnview.jpg