Which mobo to get tomorrow?

**#ball3r** · 12-25-2002 07:14 PM

...either Asus A7N8X, or Epox 8RDA+? I'm gonna be overclocking, and it will be used for gaming. Also going to add a pci ide raid card.

**felix88** · 12-25-2002 08:41 PM

the epox 8rda+ seems to be a very good overclocker.

N8 · 12-26-2002 04:44 AM

IMO 8RDA+ is the best NF2 mobo to date

**Chill** · 12-27-2002 01:22 AM

Asus A7n8x

**LightningCrash** · 12-27-2002 05:22 AM

Get the 8rda, and buy a cheapie CPU heatsink to hack up for the NB

**BobyJo** · 12-27-2002 05:45 AM

The ASUS A7N8X/dx comes with a SATA raid controller built in the mobo.
You would not have to purchase anything outside with this mobo. It does OC very well, the celing is 211fsb, the Epox has a 250fsb ceiling.
The Epox does not have any raid controller so you would have to purchase the controller with this mobo.
The ASUS with a XP2400+ and above (certain steppings) are unlocked by the bios with the ASUS mobo.

**TheDude** · 12-27-2002 05:45 AM

Reliability = Asus
Performance = Epox
Which is most important to you?

A general statement, I know, but have found it to be true with these 2 brands...why not go with the new abit?

**Dissolved** · 12-27-2002 06:50 AM

i havent seen anyone Like there asus at all. i would get the epox.

**PimpJack** · 12-27-2002 05:34 PM

get epox!!! I have it right now couse my "reliable" asus fried its BIOS chip. It froze on save & exit and never booted again.

ASUS fsb sync:196
Epox fsb sync: 210

See a diff =)... using the same components

**muzz** · 12-27-2002 06:16 PM

Well as far as the Raid is concerned....... with sata raid you need:
A: adapters for ide if gonna use ide drives( hows your $)
B: new drives(serial) to utilize the sata without the adapters( hows your $)

rant:

I don't understand why folks would allow onboard raid to enter into the equation, when you can buy a raid card( pick the one YOU like) fairly cheap, and you get... are you ready...????

THE ABILITY TO MOVE IT FROM SYSTEM TO SYSTEM AND FOLLOW YOUR UPGRADES!!!!!!!

When you pay for onboard raid ( and you ARE paying for it ) everytime you upgrade, you have to upgrade to another board with raid included ( now it's getting expensive thats 2 raid in 2 mobos @ more $ than a standard board to boot), not to mention the fact that you HAVE to take what THEY give you.
With the NF2 boards with locked pci speeds, that gives you even more options, as you no longer have to worry about fsb speeds( some raid cards are better than others at higher fsb), and you have a wider selection.

IMHO buy a seperate raid card, you'll be happy you did in the long run, of course thats if you intend to run raid.
And if for some reason the onboard raid sh*ts the bed( or just sux), you will have to buy a raid card anyhow.

/rant off

Epox seems to be a better board for OC, and it does NOT suffer the dead bios syndrome....... not to mention the fact that it has up to 250 fsb, where the ASUS board only goes up to 211 even though it was released at least 3 weeks b4 the 8RDA+( and the 8RDA+ ALREADY has had more updates available).
Asus support seems to me non-existent, where as I know of 2 forums where you can ask question to techs that work for Epox.
If your gonna run stock, and not mess around they are both fine, but if ya wanna clock'm there really is no competition as of now between these 2 boards, as the asus is being held back by the scant bios options that they give you.

muzz

**BobyJo** · 12-27-2002 07:24 PM

The DUDE:::You ask why not go with the new Abit??
The review of that mobo that I have read simply stated, this motherboard sucks big time.
The Abit entry into the nForce2 line has to be the worst motherboard that ever has been offered for sale to the end user. That is why you should not buy Abit. If you want a stable fast nForce2 system go with ASUS. If you are a hotrodder and go for the max in speed. Go with Epox

**BobyJo** · 12-27-2002 07:29 PM

The ASUS A7N8X/dx has a raid controller that has a transfer rate of 150mb per second. The PCI raid cards have a 133mb per second transfer rate. Why not go with the SATA raid controller?

**muzz** · 12-27-2002 07:32 PM

The Asus is no more stable than the Epox.
Asus is still living off the name they made years ago( when they were a great board), I have an Asus mobo ( K7M) and it is BY FAR the WORST mobo I have ever bought.
Am I saying that Asus sux, no not at all..... but they are not as great as some folks would have you believe. I paid more for that POS K7M than any other board I've ever bought, and their tech support blows IMO.

No more Asus for this man.

**muzz** · 12-27-2002 07:33 PM

Show me a hd that will do that in reality. then we can talk.

**muzz** · 12-27-2002 07:42 PM

As a matter of fact if ya wanna talk serial raid. here ya go newegg sells raid cards RIGHT NOW that do both serial AND ata hard drives..... that way if later you decide to get serial drives you ALREADY own a card that'll do it.

Hows that for future proofing, while still being able to use your existing hd for less than the amount of $ than those adapters.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...tby=14&order=1

**Alexandrus** · 12-28-2002 02:32 PM

I would wait for the EPoX 8RDA2+, which is due mid January 2003.
It has SATA RAID, Dual LAN, HSF with MagicLight on the NB, SPDIF out and so on.

**#ball3r** · 12-28-2002 02:39 PM

sorry to argue alexandrus, but 8RDA2+ will not have the magic light on it for 2 reasons...1) it doesn't fit on the ND why it's not on the 8RDA+ and 2) the magic light has now been removed from all boards due to a licencing issue. It would be nice since I almost bought a 8K9A2+ just for the magic light

. I don't need serial ata now it will not be mainstream for at least 3 or 4 months yet and i'm still trying to decide if i wanna go ide raid even. Thanks for you imput and I have already though about waiting for that board, which I still might do

**BobyJo** · 12-28-2002 06:24 PM

You guys getting your panties all twisted into knots over SATA !! I have SATA on the ASUS mobo I just purchased and I will have this to report.
The data flow went from 23850 to 29044 just be hooking up my ATA133 HD to the SATA controller.
I have only one HD, so I am not running raid, I don't see the benefit of raid, I have tried raid on a couple of Epox mobo's.
It does increase the data transfer between the HD and the system bus.
So does SATA, it jumps from 133 to 150.
Maybe not all that much at present but by the end of next year. That may be upwards to 300 by using SATA drives and controllers.

**muzz** · 12-28-2002 07:23 PM

I'm falling asleep here.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzz

**#ball3r** · 12-29-2002 09:23 AM

bobyjo how did you connect to the serial ports?

**BobyJo** · 12-29-2002 02:18 PM

I do not use any serial ports, but they are on the back of the computer just like anyother.

**#ball3r** · 12-29-2002 02:20 PM

i ment the ide HD's to the serial ata ports.

**#ball3r** · 12-29-2002 02:21 PM

*meant*

**TheDude** · 12-30-2002 01:08 AM

Originally posted by BobyJo
The DUDE:::You ask why not go with the new Abit??
The review of that mobo that I have read simply stated, this motherboard sucks big time.
The Abit entry into the nForce2 line has to be the worst motherboard that ever has been offered for sale to the end user. That is why you should not buy Abit. If you want a stable fast nForce2 system go with ASUS. If you are a hotrodder and go for the max in speed. Go with Epox

Well....starting to think you are right about Abit, but haven't given up on mine yet...getting close tho.

**BobyJo** · 12-30-2002 02:47 AM

The Dude:::I am not throwing rocks at your system board.
In Reality did not know you had Abit mobo.
I was just commenting on the reviews of thier mobo's in the nForce2 area.
Seems as though the bios in thier nF2 mobo's is not up to snuff. Abit has mostly built pretty good stuff.
ECS is now the mfg of all Abit's mobo's and it would appear that the bios is not as good as the other mfg. ECS took over Abit's mfg after the bad pots they went through in all thier mobo's awhile back. I would imagine ECS builds them for less money than other builders.

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