Suggested Socket 939 Motherboard...

[leech]

Crucial memory was my other choice. I'm wondering why my current setup dies when I overclock it, I'm thinking it's the ram... since the processor isn't getting all that hot (even at 3.5ghz) Then again, I do have some crappy ram right now...

Leech

[Jammrock]

Anandtech just threw up a review of the forthcoming Giga Byte nForce 4 offering.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2273

Looks pretty promising, minus the crappy RealTek integrated sound

[Johnny Ray]

I have an MSI K8N Neo2, Ballistix PC3200, running at 2-2-2-10 timings, an FX-53, and a 6800GT. This is the first AMD rig I've ever had, and I'm loving it.

[RichL]

Weighing in late, but hopefully no less valid....

I bought an MSI k8Neo2-Platinum and a Winchester core AMD3200 last week to replace my NF2 based workstation.
Naturally I was going to use a Matrox 2d card, in this case a G550.

The MSI comes with a "Test report" booklet that says "G450, G550, works okay."

Oh no it doesnt.

The K8Neo's with a BIOS later than 1.1 are incompatible with the Matrox G450/G550, and probably other AGP G-Series cards too. I tried a Millenium 1 PCI and that was okay, but all the Gxxx cause a BSOD when Windows drivers load.

And flashing the BIOS back to 1.1 is a very risky business - I flashed mine from 1.3x to 1.2, back to 1.3 with no problems, 1.1 killed the mobo.

Matrox are aware of the issue and say theres nothing they can do. MSI are aware of the issue and have released 4 BIOS revisions without fixing the problem. Don't hold your breath.....

[SuRGV]

I was having the same tough time diciding which ones of CPU/Mainboard/RAM I should pick. Finally, I ordered:

- AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (wanted 3000+ nut can't find stock)
- MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (rated fastest in Anand's 939 roundup and it's Nforce chip )
- Corsair TWINX512-3200C2 - 2 X 256MB 400MHz (really wanted the 1GB but can't afford it)

still few more days till they arrive. Hopefully it will be seamless setup and big improvement in performance over my Athlon XP 2000.

[The PIT]

MSI err yuk blowing caps variable quality.