Best AMD mobo. (OMFG NEW RIG!!!!)

[Omnis]

What is the absolute best AMD motherboard on the market today?

Is there anything that supports Dual CPUs, so that you could install two dual-cores and make something similar to the G5 quad?

 

[F1GTR]

I think AMD Opteron mobos support multiple CPUs.

EDIT: ASUS K8n-DL Dual Opteron supports up to 2 CPUs and 8gigs of ram. No SLi though. Opterons have a dual core model too.

 

[emad]

A lot of people like the DFI motherboards for the overclocking features. As for dual cpu, your only option is to get an Opteron configuration and that won't be cheap or efficient for a standard home desktop or for a gaming machine.

I know you're a bit of an audiophile so I figure you may want something that doesn't run as loud. The standard northbridge cooler on Nforce 4 based motherboards is a 40mm, 7000rpm screaming banshee that pushes a pretty minimal amount of air. There are passive heatsinks available (I use one myself), but that means shelling out an extra $10 as well as making sure it's seated properly on the motherboard as well as disassembling the whole pc to get it in if you decide to install it later.

If silence is your thing but you still want a versatile motherboard, check out the offerings by Asus. They use a passively cooled heatpipe (ie, no noise) and they're made well enough to handle overclocking as well as any other mobo out there 👍

 

[Omnis]

Actually, the rig is for my dad. I just wanted to know what the best was for reference. Cost or noise is not an issue.

I was looking at that MSI K8N Diamond Plus. I just want to get something that spills raw performance all over the place when it comes to video editing/gaming.

 

[Shannon]

Any board with the nForce 4 Ultra chipset = win.

 

[emad]

Actually, the rig is for my dad. I just wanted to know what the best was for reference. Cost or noise is not an issue.

I was looking at that MSI K8N Diamond Plus. I just want to get something that spills raw performance all over the place when it comes to video editing/gaming.

They all use the Nforce 4 chipset. The only variatons are in the 'platinum' models. They cost like $20-40 more than the base ones and come with some extra cables, better quality cables, maybe an extra set of USB ports, an extra gigabit ethernet port, and maybe a better quality onboard sound card.

Because of the nforce chipset, they'll all have more or less the same features and the same performance. If you overclock, DFI is nice because they have a HUGE support community for it. If you don't need that, check the Asus just for it's noiseless setup 👍

Personally, I have an MSI k8n neo4 platinum. It runs great and it's pretty stable. As I mentioned earlier though, I found it's noise to be intolerable... but I find all fan noise intolerable

 

[Omnis]

Okay. My dad and I decided to go with the least amount of noise possible. It annoys him. Haha.

Here's what we're looking at so far...

-FX-60
-ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe X16 ATX Mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131568
-ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT 620W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817194004
-BFG Tech BFGR78512GTXOC Geforce 7800GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143044

And we think we're just gonna use some Seagate 72k rpm HDDs. We'll go with a single 300gb or just throw a RAID 1 or 0 config on two of them.

Does anyone have suggestions for a good aluminum case? Liquid Cooling is quieter than air cooling, right? We may just go liquid...we don't know yet. We're going to throw a fan on the case or whatever and see how things turn out.

 

[VIPFREAK]

If I had the money to burn I would've gotten this I think Pako got it too.

 

[Omnis]

We didn't like it too much, even though it's probably the best that Nub-egg offers.

 

[VIPFREAK]

how bout this?

 

[Omnis]

Yeah, I was looking at the CM Praetorian.

We might hold off on the FX-60 until the Socket M2 chips come out. Same goes for the GPU with the geforce 7900

 

[emad]

Does anyone have suggestions for a good aluminum case? Liquid Cooling is quieter than air cooling, right? We may just go liquid...we don't know yet. We're going to throw a fan on the case or whatever and see how things turn out.

Liquid cooling isn't always quieter. It just makes it colder than air cooling can without generating as much noise as air. A fan running air over the densely packed fins of a radiator will make a bunch of turbulence unfortunately.

For the case, go with the Antec Sonata II. It's made of high quality, heavy guage steel, but it's the quietest air cooling case out there. Aluminum is nice, but because it's thin, it creates a bit of a hum from vibrations. Otherwise, the Praeteron looks good 👍

For the fans, a good case should come with a 120mm fan for rear exhaust, consider adding one for the front intake.

For the CPU cooler, don't bother. The Athlon dual core chips have a phenominal heatpipe cooler that'll compete with just about anything out there. If you really must swap that, use a Thermalright XP-120 with a Nexus 120mm fan over it. Best cooling to noise ratio out there 👍

For the video card, the Zalman VF700-Cu has gotten fantastic reviews for older cards for it's lack of noise and performance. It's compatible with the 7800GTX, but i don't know how it'll perform on a monster card like that.

Tie all this off with a good fan controlller

 

[Evolution.]

Liquid cooling shouldn't really be nesecarry unless your running a rig that will run F.E.A.R 1600x1200 res. with all High Settings and the highest AA and AF . Plus, liquid cooling can get pricey

 

[Event]

Liquid cooling shouldn't really be nesecarry unless your running a rig that will run F.E.A.R 1600x1200 res. with all High Settings and the highest AA and AF . Plus, liquid cooling can get pricey

You don't know what you're talking about.

 

[Pebb]

If your tempted to buy FX-60, I would say wait the the AMD 64 AM2 socket motherboards to come out. Since there be support the next breed of AMD 64 and AMD FX, while supporting DDR2 ram aswell.

 

[Vasco]

I was thinking of liquid cooling for the next computer I get. It should be able to keep it below 30 degrees right? Because it gets quite hot here and my comp temp is often around 45...:\

 

[Omnis]

If your tempted to buy FX-60, I would say wait the the AMD 64 AM2 socket motherboards to come out. Since there be support the next breed of AMD 64 and AMD FX, while supporting DDR2 ram aswell.

I already said we were waiting for the M2.

Emad, can you remove the PSU from the Antec Sonata II? Do you have any other case suggestions for silver cases?

 

[emad]

I already said we were waiting for the M2.

Emad, can you remove the PSU from the Antec Sonata II? Do you have any other case suggestions for silver cases?

The antec unit is great, but if you need something more powerful, it'll come right out.

I have a silver Thermaltake Tsunami. Lightweight, aluminum, has a window. I don't like the stock fans that much though. You can't hook them up to a fan speed controller.

Otherwise check the Antec P180.