Is This A Significant Upgrade?

[emissary]

Hi All,

 

My current rig has an Abit A8N Fatal1ty SLi 939 mobo running 2gb Corsair 3200 (2:3:3:6) and an Athlon X2 4400. I was wondering if upgrading to an Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe will give a significant increase in gaming performance?

 

Small question hope it generates some response.

[Verran]

Hi All,

 

My current rig has an Abit A8N Fatal1ty SLi 939 mobo running 2gb Corsair 3200 (2:3:3:6) and an Athlon X2 4400. I was wondering if upgrading to an Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe will give a significant increase in gaming performance?

 

Small question hope it generates some response.

It may help to update your sig with your current rig, specfically your video card.

 

Honestly though, if all you do is swap motherboards, I really doubt you'll see much difference at all. Why are you looking to change boards?

[emissary]

Hi Verran,

 

I just updated my sig, As to your question, I was looking at the Asus as it was quite cheap now and also has better PCi express lanes according to reviews.....but does this yield any major increase for the money?

[bigred]

the only reason for performance you should upgrade is if you plan to run a pair of 7950GX2 cards in a quad SLI or jump to the 8800 series of cards. anything else will do fine on the original NF4 SLI chipsets.

 

 

for me, my reason would be to get as far from an Abit mobo as possible.... of course the Asus NF4's and I don't get along to well either... but it's a little better.

[Verran]

for me, my reason would be to get as far from an Abit mobo as possible.... of course the Asus NF4's and I don't get along to well either... but it's a little better.

Definately. When that Fatal1ty board came out, it got a lot of hype, but so far I haven't really seen anything great about it. I'm pretty skeptical of Abit and Asus these days, though Asus seems to be redeeming themselves on CF boards.

 

The whole "lanes" thing sounds really great on paper but you wouldn't actually notice a difference in performance. Honestly, I'd just stick with what you've got. I'm not a huge fan of the Fatal1ty, but it's not THAT big of a difference to justify a board change.

 

Looking at your specs I think you've got a very well balanced system there. If you're really looking to spend $200 or so, I'd hold out and get another 7900 or something. Maybe a set of raptor drives.

[emissary]

Raptors indeed.....maybe next pay cheque;)

 

But as for motherboards, can any of you guys (or gals) recommend a fast stable gaming mobo. I looked at the DFi Lanparty Expert, but these are getting hard to find. I assume the DFi rulez?

 

Does the Asus AN32 hold up well against the DFi?

[Verran]

But as for motherboards, can any of you guys (or gals) recommend a fast stable gaming mobo. I looked at the DFi Lanparty Expert, but these are getting hard to find. I assume the DFi rulez?

 

Does the Asus AN32 hold up well against the DFi?

I would DEFINATELY get the DFI over the Asus. I really like my DFI, and the only thing I'd change is to get the expert so that a real SLI configuration would be possible (expert gives more room betweeen SLI slots, if you didn't know).

 

Are you looking for a board for this system, or any system? If you're looking at this system, then you'll want to stick with nf4, and DFI is pretty much the king of that department.

[kingdingeling]

agreed with verran, the expert is the king of DFI boards on the nvidia side of life. I only went for the extra bucks for the expert because it had more space in between the PCI-e slots so I could run dual Arctic Silencers. Its a great board!

[bigred]

once again I'm in total agreement with the DFI NF4 boards. Thier CF boards are great, but Asus has the slight edge there.

[emissary]

So if I cant source a dfi lanparty, I should really stick it out with the Fatal1ty? Or get the Asus? Remember, gaming and uber stability in mutiple applications use is my ultimate goal.....

 

Why do u guys not rate this board? I have to admit, in my haste I purchased it last September 05, I didnt realise the dfi was such a well respected board, I purchased it based on the rather spiffing NF7S V2 which was good for NF2.

[Verran]

First and foremost, if I was in your shoes, I would NOT change my board. Not to a DFI, not at all. If you're not having problems with the Fatal1ty, then it just isn't worth the money to change boards. I think the DFI is a better board (hands down), but the difference between the two from a performance view is VERY small, I'd say practically non-existant. Again, there are MANY better ways to spend your money than swapping your mainboard. I would only consider that if it's giving you problems.

 

As far as why the DFI beats the Abit, there's a lot of little things. Board layout, DOA rates, BIOS features, compatibility. Also, just in general Abit doesn't seem to be doing that well in the A64 market, and DFI definately is. But mostly, at least for me, is the overclocking results. When you look at tables of top OCs and see DFI holding the top 15 spots, it's a pretty sound message. Now Asus has worked it's way in with the ATi boards, but you get the idea. These are all great reasons for a buyer to pick DFI over Abit, but they're not really enough of a reason to switch from a board that's already up and running fine.

[hardnrg]

at the same speed there is a practically non-existant difference, but the DFI NF4 board will let you oc your cpu as far as it is capable of... so if you are barely able to oc above stock, i'd say the DFI NF4 option is a good one... if you are already at 2.7 GHz or higher, probably not much point...