new computer - mobo choice

[cbuddha42]

ok so im building a new system and i think im going AMD becuse by the time you get down to like the 3rd processor down (2.8 range) they seem to be much cheeper. the question is which motherboard to get.
important features would be 400fsb and 400 mem compatibility, atleast 2 sata ports, 2 ata ports, usb2 (what doesn't have it), firewire, good onboard sound. i figure im looking for somethin with a nforce2 ultra400 chipset but was wonder which one was best. also i need to be sure that i an up the fsb of a 333 barton to 400 without uping my cards as well (know some boards can do this and others cant) as i hear barton cores do this really nice. oh and memory im probably going to go corsair twinx1024-3200LLPT and not use 3rd slot becuse none of the boards have 4 mem slots (arg why 3 arg arg arg why cant some just make 4 so i have room for 2 pairs)

[Bruneau]

If you want to overclock the Epox and Abit's are the best.

[cbuddha42]

ok didnt like the look of abit offering much but ill take a loo a epox boards

oh and another thing i ment to ask - none of the current memory seems to say anything about its bank interleave, do they all support 4 way? now if they could just get act togeather and list timings in same format so i knew which number was which

[cbuddha42]

ok the EP-8RDA3G says i can adjust my multiplier which would be nice but epox information is so bad i cant really tell what i can do with EP-8RDA3+ and none of their boards actually seem to have manuals online. anyone used eaither of these boards and have anything to say about them?

msi k7n2 delta looks ok but from looking at the manual BIOS options seem limited and i cant tell if it has asynchronous transfer between the PCI and FSB but then i dont know if it matters - seeing as how i could buy cpu with 400fsb and use it in this mobo i should kill cards pumping 333 to 400 (should i??)

mulitplier adjust would be nice

edit: epox board has 12v cpu power connector which i dont think my power supply has so it would be good it board came with convertor or didnt use this connector

once again any suggestions?

[Omardeth]

asus a7n8x deluxe has all you want on it .

the msi k7n2 delta is nice also .

i hear the soltek boards are nice also .

[The_Saint]

I would suggest an ABIT NF7-S although you said you didn`t like it

[cbuddha42]

a7n8x was my inital choice but it doesn't seem to perform as well as other boards. didnt like k7n2's lack of BIOS settings and msi do all these brackets - by the time you put em all in you ahve no pci slots that you can actually use. i will take a look at soltek boards though. looking at nf7-s and the manual seems to suggest that though i can adjust fsb 9what they call external cpu clock) i cant adjust internal clock....not sure quite what that means though noramlly not 2 seperate things

[Telexen]

...The A7N8X Deluxe is outperforming all other boards in it's generation...last I checked...

I think the MSI K7N2 Delta is the best choice...looks like an excellent board.

[cbuddha42]

ok getting a7n8x manual now - gonna look at its overclocking cause i wanna be able to step my fsb up no problems - also of note the mem im gonna get seems to run real well on this board. looking at abit manual and that has 3/3 4/4 5/5 and 6/6 all listed as possible fsb/ram ratios (since i wanna run 400/400) but whats the difference - all resolve to 1/1 . the review i was looking at was tom's hardware and that was the k7n2 which doesn't seem to be listed on msi's site not the delta (which is) that beat everything.

[Omardeth]

so what did you decide ?