(Already) considering a new motherboard

Hi All.

I recently bought a new PC, and the weakest component is the motherboard.

I originally intended buying the new pc to be a solution to the little nagging problems I always seemed to end up getting after a few weeks/months of upgrading my old PC (things like my DVD drive setting itself allight, eating disks, hard drive failures, popped PSU's- I'm sick of it!)

Anyhow, I love my new machin, bar one thing- sound latency. I figured the latency was crap due to onboard sound but that wasn't it, I can't get low latency anymore with my Aureon card that would easily handle 1ms on my old machine, now its up in the 20-30s. (using ASIO)

So, I need a Socket 939 motherboard. If I decide to continue, What would you recommend at present? I'm not up to date anymore!



...Actually, if anyone has any other ideas with the latency issue, voice them also, I'd rather not dismantle my new PC! :)

ANY asus "nforce4" motherboard.

Asus A8N-32 SLI Deluxe.

Though if you are looking to change cpu/sockets go with a socket AM2 board. That's the new socket that all their new chips will be using.

I'd wait a bit and see what the NForce 5's that are out soon are like.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/mainboard/348/

I would go for a mothership instead... ;O)

although a mothership would cost too much, so you'll probably just end up with a pre-owned shuttle.

I'm not changing anything but the mainboard, and i'm still trying to make my mind up on that- do i really want to go through it all again? :D

Just need a decent socket 939 to keep this machine churning music AND games at the same, smooth, awesometastic quality.

DFI LanParty or (probably better) MSI *whatever model number* Platinum.

Of course, socket AM2 is now the thing ;)

DFI lanparty is very expensive and offers only an improvement over the ASUS mobos if you are overclocking (they are enthusiast motherboards).

I have a MSI *Whatever model number* Platinum :-D

I really do, and have no problems with it, and goes good with my 6.1 surround sound powered by 3 subs, 8 front and back speakers, 1 center channel, and 1 rear center channel. :-D

PS: The board can support upto 7.1 surround sound. I'm pretty sure it's capable of DTS and SuperBIT too if your into home theater systems like I am.

DFI Lanparty, by being a very overclockable board (like the MSI) also means it's a very stable board. If I wasn't such an Abit addict, I'd have one myself.

Nice board.

I'm *not* going to change my socket, this is a brand new PC. I just want a board that can handle my current 7.1 card at the low latency my old nf2 board could. :)

I'd like to get an Abit, I have more trust in their boards than other products (They redeemed their Bios failure in my last purchase.)

@retro.hack
I would take this ship as well as long as it works if i hit the consoles...

Hmmmm. What aboot:

http://www2.abit.com.tw/page/uk/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=AN8+32X&fMTYPE=Socket+939

hmm. Bigger list here:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Socket_939_480.html

Any asus one. *yawn* seriously dude, wake up! any asus nforce 4 motherboard for the 949 chipset! you can't lose! Just choose one with the right specs for you. The only difference between them is:

some have more usb ports
some don't have a firewire port
some use heatlane to cool (sli deluxe)
some use fans (like every other mobo)

Apart from that your performance is gonna be the SAME

I know, It's just like I'm in a candy store though :P


Damn, I'll need to reinstall windows *again* too. :/

Not necesarily, if you install the SATA drivers for your new motherboards in advance, and SYSPREP your windows install so it will re-detect all your hardware upon bootup (with the new motherboard in place)

I disagree, and I have four failed ASUS motherboards and two graphics cards to back it up. Sure Asus was the dogs bollocks in the late 90's, but they aren't anything special these days. EPoX or ABit would be my bet for a decent motherboard these days.

Abit are my preferred choice.

I'm going to hold off for now. I think my PC overheard me talking and is currently running with a 4ms delay, better. not perfect, but better :)

The latency issue somewhat scares me, since I've the same soundcard. I'm still thinking about a major new 64bit/4gbRAM system (mainly for music-production), but I *demand* that my Terrortec works on it without oodles o' latency. Naturally they won't know this at the shop for sure..

So, exactly what did you do/change in order to get '4 MS' instead of 'oodles MS'?

My old audigy 1 still manages 2ms, unless I take the michael and ask Logic to use 16 Absynths ;)

CS_TBL:

I'm not sure. The terratec doesn't give my mic its phantom power so I need to use the onboard sound for anything that uses it (No, I don't use it to record any samples or stuff).

I did disable every input and output except the single output that I have my amp plugged into.

It still stalls and needs the buffer enlarged if I start more complex stuff, but for simple live sound, it's fine for now.

If I work on a complete track, 16 channels (mostly samples), about 6-8 synths (Sytrus is a monster) then I need my buffer up at 15-20ms. The same track I tested with used to be fine at the lower latency of between 1-5ms max.

Still, this is a big improvement over the initial latency. I can make do for now. I want to see what the new NF5 stuff is :)