Changing Mobo

[PCgeek]

I got this for free but I've been thinking about changing it. How do you think I can get for this POS and what mobo do you guys recommend. What I want is a mobo with a WORKING PCI-e and PCI lock, passive or very quiet northbridge cooling and a PCI-e slot on the top of the expansion slot row. A lot of the mobos that are popular right now have the PCI-e slot halfway down and I just don't like that.

[bluegreenshxt]

What do you mean about the PCI-e slot? I don't understand :confused:

But anyways, everyone'll say this. Get the DFI Lanparty nF4 Ultra-D. The fan is moderately quiet because the motherboard throttles it down when the temperatures are low.

The Gigabyte boards are the only nF4 boards I know that have passive cooling. (Some versions have active cooling, so beware...)

[PCgeek]

The Ultra-D has the PCI-e slot too low on the mobo. I guess it can't be cutting down on circulation too much cause people are getting great performance out of it but I just don't like it.

EDIT - I guess its not as bad as this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Showimage.asp?Mode=&Type=&Image=13-127-212-01.jpg%2C13-127-212-02.jpg%2C13-127-212-03.jpg%2C13-127-212-04.jpg%2C13-127-212-05.jpg&CurImage=13-127-212-02.jpg&Description=ABIT+AN8-ULTRA+Socket+939+NVIDIA+nForce4+Ultra+ATX+AMD+Moth erboard+-+Retail there you can see its really low. There is only 3 PCI slots below it.

[PCgeek]

You guys think this mobo will allow me to get a mild overclock? All I want is to get around 2.4GHz out of my 3200+...

[bluegreenshxt]

Your current mobo? You definitely won't get 240. I think it lacks a pci lock..So around 220 maybe?

Why'd you go for this board at anyrate? There are probably better options out there.

Personally, I don't think the lower PCIe slot makes too much of a difference as the air under is cooler and the fan will continuously pull air for it's use...

[PCgeek]

Sorry I'm a dumbass, I forgot to include the link. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813186037

That's the mobo I was asking about. I went with this one cause I got it for free just like the rest of my gear ;):D

[bluegreenshxt]

That one "should" get 240 no problems but then and again, higher quality boards can be had for 10 bucks more? Newegg has an Abit board onsale for $99!

[therealwesty]

The Asus A8N-E has the PCI-Express slot as the top slot in the set. It uses the nForce4-Ultra chipset and supports all the appropriate features. It is probably worth looking into.

The Foxconn board you linked to should be allright. I don't have any doubts about the boards stability for overclocking. But, they are not really a mainstream manfucaturer so I would be concerned that the BIOS may not be as expansive as another board's.