Price Guides November 2004: CPU and Motherboards

AMD Motherboards - NVIDIA nForce 3

nForce 3 has been and still is the best option for overclocking an Athlon 64. While chipsets from Via are built more for stability and stock speeds, nForce 3 tends to be packed with more features and settings to allow for tweaking to get absolutely the most out of your new processor.

Socket 754

Socket 754 has started to move into a value or budget area as AMD pushes to get 939 out the door and onto store shelves. Since 754 can take an Athlon 64 or a Sempron, however, it does have the unique advantage of being quite flexible on the choice of processors that are available at least for now. The DFI nForce3 250 (754) LanParty UT board continues this week as a favorite option for the 754 platform.

Socket 939

nForce 4 boards should also be coming out very shortly. A good preview of nForce 4 can be found in our recent review of the Gigabyte K8NXP-9. In the meantime, socket 939 still has a home with the MSI nForce3 Ultra (939) K8N Neo2 Platinum. Fully loaded with every audio option imaginable, SATA, RAID, and Marvell's gigabit Ethernet controller (along with a second gigE controller from Realtek), it's safe to say that this board is among the best of the best.