Which VIA socket 939 Opteron motherboard?

[Tetras]

I'm looking at getting one of the following and I don't really know much about capacitors or VRMs etc so would muchly appreciate some more knowledgable advice as to the best one to choose (it really needs to be reliable and to last ):

Asus A8V-E SE (already built a system with one and was very impressed with the design and stability)
http://www.asus.com.tw/products4.asp...76&modelmenu=1
http://www.oakpc.com/mimg/eart/image...015hszb004.jpg

Asus A8V-XE (afaik has a newer southbridge than the A8V-E SE with SATA 2 and NCQ but is based on a different PCB than the A8V-E series so I don't have much experience with it)
http://www.asus.com.tw/products4.asp...43&modelmenu=1
http://www.asus.com.tw/prog_content/...spx?model=1043

Abit AX8 V2.0 (don't much like busy area around retention bracket but love the IS7-E2 in my P4 system)
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/...es=1&model=294
http://www.isklep.net/images/plglu/p...ABI9390004.jpg

From the pics on google and the Asus website I'd guess that they both use "Chemicon" and the Abit uses Rubycon? I do have an nForce 4 board and while the features are nice and its pretty stable, I don't want the active cooling that comes with them and the Asus A8N-SLI Premium or Abit KN8 SLI are pretty much double the price (I'd be willing to get them if the build quality is worth the extra though).

Thanks for any input!

[linuxguru]

Re: Which VIA socket 939 Opteron motherboard?

I was impressed with the build quality of the MSI K8T Neo2-F v2.0:

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/produc...il.php?UID=686

It's full-sized ATX, requires an AGP graphics card, 2 DIMM slots only and no Firewire. It's not really an overclockers board, although you can adjust some voltages and clocks from the BIOS. But it's a rock-stable and reliable full-size desktop/server board. All critical VRM/CPU caps are Chemicon KZG, though there are several Teapo 1000/6.3 scattered around the board. It supports everything, including dual-core Opterons, with a BIOS upgrade.

[toastygoodness]

Re: Which VIA socket 939 Opteron motherboard?

If you want a motherboard based on the same chipset, I really found this Gigabyte board a good deal. It's stable, uses good caps (mine were rubycon, nichicon with those aluminum, and a lot of chemicons), and is relatively fast (although i haven't tried overclocking, it is still a great performer with stock settings).

http://gigabyte-usa.com/MotherBoard/...-K8VT890-9.htm

This isn't the store I bought it from (i bought local), but here you go:

http://www.gleetech.com/product.php?productid=152

[tazwegion]

Re: Which VIA socket 939 Opteron motherboard?

I was impressed with the build quality of the MSI K8T Neo2-F v2.0

Yeah I've heard great things about the K8T800pro chipset too, and the MSI features & layout are nice