What are your three top-fav old motherboards you still own and/or use ?

[J7SC_Orion]

...I am a bit of a motherboard collector (not to say pack rat). Working in the computer-related field sometimes blurs the lines between work and play, but most of my motherboard choices were / are geared towards quality components that could serve for both OCing and later on as reliable dev servers. Back in the day, I also ran between 2 - 4 GPUs, so that also affected what I would buy for work or and/play.

 

With the latest-gen mobos  hitting the market, what are your three top-fav motherboards you still own, and/or use ? For me, it is the Asus Maximus V Extreme (Z77), the Gigabyte SOC Force (Z170) and the MSI X399 Creation....looking forward to see what you folks scurried away into the 'keepers' box 

 

  

Edited October 13, 2022 by J7SC_Orion

[Cerberus]

skulltrail "2.0" that was never released

 

[pio]

Alright so for me this one's kind of tough because I absolutely love ALL of my old boards.  

 

Ironically enough, I don't have much interesting things to say about the later ones that I own......but......

 

My favorite that I still own would absolutely HAVE to be the Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe.  I do NOT have this one in use though because it doesn't accept AMD / ATI GPU's in the top PCIe slot. -_-

 

My next favorite that I actually own (and is actually in use) would be my 990FX Sabertooth.  It's nowhere near as special to me as the above board, its also nowhere near as good as the above board for overclocking.  BUT, its still a really good board and does overclock absolutely fantastically.  Tops out around 320 FSB (whereas my A8N32 has done upwards of like 368-372?).

 

And finally, the best motherboard I've owned that I want to get back again would be the unicorn.  The one and only, Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe.  (Abit / DFI / Sapphire also made these boards).  The thing about this board is obviously the ATI Crossfire chipset when 99% of the boards for Socket 939 were NForce.  I want another one sooooo badly (any 32 laned CFX 939 board), and I've only found one listing in the last few months of searching, and it just so happened to pop up when I was broke.  Go figure.    Yeah, its not obvious that I have a fondness for Socket 939 or anything is it?   This board was also a really good overclocker when I had one years and years and years ago, nearly as good as the NForce boards.  But that 32 laned crossfire action...... 

Edited October 13, 2022 by pioneerisloud

[J7SC_Orion]

2 hours ago, Cerberus said:

skulltrail "2.0" that was never released

 

 

[J7SC_Orion]

5 hours ago, pioneerisloud said:

Alright so for me this one's kind of tough because I absolutely love ALL of my old boards.  

 

Ironically enough, I don't have much interesting things to say about the later ones that I own......but......

 

My favorite that I still own would absolutely HAVE to be the Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe.  I do NOT have this one in use though because it doesn't accept AMD / ATI GPU's in the top PCIe slot. -_-

 

My next favorite that I actually own (and is actually in use) would be my 990FX Sabertooth.  It's nowhere near as special to me as the above board, its also nowhere near as good as the above board for overclocking.  BUT, its still a really good board and does overclock absolutely fantastically.  Tops out around 320 FSB (whereas my A8N32 has done upwards of like 368-372?).

 

And finally, the best motherboard I've owned that I want to get back again would be the unicorn.  The one and only, Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe.  (Abit / DFI / Sapphire also made these boards).  The thing about this board is obviously the ATI Crossfire chipset when 99% of the boards for Socket 939 were NForce.  I want another one sooooo badly (any 32 laned CFX 939 board), and I've only found one listing in the last few months of searching, and it just so happened to pop up when I was broke.  Go figure.    Yeah, its not obvious that I have a fondness for Socket 939 or anything is it?   This board was also a really good overclocker when I had one years and years and years ago, nearly as good as the NForce boards.  But that 32 laned crossfire action...... 

 

...love the 990FX Sabertooth ! 

 

Speaking of ye ol' Abit (re. the A*R32-MVP Deluxe), somewhere in storage downstairs is this 'survivor' (black + white pic on the left to hide the dirt; missing one OCZ stick) 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2022 by J7SC_Orion

[Avacado]

EVGA 790i SLi FTW (LGA 775), Gigabyte z390 AORUS PRO (LGA 1151), EVGA z690 Dark (LGA 1700)

 

 

[Fluxmaven]

Unfortunately I got rid of most of my older stuff before moving long ago. Coolest ones I have currently are the EVGA Z590 Dark, MSI x570 Ace, and ASUS Crosshair V Formula Z. 

[J7SC_Orion]

...I wouldn't call the X570 platform 'old', but since it is listed now by you folks, I'll sneak in the Asus Crosshair 8 Dark Hero. Superb platform for 5950X and 4-stick Samsung-B DDR4 4000 that hasn't missed a beat. It was/is the first Asus board to introduce the 'Dynamic OC' for simultaneous Ryzen top multi-core and single-core overclocks. Chipset is fanless as well.
 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2022 by J7SC_Orion

[Diffident]

One of mine:

 

ASRock EP2C602 SSI

 

The only thing better than a MB with 2 sockets would be one with 4.

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by Diffident

[Bones]

Tough question.....

I'll go ahead and say my three (current) faves are:
Asus Sabertooth 2.0

Asus Sabertooth 3.0

DFI NF4X Infinity

 

As for any contenders outside of these:

ALL of my DFI NF4 LanParty boards for Socket 939..... And I have a few.
My Crosshair V-Z boards
 

Edited December 13, 2022 by Bones

[Sir Beregond]

On 14/10/2022 at 00:46, J7SC_Orion said:

...I wouldn't call the X570 platform 'old', but since it is listed now by you folks, I'll sneak in the Asus Crosshair 8 Dark Hero. Superb platform for 5950X and 4-stick Samsung-B DDR4 4000 that hasn't missed a beat. It was/is the first Asus board to introduce the 'Dynamic OC' for simultaneous Ryzen top multi-core and single-core overclocks. Chipset is fanless as well.
 

 

 

 

 

How do you do that Dynamic OC? Is that a newer BIOS maybe then the 3801 I am currently using?

 

Yeah it being fanless on the chipset was what initially sold me on it.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Sir Beregond

[J7SC_Orion]

1 hour ago, Sir Beregond said:

How do you do that Dynamic OC? Is that a newer BIOS maybe then the 3801 I am currently using?

 

Yeah it being fanless on the chipset was what initially sold me on it.

 

...

 

 

[ciarlatano]

Easy answer from me, but it's just one. My Z97 Sabertooth. The last of the real Sabertooths before TUF became just another ASUS gaming marketing gimmick.

 

[Sir Beregond]

1 hour ago, ciarlatano said:

Easy answer from me, but it's just one. My Z97 Sabertooth. The last of the real Sabertooths before TUF became just another ASUS gaming marketing gimmick.

 

That was a great board. Last of its kind for that branding.

[neurotix]

+1 for the Crosshair V Formula, still have one running strong with a lapped FX-8350 in my retired mom's machine that gets used mostly for Kyodai Mahjongg, Risk and Solitaire in Mini Vmac emulator, DX Ball 1&2 and Bejeweled 3. It runs stock but has some nice G.skill Trident X ddr3 at 2400mhz cas 10.

 

It does occasionally get used for web browsing and paying bills. It's still snappy when I go on it thanks to the 850 Evo it has.

 

I tortured that chip and board with Linpack and occt at 5GHz 1.55v but its still running great and suits her needs (mostly playing her games).

[schuck6566]

On 13/10/2022 at 20:14, Avacado said:

EVGA 790i SLi FTW (LGA 775), Gigabyte z390 AORUS PRO (LGA 1151), EVGA z690 Dark (LGA 1700)

 

 

got a couple of 790i ultra bios that've been modded for xeon cpu's that also allow 16+GB of ram to work if you're interested in playing with that board again.   https://www.overclock.net/threads/xeon-microcodes-added-to-socket-775-bios.1616059/page-11

 

[Avacado]

3 minutes ago, schuck6566 said:

got a couple of 790i ultra bios that've been modded for xeon cpu's that also allow 16+GB of ram to work if you're interested in playing with that board again.   https://www.overclock.net/threads/xeon-microcodes-added-to-socket-775-bios.1616059/page-11

 

Yes, for sure. I need to remember to DL those at home to the NAS

[Barefooter]

Still rockin' my Asus Maximus Extreme VI