Nice system... I think this would be better suited to Windows XP and Windows 98/ME. Actually this would be one of the fastest possible motherboards for Windows 98/ME.

There is WinXP on another HDD (non SSD). It works well, usable for retro gaming and software - some midi programs work really nice.

bZbZbZ wrote on 2024-01-15, 03:44:

Nice system... I think this would be better suited to Windows XP and Windows 98/ME. Actually this would be one of the fastest possible motherboards for Windows 98/ME.

Agreed, socket 939 is Windows XP era.

Would a Gigabyte GA-K8NMF-9 be any good? (I can grab one for $20) or is the OP’s motherboard way better?

zuldan wrote on 2024-01-15, 09:35:

bZbZbZ wrote on 2024-01-15, 03:44:

Nice system... I think this would be better suited to Windows XP and Windows 98/ME. Actually this would be one of the fastest possible motherboards for Windows 98/ME.

Agreed, socket 939 is Windows XP era.

Would a Gigabyte GA-K8NMF-9 be any good? (I can grab one for $20) or is the OP’s motherboard way better?

It is XP era, because NVidia decided to force us to buy their newer chipsets. Otherwise, NForce 3 Ultra is fast enough and if NVidia didn't remove the beta drivers and instead continued to develop them, who would buy NForce 4? Gigabyte GA-K8NMF-9 is NForce 4 and it is not faster than my MB. It just has PCI-E slot instead of AGP and there are newer drivers. Damn politic decisions!

At the time it was definitely disappointing that nVidia didn't continue development of nForce 3 drivers. At the present I wouldn't be too upset... a separate Core 2 based system (almost free these days) would massively outperform anything on socket 939 when it comes to Windows 7/8/10/11. Yes it's annoying to not have everything in one system... but for myself (I also have an nForce 3 based socket 939 Athlon X2 running Windows XP) I appreciate the platform as a great XP system.

Well, when compared to the same generation Intel CPUs, they are better in some cases, while Athlons are better in other, as always. And they really make all the chips, motherboards and adapters like that - there is no single case when one component is better than another one in every tests. For example, for some odd reason some inferior video can be better in some particular area than the flagship from the next generation (or even further generations).
So, because we don't have good drivers for NForce 3 chipsets, they perform worse than they can in newer Windows OSes. But it doesn't mean that they cannot do it better, just because someone didn't want to support them.

i search a long time but never found one GA-K8NS Ultra-939 you are lucky

You can take a look here https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/nvidia-opti … r-win7-10/21787, never tried anything newer than Win7-64, but the drivers from that page always worked well for me.

Thanks, I'll check them some day...
I wish that this post came earlier, as now I am in another city and this motherboard is not here. I'll test it after some months (hopefully).

1. AGP support is removed from Win10 Anniversary update (1607) and newer. It will display, but not accelerate 3D. If you absolutely must, try installing one of the earliest builds or Win8.1.
2. You are trying to run incompatible OS/chipset combination. There are no "some Vista drivers" for nF3, not even beta ones, only force-installing XP drivers is an option. Hence USB issues, PHY issues, etc etc

Bruno128 wrote on 2024-01-31, 09:52:

1. AGP support is removed from Win10 Anniversary update (1607) and newer. It will display, but not accelerate 3D. If you absolutely must, try installing one of the earliest builds or Win8.1.
2. You are trying to run incompatible OS/chipset combination. There are no "some Vista drivers" for nF3, not even beta ones, only force-installing XP drivers is an option. Hence USB issues, PHY issues, etc etc

Did you check the drivers that were posted some days ago?