Verdict: The best Socket 939 motherboard ever

The original non-Expert incarnation of this motherboard narrowly missed out on winning the last motherboard Labs test because of its poor PCB layout and high price.

The Expert is even more expensive, but boasts a whole new PCB layout, and dare we say it, even greater overclocking potential. The most obvious difference in the PCB layout is the Expert's widely spaced PCI-E slots, which makes it easier to install two graphics card with oversized coolers. It also means that the lower of the two high-speed PCI-E slots doesn't align with the chipset.

However, it's worth pointing out that despite its £152 price, the Expert isn't based on the nForce4 SLI X16 chipset, so only provides eight PCI-E lanes to each of the high-speed slots.

The Expert also has a 1x PCI-E slot and a 4x PCI-E slot, positioned between the two high-speed slots, with three PCI slots on the edge of the PCB. Four RAID-capable S-ATA II ports, four RAID-capable S-ATA ports and two RAID-capable EIDE channels are provided, plus ten USB 2 ports and two FireWire ports. The PCB also has power and reset switches, which can be useful for hardcore overclockers who regularly push overclocks too far.

The BIOS is unparalleled in the number of options you can tweak, such as the ability to boost the CPU voltage by a sizzling 36 per cent, giving you up to 2.1V in the case of our Athlon 64 X2 4200+ test chip. Up to 4V can be sent to the RAM, and 1.96V to the chipset.

At the default CPU multiplier, our 2.2GHz Athlon 64 X2 4200+ test CPU overclocked to a 250MHz FSB (2.75GHz) with 1.82V through the CPU. This is one of only two motherboards able to reach such a high level; the other, of course, is DFI's CrossFire board. With the CPU multiplier dropped to 4x, the maximum stable FSB was a stunning 425MHz. It's also worth noting that Memtest86 is integrated into the BIOS, which is very handy for quickly testing overclocks without having to boot into Windows.

With such awesome voltage and overclocking controls, and a better PCB layout, the only real issue with the Expert is its price. However, if you want to make the most of your Athlon 64 or Socket 939 Opteron CPU then the Expert is definitely worth saving for.

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