Nforce 2 Boards

[Marshmallowman]

my a7n8x deluxe pcb 2.0 has just arrived

[Belwarrior]

Just made a Asus A7N8X non-deluxe pcb 2.0... No problems or whatsoever and the sound quality is not bad for playing audio cds and mp3s..clean and clear. The Deluxe's Dolby Digital should take it up another level...no more buying creative?

[Marshmallowman]

Me likey, 2400xp at 202x11.5 I am sure it 'll do a bit more, but I will stick with this for a while.

One problem, it won't cold boot, the talking bios keeps saying memory test failed....but if I turn off and on again it will boot at a "safe"(100) FSB, then I just do a warm reboot and I will go back to 202.

At 202fsb it 100% reliably no crashes so far at all, 3dmark 03/01 and 6 hours of GTA vice city

I only have 1x 512 stick of corsair p3200, could it be trying to boot using dual channel???, it is in the first dimm slot.

[Novdid]

I got the Epox 8rda3+ a week ago and have some difficulties getting it to run stable, could depend on other things than the MB though.

I'll start a thread about it as soon as I find the time to describe my problems.

[Marshmallowman]

hmm, just found some posts/article's.

Some corsair xms(and others mem will not have the SPD read correclty by some MOBO's. Seems like I have that combination, hopefully manualy setting the parameters correctly will fix my problems.

May be worth checking Novdid.

[RhinoZ]

Hey guys,
Sorry to interrupt, but do these Nforce2 (chipset) boards have any issues like the Via chipsets? ( poor memory bandwidth, and such much discussed within the Murc especially in the desktop video forum)
Or are the Nforce2 better than the SIS chipsets?

I gave my recently built MSI Ultra SIS computer to my sister, (which now I regret because I can't find the MSI board anywhere) and I need to build two more PCs, one for me and another for a friend.
Thanks guys.
R

[Belwarrior]

Urm.. people here could go on a long debate on Nforce2 vs SiS..

Basically i have used both now and find both are good stable platforms. IMHO Nforce2 boards tend to come with more features while SiS is cheaper and has maybe a larger pci bandwidth (for better support of video editing cards, etc)

[Dr Mordrid]

The RT.X100 compatability list is an excellent indicator for editing systems given that it needs plenty of bandwidth, especially when used with other PCI cards. If a board/chipset compatable with it can handle the load other cards/setups shouldn't have much of a problem.

NO VIA chipsets can meet the grade even without another PCI card in the system

Nforce2 chipsets have not yet met the RT.X100 specs for PCI-host memory bandwidth.

RT.X100 approved chipsets:

AMD: 760 MP and 760 MPX (recommended, but look for "B2" on the southbridge of an MPX board) and 761 (minimal configuration, but only with an AMD southbridge).

Note: an AMD northbridge coupled with a VIA southbridge is OUT. Don't even go there.

Intel: 845, 845E, 845G, 845GE, 845PE, 850, 850E & 860 (recommended); 815 EP (minimal configuration)

SiS: 735 & 745 (AMD); 645, 645DX, 648, 650 & 651 (Intel) (all recommended)

Note that the el-cheapo and theoretically "outdated" SiS 735 is in the "recommended" list. You can get boards using the SiS 735 for about $39 USD. One is the ECS K7S5A....which is also on the "recommended" list, though only the upgraded K7S5A Pro seems to be readily available.

This should tell you something about cost vs. benefit vs. marketing....

Hope this is useful.

Dr. Mordrid

[Kurt]

The ECS K7S5A Pro has USB 2.0.

It's pretty cheap but these boards have a bad habit of loading the BIOS defaults from time to time...so you have to reset the settings to your liking. Some PC133 issues as well.

I'd go for the MSI 746F Ultra... (there's the MURC all time favorite MSI 745 Ultra but it won't do FSB200...)

[RhinoZ]

Thanks for all the great info folks.
I guess I'll pick up an ECS board for my friend. I'll wait a little while before building one for me. Who knows what will be cheaper then.

[Dr Mordrid]

MSI's 745 Ultra is the better of the two, but the current K7S5A Pro doesn't randomly load in BIOS defaults at all....at least the system to my right hasn't in the 4-5 months it's been running. It's pretty much a new board from the original K7S5A save for the 735 chipset.

Dr. Mordrid

[RichL]

I had so much trouble with an Epox 8RGA+ I sent it back as faulty. It didnt like Corsair 3200LL (while my MSI745 didnt mind) and it wasnt too keen on my 9500Pro either, took 3 reboots to get it to recognise it.
But when it did go, it ran a barton 2500 at 2.3Ghz and could crack a Seti WU inside 2 hrs.
Got an Epox 8RDA3+ on order at the moment.

My previous EP8-KTA3+ was and still is a very good board, currently running a Palamin cored XP at 145fsb with Crucial PC133. Never had a glitch with it since I got it from new, even though its a Via chipset.

[alewisa]

Originally posted by SteveC
I've hated Abit for the last couple of years, but I remembered yesterday how great the old BE6-II was and so went for the NF7-S hoping this would be the same.

Was it? I still run a PIII on a BE6-II, still use it as it is good enough for UT and Mechwarrior/Commander.

I'm looking at upping the AMD box soon, torn between the ASUS and Abit boards. Used to love Abit, the trouble I had with the KT7-RAID (and the annoyance that the KT7-A came out 1 week after I bought) is making me twitch slightly.

[Byock]

I have used Asus boards since the Pentium 133. Never had a moments issue with them. The Nforce 2 boards have been great, put one in my sons, and my brother in law's PC.

[leech]

Actually the board in your son's is the MSI. But I agree, I've almost always had an Asus board in my PC's. The two exceptions are the abit Bp6 (that I have still running in my server, and I bought that YEARS ago) and then there was that first motherboard I bought...... and I bought it from a guy I know, but I think he was just trying to make me feel like an idiot or something. It was the worse motherboard I'd ever seen. Two of the PCI slots were unusable because there was a chip that rested between the two, and the cards were hitting the chip. I don't even recall the name brand. I got rid of that peice of crap quickly and got an Asus instead Never had a problem with their boards.

Leech