best N Force 2 board manufacturer

randy66

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My choices are , Asus ,Abit or MSI. I'm leaning towards Abit. Asus has poor customer support from my experience.
I'm changing from A7V8X.
Also , I already have 2 x 512 Corsair XMS Pc3200 modules
will I still get good performance in dual channel if I run the memory at full speed (400) as opposed to Sync mode.
Using a Xp2100 T/bred-b
or better running memory Sync. 266/266 ??
 

vk2amv

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Better yet run the memory and CPU both in sync at 200Mhz (400DDR). That board unlocks the T-Bred B`s and you can do what you want with the multiplyer. Set the FSB at 200 and the multiplyer at 10 and your laughing. I havnt had any of those boards so I cant make a suggestion except I think Epox is the best.
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vk2amv

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Sorry not "That board' I meant the NForce 2 chipset unlocks the T-Bred B`s.
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Maverick494

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My personal experiences with ASUS have been outstanding. I have had motherboards and video cards that all performed extremely well from ASUS. The A7N8X is problably the best n-force 2 board around right now. It has the best overclocking options and runs the fastest stock when compared to any other companies. If you choose one of the other manufacturers I am sure you will still be pleased, but my reccomendation is ASUS.

Just a computer junky
 

vk2amv

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RE:A7N8X "It has the best overclocking options"? What are you smoking? Everyong knows that the overclocking options on the Asus are very primitive compared to the Abit Epox and Soltek boards.
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Maverick494

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dude you need to do some more reading and research then. You have great o/c options on the A7N8X, such as FSB from 100-211 (in steps of 1)(this is more than most boards that go 100 - 200), vram 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8 (admittedly a bit limiting due to not having 2.9v+ available, but adaquate), vchipset 1.5, 1.6 and 1.7 (again it would be nice to be able to go 1.8v+, but still quite adaquate and most boards don't even have this option). Vcore from 1.1V - 1.85V (not hugely high, but fine for most overclock without extreme cooling). This board also has memory clock settings of 50%, 60%, 66%, 75%, 80%, 83%, Sync, 120%, 125%, 133%, 150%, 166%, 200% and then shows the resulting freq of the memory (seems like plenty of options there to me). it lets you user define memory timings of : Active precharge delay, RAS to CAS delay, RAS Precharge delay, and CAS latency (again more than enough options to set up an overclocked system). AGP freq indivually adjustable from 50MHZ - 100MHZ. I would like to know what it doesn't have that is rquired to do overclocking successfully and effectively? I grant you there are 1 or 2 of the exsisting options that could be fine tuned and some capabilities added to them, but the do work fine.

Also another thing that is great about my current asus board that I am sure would work on the A7N8X is that you can use ASUS Update to update your bios from the WEB in WINDOWS. I love that.
[edit] That was just on the original release of the bios back in november, I am still looking for what the bios updates did [/edit]
Just a computer junky<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Maverick494 on 04/12/03 02:23 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

Maverick494

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Just as a further example so far the only thing that I can confirm is that the ABIT board in the manual says it will support up to 237mhz FSB. Good luck using anymore than a 211 mhz FSB with normal air cooling, not an advantage in my book. The Soltek board according to the manual only allows for a FSB of 100, 133 or 166 (Some overclocking superiority there) unless there is something missing from the manual which I believe there may be. If you set the Soltek board to expert it may let you change the FSB in increaments less than those I found, but the manual doesn't say that. So after looking at all these proposed board makers and finding that they all include the same (mostly, with the amount different on the abit board) overclocking options, I find it funny that I was accused of being an idiot on crack. I also find it funny that the reviews of all these boards from the manufacturers mentioned show the ASUS board on top on all of the reviews I have read. Maybe I am not a crack smoking idiot afterall and someone should not be a troll.

[edit] As of this time I couldn't get into EPOX's website to check out the manual on their N-force2 offering, I would be curious to know if it has any of these "less primitive" options for overclocking.[/edit]


Just a computer junky<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Maverick494 on 04/12/03 02:39 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

Spitfire_x86

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Go for MSI

Running memory sync. with FSB will give you better performance

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vk2amv

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Ok one at a time. I will use the Epox 8RGA+ as my example as I have one right here. Now FSB settings in 1Mhz steps from 100Mhz all the way to 255Mhz. The Asus can do to 211Mhz only. I have personaly run 220Mhz FSB on this thing stable BTW. VRam/VDIMM up to 2.9Volt. Asus limited to 2.8V. VChipset/VDD voltage up to 2.0Volts. Asus limited to 1.7. VCore up to 2.2Volt. Asus limited at a weak 1.85Volt. The memory clock percentage settings is atandard on all NForce2 Boards. As is the CAS RAS etc settings. The AGP frequency setting also is on the 8RGA+. So clearly the Asus board is only designed for very basic overclocking. The 8RGA+ is clearly superiour. Now once again. Out of these 2 boards which one is better for overclocking?
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Tom_Smart

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I had a chaintech 7NJS for a whole 2 days till it just died, no idea why or what caused this. I hadn't had any time to try any overclocking so this wasn't the cause. A friend also got one the day before me and he is having issues with it. I got it changed for an EP-8RGA this is rock solid. i have an Athlon 2400+ in it running 10x200 and 2x512 pc 3200 in there also. i am only using the heatsink that came with the processor(retail) so i wont be pushing for anymore as i think it will need better cooling. best thing about the 7NJS is i kept the round cables.

?8=‡”ƒÎ
 

TKH

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To me:
Performance King - MSI K7N2-L
Feature King - Asus A7N8X Deluxe
Overclock King - Epox 8RDA+
Value King - Abit NF7-S

running in sync 266/266 would be better but it's a waste on your DDR400 RAM, how about bench them and see which one is better yourself.

You never know how stupid you are until you have done something stupid enough for you to realize it.
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Spitfire_x86

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MSI K7N2G-ILSR is as fast as MSI K7N2-L and has more features than ASUS A7N8X Deluxe

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