ABIT NF7-M Opinions

[xlodo]

I'm planning to build a new system with this mobo. For the time being I plan to use the onboard mx vid chip. I plan to use it with a 2500 barton, and try to get something close to a 200 mhz FSB. 4 questions:

1-Is this feasible?
2-Is it a good mobo?
3-Do I need PC3200 ram, or could I achieve this by OCing pc2700?
4-In your experience is it worth it to get 1 gig vs 512 mb?

Thanks.

 

[markgun]

1) You may or may not be able to hit a 200MHz FSB. A lot of people hit a brick wall around 190MHz with that board. Some people can do well over 200MHz. Some people do this with stock cooling, some with additional cooling and volt-mods.

2) Yes.

3) If you're using a Barton, which defaults to 166MHz, you'll need faster than 166MHz memory to do any FSB overclocking. You could do multiplier overclocking, but the new Bartons appear to be coming locked.

4) This depends on what you do with your system. Keep in mind that the integrated graphics will use some of your memory, but not much. But when you upgrade your video card, that used memory will be freed up. Whatever the case, you'll want 2 sticks for the integrated video. I'd personally go for 2x512 PC3200, but that's just for my needs.

I've built a system with that motherboard, definitely rock solid. It was paired with an 1800+ and 2x 256MB Crucial PC2700. At stock settings (using the integrated video) it received a 3DMark01SE score of around 4300, just for reference. It could play most games decently, except for GTA Vice City due to the lack of audio acceleration (It would've been nice if Abit would have included the MCP-T Southbridge with this motherboard).

<b>Qui habet aures audiendi audiat</b>

 

[markgun]

Oh yeah, faster memory should also speed up the integrated video, since it uses the system memory for the video.

<b>Qui habet aures audiendi audiat</b>

 

[ad_rach]

1.yes.perfectly.you could very possibly be able to get up to about 220MHz.
2.i have an NF7-S and it is great, so i don't see why the NF7-M should be any less great, but make sure you get a v2.0 board.
3.I am running at 210FSB with my Twinmos PC2700 (and still at the standard timings of 7-3-3-2!) because it uses highly overclockable winbond BH-6 chips.I would, however, recommend that you get PC3200, since one can't guarantee the overclockability of PC2700.Twinmos PC3200 uses winbond BH-5 chips which also oc really well so i would recommend that highly, especially as it is quite cheap.It would be able to handle a 220MHz fsb without difficulty and this extra bandwidth should be helpful for your onboard video.
4.I have 'only' 512 but it may be worth getting 1gb nowadays (although there are apparently some very slight performance penalties), especially since you will be sharing some memory for the video.

no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ad_rach on 11/18/03 11:04 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[markgun]

I don't think a v2 of the NF7-M has been released yet, I'm pretty sure it's only up to v1.21 thus far. Unless this recently changed.

<b>Qui habet aures audiendi audiat</b>

 

[ad_rach]

Oh right.Doesn't matter too much really.My NF7-S is only a v1.0 but it's still managing to run my XP2400 at 210MHz FSB with my PC2700 at 1:1.

no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]

 

[xlodo]

THanks a lot for all your replies. I'm a bit concerned cause I went to Abit's site to check the nf7-m. It directed me to kingston's memory compatibility website which states that if I'm going to use ddr400 I'm limited to a single 512stick, it says for 2x512 sticks I need to use ddr333, I've never heard of this before. I dloaded the manual for the mobo and will read it just to make sure. Have you heard of this limitation?

 

[Prof133]

it says for 2x512 sticks I need to use ddr333

Ignore it and get 2x512MB of DDR400.

 

[xlodo]

Thanks for your suggestions. However reading the manual it became apparent that this is not the ultra400 chipset (unlike nf7-s) so I'm thinking it might not overclock as well, I guess it's not suppossed to oficially support 400 FSB. What do you guys think? I'm considering going back to my original plan and getting an epox 8rda3+ and a cheap 8500-9100 v card. Hoever it looks like new 9100 have a 64 bit path to the memory so they really suck. Will have to look for an 8500 I guess. Please let me know if I'm being paranoid.

 

[ad_rach]

Like i said, my NF7-S board is a v1.0 i.e. the earliest possible nf2 version and does not officially support 400FSB either, but it is still cruising along at 210/420FSB with the newest bios.I don't think you would have any problems at all.
However, your other plan of getting an 8RDA3+ and an 8500/9100 is a good one also.If you get good DDR400 (like Twinmos/winbond as i suggested)you could still very easily hit 220/440FSB and the graphics from the video card would be better than the onboard video on the NF7-M.Be careful to avoid the crucial 9100, since it comes with slow 5ns memory.

no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]

 

[xlodo]

Your advice puts the NF7-m back in a good light. I was reading a review at OCprices.com for the NF7-m and the guy was able to do 207fsb I think, but only when using an add-in card. WIth integrated video enabled I think he couldn't go past 190, so I still think it's definitely a good choice; also, if anyone else considers this mobo with integrated video, it is very important to have dual channel memory (I know somebody already told me about this here in the forums) as there is a huge difference between single and dual channel for onboard video.
So if I buy the epox I save around $10 on the mobo and get a ~$60 vcard. I guess $50 are definitely worth the separate card and onboard SATA, also the Epox comes with a lot of cables, including round IDEs; however it lacks the spdif out, but in any case I don't think I'd ever need that. I think for the time being I'll buy one 512 stick of the twinmos and another one later on. Also, what was that cheap PSU Crashman says is good? I might need one better than the one that comes in the case I'm buying.
I know this question is for another forum but since you guys have been so helpful, I just saw the hardocp article that compares a ti4600 and 8500, so I decided it was worth it to get the 4200, I'm expecting to use this card for at least 1 year. What do you think of the Gainward ultra 650 ti4200 64mb at $81, I found it on gameve.com, they're so so, according to resellerratings (7.59), I like it that it already has a composite tv out. There's also a Chaintech 64mb ti4200 for $89 at futurepowerpc, gpu at 250, mem at 512, tv-out (which I want) they're doing very well at rr.com (8.86) but they're very new. Lastly, an MSI 4200 8x 64mb at $82 at partspc.com, but they don't look good with 6.09 at rr.com, MSIs site doesn't even mention that model.

 

[ad_rach]

Nice one.It is true that dual channel makes a lot of difference when using the integrated video, but you shouldn't really suffer when using single channel for the time being with a separate video card.The dual channel on the nforce 2 ultra 400 boards makes no huge difference, as has been proven by the fact that some nforce 2 400 (single channel) boards can outperform some ultra 400 boards.
As for SPDIF out, i don't think you will miss it.It looks nice but i have never used it .
Good choice on the Ti4200.I'm not really familiar with any of those resellers (except through reading about them on here) because I am in the UK.If i were you i would just buy whichever card has the fastest memory on it and is within your price range (in a lot of cases, the 8X boards have the fastest memory).

EDIT-Oh, and i think the PSU crashman keeps mentioning is a Fortron one from <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com" target="_new">Newegg</A>.Not sure about the wattage.
no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ad_rach on 11/20/03 07:24 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[xlodo]

Thanks a lot again. I'll post back once the system is up and running or something else comes up.

 

[xlodo]

Is this the RAM I'm looking for? will it get me to 200fsb with the XP2500? It's buffalo and it seems it's the one with winbond chips.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=20-150-564&refer=pr1c3watch

Buffalo Technology 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - OEM
Specification
Manufacturer: Buffalo Technology
Model: DD4002-512
Speed: DDR400(PC3200)
Type: 184 Pin DDR SDRAM
Error Checking: Non-ECC
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Cas Latency: 2.5
Support Voltage: 2.6V
Bandwidth: 3.2GB/s
Organization: 64M x 64 -Bit
Warranty: Lifetime Model#: DD4002-512

There's also this one. As you can see, newegg says it's pc2700. However according to the serial number DD4002-512/WC it should be pc3200. What do you think?

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=0&submit=Go&description=DD4002%2D512%2FWC

Buffalo Technology 184 Pin 512MB PC-2700 - OEM
Specification
Manufacturer: Buffalo
Model: DD4002-512/WC
Speed: DDR333(PC2700)
Type: 184 Pin DDR SDRAM
Error Checking: Non-ECC
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Cas Latency: 2.5
Support Voltage: 2.5V
Bandwidth: 2.7GB/s
Organization: 64M x 64 -Bit

Both cost $85
BTW, I decided to get the abit nf7-s
Thanks

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by xlodo on 11/29/03 05:42 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[ad_rach]

Looks like it.I had a search on google for reviews of it and they say it uses Winbond CH-5 chips.Go for it .

no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]

 

[xlodo]

THanks a bunch