Okay, AMD lovers. 8)

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

I need to build a PC for someone, and they're in a hurry, so I need to
make some quick decisions. Since I'm usually buying slow Intel stuff
for work, I'm more in tune with that scene. But since this will be a
home PC, I'd like to go A64 for the best performance.

I think socket 939 is the way to go, and I think the chipset to get is
the Nforce3 Ultra. (NewEgg does not list any Nforce3 250, socket 939
boards, so I think Nforce3 Ultra is the choice.)

The selection of Nforce3 Ultra, socket 939 boards is not very large.
I'm thinking of the EPOX EP-9NDA3J. This would go with an A64 3200+
and a Gforce 6600 video card.

Sound like a good plan? Any hints or suggestions regarding memory or
whatever?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

Oh, and I'll be using Win2k.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid> wrote in
news:kao411t64sdu9au265afeijv1lirv45sbr@4ax.com:
> I think socket 939 is the way to go, and I think the chipset to get is
> the Nforce3 Ultra. I'm thinking of the EPOX EP-9NDA3J. This would go
> with an A64 3200+ and a Gforce 6600 video card.

You might want to look at an Nforce4 system -- it will cost you an
extra $10-$15 on the motherboard, but you'll save that much by buying
a PCIe 6600 instead of AGP. You'll also be better able to upgrade the
video card in the future.

-chris

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

Chris Dodd wrote:

>chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid> wrote in
>news:kao411t64sdu9au265afeijv1lirv45sbr@4ax.com:
>> I think socket 939 is the way to go, and I think the chipset to get is
>> the Nforce3 Ultra. I'm thinking of the EPOX EP-9NDA3J. This would go
>> with an A64 3200+ and a Gforce 6600 video card.
>
>You might want to look at an Nforce4 system -- it will cost you an
>extra $10-$15 on the motherboard, but you'll save that much by buying
>a PCIe 6600 instead of AGP. You'll also be better able to upgrade the
>video card in the future.

That's a good point. Plus I'm starting to think I might scale-back
the video card to a 6200, which makes future upgradability via PCIe
that much more important.

The selection there isn't great, either, but the Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9
looks pretty good...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

Using a finger dipped in purple ink, chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid> scribed:

>I think socket 939 is the way to go, and I think the chipset to get is
>the Nforce3 Ultra.

The NForce3 chipset for socket 939 isn't the fastest nor does it have the most features.

Check out the Soltek K8TPRO-939 if you want to go with an AGP video card,
rather than PCIx.





--

The truth is out there,

but it's not interesting enough for most people.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

Never anonymous Bud wrote:

>Using a finger dipped in purple ink, chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid> scribed:
>
>>I think socket 939 is the way to go, and I think the chipset to get is
>>the Nforce3 Ultra.
>
>The NForce3 chipset for socket 939 isn't the fastest nor does it have the most features.
>
>Check out the Soltek K8TPRO-939 if you want to go with an AGP video card,
>rather than PCIx.

Well, I've never been a Via fan... I feel a bit more comfortable
going with Nvidia. What do you think about the Nforce4?

 

[mygarbage2000]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 18:34:56 -0600, chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid>
wrote:

>Never anonymous Bud wrote:
>
>>Using a finger dipped in purple ink, chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid> scribed:
>>
>>>I think socket 939 is the way to go, and I think the chipset to get is
>>>the Nforce3 Ultra.
>>
>>The NForce3 chipset for socket 939 isn't the fastest nor does it have the most features.
>>
>>Check out the Soltek K8TPRO-939 if you want to go with an AGP video card,
>>rather than PCIx.
>
>Well, I've never been a Via fan... I feel a bit more comfortable
>going with Nvidia. What do you think about the Nforce4?

Either I am lucky or K8T is "not your father's" VIA chipset, but...
There is not a single bad thing to say about my VIA-based MSI
Master2-FAR board, and I own it for quite some while now (knock on
wood)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 15:07:20 -0600, chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid>
wrote:

>I need to build a PC for someone, and they're in a hurry, so I need to
>make some quick decisions. Since I'm usually buying slow Intel stuff
>for work, I'm more in tune with that scene. But since this will be a
>home PC, I'd like to go A64 for the best performance.
>
>I think socket 939 is the way to go, and I think the chipset to get is
>the Nforce3 Ultra. (NewEgg does not list any Nforce3 250, socket 939
>boards, so I think Nforce3 Ultra is the choice.)
>
>The selection of Nforce3 Ultra, socket 939 boards is not very large.
>I'm thinking of the EPOX EP-9NDA3J. This would go with an A64 3200+
>and a Gforce 6600 video card.
>
>Sound like a good plan? Any hints or suggestions regarding memory or
>whatever?

As others have suggested, I'd really recommend skipping the nForce3
and going for the nForce4. Not only does it provide better
performance, but it also supports PCI-Express graphics cards. To top
it off, going with a PCI-E graphics card vs. AGP you'll probably save
at least as much as the difference between an nForce3 and nForce4
motherboard. Actually I saw in another message that you're thinking
of a GeForce 6200, which seems to only be available as PCI-Express, so
it pretty much rules out AGP as an option.

The availability of nForce4 boards has greatly improved over the past
month or so. As for which board to get, that's a trickier question.
I'd throw out a cautious recommendation for the Chaintech VNF4/Ultra.
I've been using a few Chaintech products recently and have found them
to be really quite problem-free, despite the fact that they're usually
some of the cheapest out there. Reviews on this board have, thus far,
been universally good, better than many more expensive boards.

Beyond that it's just a matter of standard computer-building rules.
Get a decent quality case + power supply. Brand name memory,
purchased in pairs for this Socket 939 Athlon64. Fast hard drive,
probably SATA with an 8MB cache, Seagate's latest 'Cudas would be my
choice here. Top it off with the standard extras like a CD drive
(DVD-RW is probably worthwhile here, they're super-cheap now),
keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc. Should make for a rather nice little
system without too much cost.

-------------
Tony Hill
hilla <underscore> 20 <at> yahoo <dot> ca

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

Using a finger dipped in purple ink, chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid> scribed:

>Well, I've never been a Via fan... I feel a bit more comfortable
>going with Nvidia. What do you think about the Nforce4?

The NF4 is too new to really know how it's going to do.

But from all accounts, the VIA S939 chipset is VERY good.






--

The truth is out there,

but it's not interesting enough for most people.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

Tony Hill wrote:

>As others have suggested, I'd really recommend skipping the nForce3
>and going for the nForce4. Not only does it provide better
>performance, but it also supports PCI-Express graphics cards. To top
>it off, going with a PCI-E graphics card vs. AGP you'll probably save
>at least as much as the difference between an nForce3 and nForce4
>motherboard. Actually I saw in another message that you're thinking
>of a GeForce 6200, which seems to only be available as PCI-Express, so
>it pretty much rules out AGP as an option.

Hmm... I checked Nforce4 "Ultra" and behold, more choices that I
didn't see yesterday. Cool.

>The availability of nForce4 boards has greatly improved over the past
>month or so. As for which board to get, that's a trickier question.
>I'd throw out a cautious recommendation for the Chaintech VNF4/Ultra.

Looks like a good deal. And if it's no good, I have you to blame. 8)

Looks like Via doesn't do PCI-Express at all, so I'm leaning even more
to Nforce4...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

In article <4rg5119u0dtq81jpdro8pnisv88n9se2nf@4ax.com>,
Never anonymous Bud <newskat@katxyzkave.net> wrote:
>Using a finger dipped in purple ink, chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid> scribed:
>
>>Well, I've never been a Via fan... I feel a bit more comfortable
>>going with Nvidia. What do you think about the Nforce4?
>
>The NF4 is too new to really know how it's going to do.
>
>But from all accounts, the VIA S939 chipset is VERY good.

I have one (on an ECS motherboard, even...the KV2 Extreme). It hauls ass,
and I've not had any stability problems or weird glitches with it. It does
lots of video editing and MPEG-2 encoding, and even though it's just one
processor, the Athlon 64 3500 on it runs faster than the pair of Athlon MP
2100s I was using previously.

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (Linux)

iD8DBQFCE4hCVgTKos01OwkRAilhAJoDtS8KOUbW7Gi+DbsZB/AK+ZhZjQCeKYSr
1PwBWAsLadZHbg2Guzflsag=
=9zD/
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

I've been thinking that a Socket 940 motherboard would be the way
to go just so that you have the option of being an early adopter
of the dual-core chips. However, it currently appears that if
you want a socket 940 motherboard you have to either get an
expensive dualie like the Tyan S2895 or live without PCI-E.

I looked around for a while for a motherboard with a single
socket 940 *and* PCI-E, but no such luck. I'd appreciate an URL
if anyone else has seen such a beast.


--
Every cloud has a silver lining, even if you sometimes
have to drop a little acid before you can see it.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 15:07:20 -0600, chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid> wrote:

>
>I need to build a PC for someone, and they're in a hurry, so I need to
>make some quick decisions. Since I'm usually buying slow Intel stuff
>for work, I'm more in tune with that scene. But since this will be a
>home PC, I'd like to go A64 for the best performance.
>
>I think socket 939 is the way to go, and I think the chipset to get is
>the Nforce3 Ultra. (NewEgg does not list any Nforce3 250, socket 939
>boards, so I think Nforce3 Ultra is the choice.)
>
>The selection of Nforce3 Ultra, socket 939 boards is not very large.
>I'm thinking of the EPOX EP-9NDA3J. This would go with an A64 3200+
>and a Gforce 6600 video card.

I've done both VIA K8T800 and nForce3 s939 systems with MSI mbrds and they
are both fine - VIA seems to be solid here despite their past reputation.
You might even find that nForce3 and nForce4 mbrds are scarce and therefore
expensive - the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum I bought in November is now selling
at an average $10. more than I paid and is hardly ever in stock at NewEgg.

You've already gotten the hints about nForce4 and PCI Express, the only
caveats there being that the mbrds are still relatively new and could have
V1.0 problems... and really want a 24-pin ATX12V 2.0 power connector which
is also scarce.

There's also the ATI radeon Xpress 200(p) based mbrds but I don't know much
about them and they are also in apparent short supply. Monarch had them
last I looked but their reputation is spotty.

>Sound like a good plan? Any hints or suggestions regarding memory or
>whatever?

If that's an Athlon 3200+ Winchester, i.e. 90nm, I'd say it's a good way to
go -- has 1000MHz Hypertransport -- but again supply may be a problem and
synching mbrd/CPU availability could be aggravating. The Newcastle 130nm
parts work OK, are cheaper but do run hotter.

For memory I'd recommend making sure you get single rank DIMMs due to
Athlon64 bus loading issues - you're more likely to be able to get 1T
command rate with single ranks, especially if upgrade is a possibility
later. For my 1GB I got two of the Crucial "8T" (i.e. 8-chip) parts listed
at NewEgg.

For a power supply, you want to be sure you get one which puts out a min of
20amp on the +12V - getting that with a 24-pin ATX connector might be hard
to find. You *can* plug a 20-pin connector into the 24-pin socket but I'm
not sure of the pros & cons here - maybe someone else can comment.

One thing I'd add based on my experience: assuming you'll likely get a case
with front panel USB, check the connector from the case carefully: the one
on my Antec Sonata had 9 wires connected, the extra 9th one thus connecting
to the USBOC pin on the mbrd. I dunno what the case does with that
connection but it caused problems with USB for me - even the rear
connectors had trouble with intermittent recognition of my Logitech
joystick. Disconnecting that extra 9th pin on the front panel connector
fixed things. I dunno if this problem is unique to the Antec case, MSI
mbrds or their Athlon64 mbrds.

--
Rgds, George Macdonald

 

[keith]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 18:06:45 +0000, Rob Stow wrote:

> I've been thinking that a Socket 940 motherboard would be the way
> to go just so that you have the option of being an early adopter
> of the dual-core chips. However, it currently appears that if
> you want a socket 940 motherboard you have to either get an
> expensive dualie like the Tyan S2895 or live without PCI-E.

Yikes! $500?

> I looked around for a while for a motherboard with a single
> socket 940 *and* PCI-E, but no such luck. I'd appreciate an URL
> if anyone else has seen such a beast.

Nope. I'm not a 3D freak. However, I do note that registered memory has
come down substantially. It's perhaps a 20% premium over unbuffered now.
A vote for the 940.

Maybe there's hope for the intro price on the dual Opterons, if boards
are going for $500! ;-)

--
Keith

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 07:38:02 -0600, chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid>
wrote:

>Tony Hill wrote:
>
>>As others have suggested, I'd really recommend skipping the nForce3
>>and going for the nForce4. Not only does it provide better
>>performance, but it also supports PCI-Express graphics cards. To top
>>it off, going with a PCI-E graphics card vs. AGP you'll probably save
>>at least as much as the difference between an nForce3 and nForce4
>>motherboard. Actually I saw in another message that you're thinking
>>of a GeForce 6200, which seems to only be available as PCI-Express, so
>>it pretty much rules out AGP as an option.
>
>Hmm... I checked Nforce4 "Ultra" and behold, more choices that I
>didn't see yesterday. Cool.

I'm still not quite sure what the difference between the regular and
Ultra nForce4 boards is, but it doesn't seem to be too substantial...
Hmm.. lets see what nVidia says.. Hmm.. looks like the "Ultra" buys
you 3.0Gbit/s SATA vs. 1.5Gbit/s and also "ActiveArmor" firewall built
in, instead of just the regular nVidia firewall.. Yup, nothing too
substantial, which explains why the price is pretty much the same.

>>The availability of nForce4 boards has greatly improved over the past
>>month or so. As for which board to get, that's a trickier question.
>>I'd throw out a cautious recommendation for the Chaintech VNF4/Ultra.
>
>Looks like a good deal. And if it's no good, I have you to blame. 8)

Who, me?! :>

>Looks like Via doesn't do PCI-Express at all, so I'm leaning even more
>to Nforce4...

VIA "released" their PCI Express chipsets for Athlon64 chips about 6
months ago... To date I don't think any manufacturer has actually
managed to get a working version of those chipsets though.

-------------
Tony Hill
hilla <underscore> 20 <at> yahoo <dot> ca

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

keith wrote:
> On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 18:06:45 +0000, Rob Stow wrote:
>
>
>>I've been thinking that a Socket 940 motherboard would be the way
>>to go just so that you have the option of being an early adopter
>>of the dual-core chips. However, it currently appears that if
>>you want a socket 940 motherboard you have to either get an
>>expensive dualie like the Tyan S2895 or live without PCI-E.
>
>
> Yikes! $500?

Where did you find one for that little ? ;-)

Best price I saw when I went looking a couple of weeks ago was
$555. Or $635 if you picked up the SCSI option.


>
>
>>I looked around for a while for a motherboard with a single
>>socket 940 *and* PCI-E, but no such luck. I'd appreciate an URL
>>if anyone else has seen such a beast.
>
>
> Nope. I'm not a 3D freak. However, I do note that registered memory has
> come down substantially. It's perhaps a 20% premium over unbuffered now.
> A vote for the 940.
>
> Maybe there's hope for the intro price on the dual Opterons, if boards
> are going for $500! ;-)
>

Apparently the initial dual-core Opty 26x is supposed to be a 2
GHz part. The current pricewatch rate is $310 for a 2 GHz Opty
246. Doubling that $310 number ... is probably as meaningful as
guessing the price of beef by looking at the prices of apples.


--
Every cloud has a silver lining, even if you sometimes
have to drop a little acid before you can see it.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

In article <C0VQd.411909$Xk.284296@pd7tw3no>, rob.stow.nospam@shaw.ca
says...
> keith wrote:
> > On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 18:06:45 +0000, Rob Stow wrote:
> >
> >
> >>I've been thinking that a Socket 940 motherboard would be the way
> >>to go just so that you have the option of being an early adopter
> >>of the dual-core chips. However, it currently appears that if
> >>you want a socket 940 motherboard you have to either get an
> >>expensive dualie like the Tyan S2895 or live without PCI-E.
> >
> >
> > Yikes! $500?
>
> Where did you find one for that little ? ;-)

Pricewatch (bottom feeder?). There was only one reseller listed.

> Best price I saw when I went looking a couple of weeks ago was
> $555. Or $635 if you picked up the SCSI option.
>
Here: http://www.8anet.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=2417&lastcatid=5&step=4
$480 for the Non-SCSI, $590 with SCSI.


> >
> >
> >>I looked around for a while for a motherboard with a single
> >>socket 940 *and* PCI-E, but no such luck. I'd appreciate an URL
> >>if anyone else has seen such a beast.
> >
> >
> > Nope. I'm not a 3D freak. However, I do note that registered memory has
> > come down substantially. It's perhaps a 20% premium over unbuffered now.
> > A vote for the 940.
> >
> > Maybe there's hope for the intro price on the dual Opterons, if boards
> > are going for $500! ;-)
> >
>
> Apparently the initial dual-core Opty 26x is supposed to be a 2
> GHz part. The current pricewatch rate is $310 for a 2 GHz Opty
> 246. Doubling that $310 number ... is probably as meaningful as
> guessing the price of beef by looking at the prices of apples.

Doubling that number makes it uninteresting. A dual core should be
significantly cheaper than two singles. Though if they push AMD's ASP
up, I'm happy too. ;-)

--
Keith

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

Thanks to all who chimed-in. Wanting to get the stuff by Friday, I
ordered it all on Wednesday. I don't like making such quick
decisions, and I usually shy-away from things as new as the Nforce4,
but I'm taking the risk. I'm pretty excited, looking-foward to
building my first AMD machine. I won't get to keep it, but it should
be interesting to compare this fancy new 64-bit machine to my lowly
3GHz, 7200 RPM Northwood box. 8)

A64 3200+ (90nm Winchester core, socket 939)
Chaintech VNF4/Ultra (Nforce4 chipset)
512M Geil PC3200 (Don't know how many "ranks" it's got)
MSI NX6600 (Geforce 6600, 128MB, 128b, PCI-Express)
Antec Sonata case/supply (380W should be enough, eh?)
Viewsonic 19" LCD monitor (1280x1024, 16ms response time)
Lite-On DVD/CDRW (Don't think he needs to write DVD's)
74GB 10,000 RPM WD "Raptor" (I was coming-in under-budget, so what
the hey?)

About $1,500, delivered. I hope it works well. I'm building it for
my brother, so my reputation hangs in the balance. 8)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

"chrisv" <chrisv@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:t6c9111qsc80hqs2b3ebdvsgj4bmt4trcg@4ax.com...
>
> Thanks to all who chimed-in. Wanting to get the stuff by Friday, I
> ordered it all on Wednesday. I don't like making such quick
> decisions, and I usually shy-away from things as new as the Nforce4,
> but I'm taking the risk. I'm pretty excited, looking-foward to
> building my first AMD machine. I won't get to keep it, but it should
> be interesting to compare this fancy new 64-bit machine to my lowly
> 3GHz, 7200 RPM Northwood box. 8)
>
> A64 3200+ (90nm Winchester core, socket 939)
> Chaintech VNF4/Ultra (Nforce4 chipset)
> 512M Geil PC3200 (Don't know how many "ranks" it's got)
> MSI NX6600 (Geforce 6600, 128MB, 128b, PCI-Express)
> Antec Sonata case/supply (380W should be enough, eh?)
> Viewsonic 19" LCD monitor (1280x1024, 16ms response time)
> Lite-On DVD/CDRW (Don't think he needs to write DVD's)
> 74GB 10,000 RPM WD "Raptor" (I was coming-in under-budget, so what
> the hey?)
>
> About $1,500, delivered. I hope it works well. I'm building it for
> my brother, so my reputation hangs in the balance. 8)


get rid of the raptor,buy 2x 7200rpm hdd instead, much more flexible and
useable IMO

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 10:17:33 -0500, George Macdonald
<fammacd=!SPAM^nothanks@tellurian.com> wrote:

owsXP install to see the sata disk, but the bios
>>couldn't boot to sata.
>
>Silicon Image? You mean Gigabyte *added* SATA/Raid ports to the 4 fully
>integrated nForce4 SATA ports? They didn't even need to add a PHY for the
>2nd pair like they did with the nForce3. That's nuts... or just a sloppy
>shoehorn job on their old nForce3 layout... maybe explains why they were
>first out the door with an nForce4 board.
>
>From what I see the Chaintech uses the NV SATA2 3.0Gb/s for all 4 ports so
>he should be in better shape than you found. With my MSI Neo2 Plat., using
>the NV SATA I didn't even have to tell WinXP Install to load a special
>driver with the F6 thing - it just used the generic IDE driver until I had
>the OS installed and loaded the custon nVidia driver.


George the SI chip adds an extra 4 ports in addition to the 4 on the
NV chipset. These also add a Raid 5 functionality to the board. These
and the 4 NV ports work just fine and like your board they (the NV)
do not require a diver at install unless you require raid functions.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 23:07:52 GMT, Andy Lee <arl@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

>On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 10:17:33 -0500, George Macdonald
><fammacd=!SPAM^nothanks@tellurian.com> wrote:
>
>owsXP install to see the sata disk, but the bios
>>>couldn't boot to sata.
>>
>>Silicon Image? You mean Gigabyte *added* SATA/Raid ports to the 4 fully
>>integrated nForce4 SATA ports? They didn't even need to add a PHY for the
>>2nd pair like they did with the nForce3. That's nuts... or just a sloppy
>>shoehorn job on their old nForce3 layout... maybe explains why they were
>>first out the door with an nForce4 board.
>>
>>From what I see the Chaintech uses the NV SATA2 3.0Gb/s for all 4 ports so
>>he should be in better shape than you found. With my MSI Neo2 Plat., using
>>the NV SATA I didn't even have to tell WinXP Install to load a special
>>driver with the F6 thing - it just used the generic IDE driver until I had
>>the OS installed and loaded the custon nVidia driver.
>
>
>George the SI chip adds an extra 4 ports in addition to the 4 on the
>NV chipset. These also add a Raid 5 functionality to the board. These
>and the 4 NV ports work just fine and like your board they (the NV)
>do not require a diver at install unless you require raid functions.

If they work "just fine", maybe you can help gimp then.

--
Rgds, George Macdonald

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

chrisv wrote:

>A64 3200+ (90nm Winchester core, socket 939)
>Chaintech VNF4/Ultra (Nforce4 chipset)
>512M Geil PC3200 (Don't know how many "ranks" it's got)
>MSI NX6600 (Geforce 6600, 128MB, 128b, PCI-Express)
>Antec Sonata case/supply (380W should be enough, eh?)
>Viewsonic 19" LCD monitor (1280x1024, 16ms response time)
>Lite-On DVD/CDRW (Don't think he needs to write DVD's)
>74GB 10,000 RPM WD "Raptor" (I was coming-in under-budget, so what
>the hey?)

Well, I got it going this weekend. No insurmountable problems. There
was a BIOS bug that is a show-stopper if you're installing Win2k, so
you'll need a floppy-drive to fix that (I always build-in a floppy
drive anyway). I used an adaptor to connect the 20-pin power-supply
to the 24-pin connector on the motherboard. The driver install phase
was much quicker than it is on Intel boards I've done recently - the
Intel boards require mulitple reboots, while the Nforce driver install
went so quick I wondered if it really happened at first! Of course,
you'll want to use the latest drivers off the Internet for something
as new as the Nforce4.

The Viewsonic VP191B appears free of defects, and man is that 10k RPM
HD snappy! All in all, a really slick, fast, quiet machine - the best
I've ever built (as it should be, since it's the newest 8). Now I
want an A64 for myself, darn it!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

In article <kbim11dsvq60trhu5qh8tec2rpb6j94h5t@4ax.com>,
chrisv@nospam.invalid says...

<snip>

> Well, I got it going this weekend. No insurmountable problems. There
> was a BIOS bug that is a show-stopper if you're installing Win2k, so
> you'll need a floppy-drive to fix that (I always build-in a floppy
> drive anyway).

I have a similar issue, though the BIOS install wants a Win95 or Win98
emergency repair diskette. I got to the first step; went out and bought
a box of diskettes. The second step is a little more difficult, no
Win9x installed anywhere. Hmm.

> I used an adaptor to connect the 20-pin power-supply
> to the 24-pin connector on the motherboard.

Why? The 20pin connector should plug right into the 24-pin connector.
They're keyed so they only go in one way, at least without a hammer.

> The driver install phase
> was much quicker than it is on Intel boards I've done recently - the
> Intel boards require mulitple reboots, while the Nforce driver install
> went so quick I wondered if it really happened at first! Of course,
> you'll want to use the latest drivers off the Internet for something
> as new as the Nforce4.
>
> The Viewsonic VP191B appears free of defects, and man is that 10k RPM
> HD snappy! All in all, a really slick, fast, quiet machine - the best
> I've ever built (as it should be, since it's the newest 8). Now I
> want an A64 for myself, darn it!
>
Welcome to the dark side of the (N)force. ;-)

--
Keith

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

Keith R. Williams wrote:

>chrisv@nospam.invalid says...
>
>> Well, I got it going this weekend. No insurmountable problems. There
>> was a BIOS bug that is a show-stopper if you're installing Win2k, so
>> you'll need a floppy-drive to fix that (I always build-in a floppy
>> drive anyway).
>
>I have a similar issue, though the BIOS install wants a Win95 or Win98
>emergency repair diskette. I got to the first step; went out and bought
>a box of diskettes. The second step is a little more difficult, no
>Win9x installed anywhere. Hmm.

The BIOS on the Chaintech had a built-in flash utility that does not
require a bootable disk. All you need is the bin file on the floppy.
Worked really nice.

>> I used an adaptor to connect the 20-pin power-supply
>> to the 24-pin connector on the motherboard.
>
>Why? The 20pin connector should plug right into the 24-pin connector.
>They're keyed so they only go in one way, at least without a hammer.

Well, now you tell me. 8)

>> The driver install phase
>> was much quicker than it is on Intel boards I've done recently - the
>> Intel boards require mulitple reboots, while the Nforce driver install
>> went so quick I wondered if it really happened at first! Of course,
>> you'll want to use the latest drivers off the Internet for something
>> as new as the Nforce4.
>>
>> The Viewsonic VP191B appears free of defects, and man is that 10k RPM
>> HD snappy! All in all, a really slick, fast, quiet machine - the best
>> I've ever built (as it should be, since it's the newest 8). Now I
>> want an A64 for myself, darn it!
>>
>Welcome to the dark side of the (N)force. ;-)

Will the last Intel holdout in this group go AMD, or will The Empire
strike back in time for my next PC build? We'll have to wait for the
next episode, "Attack of the PC clones".

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

In article <gbsm111fqrbhbv31ab1ck60760lm5ere0q@4ax.com>,
chrisv@nospam.invalid says...
> Keith R. Williams wrote:
>
> >chrisv@nospam.invalid says...
> >
> >> Well, I got it going this weekend. No insurmountable problems. There
> >> was a BIOS bug that is a show-stopper if you're installing Win2k, so
> >> you'll need a floppy-drive to fix that (I always build-in a floppy
> >> drive anyway).
> >
> >I have a similar issue, though the BIOS install wants a Win95 or Win98
> >emergency repair diskette. I got to the first step; went out and bought
> >a box of diskettes. The second step is a little more difficult, no
> >Win9x installed anywhere. Hmm.
>
> The BIOS on the Chaintech had a built-in flash utility that does not
> require a bootable disk. All you need is the bin file on the floppy.
> Worked really nice.

Nice! I wonder why others haven't done this before. All the smarts is
there in the BIOS boot partition to do it.

Rob (thanks Rob) pointed me to a site that seems to have what I need.
I put a couple of different ones on my USB key, so maybe I'll get a
chance to try the update tonight (maybe not).

> >> I used an adaptor to connect the 20-pin power-supply
> >> to the 24-pin connector on the motherboard.
> >
> >Why? The 20pin connector should plug right into the 24-pin connector.
> >They're keyed so they only go in one way, at least without a hammer.
>
> Well, now you tell me. 8)

You have hammer thumbs? (I've heard of hammer toes, but...;-)
Seriously, I don't see any good the adapter can do. It's another two
connectors in series with the power supply.

> >> The driver install phase
> >> was much quicker than it is on Intel boards I've done recently - the
> >> Intel boards require mulitple reboots, while the Nforce driver install
> >> went so quick I wondered if it really happened at first! Of course,
> >> you'll want to use the latest drivers off the Internet for something
> >> as new as the Nforce4.
> >>
> >> The Viewsonic VP191B appears free of defects, and man is that 10k RPM
> >> HD snappy! All in all, a really slick, fast, quiet machine - the best
> >> I've ever built (as it should be, since it's the newest 8). Now I
> >> want an A64 for myself, darn it!
> >>
> >Welcome to the dark side of the (N)force. ;-)
>
> Will the last Intel holdout in this group go AMD, or will The Empire
> strike back in time for my next PC build? We'll have to wait for the
> next episode, "Attack of the PC clones".
>
Oh, no! That's not the plan, at all! The plan is to first get
everyone away from Intel, then it'll be: "Revenge of the PC clone
killers". Why do you think aapl stock has gone up by 4x in a year-and-
a-half? Someone leaked the plan. ;-)

--
Keith