Best mobo for AXP 1800+

[tombance]

Hi, Im looking for a motherboard that would suit well the AXP 1800+ Thoroughbred (not a 333FSB board as i wont be upgrading for ages and it aint worth it). If possible I would prefer not to get a VIA board, so SiS or nForce are my two main options. I was going to get the MSI 745 Ultra, but I was wondering whether the nForce was a better chipset (higher performance and stability). If not can anyone recomend a good but cheap board (under about £70 or $105)?

 

[groth2757]

The Asus A7N8X has gotten steller reviews from a lot of sources including here. I'm building my friend a new pc and I went with this motherboard as my choice. I also here that it detects the XP 1800+ as a 2000+ giving you an instant overclock. Also newegg was out of them for a while but they have them in stock now, I just bought one last night.

<font color=blue>Can anyone help me overclock my girlfriend's love toy?<font color=blue>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

The cheapest nForce2 mobo now- Leadtek K7NCR18D Pro. Costs $115 to $120

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[tombance]

I actually said that I would not prefer a 333FSB board because I wont be upgrading to a 333FSB processor (the nForce2 is out of my budget range in UK, usually bout £120). So, ill change the question, Which has higher performance out of the nForce(1) or the SiS 745?

 

[tombance]

If you read my previous post, I have already said that I am not interested in the NForce2 or any VIA chipsets, but I would like to know which is best out of the nforce or the SiS745 (you might notice that neither of these are made by VIA and so nforce2 is not my only option)?

 

[groth2757]

Why would you not want something that can take future processors when they become much cheaper? Just curious...

<font color=blue>Can anyone help me overclock my girlfriend's love toy?<font color=blue>

 

[Quetzacoatl]

The Sis 745 is getting a little old, and Sis plans on releasing an updated version, the 746 soon, which you might want to wait for. The Nforce2 has matured enough now to be a stable (and fast) platform. I've had no problems using both Via and Nvidia chipsets. Strangely, the only motherboard I had troubles with was the MSI 745 ultra, although I think the Northbridge was damaged on delivery (the HSF was knicked, the heatpad came off). If you really want an Nforce board, the Asus A7N-266E is the way to go without integrated graphics.

Soon enough, Intel will make the i845s...imagine dual channel Sdram...*shudder*

 

[Spitfire_x86]

If you really want an Nforce board, the Asus A7N-266E is the way to go without integrated graphics

No, ASUS A7N266-C is integrated graphics free. A7N266-E is based on nForce 420-D.

Another good nForce 415-D board, MSI K7N415 Pro.

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[tombance]

Ok, ive decided that the extra £65 is worth it and im going to but the Asus A7V8X instead of the MSI, so is everyone now happy? , I thinkk ill wait untill after christmas when the prices will probably go down a little. That was I can upgrade my old and slow 5400rpm Quantum Fireball 20gb, it really made a difference to my system when a friend lent me his 7200rpm maxtor to try out, ill probably get serial ATA, and I can say goodbye to my SB16 PCI... YAY!

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Ok, ive decided that the extra £65 is worth it and im going to but the Asus A7V8X instead of the MSI, so is everyone now happy?

I think it would be A7N8X. You probably don't want to buy a KT400 based mobo.

S-ATA has no benefit over ATA-100, except ease of insatallation. When it will become useful, then your system will be obsolete. So don't spend extra money after S-ATA.


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[Crashman]

WTF? My response disappeared!!!

OK, so no one wants to answer your question, I will. The 745 Ultra is a killer board for the price, and a better performance option than the nForce 1 IIRC.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[halkebul]

Hello. You can get the MSI 745 Ultra in <A HREF="http://komplett.co.uk/k/kl.asp?AvdID=1&CatID=10&GrpID=5&t=845&l=2" target="_new">uk</A> for £54.95.

<i>It's your world kid!!!</i>

 

[Ub3r_n00b]

Ok, ive decided that the extra £65 is worth it and im going to but the Asus A7V8X instead of the MSI, so is everyone now happy?

Just so you understand, the A7V8X is has the VIA chipset, which you repeatedly said you didn't want (the V in A7V8X stands for VIA). The A7N8X is the mobo I think you want, which has the nvidia chipset (nforce2) (the "N" in A7N8X stands for Nvidia).

Just trying to clear that up if nforce2 is your choice.

<font color=red> Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question... just stupid people. </font color=red>

 

[tombance]

Doh! My mistake I meant the A7N8X, I had just been discussing with my brother what the difference was
Crash, thanks for actually answering my question, although I now think im going to get the nForce2 board for future upgradability. Ill probably buy the AXP 1800+ and one stick of 256 PC2700 (or PC3200) now and upgrade my processor, ram and perhaps my slow HDD later. However if I cant get enough money (im just about to sell a p200 im hoping to get £200 for) ill stick to the 745 Ultra.

 

[Spitfire_x86]

nForce(1) gives superior performance over SiS 745. SiS 735 lagged behind of AMD 760 and SiS 745 is very little better than it. Original nForce was good ahead of AMD 760 and slightly behing of KT266A in terms of performance.

I don't have experience with SiS 745 Ultra. I am using a nForce 420-D board now, it rocks. If you can't buy nForce2, then buy the ASUS A7N266-C. Another point except performance to justify it's higher price over MSI 745 Ultra is nForce audio. nForce MCP-D audio is MUCH better than MSI 745 Ultra's plain AC-97 audio.

And here's cheaper nForce2 solutions for you:- Epox 8RDA+, MSI K7N2 (or K7N2-L), Leadtek K7NCR18-D. They are better buy than original nForce. Epox 8RDA+ is the best among them. If you don't need extras like fireware, dual lan, S-ATA raid; no need to spend extra money after A7N8X.

Very cheap nForce(1) solution:- ASUS A7N266-VM. Costs slightly more than MSI 745 Ultra. Comes with 3 PCI slots and 2 memory banks.

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[halkebul]

future upgradability

You definetly should get a nForce2 board. Ditto on the Epox 8RDA+! Whichever nForce2 board you get, remember to fill two memory slots with memory (1st and 3rd or 2nd and 3rd memory slot) in order to take advantage of the dual memory controllers - doubles memory
bandwidth.

Ill probably buy the AXP 1800+ and one stick of 256 PC2700 (or PC3200) now and upgrade my processor, ram ...

Get the PC3200 memory. You may want to make an upgrade to a future 400MHz FSB Barton processor. If you get the PC3200 memory you'll have a perfect 400MHz/400MHz FSB/Memory_speed ratio for your probable Barton processor upgrade.

<i>It's your world kid!!!</i>

 

[tombance]

Is it as good as the Asus board? Although I do admit I dont need Lan, s-ata, or firewire at the moment, I might want them in the future. I am hoping to get some corsair pc3200 cl2 ram, but does anyone know of any cheaper (im in the uk, corsair is v.expensive here) stuff, What about Twinmos PC3200 cl2.5, would that do cl2 and is it any good?

 

[andlcs]

Yeah, get nForce2, the Epox one! <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1759" target="_new">Anandtech nForce2 roundup</A>.
CAS2.0 PC3200 memory and T-Bred B CPU too.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by andlcs on 12/07/02 02:55 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[andlcs]

Get the PC3200 memory. You may want to make an upgrade to a future 400MHz FSB Barton processor. If you get the PC3200 memory you'll have a perfect 400MHz/400MHz FSB/Memory_speed ratio for your probable Barton processor upgrade.

Does nFORCE2 boards have 200MHz FSB w/o overclocking the PCI? The maximum FSB speeds of the Leadtek, Epox, MSI and Chaintech nforce2 boards is 200MHz.

 

[tombance]

WHAT ABOUT THE TWINMOS PC3200 CL2.5, WILL IT DO CL2???

 

[halkebul]

Is it as good as the Asus board? Although I do admit I dont need Lan, s-ata, or firewire at the moment, I might want them in the future.

Same potent overclocking feature set as the A7N8X deluxe. Contains firewire (external connectivity by use of a firewire bracket). No serial-ATA but it really doesn't make sense to use a Serial-ATA hard drive with current motherboards anyway because of the limits of the current PCI. Doesn't include Dual LAN like the A7N8X deluxe but this doesn't seem like a feature that will be useful for you. It contains one LAN, which is sufficient for 99 percent of users.

<i>It's your world kid!!!</i>

 

[halkebul]

Does nFORCE2 boards have 200MHz FSB w/o overclocking the PCI?

Set the AGP bus frequency to 66MHz. There are two rumors about how the PCI bus frequency is dealt with, automatically divided or half of AGP bus frequency. If you set the AGP bus to 66MHz, the PCI bus frequency will not exceed 34MHz - a safe frequency.

<i>It's your world kid!!!</i>

 

[halkebul]

WHAT ABOUT THE TWINMOS PC3200 CL2.5, WILL IT DO CL2???

TwinMos is suffient. If you want to run your memory at 200MHz (400MHz DDR) in the future, set the memory vcore to 3.0V - mite want to set the memory vcore to 3.0V rite off the bat so that you won't have to do it in the future. And set the CPU vcore to 1.75V. Should have no problems running CL2. The TwinMos PC3200 CL2.5 module is running at CL2 even at 400MHz DDR <A HREF="http://www.hexus.co.uk/review.php?review=436&page=2" target="_new">here</A>. Here's what the other memory timings should be:

Precharge to Active (Trp) : 3T
Active to Precharge (Tras) : 6T
Active to CMD (Trcd) : 3T
DRAM Command Rate : 2T

<i>It's your world kid!!!</i>

 

[tombance]

hmmm, not bad, maybe I should just save up and get corsair. Ive found some for about £100 including shiping for 256mb (about $165) so maybe ill wait till after christmas for the sales, ill get an A7N8X then aswell.

 

[andlcs]

Don't forget to get two sticks for dual channel!!!