A7N8X

[morganwill]

Hey Guys,
Just about to buy an A7N8X.
My Question is : What is the best HDD setup.
I have a maxtor 7200 ata133 60gb.
I am attracted to the serial raid.
Will I be able to use this fairly new hdd via a jack adapter?? I heard about an adapter and wonder if it really exists. It will be a drag if everyone has to get new Hdd's to use the included serial cables.
Also is DDR 400 a better long term buy than DDR 333??
Thanks _-

 

[paulj]

I just built a system w/ A7N8X. I didn't use the serial. I just used rounded IDE cables. I haven't heard of the adapter. It may exist but it seems that the HDD would have to be set up to accept that transfer speed. Can't help you much there.

I put DDR 400 in my system. One stick of 512 MB. Running at 400 is better in some cases and worse in some cases than 333. The 333 has an advantage since it is running synchronously with the fsb. The article in this link should help you.

<A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/20021111/index.html" target="_new"> Athlon On The Fast Lane: Three Motherboards with nForce2-Chipset and Dual-Channel DDR </A>

This is the most important paragraph in the article.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
"As you can see, some 3D applications gained performance considerably when running DDR400. That's why power users should definitely go for DDR400 memory - even though the advantage is not realized with standard games and applications. People that run high-end 3D applications like Design Review or 3D Studio Max will clearly experience more performance with the faster memory. All others can safely run DDR333 - but no matter which type of memory you want to use, do not accept anything other than CL2 mode DIMMs! The performance gap to CL2.5 is as big as if you exchanged your Athlon XP 2200+ for the 2100+ model!"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[Flyboy]

He's right. I found that my system performed better at DDR333 (actually ~DDR 352 overclock) with aggressive memory timings than DDR400 with default timings (crashes w/ aggressive timings)

 

[dweilbacher]

YES! The IDE to Serial Adpters do exist. In fact they come standard with the
ABIT Nforce2 board. Check out the review of the Nforce boards at Anandtech and
you will see the adpter for the ABIT board.

Abit KX7-333R, Abit Siluro Ti4400, XP1800+, 512MB Crucial DDR2100, WD 120 GB HD, Santa Cruz.