Another "What nforce2 board"

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cbloss

Limp Gawd
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Feb 1, 2001
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I am sure this has been posted many times(no search) and I'm sure there is no definite answer but I would like to be certain I make the right choice for me.

Mobo I have brought down to:
DFI Infinity NFII
ABIT NF7-S V2
ABIT AN7
Asus a7n8x-E Deluxe

Right now I am probably leaning towards the DFI due to reading previous posts.
 
Don't get the AN7. Whichever you choose depends on what you need. To be honest, this thread is useless without some of your needs or other components that you will be using. The A7N8X is still having some issues, and people are changing to the Abit all the time. The Lanparty is the fanboy fave, but it's expensive and doesn't necessarily offer the best for you, but it's supposed to OC well and would probably be a good pickup. Any of the three would be good. An7 hasn't gone through its revisions and has bad too many issues to go with it. NF7 > NF7-S if you don't need SATA or onboard sound.
 
What I just is a very stable board that I am able to get a decent OC with, nothing too major. Why would NF7 > NF7-S?
 
I just spent a couple of weeks reading every possible motherboard review and did ALOT of research (articles. forums, system builders etc.). I was deciding between the boards you mentioned - DFI Infinity, Abit NF7-S and the A7N8X-E.

After alot of thought and consideration I bought the A7N8X-E and I'm completely happy with it, and would definitely recomend it. Set up was very easy and straight forward. I think alot of the issues people were having with the regular deluxe board have been fixed with the -E version, because I encountered no problems at all. I haven't had a chance to really overclock it yet, but early signs are good and its been very stable with the modest overclocks I have tried.

Between the 3 boards in question, there really doesn't seem to be a bad choice....here's the impression my research left me with:

A7N8X-E
-----------
GOOD: Very stable, overclocks resonably well. Lots of features. Gigabit lan.
BAD: Can be tricky to set up (lots of help out there to get you through though). A little expensive. Would have liked to have S/PDIF input as a standard not optional (for digital speakers)

NF7-S
--------
GOOD: Best overclocking board. Good price. Nice feature set.
A favourite among enthusiasts.

BAD: Uncertain future support (Abit and Nvidia have ended their business relationship). Although the people here have had nothing but positive things to say, one of the most reputable system builders in my area really discouraged me from buying this board. They've had lots of complaints & returns of this board.

DFI Infinity
-------------
GOOD: Good overclocking board. Stable. Great features. Strong presence and activity in the online forum community (www.amdmb.com)
BAD: Expensive (but I guess you get what you pay for). Dealing with a relatively new company (not necessarily a bad thing!)

Please keep in mind that these are only my impressions...its entirely likely that other people feel very differently than I do
:D
 
Originally posted by CretanBull
I just spent a couple of weeks reading every possible motherboard review and did ALOT of research (articles. forums, system builders etc.). I was deciding between the boards you mentioned - DFI Infinity, Abit NF7-S and the A7N8X-E.

After alot of thought and consideration I bought the A7N8X-E and I'm completely happy with it, and would definitely recomend it. Set up was very easy and straight forward. I think alot of the issues people were having with the regular deluxe board have been fixed with the -E version, because I encountered no problems at all. I haven't had a chance to really overclock it yet, but early signs are good and its been very stable with the modest overclocks I have tried.

Between the 3 boards in question, there really doesn't seem to be a bad choice....here's the impression my research left me with:

A7N8X-E
-----------
GOOD: Very stable, overclocks resonably well. Lots of features. Gigabit lan.
BAD: Can be tricky to set up (lots of help out there to get you through though). A little expensive. Would have liked to have S/PDIF input as a standard not optional (for digital speakers)

NF7-S
--------
GOOD: Best overclocking board. Good price. Nice feature set.
A favourite among enthusiasts.

BAD: Uncertain future support (Abit and Nvidia have ended their business relationship). Although the people here have had nothing but positive things to say, one of the most reputable system builders in my area really discouraged me from buying this board. They've had lots of complaints & returns of this board.

DFI Infinity
-------------
GOOD: Good overclocking board. Stable. Great features. Strong presence and activity in the online forum community (www.amdmb.com)
BAD: Expensive (but I guess you get what you pay for). Dealing with a relatively new company (not necessarily a bad thing!)

Please keep in mind that these are only my impressions...its entirely likely that other people feel very differently than I do
:D
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Are you saying it is your impression that the a7n8x-e dlx is more stable than the NF7-S v2?

Man just when I was leaning towards the NF7-S you lured back to the a7n8x-e dlx because stability is pretty much my #1 concern.
 
Have you considered the MSI boards, I"ve got nufin but good things to say about my K7N2-L Delta it was cheap($$$) and werks great,if you want to go all out the -ILSR versin has SATA RAID, and soundstorm
 
Originally posted by cbloss
Are you saying it is your impression that the a7n8x-e dlx is more stable than the NF7-S v2?

Man just when I was leaning towards the NF7-S you lured back to the a7n8x-e dlx because stability is pretty much my #1 concern.
Click to expand...

I can't say for certain that the Asus board is definitely more stable than the Abit board - I don't have any personal experience with the NF7-S - in the forums I've read about both boards having some problems.

What I can tell you is that I was able to install my board in about 1/2 hour and everything went very smoothly - no major problems at all. My comp. has been up an running for 3 days now and I've had no problems with it at all. I was warned about a few common problems that the Asus board has during set up, but I didn't experience any of those problems (I'm guessing the issues were fixed between the regular deluxe and the -E deluxe). I didn't have to install the flash utility, didn't have to update the bios, didn't have to update the SATA drivers...the motherboard went from the box into my case and was set up (with SATA) completely pain free.

Like I mentioned earlier, I was looking at the same 3 boards you're considering now. The DFI board wasn't available at my favourite shop, so I narrowed my choice down to the A7N8X-E and the NF7-S. After reading lots of reviews and lots of forum discussions, I was pretty comfortable with the idea of buying either board.

With that in mind, I spoke to the people at the shop where I buy most of my computer parts from...all 4 people working there told me to go with the Asus board....one of the guys told me that if I was a serious overclocker and an experienced system builder I *might* be happier with the Abit board because it tends to get better overclocking results, but he also added that the NF7-S gets returned more than any other board they sell and they've stopped offering it in their custom systems because of problems with the board. And I asked them....their profit margin on the boards is the same, they don't make extra cash pimpin' Asus products :p Given that I didn't have a clear favourite between the two boards, their advice was enough to sway me over to the A7N8X-E and I'm happy with that choice.

Having said all that, the NF7-S is a popular board among HardForum regulars and all of them seem to be happy with their boards and are quick to recomend it to anyone looking for advice
:D

I would absolutely avoid the MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR. I don't know if I got stuck with a bad board or not, but mine was the biggest computer related headache I've EVER had. It will be a long time before I buy another MSI product.
 
The Dfi Infinity is not expensive, it is only $95. The lan party b is expensive at $160... but you get some nice goodies too.

DFI is awesome, I strongly suggest dfi boards.
 
the dfi and a7n8x are good boards. i have no experience with the others, but i can vouch that these 2 are fine. which to get really depends on what you are going to actually use that these baords have to offer. i cant say anything good or bad about the other nforce2 boards, but the abit seems to be something else to look into from what i hear.

the dfi is (of course this is subjective) easier to set up than the a7n8x, but that depends on whether u are using raid, sound, etc. as for stability, i've never had or seen any problems other than human error with either of this boards.

the a7n8x has a bad rap because of the first issue 1.x board, they definitely had problems. now that it is at revision 2.x , things are running really smoothly. i've built 3 a7n8x-deluxe and 1- dfi lanparty, no problems with either.

just do your homework before you buy whatever you get about setup and troubleshooting... and save yourself possible heartache. there's nothing better than learning from other peoples mistakes :)
 
i'd go with the NF7-S
its one of the top performers with one of the lowest price
 
Originally posted by CretanBull

I would absolutely avoid the MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR. I don't know if I got stuck with a bad board or not, but mine was the biggest computer related headache I've EVER had. It will be a long time before I buy another MSI product.
Click to expand...

I agree, i don't haev one but a friend of mine got one.. had a TON of problems with it installing. it read totally whacked temps.. and refused to read the default clock speed, we tinkered with it for a long time and couldn't get much out of it.
 
Originally posted by CretanBull
DFI Infinity
-------------
GOOD: Good overclocking board. Stable. Great features. Strong presence and activity in the online forum community (www.amdmb.com)
BAD: Expensive (but I guess you get what you pay for). Dealing with a relatively new company (not necessarily a bad thing!)
Click to expand...

..It's not Expensive. You're mixing up the Lanparty and Infinity. Both boards are the same...except the Lanparty glows in the dark and has Gigabit LAN. Infinity costs $95 (CHEAPER THAN ALL THE BOARDS LISTED) and the LanParty is around $160.

AFAIC, the Infinity/LP series are the best overclocking boards right now. Coupled with the voltage options and un-godly bios support...there's hardly a match. I'm running 2.5ghz (250fsb) without an effort..no mods.
 
i'll vouch for the an7.

locked barton 2600+ at 2.3GHz @ 200MHz FSB.


nice onboard features and the thermalright sp-97 fits like a glove cept for the motherboard stand off next to the mounting hole. The backplate doesn't want to play nice.
 
Originally posted by Drisler
AFAIC, the Infinity/LP series are the best overclocking boards right now. Coupled with the voltage options and un-godly bios support...there's hardly a match.
Click to expand...

Oskar writes some nice bios updates for sure!

I just need an unlocked chip... 11x is limiting me to about 3200mb/s mem benchs. What do you get with that 250fsb?
 
Originally posted by CSx-2011
Oskar writes some nice bios updates for sure!

I just need an unlocked chip... 11x is limiting me to about 3200mb/s mem benchs. What do you get with that 250fsb?
Click to expand...

I'm using one of oskar's beta bioses. No Vmods.
 
I meant what kind of mem benchs are you getting at 250...

I am using the 12/31 beta bios.


Can you recommend the best bios settings for this setup? I have it at 11-2-2-2-2-13-15. Will command per clock help or hurt at 200-215fsb?
 
Command per clock is like Command Rate and will help your FSB if you have DOUBLE sided dimms. If you do, disable for higher FSB. Keep your timings.

I score 38xx/36xx in sandra.
 
Have you considered the MSI boards, I"ve got nufin but good things to say about my K7N2-L Delta it was cheap($$$) and werks great,if you want to go all out the -ILSR versin has SATA RAID, and soundstorm
Click to expand...

I wouldnt consider it. Its a huge pain in the ass to get running again. My comp crashed with this board in it and now i cant run my comp more than 15 mins max without locking (tested gfx card, HD, optical drives, repaired windows, soundcard, new bios flash, cpu, and mem. This board has given me hell.) Go with the NF7-S. Im actually going to pick one up tomorrow.
 
I have the abit NF7-S and have been running it for about 3 months now. No stability problems whatsoever. Setup was easy, just popped it in, installed all the components and it booted no problem. Excellent board, I would highly recommend it.
 
Nice drisler, 3800/3600. I bet that thing screams. I get a tad under 3200/3000 at 210mhz.

Where to find an unlocked chip and dump mine???

OR just strap a nice water block on it, and possibly a pelt or water chiller to get to 2800 the hard way... 11X heheheh..

edit: said 200 for mem scores, but was 210.
 
i've got nothing but good things to say about my nf7-s v2.0, just got it x-mas, but i've had plenty of time to oc it, have to say it's the best ocing board i've ever seen. plus, it's loaded with great features, SATA raid, soundstorm, lan, usb 2.0, etc. plus, u can get it for just $100 most places.
 
(Abit and Nvidia have ended their business relationship).
Click to expand...
You are not paying attention.

Nvidia and Abit have only severed their business association in terms of GPUs, not, I repeat not chipsets.

Abit will no longer be making nvidia based graphics cards but will definitely be making nvidia based motherboards for the forseeable future.

Therefore, stating that Abit will support the NF-7 series less fully than Asus will the A7N8X series because Abit will no longer make nvidia based mobos is completely false in all respects.
 
Originally posted by leukotriene
You are not paying attention.
Click to expand...

Really?
Nvidia and Abit have only severed their business association in terms of GPUs, not, I repeat not chipsets.
Click to expand...

Not true, I repeat, not true. "The split, which we've confirmed with Nvidia today, affects not only graphics cards but also mainboards too." http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13479 "

Abit will no longer be making nvidia based graphics cards but will definitely be making nvidia based motherboards for the forseeable future.
Click to expand...

Definitely? "it is possible that the firm [ABIT] may continue to produce certain successful SKUs powered by GeForce or nForce silicon from NVIDIA to fulfill the demand. http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/print/20040107114451.html "possible" "may" "Geforce OR nForce" is a far cry from Definitely be making motherboards. How much you wanna bet that when Abit asks VIA if they can supply enough chipsets to meet their demand, VIA's responce will be "Yes, if you completely stop making nForce boards" Obviously VIA wants less of its major competitors boards on the market and what bargaining power does Abit have? "No thanks, we'll deal exclusively with SiS and ATI" ? Not likely....

Therefore, stating that Abit will support the NF-7 series less fully than Asus will the A7N8X series because Abit will no longer make nvidia based mobos is completely false in all respects.
Click to expand...

Where did I state (or even imply) this? I didn't even mention ASUS' support at all! What I said was that future support from ABIT is uncertain which is completely true in all respects.

"Abit will broaden its business with VIA Technologies and likely begin developing platforms based on ATI chipsets. The hard feelings between Abit and Nvidia almost certainly calls future support from ABIT developers (in the form of BIOS updates) into question for their current product line." - CompuCanada

Now, what has been said since I originally posted in this thread is that Abit will fullfill its contractual obligations which include the release of Nforce3 boards. A spokes person from Abit told CompuCanada "Our number one priority is meeting the expectations of our customers, both past and present. Nvidia based platforms continue to be very popular. Our partnership with Nvidia has been very successful, but we're at the point where we've got some concerns about certain issues - and I've been told they have concerns too. For now its business as usual, we have mutual obligations to fulfill. As we work together over the next few months ABIT will be committed to problem solving and issue resolution in an effort to meet the needs of our customers."

Sounds promissing, yes but can still fairly be called 'uncertain'.
 
Not true, I repeat, not true.
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Why did you even bother to post this ( http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13479 ) link when you immediately half-contradicted it with a different reference? Especially since it's a rumor (which xbit repeated and you dutifully linked to), but completely neglected to mention was followed a week later by this particular article from the same source, which directly contradicts the claims made the week previous WRT chipsets:
AS EXPECTED, Abit will continue with its widely accepted Nforce 2 motherboards and it will introduce Nforce 3 boards as well in the near future. Abit promised that it will offer Abit Engineered nForce3 solution -- something that will be handy for the Athlon 64 market.
Even though Abit has stopped making Nvidia's graphics cards but as for motherboards Nvidia needs Abit and Abit needs Nvidia in this particular sector of the market.
Peace has broken out again just days after Nvidia said irreconcilable differences meant the relationship with Abit had broken down.
Nvidia actually won't lose any serious money on this graphic deal since Abit was never a big graphics customer but it hurts when a partner goes to your competition.
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So, uh, yes, yes, it was true. You were relying on an outdated rumor which was subsequently corrected by the source from which the rumor originated.

How much you wanna bet that when Abit asks VIA if they can supply enough chipsets to meet their demand, VIA's responce will be "Yes, if you completely stop making nForce boards" Obviously VIA wants less of its major competitors boards on the market and what bargaining power does Abit have? "No thanks, we'll deal exclusively with SiS and ATI" ? Not likely....
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You appear to think that VIA has had a problem working with mobo makers who select chipsets from other manufacturers. This is a supposition not borne out by any serious look at the stable of motherboards of any manufacturer who uses VIA chipsets. VIA has not been implicated in pressuring manufacturers into adopting their solutions entirely, partly because Intel boards make up the majority of sales, and Intel will not be put out of the chipset business by VIA.
Indeed, the SIS PIV chipsets are quite competitive with both Intel and VIA chipsets, and the new ATI chipset is as well.

So unless you have some evidence (that is not subsequently refuted by the same source) which would indicate that VIA has been extorting mobo manufacturers to use their chipsets exclusively, I suggest you not assume any such thing.

Every manufacturer who makes nforce based motherboards also makes Via based motherboards, and seems to have no trouble whatsoever supplying as many as needed. So your conspiracy theory here holds no water because it is not backed by any evidence at all, merely insinutations that VIA wields a type of clout in the chipset market that it clearly does not.
Especially since it is not even close to the preeminent chipset manufacturer for the PIV platform, which sells far more motherboards than the AMD platform.

Now, just for a little refresher, this is what you originally posted:

BAD: Uncertain future support (Abit and Nvidia have ended their business relationship).
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1) Abit and nvidia have not ended their business relationship. This is incorrect. Incorrect things are not correct. Things that are not correct are wrong. This is wrong.
2) Therefore flatly stating that future support is uncertain is a specific claim bolstered by no evidence outside of your quote from "CompuCanada".
What's more is that you list it as a "Bad" point of the board.
But it is not listed as a "Bad" point for any other motherboard. If Abit may not fully support their nforce motherboards in the future, it can be directly assumed due to the absence of this as a "Bad" point from your list that the other manufacturers will not do so. But you have no evidence of this other than a CompuCanada rumor which is not supported by the quote from the Abit spokesperson in the same source.
Another assumption.
edited for spelling and syntax
 
This conversation will not go beyond this post, but a few quick points -

1) things aren't rumours if its been "comfirm by Nvidia"
2) My 'outdated source' wasn't out dated at the time of the original post.
3) Someone from Abit stating the companies have 'concerns' about each and that its busines as usual 'for now' as they meet 'mutual obligations' doesn't really sound like a stable environment. Uncertain future indeed.
4) Yes, speculation on my part about VIA. Have they had a problem in the past? No. Have they ever been in a situation like this with a major manufacturer since nForce boards have blown their AMD motherboard sales out of the water? No. Now, as I orginally said, "How much you wanna bet..."
 
NF7-M is the NF7-S minus SATA.
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And an added onboard video.

My vote for the NF7-S. I own one, my friend owns one, my dad owns one, my friend's dad owns 2 ! my other friend owns one. Everyone on da block owns one. I got it first - I'm such a trendsetter!
 
Originally posted by Drisler
Command per clock is like Command Rate and will help your FSB if you have DOUBLE sided dimms. If you do, disable for higher FSB. Keep your timings.

I score 38xx/36xx in sandra.
Click to expand...


drisler where did you get your motherboard from?
 
I bought from gameve.com (waited three weeks for it to reach here)
I live in South America :D
 
omg that's patience


on the side note my cs keeps crashing on me, so i decided to run prime95. lo and behold the fucking program can't even run one test. I am going to call newegg and see if they can send me the dfi board.

edit: i saw you on the xtremesystems.org forum... i can't understand why i can't respond in that huge Abit AN7 thread, and voice my opinions.
 
A vote for Either the NF7-s (which I'm running, see specs below).

or the AN7.

Just finished building a system for someone. Barton 2500+ running at 2.2Ghz Stock Voltage and Retail Heatsink.

Colour me impressed :). 400Mhz "Free" OC.
Reminds me of when my k6-2-300 ran at 400 without a hitch.

Cheers,

Mr. Pain
 
ok i am able to run the processor now without prime crashing. however the cpu interface (command rate) won't be enabled. i think that this mushkin level 2 should handle it but it for the love of me it won't work.

edit i am at 210x11.5 and i think prime should run fine. vcore 1.875 vdimm 2.9 rest are stock.
 
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