Nforce Ultra 400 Motherboard

[Ghost]

nother vote for the ASUS A7N8X DELUXE REV.2 <BR><BR>barton 2500 is running at 2300mhz with a small voltage raise <BR><BR>running at stock voltage it will run 2200mhz (11X200)<BR><BR>yup that is right that chip will do 200 mhz fsb easy and all the adjustments are done in the bios <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[computerfreke911]

Hi, im planning to purchase a nforce2 motherboard soon. Right now im considering an epox 8rda3+ or asus a7n8x. I plan to oc a lot. Im open to any other suggestions. could someone thats had a nforce 2 ultra gimme their expieriences and oc results? thanks

[ari4324]

If you plan to OC alot the ABIT NF7 or NF7-S is king (the difference between the two is that -S is equipped with SATA) the A7N8X is a very nice board and I OC bery well the majority of super overclockers use the NF7.<BR>Good Hunting<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[computerfreke911]

hi, i head that the epox and the abit r bout the same. the epox has some better features but i've investigated both and they both seem to b really good. i need someone to tell me if they've had any problems w/their boards. thanks

[therealwesty]

I like my A7N8X.

[computerfreke911]

could you tell me bout ur a7n8x?

[GNXtreme]

NF7-Sv2.0 is awesome...it has SATA, Soundstorm 5.1 audio, Ultra 400 chipset and is absolutely amazing overclocker...I have my XP2100 TbredB overclocked to 2.39GHz on air only using PC2700 DDR...191MHz X 12.5...I could probably even go higher with better RAM.

[computerfreke911]

wow. 191 on a 2400. hmmm this is getting me exited bout my new board. keep replying. thanks

[Ginsu543]

I would also recommend the NF7-S rev 2.0. Mine is only rev 1.0 but it can still do 408 MHz stable, and like GNX said, I could probably go higher with better ram. With rev 2.0, you should be able to up to 420 MHz and beyond, if you have a cpu and ram that can handle it. My NF7-S is rock solid, has great features, and has served me unfailingly for almost two years now. Not only that, the NF7-S is a bit cheaper I believe than the A7N8X Deluxe, which has comparable features.

[ari4324]

I like my ASUS, theres just something about it, it has nicer features than the ABIT IMO and I overclocks well

[therealwesty]

The A7N8X comes in a Deluxe model which has a TON of feature as well, as Ari mentioned. I got 180 FSB on my AthlonXP 2000 for the overall speed of 2255, I was also able to run 11x200 for 2200 to get a slightly higher benchmark. <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socketa/a7n8x/overview.htm">A7N8X info.</a>

[computerfreke911]

i see. thanks for the info. does anyone own an epox 8rda3+ that could tell me bout it?

[computerfreke911]

does anyone know if the 8rda3g is ultra 400? and the difference between the 8rda3+ and the 8rda3g? thanks

[Ginsu543]

Well, according to the Epox website, here's the info on the <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://web.epox.com/html/motherboard.asp?product=EP-8RDA3G&lang=1">8rda3g</a> and here's the info on the <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://web.epox.com/html/motherboard.asp?product=EP-8RDA3plus&lang=1">8rda3+</a>.

[danny16866]

I would suggest the abit nf7-s revision 2

[computerfreke911]

yea the epox website provides no data about dual channel operation. thanks though

[TranceJunkieXL]

LOL. Any of those NForce2 chipset motherboards will do 200FSB without breaking a sweat. I own an NF7-S and love it. I just got an 8RDA3+ in the mail Tuesday, and will be replacing my SOYO KT400 sometime this weekend. It appears to be almost a carbon copy (featurewise) of the NF7-S. Though the dual 10/100 LAN is a great feature. I'll let you know sometime next week how it turns out. Oh yeah, the G version of EPoX's boards have onboard Graphics, while the non-G does not. All the 8RDA3 models have the Ultra400 chipset (with or without graphics).

[Ghost]

if you want to over clock don't get a mother board with intergrated video<BR><BR>you can only do 333fsb on them

[PCgeek]

Sorry ghost but that isn't true. I own an Epox 8RDA, I haven't gotten past 175FSB because of my freaking cheap ram<BR>Well anyways Colin told me that the 8RGA he tested (the same as mine just with onboard video) overclocks better than mine. So I guess it depends which board you are talking about. By the way I totally recommend Epox boards, although you will probably go with the Asus because it got more votes, I guess its a little better than the epox but its your choice

[Ghost]

this from the asus site <BR><BR>A7N8X-VM<BR><BR>This nForce2 IGP based motherboard supports dual-channel DDR400 memory for the best performance. AGP 8X standard and integrated GeForce4 MX graphics elevate your video experience. Together with onboard LAN and audio, the A7N8X-VM is a quality solution you can count on. <BR><BR> Dual-channel DDR400<BR>The 128-bit dual-channel memory architecture eliminates memory bandwidth bottlenecks, creating a balanced architecture with peak bandwidths up to 6.4GB/s -- twice the performance of single channel designs. <BR><BR>Note: Dual-channel DDR400 requires an AGP graphics card. Dual-channel DDR333/266/200 supported with AGP or integrated graphics.<BR><BR>this from the epox site <BR><BR>EP-8RGM2I <BR>Socket A motherboard <BR><BR> AMD Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron<BR>GeForce4MX Graphics<BR> 333MHz Max FSB<BR> Nvidia Nforce2 SPP Chipset<BR> DDR SDRAM PC2700 <BR><BR><BR>EP-8RGM2+<BR>Socket A motherboard <BR><BR> AMD Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron<BR>GeForce4MX Graphics<BR> 333MHz Max FSB<BR> Nvidia Nforce2 SPP Chipset<BR> DDR SDRAM PC2700 <BR><BR><BR>EP-8RGA<BR>Socket A motherboard <BR><BR> AMD Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron<BR>GeForce4MX Graphics<BR> 333MHz Max FSB<BR> nforce2 Platform Processor Chipset<BR> DDR SDRAM PC3200 <BR><BR><BR>EP-8RGA+<BR>Socket A motherboard <BR><BR> AMD Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron<BR>GeForce4MX Graphics<BR> 333MHz Max FSB<BR> nforce2 Platform Processor Chipset<BR> DDR SDRAM PC3200 <BR><BR><BR>EP-8RGMI <BR>Socket A motherboard <BR><BR> AMD Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron<BR>GeForce4MX Graphics<BR> 333MHz Max FSB<BR> Nvidia Nforce2 SPP Chipset<BR> DDR SDRAM PC2700 <BR><BR><BR>EP-8RGMI+<BR>Socket A motherboard <BR><BR> AMD Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron<BR>GeForce4MX Graphics<BR> 333MHz Max FSB<BR> Nvidia Nforce2 SPP Chipset<BR> DDR SDRAM PC2700 <BR><BR><BR>EP-8RGM2I <BR>Socket A motherboard <BR><BR> AMD Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron<BR>GeForce4MX Graphics<BR> 333MHz Max FSB<BR> Nvidia Nforce2 SPP Chipset<BR> DDR SDRAM PC2700 <BR><BR><BR>EP-8RGM2+<BR>Socket A motherboard <BR><BR> AMD Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron<BR>GeForce4MX Graphics<BR> 333MHz Max FSB<BR> Nvidia Nforce2 SPP Chipset<BR> DDR SDRAM PC2700 <BR><BR><BR>now the motherboards listed here with 3200 ram can do 400fsb if you do not use the onboard video<BR><BR>lets give these companies some credit ,,after all they built the motherboards <BR><BR>most non-intergrated video mother board will do a 400fsb just by dropping the cpu in and changing the fsb in the bios <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[computerfreke911]

hey. thanks for the info guys. but does anyone know what the heatsink on the northbridge of the rev.2 and rev. 1.x look like? thanks

[TranceJunkieXL]

computerfreke911, If you are referring to the NF7-S, the NB heatsink is an aluminum Vantec Iceberq model with fan. On the EPoX, it is just a round HS with the EPoX logo on it, and does not have a fan.<BR>ghost, it may say 333FSB Max, but that does not mean that you cannot overclock it. The NF2Ultra specifies 400FSB Max, but you can easily run that at 217. You just have to keep in mind that overclocking the chipset means you are overclocking the graphics as well, so it may run a lot hotter. As for "giving the manufacturer's credit," you can credit them for using a lower number than the chipset can actually run, just for stability sake.

[Ginsu543]

Yup, the hsf on the NF7-S is a Vantec Iceberg. One of the first things I did when I got my mobo was to swap the stock aluminum one for a copper model. It works well and adds to the shiny copper look of my mobo (I have an all copper cpu heat sink with copper heat spreaders on my ram). The copper Iceberg also came with copper-colored aluminum heat sinks for the south bridge and an extra one I put on my SATA controller chip to complete the copper theme north and south. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">