Supplied by Abit
ABIT tunes up its NFORCE2 racecar
The ABIT NFORCE2 NF7-S is likely the MOST tweakable motherboard on the face
of the planet today! ABIT have always been the overclocker’s favorite. Their
motherboards offer a host of bios options that give the enthusiast ultimate
control and tweaking delight. ABIT are also known to pack on the features assuring
buyers that their money has been well spent.
That’s what the enthusiast consumer expects when looking to the best; fast,
featured and fun. ABIT may have produced the most overclockable board on the
planet but they could have fallen short when it comes to what’s inside the box
and how the NF7-S comes out of the gate.
NFORCE2 platforms are becoming more commonplace. AMD pioneered HyperTransport
technology has cleaned up the face of today’s motherboard allowing for a less
crowded design. NFORCE2 motherboards look almost “empty” compared
to their predecessors. The seemingly barren landscape of the NF7-S is misleading
as ABIT’s on board features will not disappoint.
The ABIT NF7-S supports AMD Athlon XP processors up to 333 FSB and is one of
the first to support DDR400 memory. More on memory support later. The NF7-S
offers AGP8x, two Serial ATA 150 raid headers, Hardware Thermal Protection (H.T.P.),
SoftMenu III BIOS, Digital 5.1 encoding and 6-channel Audio and Optical S/PDIF
output.
Not overlooked is built in Firewire, USB 1.0/2.0, Lan and what ABIT touts as
3-phase power. It’s a wonder there are any PCI slots at all.
Specifications
| The NF7 series models, based on nForce2 chipset, supports the latest AMD Athlon XP processors with 200/266/333 FSB, and features new dual 400MHz DDR memory controllers that deliver up to a 50% increase in bandwidth. Three DDR DIMM slots support up to 3GB of DDR memory, and optimized 128-bit architecture reduces memory latency. The advanced memory architecture means that the latest 3D games and multimedia applications are able to run smoother and faster than ever before, giving you unparalleled system performance. With the nForce2 MCP2-T, the APU (Audio Processing Unit) delivers Dolby Digital 5.1 cinematic-quality sound and 3D positional audio to your home PC. By SoundstormTM technology, the NF7-S supports Real-time audio encoding delivering up to 256 simultaneous audio streams makes games and applications come to life. With cutting-edge features and ABIT Engineering, the NF7 series is the ultimate multimedia platform for the world. Processor | |
| – Supports AMD-K7 Duron™/Athlon™/Athlon™ XP Socket A with 200/266/333MHz FSB Processors Chipset | |
| – NVIDIA nForce2 SPP chipset with MCP2-T – Supports Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface (ACPI) – Accelerated Graphics Port connector supports AGP 8X/4X (0.8V/1.5V) Memory | |
| – Three 184-pin DIMM sockets – Supports 3 DIMM DDR 200/266/333 (Max. 3GB) – Supports 2 DIMM DDR 400 (Max. 2GB) Serial ATA (Optional) | |
| – On board Serial ATA PCI Controller – Supports SATA data transfer rates 150MB/s (1.5G bps) Audio | |
| – 6-Channel AC 97 CODEC on board – Professional digital audio interface supports 24-bit S/PDIF Out – Supports real time AC-3 Encode by Soundstorm™ Technology System BIOS | |
| – SoftMenu™ Technology – Award Plug and Play BIOS LAN | |
| – On board 10/100Mb LAN Physical layer interface – 10/100Mb Operation supports ACPI & Wake on LAN IEEE 1394 | |
| – Supports IEEE 1394a at 100/200/400MB/s transfer rate Internal I/O Connectors | |
| – 1 x AGP8X/4X slot, 5 x PCI slots – 1 x Floppy Port supports up to 2.88MB – 2 x Ultra DMA 33/66/100/133 Connectors – 2 x Serial ATA 150 Connectors – 2 x USB headers, 2 x IEEE1394a header – 2 x CD-IN, 1 x IrDA Back Panel I/O | |
| – 1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 mouse – 2 x Serial, 1 x Parallel – 1 x S/PDIF Out port – Audio connectors (Front Speaker, Line-in, Mic-in, Center/Sub, Surround Speaker) – 2 x USB, 1 x RJ-45 LAN Connector Miscellaneous | |
| – ATX form factor – Hardware monitoring – Including Fan speeds, Voltages, System environment temperature |
What you get
ABIT have established a brand look to their packaging. The three “buzzwords”
are prominent on every box; speed, stability and power. The box contents are
rather slim pickings considering the NF7-S is going up against NFORCE2 competition
such as the ASUS A7N8X.
There is the manual and ABIT have always done a great job with their manuals.
There is in install CD which is also devoid of a lot of features. There isn’t
much on it besides a PDF of the manual, drivers for the NFORCE2 chipset, Serial
ATA and USB 2.0. There’s also the hardware monitor software.
There’s a floppy for the Serial ATA controller which seems odd. Windows XP
will not install on a hard drive connected to either Serial ATA header. The
OS needs to be installed when the drive is on a EIDE header then moved across
to the Serial ATA header after the proper drivers are installed. Why not just
include the Serial ATA drivers completely on the CD and do away with the floppy?
ABIT includes 1 floppy cable and one 80-pin EIDE ribbon cable when most of
the competition includes at least two EIDE 80-pin ribbon cables.
Serial ATA is the future. ABIT have dubbed it Serillel for their product. ABIT
have also thoughtfully included an EIDE to Serial ATA adapter to keep enthusiasts
going. The problem is that there isn’t two and ABIT would be wise to include
two adapters allowing enthusiasts to RAID existing hard drives instead of being
forced to upgrade and search for Serial ATA drives.
The adapter plugs into a hard drive and ABIT includes a power connector and
one Serial ATA cable.
A one page sheet shows the process for anyone who cannot figure it out on their
own.
ABIT is lean with the add-ons. Let’s face it that the NF7-S is fairly feature
rich on the motherboard itself. Third and fourth USB ports are available via
a PCI bracket. The choice may also be made to plug optional front PC case USB
ports directly into the motherboard providing the PC case has them.
A Firewire port is not included on the backplane with the NF7-S but two ports
are available via a second PCI bracket.
At least one FIrewire and USB port should be accessible on the front of a PC
case. Firewire/USB cameras, zip and external hard drives are becoming more popular
so if there are ports up front then make use of them. Save the peripherals such
as printers, scanners and hubs to plug into the rear of the PC case. It will
save your frustration from continually climbing around under a desk to plug
things in.
Lastly is the standard backplane guard.
And that’s it.
Driving ABIT mad
Did you expect more? If you did then that is a concern as consumers do expect
more and manufacturer’s compete with each other to get to you, the consumer.
The ABIT NF7-S may be a very good overclocking motherboard and have the ABIT
reputation for speed but the task of predicting what the consumers want drives
marketers, engineers and designers nuts.
Not too long ago designers thought up the concept of putting everything on
the motherboard such as sound, LAN, USB and Firewire. Engineers took those concepts
and figured out a way to do it. Marketers rebelled screaming that the buying
public wouldn’t trust onboard options and were in a mind set to avoid a complete,
one-piece system. Marketers heard from the public that they would prefer separate
devices. For example, if the LAN connection failed then a PCI NIC card would
be changed rather than having to replace the entire motherboard.
Then the public began to like the onboard options due to extensive reliability
tests and getting all those features for a lesser price than separately. There
was also the improvements made with options such as sound. So the marketers
went back to the engineers and designers and screamed for feature rich platforms.
The designers and engineers then improved upon technology and incorporated
more into the motherboard itself meaning that there would be less in the box
besides the motherboard. Faced with box heavy add-ons like what can be found
in the ASUS A7N8X package ABIT’s research, design, engineering and marketing
teams have to be in a constant state of argument. Marketing must be constantly
going back to R&D and engineering with new requests and a typical response
probably is “will you make up your mind!”
We are the buying public and ABIT marketing wants us to buy the ABIT product.
Without saying which product is better; if a consumer were to look at the contents
of the ASUS A7N8X and the NF7-S which would you think they would see as being
better? The price is within a few dollars of each other and both come with nearly
the same options.
We consumers are a fickle bunch aren’t we.
Touring the board
This isn’t the original NF7-S. This is revision 1.2 which tweaks and corrects
a few of the public’s requests. The tour starts at the socket and works its
way clockwise around the board.
The original NF7-S had one major flaw and that was the lack of heatsink/waterblock
mounting holes around the socket. This NF7-S saw their return.
The floppy header is one of the two most mobile connections on a motherboard.
Manufacturer’s just can’t find the right place for it or keep moving it in response
to public request. The floppy header on the NF7-S ends up at the top right of
the motherboard right beside the memory DIMM slots.
Note that there are only three DIMM slots and this has been an area of controversy
with the NFORCE2 motherboards. NFORCE2 features dual memory controllers. Dual
memory controllers mean that data can be moved in and out of RAM in greater
quantities. The data isn’t moving necessarily faster but the “road”
on which it travels has increased from a single lane highway to a two or four
lane expressway.
In order to take advantage of the dual memory controllers RAM has to be placed
in the correct DIMMS. ABIT states that it must be DIMM 2 and 3. (DIMM 1 is closest
to the processor socket.) Others argue that, according to nVida white papers,
that it must be DIMM 1 and 2. There is a counterclaim to every configuration
claim made and there seems to be no definitive answer. Short-Media ran tests with
RAM in DIMM 1 and 2, 1 and 3 and 2 and 3 with no discernable difference in scores.
A quick jog left to the Northbridge area and ABIT has beefed up the cooling
fans with their motherboards.
The two screws turn out allowing for the faceplate and fan to be removed.
The exact CFM, RPM and dB(A) of this fan is not known.
Motherboard manufacturers are known to be skimpy with the thermal compound
between fan and chipset. The heatsink is held on by two squeeze pins.
The motherboard can be flipped over and a pair of needle nose pliers can be
used to GENTLY squeeze the pin together allowing it to pull free from the motherboard.
Please note that this may void your warranty so do so at your own risk.
ABIT has not skimped on the thermal paste while the competition often uses
only a small amount of compound.
The NFORCE2 chipset cleaned and ready for a new dressing of thermal interface
compound.
East of the NFORCE2 Northbridge area are IDE headers 1 and 2 and the base of
the RAM DIMMS. To be a fickle consumer again is to ask why IDE headers 1 and
2 aren’t where the floppy is as the floppy is below the devices that run from
those headers. It most likely has something to do with proper cable alignment
or available wiring/positioning space on the motherboard itself.
The RAM lifter area has also been a pain in the side for motherboard makers.
AGP cards got longer. The ram lifters seen as the oddly shaped white rockers
“bumped into” the longer video cards. This made installing or removing
the RAM difficult and annoying.
ABIT have gladly remembered this and the space between RAM lifters and the
back of the video card was sufficient. The test card, an ATI 9700 PRO, presented
no problems.
The lower right of the motherboard is rather sparse now that the big EIDE Raid
headers are gone in favor of the SATA headers.
This is also the area for the USB headers (3 & 4). This makes sense as
this places the USB headers closer to the front of the PC case which is exactly
where they should be. Front USB connection wires won’t have to cross over the
entire motherboard.
SATA is still “coming”. SATA drives are not as commonplace as EIDE
drives and they are more expensive due to the fact they are “new”.
ABIT should include two SATA to 80-pin adapters for the next little while until
the quantities of SATA drives outweigh those of normal EIDE. If a consumer wants
to make use of the second SATA header with normal drives then they have to track
down an adapter which isn’t easy to do.
Luckily ABIT sells
the adapter kits for $22.99 USD on their reseller site.
There are five PCI slots and the space around them is clean. That’s an observational
comment as other boards can be crowded in this area but in either case, clean
or crowded, it has made no difference in reliability or operation.
The Firewire connectors are located at the west side of the board between the
AGP slot and top PCI slot. It’s a six of one – half dozen of the other placement.
The reason will benefit some and annoy others. Firewire devices are often items
that are connected and disconnected on a regular basis. Those would be best
served from front access so the Firewire headers would be better placed by the
USB 3 & 4 headers. For those that prefer Firewire on the rear of a PC case
then this is not a concern.
The backplane features 2 USB ports (USB 2.0), LAN, MIC, Line-in, Front L/R,
Rear L/R and Center/Subwoofer. There also is S/P DIF out (Sony Philips Digital
Interface), 2 COM ports, a parallel port and PS/2 for mouse and keyboard. It
appears that ABIT is still aware of the world’s need for these “antiquated”
PS/2 and COM/Parallel ports.
The 24-bit AC97 Codec is a suspicious item. It is not for what is said…it
is for what ISN’T said. 24-bit is tossed around for the “wow” factor
and while onboard sound has greatly increased in quality it isn’t as good as
a PCI based sound card. 24-bit may sound impressive on paper but there are important
points to consider such as what is the sampling rate and is the highest sampling
rate across 2 channels only or all 6?
We’ll endeavor to dig through the 300-odd pages of the AC97 Codec specifications
and find out…but not in this review.
The second most mobile connector on a motherboard is the power connector. It
moves around like a restless child. ABIT has positioned it horizontally with
this motherboard and between the Northbridge area and the backplane. For some
this will annoy but not for others who take an extra 5 minutes to plan
the wiring in a PC case. The argument is that the power cable will have
to cross over top of the heatsink area. It isn’t the best placement of the power
connector seen by this reviewer.
ABIT boasts 3-phase power with the NF7-S. The 3-phase power solution was implemented
in October of 2000 with the KT7 and KT7-RAID motherboards. In a nutshell, 3-phase
power is controlled by a set of six transistors which converts power to the
CPU. 3-phase power brings more amperage at a cooler temperature. Other manufacturer’s
use 2-phase power which is generally thought of to generate more heat and have
less reliability in the power levels.
Also notice a lonely CPU fan header where there have been two. The system fan
header is located above the main power connector and there are only 3 fan headers
with this board. Typically there have been four but ABIT has recognized that
no one really uses the fourth fan header which was most commonly found by the
RAID headers.
Installation
The ABIT NF7-S was installed in an AMK SX1000 PC case with no problems but
here’s where the concerns of other will be pointed out.
THe first is the power connector where the PSU cable has to cross over top
or at least near the heatsink.
Make sure an extra 2 minutes is taken to route the PSU power cable and there
should be no concerns with this type of case. Those with cases with no crossbar
may want to “ghetto”
up an anchor system to the PSU power cable to get it to come from the proper
direction.
The second is the Serial ATA adapters.
It isn’t a problem with the AMK SX1000 case but be aware that the Serial ATA
adapter adds length to the rear of the hard drive. This length could very well
“bump” into the rear of the video card. A solution to this is to install
the hard drive on a different horizontal plane that the video card. If SATA
drives are used then this is no problem at all.
Another area of concern is the Firewire headers. The cable has to loop around
the PCI slots or be folded up pretty snugly against the bottom of the video
card to fit. If the top PCI slot is chosen then the Firewire cables could rest
against and effectively STOP the GPU fan from turning. This could mean kissing
the video card buh-bye from overheating. Watch those cables! This is why a preferable
placement for the Firewire headers would be by the USB 3 & 4 headers.
The floppy presented absolutely no problem whatsoever. The only comment is
a wish for shorter floppy and EIDE rounded cables. Who needs but less than 6
inches of single connector floppy cable? (Major hint to cable companies for
modders….short cables too!)
The BIOS
The ABIT BIOS with the NF7-S is an overclocker’s and tweakers dream! There
are enough settings to keep the enthusiast going “tweak – crash – reboot
– tweak – hoorah” for weeks. Just when I thought the BIOS had about as
many settings in it as could be…ABIT went and added more.
ABIT has also allowed access to multipliers without having to unlock the processor.
This too is an area of debate but our test system allowed for higher CPU clock
frequencies without any bridge work. The SoftMenu III bios screen allows for
the CPU internal clock to be adjusted in 1 MHz increments up to 237 MHz and
multiplier settings up to 22x. The CPU FSB/DRAM divider makes several settings
available from 3/3 to 6/6. Note that the CPU INTERFACE should be set to ENABLED
when overclocking.
There also is precise control over CPU, DRAM, CHIPSET and AGP voltage.
The rest of the BIOS is familiar..
Except when getting to the ADVANCED CHIPSET FEATURES menu.
FSB and AGP spread spectrum are notable to overclockers. Adjusting those will
have a bearing on system stability at higher overclocks. The remainder of the
BIOS returns to the familiar.
ABIT has outdone themselves yet again with their SOFTMENU III BIOS allowing
overclockers more control than ever. System tweakers and overclockers can have
a field day of “fiddling” and “nudging” their systems to
ever higher speeds. It isn’t uncommon for 200 FSB overclocks to be waved about
the forums.
I will admit that I am a novice overclocker. Overclocking is a art and requires
patience but in less than 2 minutes our 2600+ test system was easily bumped
up a few notches from a default speed of 2079 MHz.
It’s not much of an overclock but only took 3 reboots of the machine to get
there. Adjusting RAM timings, voltage settings and FSB-multiplier combinations
would most definitely result in a more impressive overclock but as I said before…it
is an art and requires patience.
Benchmarking…A racecar needs to be dialed in
The ABIT NF7-S test system.
- AMD 2600+ Thoroughbred
Core Processor - ABIT AD77 Infinity
motherboard - ATI 9700 PRO Video Card
Catalyst 2.3 drivers (Default settings w/VSYNC disabled) - 2 x 256 MB Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM
- Sony 52x CD
- 16 x DVD
- 60 GB Maxtor ATA133 Hard Drive
- Samsung 950p 19″ Monitors
- USB Keyboard and Logitech USB wireless Optical Mouse
- Globalwin heatsink
- AMK SX1000 modded
PC case (window, fans, cables, loom) - Enermax 465 Watt FC PSU
- Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1
The GIGABYTE GA-7VAXP ULTRA test system.
- AMD 2600+ 333 FSB
Processor - GA-7VAXP
ULTRA REV 1.2 motherboard - ATI 9700 PRO Video Card
Catalyst 2.3 drivers (Default settings w/VSYNC disabled) - 2 x 256 MB Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM
- Sony 52x CD
- 60 GB Maxtor ATA133 Hard Drive
- Samsung 950p 19″ Monitors
- USB Keyboard and Logitech USB wireless Optical Mouse
- Globalwin CAK4-76T HSF
- AMK SX1000 modded
PC case (window, fans, cables, loom) - Enermax 465 Watt FC PSU
- Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1
The ASUS A7N8X Deluxe test system.
- AMD 2600+ 333 FSB
Processor - ASUS A7N8X motherboard
- ATI 9700 PRO Video Card
Catalyst 2.3 drivers (Default settings w/VSYNC disabled) - 2 x 256 MB Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM
- Sony 52x CD
- 60 GB Maxtor ATA133 Hard Drive
- Samsung 950p 19″ Monitors
- USB Keyboard and Logitech USB wireless Optical Mouse
- Globalwin CAK4-76T HSF
- AMK SX1000 modded
PC case (window, fans, cables, loom) - Enermax 465 Watt FC PSU
- Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1
Programs used
Sisoft Sandra 2002- MadOnion
3DMark 2001 SE - Quake
III Arena - Commanche
4 - GL
Excess - Drone
Z - SpecviewPerf 7.0
- Unreal Tournament 2003 flyby benchmark
- Adobe Photoshop 7.0
- PS Bench
- Adobe After Effects 5.5
- SoftimageXSI 2.0.1
All tests were run at default video card settings with VSYNC disabled. Bios
was optimized for system but not tweaked for any performance settings requiring
specialized knowledge of overclocking. In other words the BIOS settings were
standard as far as anyone can set the time and date, ensure the ram is 2 or
4 way interleave and at CAS 2 and AGP is chosen as the first boot video card
(8x). The BIOS settings were kept as close to conservative or default value
or as otherwise specified. The ASUS A7N8X memory settings were set to OPTIMAL
and AGGRESSIVE as disclosed. Memory was kept at DDR333 settings for synchronous
timing with the 2600+ 333FSB processor. Individual performance will vary with
any particular or specific timings or tweaks enabled by you.
1024 MB page file moved to D: partition. Temporary Internet files moved to
K: partition at end of drive. OS installed to C: and programs installed to
E:. All programs were benchmarked at 1024×768@75Hz with the exception of SoftimageXSI
which requires 1280×1024 resolution.
These may result in lesser or greater scores. Void where prohibited by law.
Don’t run with scissors. Chew each bite 32 times and always floss between meals.
Batteries not included. Wait one hour after a meal before swimming and use tonic
water to get stains out.
3D Mark 2001 SE
|
|
|
|
|
Codecreatures
It’s a dead heat here across the boards.
|
Commanche 4
The NFORCE2 boards pass by the KT400 chipset.
|
DroneZ
Whoops! The NF7-S was tested twice and apparently did not like
DroneZ as it was predicted to equal or pass the ASUS NFORCE2 offering.
|
GL Excess
GLEXCESS liked all three boards but the KT400 chipset of the
Gigabyte board seemed to have a little extra “oomph” in the higher
screen settings.
|
Quake III high quality
|
Serious Sam
The ABIT NFORCE2 NF7-S falls behind the A7N8X in the school
of Serious Sam.
|
Sisoft Sandra CPU Arithmetic
It’s a close pack across the board tests and that tight range
is kept pretty much the same for FPU MIPS and the Sandra CPU Multimedia tests.
KT400 Chipset or NFORCE2…the battle for first changes place quite often by
mere points.
|
Sisoft Sandra CPU Multimedia
|
Sisoft Sandra Memory Benchmark
It’s still the ASUS board in front due trailed very closely by
the NF7-S with the Gigabyte KT400 chipset picking up a close third.
|
Specviewperf 7.0
SpecviewPerf still grounds itself in the manipulation of 3D graphics
on a business application level rather than on a gaming performance level. Again
the results are as expected. The NF7-S trails the ASUS A7N8X by only a handful
of points.
|
The following two tests are targeted mainly towards CPU performance and will
show if any “flaws” are in board design affecting the ability of the
CPU to crunch through the data. While in render mode the two test programs virtually
bypass ram and GPU.
Adobe After Effects 5.5
Adobe After Effects is a tool to produce motion
graphics and visual effects for film, video, multimedia and the web. It is primarily
a 2D application using imported graphics or digital footage or self generated
effects. A project was created that was a combination of many video footage
files, resizing and rasterizing effects, text animations and multiple layer
effects. This “average” combination was felt to best demonstrate advantages
and/or disadvantages that a real world user may experience rather than isolating
and benchmarking a particular effect.
There is no official benchmark for After Effects
but tasks can be timed to show specific results. Rendering, or the task of building
and compiling frames, is mainly CPU intensive and After Effects generally bypasses
the video card and relies solely on the processor for speed. The time taken
to render 900 frames basically shows how fast the processor is working on the
given task.
|
Softimage XSI can simply bring
any computer to its knees. It’s an incredibly powerful 3D animation program
that has the ability to become so complex that single processor systems have
been known to “think” for days when rendering an animation. Softimage works
on somewhat similar principle to After Effects. A faster and more powerful video
card will translate to a smoother interface where complex scenes can be manipulated
in real time. Note that Softimage does not have an interface to real-time preview
a finished frame as unlike After Effects. Users can manipulate objects in a
choice of views from wire frame mode to simulated real-time shading mode. In
order to look at a finished frame a user must render the frame to disk which
bypasses the GPU. A faster processor will result in the faster render. The amount
of RAM is not as great an issue as the user is working frame by frame and the
graphics card is doing the bulk of the work while working within the GUI.
This is a most basic overview and there are specialty
hardware components that can enhance the speed and interactivity of complex
3D scenes and programs. The designers working on the test system use Softimage
on a less complex level to provide enhancements and elements to commercials,
promos and station ID elements. Though their work is quite complex to some it
a far cry from that of special effects in major film productions.
Softimage performs its best on a dual processor
system and by far the recommendation for heavy 3D rendering is a dual processor
AMD system.
|
Conclusion
NFORCE2 can offer a small performance boost on gaming platforms and excels
with 3D workstation programs. ABIT’s NF7-S will be most appealing to the overclocker.
On many forums the NF7-S is attracting a lot of attention from enthusiasts.
As with many motherboards there have been initial reports of problems with the
NF7-S. The test sample had one of its own where accessing PC HEALTH STATUS in
the BIOS caused the system to lock up. ABIT sent a new bios and the problem
no longer exists.
Whatever reports of problems that we read about on other forums did not exist
with the NF7-S review sample. ABIT continues to produce highly configurable
and reliable products.
Not without its drawbacks the NF7-S isn’t perfect. The placement of the PSU
connector and Firewire header could have been better and it’s hard to believe
that ABIT missed including the heatsink/waterblock mounting holes on the original
versions.
The store shopper may very well pass by the NF7-S due to the lack of package
contents. The NF7-S, even though rivaling the competition for features, appears
less “meaty” inside the box. A consumer may wonder “is this all
I get?” when comparing the NF7-S box to the ASUS A7N8X box. Side by side
at stock settings the two boards perform almost identically but paper to paper
and piece to piece inside the boxes the NF7-S falls a bit short.
The NF7-S beats the A7N8X Deluxe by a few dollars in price. What is the main
difference? The A7N8X comes with a second LAN port for connecting other computers
through it to the Internet. A second LAN port isn’t necessary with a router.
The NF7-S features active cooling on the NFORCE2 Northbridge while the A7N8X
does not. The A7N8X does come with PCI game/midi port and has couple more add-on
features but the A7N8X also has 2-phase power instead of 3-phase power. ASUS
didn’t think of supplying a SATA adapter which ABIT seems to have thought of
with every one of their Serillel equipped products.
The decision depends on the final goals and expectations of the consumer. ABIT
has a proven track record of producing the fastest boards on the market and
their BIOS updates are dependable. ABIT does listen to their customers.
The NF7-S is NFORCE2 for overclockers! There is no doubt about it. It is a
streamlined motherboard with everything that is needed without a lot of unnecessary
frills.
Final words
This reads like the NF7-S doesn’t quite make the passing lane but take another
look. Out of the box the NF7-S comes pretty lean for “extras” but
it has every major feature that the competition has. ABIT also has thought to
include adapters to allow the buyer to make use of SATA headers now instead
of being forced into an immediate hard drive upgrade. Out of the box and into
the PC case the NF7-S doesn’t race past the competition but it’s an ABIT thoroughbred
waiting to be dialed in. One look at the BIOS and the NF7-S can be tuned to
meet the expectations of any user. Every racecar has its idiosyncrasies but
this racecar is one of the fastest on the planet today.
Welcome to the Fast Lane!
Our thanks to ABIT
and ABIT-USA
for their continuing support of this site and our colleagues sites.
Highs
- An overclocker’s BIOS.
- All the necessary bells and whistles.
- SATA adapter included.
- Clean design.
- 5.1 audio encoding.
- 24-bit 6 channel audio out.
- Quiet ACTIVE cooling on the NFORCE2 “Northbridge”.
Lows
- Poor placement of PSU power connector.
- Poor placement of Firewire headers.
- Could have included 2 SATA adapter kits.
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