NF7S v A7N8X ?
OK chaps, my new PC is on its way. I've finally ordered an Antec case and PSU and now I need to decide what to put in it.
I'd sort of convinced myself on an Abit NF7-S with a 2500 Barton, but I can't finally make up my mind. The Asus A7N8X Deluxe seems to have some very loyal fans also.
Komplett are currently offering the NF7 for £85 and the A7N8X Gold Edition for £88. Anyone know what the Gold Edition means?
I have to build the rig by stealth so that Mrs Crypto dosen't see the huge increase in the credit card bill
So slowly does it.
Main use for this PC is folding 24/7
, digital photography and video, internet stuff and word processing. Not really looking to overclock a huge amount, I don't want a roaring heater in my small study.
To help me make up my mind, I was looking around, without success, for a building/tweaking guide for either of those two boards, a bit like Paul's FAQ for the Abit KT7. I read every word of that several times before comitting myself to my first build, and that trusty KT7 is still running and folding like a good'un![:thumbsup: :thumbsup:](https://icrontic.com/resources/icrontimoji/thumbsup.gif)
Probably a boring thread for you very clever blokes out there, but I'd appreciate some guidance.
Cheers
Crypto
I'd sort of convinced myself on an Abit NF7-S with a 2500 Barton, but I can't finally make up my mind. The Asus A7N8X Deluxe seems to have some very loyal fans also.
Komplett are currently offering the NF7 for £85 and the A7N8X Gold Edition for £88. Anyone know what the Gold Edition means?
I have to build the rig by stealth so that Mrs Crypto dosen't see the huge increase in the credit card bill
![;) ;)](https://icrontic.com/resources/icrontimoji/wink.gif)
Main use for this PC is folding 24/7
![:fold: :fold:](https://icrontic.com/resources/icrontimoji/cog.gif)
To help me make up my mind, I was looking around, without success, for a building/tweaking guide for either of those two boards, a bit like Paul's FAQ for the Abit KT7. I read every word of that several times before comitting myself to my first build, and that trusty KT7 is still running and folding like a good'un
![:thumbsup: :thumbsup:](https://icrontic.com/resources/icrontimoji/thumbsup.gif)
Probably a boring thread for you very clever blokes out there, but I'd appreciate some guidance.
Cheers
Crypto
![:D :D](https://icrontic.com/resources/icrontimoji/grin.gif)
0
Comments
For a HDD, just find some 20gb drive from Newegg. Video card isn't going to matter much either, but a nice project would be to turn it into a media station for watching TV/DVDs when you're bored with work and don't want to leave the nice office chair. Any All-In-Wonder line of cards are good for this. A 9500 or 9700 version will probably be cheapest and still give you a good amount of muscle.
That being said, I'm going to recommend the A7N8X-Deluxe. As long as you get a new one with the Ultra-400 chipset. A simple overclock of your Barton 2500+ is to up the FSB to 200 (maybe a little more VCore as well), and voila, you've got a 3200+! This can be accomplished easily on either board with the Ultra 400 chipset, and should work without a hitch on any 2500+... Just put a decent heatsink/fan combo in there and you'll probably run cooler than a stock 2500+ even at 3200+ speeds.
One board. Heh. That's lame.
NF7-S 2.0. Ain't nothin' overclocks better.
You don't understand quite how bad that one bad board was... I've built two systems with boards from PCChips that were better...
My bottom line: I've NEVER had a problem with an Asus board that I didn't cause. I have had problems with Abit boards that the board caused.
lol, man, one bad board...
//edit: it's just too bad I can't afford more HDD space, to use the built-in PATA RAID. Or the SATA RAID. It's got both...
Perhaps there's a reason?
Then again...Gigabyte boards get high scores too. And everyone here will tell you they're crap.
Peripherals mean nothing to most everyone here, so it's a moot point.
That's why I wouldn't recommend a DFI to most everyone here, I'd recommend an A7N8X-Deluxe.
If, by some random miracle, Abit ever honors the spirit of the warranty on the board that went bad and gives me a new one (they blamed me when it was within the RMA period, then admitted they used sub-par capacitors on the board AFTER my warranty period had expired), I might consider buying from them again. Until I get an apology at least (as if that'll ever happen) I'm going to stick with Asus. And, in the case of my primary rig for the next year until I jump on the Opteron of AMD-64 bandwagon, I guess I'll stick with the DFI also.
< legal disclaimer mode >BUT! ! ! Please don't get me wrong, I wouldn't recommend the DFI to anyone who wasn't looking for what I was looking for in a board.< /legal disclaimer mode >
It'd better... it's got the nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset... and if it doesn't I'll be SURE to let you know!
You don't have to purchase Abit again if you don't want, but I think one bad board isn't a reason to completely rule out a company. I'd give them another chance.
That said . . . I hope your DFI kicks some butt!!!! It's a nice board.
And thanks for the well-wishes. I hope the DFI is better than your Epox's were
BTW
It is never fair to judge a company by one product nor a single experience. I have learned that customer service is what you make of it. Getting mad at the dweebs that answer the phone does no good and if you aren't happy with what you are told ask for a supervisor or even call back later to get another person. And always present yourself professionally and keep calm.
Anyway, i stick with my opinion... get an nf7-s and be happy... like the rest of us. :P
That's one company I will <i>not</i> buy from again. Couple that with the countless tales of failure on the web, it's surely an affirmed.
As for the A7N8X...Sure, you get one and join those few...Those dwindling few who have one.
Nice try, bud!
Every time we've posted a poll about nForce2 motherboards, about half of the vote went out to the A7N8X... it's just that most of the Asus owners aren't quite as vocal as the Abit fanbois. No offense...
Unfortunately.
No matter which way you look at it there are enough happy campers in both camps to make each a good board in its own rites. I do see almost equal numbers of people praising the Asus as I do the Abit. I do see pretty much equal numbers of people with their share of problems with both boards. Now please bear in mind that I am being unbiased and if I could dredge all the posts from all the sites I visit and put them here right now I would do it but it is simply too much to do. I see more people with strange problems with the A7N8X than the NF7-S. Another is a question I need answered since I have been happy enough with what I have that I haven't paid attention to; Does the current Ultra 400 A7N8X unlock T'breds like the Abit? Back to buisness. Who really needs 2 NIC's and the very few other goodies not on the NF7-S? If it wasn't the more stable board then why would it be the far superior overclocker of the two? Stability goes a long way toward the ability to clock beyond the normal stock parameters. When I bought my board I had already gone through 2 Epox 8RDA's and 2 others and took 2 weeks looking at all the facts of all the NF2 boards to come to my conclusion. Brand loyalty and heresay had nothing to do with my decision. It was based on lots of facts and only the facts.
Book 'em Danno
I'm not sure exactly what you mean the Abit does, but even my old (non Ultra 400) A7N8X-Deluxe unlocks both the multiplier and the FSB on my TBred-B XP2100... I've upped both multi and FSB (13.5 and 166, respectively) with no stability problem...
I can't quite make 200 FSB on this board, maybe 180, but then again it's not the Ultra 400 chipset. Sure bet the Ultra 400 chipset could do at least 210 FSB on the new revision A7N8X...
As far as Abit reliability is concerned, I've never had any problems with any of the 3 Abit boards I've owned and 1(a BH6) is 5 years old and still chugging away in a friend's computer, running a P3 1000E. Any manufacturer can turn out an occasional bad board, be it Asus, Abit or whoever else you can think of. One thing that has impressed me with the Abit boards is the ability to successfully run procs that weren't even concieved of when the board was built. I bought the BH6 when the P2 450 was the fastest thing out there and I bought my KG7-R board when the Tbird 1200 was the baddest proc around and now the BH6 runs a coppermine 1000 and the KG7 has an XP2400(modded to an XP2600/266) in it with just bios updates.
Just my $.02 worth for you.:)
EDIT: spelling:rolleyes2