Audio
- 6-Channel AC 97 CODEC on board
- Professional digital audio interface supports optical S/P DIF In/Out
- NVIDIA SoundStormTM Technology with real-time Dolby Digital 5.1 encoder
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Mt_GoatHead Cheezy KnobPflugerville (north of Austin)Icrontian
edited November 2003
I liked this part in the overview;
The nForce™2 Ultra 400-based AN7 is packed with features that deliver mind-bending performance.
Sorry guys but I'm warped enough with out bending my mind. I would however like have my processor capable of warp speeds.
Correct me if I am wrong.
The only differences on the AN7 compared to NF7-S are:
Different PCB layout.
Introduction of uGuru.
Introduction of BlackBox.
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Mt_GoatHead Cheezy KnobPflugerville (north of Austin)Icrontian
edited November 2003
Add to that different caps and higher voltages available.
Are the caps different?
I have seen a couple of images, the caps looked pretty similar.
Dunno how powerful the new caps are.
It seems they are using the same brand on the two boards.
Well higher voltage could be available on the NF7 but it isn't, because I believe it is blocked by the bios.
I do not think that the board is uncapable of higher voltage.
How much can the voltage be raised on the AN7 compared to the NF7?
BTW: Abit aren't changing much in the recent bios releases for the NF7-S rev. 2.0.
Is that because there is nothing left to fix?
A perfect bios, is that even possible?
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Mt_GoatHead Cheezy KnobPflugerville (north of Austin)Icrontian
edited November 2003
MJO
Remeber our conversation on the NF7-S and it being improved? Well the original rev 2.0's like we have have the black caps and the newer ones with the metal lock lever on the ziff socket has the silver ones. These are what are on the AN7 and are capable of even more voltage as well as providing a higher level of stability. The BIOS already has the higher imits which I cannot confirm the exact value of but they are quite a bit higher.
As to the NF7 BIOS, Abit is putting more of their effort into support for the new board and since the NF7 (while not perfect) is certainly in pretty good shape at the moment.
mtgoat had this to say Add to that different caps and higher voltages available.
and bigger Vdimm mosfets, speed sensing NB fan, diode reading, s/pdif in and maybe more that we don't know about.
MJO,
AFAIK, the caps are better. According to reports, they're using them on the latest batch of NF7's as well.
CPU Core Voltage 1.375V to 2.313V in 31mV or 32mV Steps
DDR SDRAM Voltage 2.50 2.55 2.60 2.65 (Default) 2.70 2.80 2.90 2.95 3.00 3.05 3.10 3.20
NB Core Voltage 1.60 (Default) 1.65 1.70 1.75
AGP Voltage 1.50 1.55 (Default) 1.60 1.65
He's not talking about rails, he's talking about vCore and vDIMM. If you have an NF7 you'll notice that it almost never touches the vCore that you set in the BIOS. It's normally .025-.05v lower than what is set.
Vdimm doesn't seem to be an issue, however my vcore is set as 1.75 in the bios and mbm5 is reading it as 1.68. Swell
0
Mt_GoatHead Cheezy KnobPflugerville (north of Austin)Icrontian
edited November 2003
MJO had this to say On what rails do they undervolt?
Vcore, 5V or an other rail?
I haven't had any undervolting problems.
When you set your vcore to say 1.8 you will actually get 1.728 or something like that instead of what it is set at. I actually had my vcore set to 1.775 and thi is wha I get in real life.....
Did you ever notice how much everything but your 5v fluctuates too? I have one of the 600W Robanton PSU's that tests great and runs solid and steady on several other boards but this one.
Hmm my VCore doesn't fluctuate.
It is set to 1.7V in bios.
And VCore is stable at 1.7V in Winbond monitor.
EDIT: Actually my VCore fluctuates in Winbond it goes from 1.7 to 1.73.
And then I open up CPU-Z
My VCore is lower than 1.7V
Fluctuates between 1.66 and 1.696.
Damn you guys were right again
Well I wouldn't complain my Athlon XP DUT3C is stable at 2 GHz receiving a measly 1.66V
That is 467 Mhz out of spec with an increase of 0.06V
I do believe that the code on the CPU stated that it was a clocked down 2600+
BTW: My machine didn't freeze at 2000 Mhz@1.6V (BIOS setting)
Translates to 1.56V
But it made errors in Prime95.
Hope it stays stable. Was set 1.675v and now is set to 1.7v. Of course, it still runs low. I guess if this freezes w/in the next few weeks I'll bump it to 1.725v.
Mt_GoatHead Cheezy KnobPflugerville (north of Austin)Icrontian
edited November 2003
MJO
Most are reporting lower than set vcores but vcore fluction is not as bad as 3.3 and 12v. I see some vcore fluctuation but on most of my old boards it was usually solid as a rock!
What monitoring utillity would you guys recommend?
Apart from MBM, I do not like MBM.
But I do not llike winbond either.
The readings seem to be wrong in Winbond.
0
Mt_GoatHead Cheezy KnobPflugerville (north of Austin)Icrontian
edited November 2003
MBM5 is all I use so I don't know what else to recomend. Winbond Doc gives me weird readings as well and it doesn't update as quickly. I set MBM5 to 1 sec and it is pretty much real-time.
I have two of them that do that, but only one is actually mine.
I'd really like to hit 2.4 or higher but I've never been able to get there and have any stability. I could up the vCore possibly, but I don't wanna literally fry the CPU plus I'm not sure if an SLK-900U w/ only a 40+ CFM fan can adequately dissipate the heat generated.
2.4GHz would mean I could produce WUs ~4% faster on the machine.
Mackanz had this to say Killer cpu. 2.3@1.67 is no picnic A2.
0
Mt_GoatHead Cheezy KnobPflugerville (north of Austin)Icrontian
edited November 2003
I would definitly recomend at least a 60 CFM fan for that.
I agree mtgoat. I've been thinking about it for a while and just have been too lazy to order one from SVC. If the fans are still reasonably priced I think I will get one . . . or maybe two so that both Athlons have an opportunity to run @ 2.4GHz or higher. If the fans are too noisy I can always back down to 2.3GHz and use the current fans.
What vCore do you think I should stay BELOW? I don't want to fry the CPUs, especially because they seem to be pretty decent O/C'ers.
0
Mt_GoatHead Cheezy KnobPflugerville (north of Austin)Icrontian
edited November 2003
As long as it doesn't get too hot up to 2v is safe but will most likely make things too warm. I have run mine at 2.4 with 1.95 and had no problems with my SLK-800 and SF2 @ max (hi 60's to 70 CFM).
Comments
In some forums the say it has SoundStorm.
In other forums they say it hasn't got SoundStorm.
I would like to have this confirmed.
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/techspec.php?categories=1&model=158
It does indeed have Soundstorm.
Correct me if I am wrong.
The only differences on the AN7 compared to NF7-S are:
Different PCB layout.
Introduction of uGuru.
Introduction of BlackBox.
I have seen a couple of images, the caps looked pretty similar.
Dunno how powerful the new caps are.
It seems they are using the same brand on the two boards.
Well higher voltage could be available on the NF7 but it isn't, because I believe it is blocked by the bios.
I do not think that the board is uncapable of higher voltage.
How much can the voltage be raised on the AN7 compared to the NF7?
BTW: Abit aren't changing much in the recent bios releases for the NF7-S rev. 2.0.
Is that because there is nothing left to fix?
A perfect bios, is that even possible?
Remeber our conversation on the NF7-S and it being improved? Well the original rev 2.0's like we have have the black caps and the newer ones with the metal lock lever on the ziff socket has the silver ones. These are what are on the AN7 and are capable of even more voltage as well as providing a higher level of stability. The BIOS already has the higher imits which I cannot confirm the exact value of but they are quite a bit higher.
As to the NF7 BIOS, Abit is putting more of their effort into support for the new board and since the NF7 (while not perfect) is certainly in pretty good shape at the moment.
MJO,
AFAIK, the caps are better. According to reports, they're using them on the latest batch of NF7's as well.
CPU Core Voltage 1.375V to 2.313V in 31mV or 32mV Steps
DDR SDRAM Voltage 2.50 2.55 2.60 2.65 (Default) 2.70 2.80 2.90 2.95 3.00 3.05 3.10 3.20
NB Core Voltage 1.60 (Default) 1.65 1.70 1.75
AGP Voltage 1.50 1.55 (Default) 1.60 1.65
Pretty high voltages available.
Well the caps on my NF7-S are certainly better than the caps on my old KT7A-Raid.
Why couldn't they have made diode reading available on the NF7?
Nearly every other nForce2 board use the diode.
A thank you goes out to mtgoat and EQuito.
I feel much more well-informed now.
The speed sensing NB fan sounds interesting as well.
I think mine is going to fail within the next 3 months.
It is beginning to make noises.
MJO
The other thing about the new caps is that the latest NF7's and the AN7 is that they don't undervolt like our older NF7-S's do.
Vcore, 5V or an other rail?
I haven't had any undervolting problems.
Did you ever notice how much everything but your 5v fluctuates too? I have one of the 600W Robanton PSU's that tests great and runs solid and steady on several other boards but this one.
Now that's uncanny!
I would bump it up a notch or two for sure.
It is set to 1.7V in bios.
And VCore is stable at 1.7V in Winbond monitor.
EDIT: Actually my VCore fluctuates in Winbond it goes from 1.7 to 1.73.
And then I open up CPU-Z
My VCore is lower than 1.7V
Fluctuates between 1.66 and 1.696.
Damn you guys were right again
Well I wouldn't complain my Athlon XP DUT3C is stable at 2 GHz receiving a measly 1.66V
That is 467 Mhz out of spec with an increase of 0.06V
I do believe that the code on the CPU stated that it was a clocked down 2600+
BTW: My machine didn't freeze at 2000 Mhz@1.6V (BIOS setting)
Translates to 1.56V
But it made errors in Prime95.
Most are reporting lower than set vcores but vcore fluction is not as bad as 3.3 and 12v. I see some vcore fluctuation but on most of my old boards it was usually solid as a rock!
a2j
That looks like you should be good now.
Apart from MBM, I do not like MBM.
But I do not llike winbond either.
The readings seem to be wrong in Winbond.
But I wasn't too pleased with it in the past.
EDIT: MBM reports VCore steady at 1.66V
I'd really like to hit 2.4 or higher but I've never been able to get there and have any stability. I could up the vCore possibly, but I don't wanna literally fry the CPU plus I'm not sure if an SLK-900U w/ only a 40+ CFM fan can adequately dissipate the heat generated.
2.4GHz would mean I could produce WUs ~4% faster on the machine.
What vCore do you think I should stay BELOW? I don't want to fry the CPUs, especially because they seem to be pretty decent O/C'ers.
:wow: