Which is the better board?

BeatFreak

I need a new Mobo and im going to be clocking it hard (thanks to my new Vapo 8) ) which is better in your opinion? Asus A7N8X 2.0 Deluxe OR Abit NF7-S.
Any other suggestions would be appericated but to my knowledge these are the best all round 400mhz boards.
Cheers
DeV

deckie27

Epox ??

BeatFreak

hmmmm you think? Never was a fan of epox, mind you haven't used them much, recommend any board in particular?

BabyEater

I would recommend the ABit NF7 for overclocking.
Have one meself and it works great.

Creamy Goodness

imo abit boards are the kings of overclocking espically if it's waterchilled


i saw some1 reporting on a different forum he got a p4 2.4ghz chip running at 3.5ghz with stock cooler on a abit board

BeatFreak

Aye my thoughts exactly and got similar replies on another board, Abit it is then, and im hoping to get similar oc's with my vapo..... oh yeah then theres the small matter of new ram, im thinking 512Mb kit EL DDR PC-3500 Platinum Dual Channel - OCZ seen here http://www.shop4memory.com/products/ddr-ram.asp any oppinions on this ram?

Creamy Goodness

ocz good memory but if money is no problem get corsair they are the best for memory imo well i've got a gig of the stuff ddr400 running in dual mode so i've seen no complaints

BeatFreak

Bloody hell i cant get any consensus on any hardware these days, I was under the impression OCZ is faster but im open to suggestion, oh and another question where can i get passive north bridge coolers?

Creamy Goodness

sorry but i know nothing about northbridge cooling

BabyEater

Maplins have those passive northbridge coolers.
I assume you want this for the southbridge when overclocking high.
I was thinking of putting something like that on meself. Also the Mosfets might want a bit of extra cooling aswell if you are pushing it very hard.

BeatFreak

Ah sound, was thinking maplins might have sumit. And yes south bridge and i wanna replace the whiney northbridge fan with a passive and then strap my now unused Zalman fan and bracket over it for increased cooling of both the NB and area around the evaporator head. I'm worried that the increased humitity might lead to condensation which is bad 8(. Also i really really hate whiney NB fans.... which reminds me must sort out me gpu for silent cooling, I know maplins stock zalman gear but do they have the passive gpu coolers? cause i was thinking of going passive and strapping another large silent fan on to a bracket hanging directly over the gfx card thus cooling the gfx card, which would have the advantage of being silent and still fairly efficiant.
Any info, thoughts?
Cheers,
DeV

BabyEater

I think maplins have one alright.
Hitide also have them here http://www.hitide.ie/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/21_23/products_id/47

Col_Loki

Board wise the abit NF7-S is fantastic, good choice.

RAM wise i would recomend you going for 466Mhz or if you can stretch to 500Mhz RAM. The main reason is that AFAIK on the NF7 you can go to atleast 245Mhz FSB - unless you use the 5:6 Dividers where around 220-230 is your limit (i have the board and have tried this). Im presuming its the same with the other dividers too.

A 250Mhz (500Mhz) FSB is probably possible as i was using OCZ Pc3200 ram to get to 245Mhz with really relaxed timings and high Vdimm voltage.

Try here for memory, there based in kildare and free delivery!! PS best prices on OCZ in europe . Here

BeatFreak

Ah cheers for the link, heard about this hitide crew good to see more irish companies getting a share in the market. do they have a shop? and do you know where its situated? i seen the address but i dont recognize it... pity i owe so much on me credit card.... would order one now.....

BeatFreak

Thanks for the info loki, Im a regular visitor to that site, and http://www.shop4memory.com are they the same company? both are set up in kildare as far as i know. oh and looky what i found http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/zm-nb47j.htm zalman make some damn fine products..... gonna have to max my visa out again 8)

Col_Loki

Havent had the pleasure of dealing with this company yet, also a near maxed out credit card . Just got a new board, new H.Disk, & Xp3000+ .............. Next up is the ram, 500Mhz stuff looks really good. Have heard very good stuff about this company and i live in kildare. Free delivery is nice. Need good cooling (possible water) and RAM and im set.

Have the Xp3000+ at 2400Mhz at the min - suppose its ok for the min !! What CPU you have in mind for that VapoChill system?? With your system your gonna get some results, would be dreadfull to have your RAM holding you back.

PS I wasent very happy with the performance of my OCZ ram, mabye it was just a once off but personally im going either GeIL or Mushkin.

BeatFreak

Im still on my 2600 and the minute and the main reason im not mad about getting better is the athlon64 ive heard its not far off (late september by the sounds of it) and dont talk to me about the ram holding me back, thats the only thing thats holding me back.... stupid value ram not worth a ****e.... but i knew this when i got the vapo and would have new gear now except for this bloody holiday (women... need i say any more?) I'll keep that in mind about the ocz, just that ive heard good things. everyoen to thier own i guess....
Might i recommend the waterchill cooler from asetek? i mentioned it before in an earlier post, infact im thinking that i might getta unit myself for the gpu and NB, BUT ! for the moment check this baby out http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/ZM-OP1.htm pretty sweet huh....damn im gonna be broke again this month, oh well atleast im happy, let us know how you get on with your new system.
Cheers,
DeV

Col_Loki

Will definetly look into that water cooler, havnt found any places in Eire (or anywhere that have cheap shipping - £25 is way too much, nearly €40). I dont mind paying for a decent product but no way will i pay that crazy shipping. I think im missing something here with this Company im reading it that all shipping outside usa is $12 - which is amazing, and there prices are awesome too , check em out.

That graphics card cooler is wicked, mite be the next road i go down . Xp2600+ should be pretty nice to overclock , pitty its not a barton but sure ya cant win em all!!

Think ill be going for an Athlon64 mabye next year, a bit of a waste unless your running 64Bit programs. Will be pretty sweet when it takes off .

BeatFreak

Aye tis true prolly not worth investing untill the software catches up with the hardware, but still it's new hardware and and its hard too keep me hands off it 8).
I got my vapo from http://www.overclockers.co.uk and had no problems what so ever, cant remember what i paid though think it was over €30 mind you the box was bloody huge and very heavy so i didn't mind. http://www.chillblast.com do asetek too might be worth checking out.
Yay its lunch time only four hours to go.....
DeV

zepp

ya the asus board is nice but if you want to save a few pounds you could go for the non-deluxe one i think (correct me if im wrong) the only difference is the the deluxe comes with firewire and raid support.if your not doing major film jobs or having raid hard drives it may release some money for other things.but i think the other one is the better overclocker.PC extreme magazine have an article about watercooling in this months.basically a step by step guide.Also a bit about someone who watercooled there psu (mental)

could look at a maxtor diamond plus 160gb hard drive got one at
www.novatech.co.uk for 112 pounds also got pc3200 512mb memory there for 64 pounds not sure if they deliver too ireland im in england at mo so thats how ive got it also got a 5200 ultra graphics card for 60 odd quid there on or two nice things there

also consider a nice sound systenm

BeatFreak

I've used asus boards in the past but i think im going abit this time feel like tying something new 8) and as regards ordering from england the exchange rates are terrible at the minute so im trying my best to avoid ordering and im sorted as regards everything cept ram and mobo at the minute especially sound wise 8) mind you wouldn't mind getting my hands on a few WD raptors or the likes..... hmmmmm

Col_Loki

Have the Asus A7N8X non-deluxe myself and my new Abit board is ohh so much better. The A7N8X deluxe also has dual Lan btw.

For RAM im going with the www.shop4memory.com (same as pc memory upgrade place in kildare) , great prices and products.

Have always stuck with komplett for motherboards & hard disks, hard to find a place with better stock , prices & delivery.

WD Raptors will definetly be on my Xmas list, prices are getting better . Ahh new RAM on friday - cant wait!!

Dr Bolouswki

I have the ASUS A7N8X standard version and quite a few of the BIOS options are greyed out - stuff like CAS latency and some others - I'm only starting out on trying to overclock, and I wanted to change the timings to one's recommended for nforce2 chipsets, but I'm assuming it's my BIOS version that is causing the locked features? I mailed ASUS but nothing back as yet. Any ideas?

Col_Loki

Ok.... they most lightly arent locked at all. Flash the BIOS with the newest version. There should be a option about the ram timings you set to "User define" this will allow you to select any ram timings you like.

On the CPU it has to be set to user define about 5/6 lines down from where you select FSB. <- this allows you to select 1mhz increments as appose to 133, 166 & 200 !! (you also have to set another option to user define, think its over the FSB)

The board definetly allows you to change these settings - if in doubt set it to user define !!

Dr Bolouswki

nice one loki - I'll post here for advicewhen I've burned everything up !!:D

Col_Loki

Haha , always a good way to go !! Generally just keep your Vcore under 1.8V unless your cooling is brilliant and you should be fine. Not a bad board to start on, if its an older revision (ie not 2.0) then your FSB might be limited to 180Mhz (mine was) . You dont have to worry about AGP or PCI when your overclocking with this mobo (make sure to use the ram divider if you have to) .

Best of luck and enjoy!!

Loki