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motherboard decision

S

snail

n00b
Joined
Jun 29, 2004
Messages
20
i'm dealing with what's possibly older equipment..but i was wondering which was a better buy.

an abit NF7-S revision 2 for $92
or an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe for 92.50

any particular difference that I should be concerned about?

I'm going to be putting a barton 2500+ (or 2800+) and a GF4 ti4200 into the system and was planning to use the built in sound and some ddr-333 ram i have till i can get some ddr-400 (or afford to).

thx in advance.
sunil
 
Asus....but I also have an A7N8X Deluxe Board..

It supports DDR400 while the other board only supports DDR333.
The Asus board is just more user friendly in my opinion. Look at the way the IDE connections are placed on the ABIT board...pain if your hiding wires.

Having better Ram capabilities, and better LAN connections (2) is a lot better than the ABIT board.
 
Yes the asus has soundstorm.

Save yr money and get the 2500 XP Mobile, no reason to get the 2800 since the 2500 XP-Ms OC so well (decent HSF and you should hit 2.4ghz no problem)

I love my A7N8X, only problem is it's the old PCb and FSB won't go above 175/350, which is the only thing keeping my 2500 at 2.2 ghz (that and I'm too lazy to open everything back up and do the wire trick).
 
i read the nf7-s is dual channel capable with ddr-400 ram...can the same be said for the asus board?

also, i'm not really sure how to overclock, but if i don't, what's the difference in performance between an athlon 2500+ (barton) and its mobile counterpart? plus, is there a difference in how difficult it is to overclock each?

(edit) oh yeah, and what heatsink/fan combo would you suggest in ocing the mobile 2500+? i'm assuming the retail set isn't going to cut it..

thx for your help guys :)
 
In terms of features/support, etc, both boards are EXACTLY the same- both will support dual channel yadda yadda at whatever speed youw ant them two, the considerations that you must look at are the more subtle differences:

1. Placement of power connectors: The Asus A7N8X line as a well placed single ATX header. The NF7-S has lousy connector placement that makes you drag all 20 ATX power lines accross the HSF area of the board.

2. NB Heatsink: The A7N8X uses a large passive heatsink that you could add a 40mm fan to ifyou really wanted to. The NF7-S uses a peice of plastic (as a heatsink) with an integrated 40mm sleave bearing fan that will probably die in 6 months.

3. LAN: The A7N8X has 2 lan adapters- one Gbit and one 10/100 (as of the Dlx-E version). The NF7-S has 1 10/100

4. Audio: The NF7-S has an S/PDIF optical out jack for its Soundstorm output, wheras the A7N8X has a Coax S/PDIF jack for Soundstorm output.

Aside from these differences, the boards are basically the same. As long as your southbridge is labeled the "MCP-T" you will get soundstorm. If the southbridge is MCPGb, then soundstorm goes away.
 
snail said:
thank you guys so much :)
Click to expand...

Err. What did you decide upon?

And to answer the OCin' question-

There are a ton of products available that will help you OC quite well- it will really depend on your price range. The upper end of aircooling is dominated by Thermalright (IMO, of course) with their SP-94 (top) or SLK947U (next one down). In the upper midrange, I'd give the hat tip to Alpha for their PAL8045 (i've got an extra.... ). For the midrange, consider Thermalright's ALX-800 or Vantec's Aeroflow. Once you're in the mid-range or higher, you'll really only be helping temps- max OC will not likely change vastly once you have a real HSF assembly that can dissapate higher wattage.
 
i've decided to get the asus board, since its the same price at newegg (50 cents more..) anyway and you folks say its better than the abit board in layout and some features.

as for overclocking, thx for the tips with the fans.
my only remaining question is whether an overclocked 2500+ (mobile?) will be faster than the 2800+?
and do i have to get the mobile varient to oc it?

thx for your help Schro
 
snail said:
i've decided to get the asus board, since its the same price at newegg (50 cents more..) anyway and you folks say its better than the abit board in layout and some features.

as for overclocking, thx for the tips with the fans.
my only remaining question is whether an overclocked 2500+ (mobile?) will be faster than the 2800+?
and do i have to get the mobile varient to oc it?

thx for your help Schro
Click to expand...

You don't need to purchase the mobile version of the chip to OC it, but it is more likely that you will obtain a better OC from said mobile chip. The Multi's on the desktop chips are locked, so any OCing that you do will be limited by the max FSB that you can obtain- which will probably be lower than what your chip can do.

Because the mobiles can make stock speeds at a lower voltage, this means they can do higher clock speeds at standard desktop voltage (its all about speed-binning- the faster the chip can go at a lower voltage, the better the chip- less voltage means less power consumption means less battery life, yadda yadda. The mobiles have an unlocked multiplier, but nothing is guarenteed.

The question about which will end up faster in the long run can only be answered by your luck of the draw.
 
so final purchase will be the asus board with an athlon 2800+ (barton).

my bro (who making purchase with me) is completely against overclocking..so i guess we'll spend the extra money.

thanks for you help everyone - esp you schro
 
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