AMD MOBO recommendation

[Loobusk]

hey, dont play i hate tis company cuz of one product.

I'm not "hatin" anythin , im just saying what's true based on my opinion. You have every right to disagree with me and vice versa, doesn't mean h8 tho.

 

[Regs]

play I hate? Isn't it "Player Hate" ?

 

[unbiased]

Hey mechbgon and others,
The only ASUS nforce 2 board with IGP is A7N8X-VM .This board has a bios compared to which Intel bios is freedom incarnate.This board doesn't even allow you to change the memory timings.So if you want to use onboard graphics, you will have to be content with a VERY UNINTERESTING bios.I don't know why asus restricts the users of this MOBO, because on other models they have provided full freedom.Does it save money?i don't think so.
What are your opinions?

 

[unbiased]

BTW Mechbgon,I chanced upon your Actual name at one of the sites.I am grateful for the patient advice you had given me in my greener days(on this forum only).Thanx for that

 

[MikeMike]

Originally posted by: Loobusk

hey, dont play i hate tis company cuz of one product.

I'm not "hatin" anythin , im just saying what's true based on my opinion. You have every right to disagree with me and vice versa, doesn't mean h8 tho.

i ment dont play, "i hate this company because of one product"

MIKE

 

[The Sauce]

Originally posted by: pat79
ok thanks, looks like I'm gonna buy the asus with nForce2 chipset. BTW how much perfomance(%) that I will get with this upgrade:
My current spec
AMD athlon XP1700+ (Palomino)
Pc Partner mobo
256MB SDRAM
Riva TNT 32MB
80GB WD SE
Win XP

New spec
AMD athlon XP1700+ (Palomino)
ASUS A7N8X
256MB DDR SDRAM
Riva TNT 32MB(should I use this video card instead of IGP, which one is better)
80GB WD SE
Win XP

I would say none....if all you are upgrading is the mobo. Assuming your DDR is PC133 and you will be limited to a FSB of 133.

 

[megamanS]

I'm also looking for a good AMD motherboard, but I'd like something with fairly good overclocking options and serial ata, but I wouldn't mind single-channel ram if it saved me money. Any good boards like that out there?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: unbiased
BTW Mechbgon,I chanced upon your Actual name at one of the sites.I am grateful for the patient advice you had given me in my greener days(on this forum only).Thanx for that

You're welcome!

I'm glad to hear the straight scoop on the A7N8X-VM BIOS and how it's non-tweakable. Sounds like it follows in the footsteps of the old A7N266-VM, the nForce1 predecessor, which is also barren of tweaks.

 

[NesuD]

Soltek Model SL-NV400-L64 I only comes with 2 usb ports but has headers onboard for 4 more so you can connect the front usb to one of them. Only 76 bucks. It is only a single channel memory controller but if you have no need for the igp which this board does not use then the performance is very nearly equal to a dual channel board.

 

[EglsFly]

Get a motherboard that uses the nForce2 chipset. Period!
The Asus A7N8X is a great board, but the most important thing is that whatever you get has an nForce2 chipset! :light:

 

[pat79]

Thanks to all of your replies here..

 

[MiExStacY]

i have a7n8x deluxe 2.o and love it to death almost.
i have not had one crash or bsod since i've install this for gaming

 

[Mavrick007]

If you are going to get an nforce2 board, and you want a good graphic solution for your situation, I would probably suggest going with the Epox 8rga/+ or the Abit NF7-M board since it will give you much better graphics than your 32meg TNT card and will not cost you an arm and a leg, it will even be cheaper than the Asus deluxe or around the same price. Plus if you ever want to get a better vid card, you can always just disable the onboard video. Also reselling it would make it worth more with IGP too.

You will get little performance increase just by going to the new mobo and ram if you use the same vid card. Since the new ram would be ddr, and since the mobo has a better and more stable chipset, you may get 10% improvement if you tweaked the settings alot since you are using a 1700+ "Palomino" which is known to be a very poor overclocker.

Now probably the cheapest scenario with the best performance improvement for you would be to get an nforce2 board with IGP, get a 1700+ Tbred B chip(so you can overclock, but if you don't want to, keep the palomino and just get pc2100ram), and get some pc3200 ram. Arguably it would be even better if you could get even a GF4 Ti4200 in place of the IGP, but this is going to cost at least $100-120 more for a good card, and then your proformance would be very high and would give the most longevity for your machine.