Any reason to get the ABIT NF7-S instead of the DFI NFII Ultra Infinity?

[RedScare]

ok so im thinking about upgrading my cpu and mobo in the next month or so. ive pretty much decided on getting a Mobile XP 2600+ because i can overclock it if i decide to venture into that realm but even if i dont the stock speeds are good enough.

so at first it looked like most people recommended the asus a7n8x deluxe or the abit nf7-s board for AMD cpus. and it seemed like the board to go with (to me) was the abit. but then i started hearing about this dfi board. and actually the more i look into it, i dont see really how the abit is much better (if at all). both support dual channel memory (right?). both have soundstorm. or do they? dfi is listed on the nvidia site as soundstorm certified but it doesnt say "soundstorm" anywhere specifically in the manual or in its specs like the abit board does. and i hear that the dfi board is actually better for overclocking too...oh, and the dfi has four rear usb ports as opposed to abit's 2 which is a plus for me.

anyway, i will be using my rig for moderate gaming (would like to run HL2) and the usual college stuff (internet, office aps, photoshop).

im leaning towards the dfi unless someone points something out about the abit that i have overlooked. any reason to not go with the dfi board? thanks for the input.

 

[BZeto]

I would like to know the same thing, I will be getting the Mobile 2500+ along with either of these boards or the Shuttle AN35N Ultra. Right now I'm leaning towards the NF7-S.

From what I have heard the DFI allows a really high FSB OC but suffers from stability problems. Yet when you get everything working right it is a real good performer.

Anyway, hopefully someone can enlighten us...

 

[RedScare]

hmm stability problems eh? sounds like something i wouldnt wanna mess with. i dont expect to take the fsb much higher than 200 anyway if i decide to overclock so maybe i should reconsider the abit. i just wanna make sure it's dual ddr compatible like the dfi. it doesnt really explain it in the manual. the dfi board explains how if you plug the two sticks into separate channels then it should automatically run it in dual channel mode. does the abit work the same way?

 

[Megatomic]

The biggest problem with the DFI board that I have seen is that at high Vcore you get cold and warm boot problems. Also, BIOS flashing can be a fatal experience with them. Lots of peeps (extremists, not the average Joe) are getting CMOS corruption when flashing to alpha and beta BIOS revisions. I do believe that the vast majority of DFI users are happily overclocking away in quiet solitude, never to be heard uttering complaints.

Hopefully today I'll be in possession of my own DFI NFII Ultra Infinity, I'll give my own testimonial later if so. See sig, I'm upgrading from an Abit NF7-S R2 that has treated me VERY well.

 

[Mem]

both support dual channel memory (right?). both have soundstorm. or do they? dfi is listed on the nvidia site as soundstorm certified but it doesnt say "soundstorm" anywhere specifically in the manual or in its specs like the abit board does.

Dual channel works fine on my DFI Infinity Ultra board,as to Soundstorm,it does have it listed(as "Soundstorm") on the back of the DFI motherboard box,yes I can confirm it has Soundstorm .

I`m not an overclocker so can`t comment on OC performance,however it`s rock stable on mine at default speeds,not a hiccup even with the Nvidia SW IDE drivers.

 

[RedScare]

Originally posted by: Megatomic

Hopefully today I'll be in possession of my own DFI NFII Ultra Infinity, I'll give my own testimonial later if so. See sig, I'm upgrading from an Abit NF7-S R2 that has treated me VERY well.

what about the board makes it an "upgrade" for you and why did you decide to switch from the abit to the infinity if you dont mind my asking?

 

[Megatomic]

FedEX passed me by today without dropping off my card. Maybe tomorrow eh?

I guess the only real "upgrade" going from the Abit to the DFI is the almost certain promise of higher overclocks of my CPU and memory (see sig, using the same stuff over again). There are more SATA ports on the DFI board but I've heard that the SiI 3114 isn't much of an upgrade over the SiI 3112A.

As I said, I only really upgraded (sidegraded maybe?) to overclock higher. I was bored.

 

[BlindBartimaeus]

After doing a TON of NF II boards and now an owner of an A64 machine since I got a deal on a motherboard and CPU....I was too cheap prior. I won't build another NF II for anyone who is going to game. The benchmarks don't tell the whole story about how smooth and responsive the system is now. Don't cheap out...sell your XP stuff and get an A64...it is worth it.

 

[RedScare]

i cant afford an A64. ive decided on the Mobile 2600. how were your experiences with the NFII? any comments on how it would/does compare to the NF7-S?

 

[BZeto]

How many SATA drives will the NF7 accept?

 

[RedScare]

2

 

[essasin]

I have a dfi lanparty and it ocs 250 fsb with bh5s no problem without any stability problems at all, and it comes with tons of accesories and its one of the best looking boards out there. I have mine for sale if anyone is interested since im upgrading to socket 754, but if i where looking into socket A it would def be a lanparty or dfi infinity (which is prob the best bang for the buck board).

 

[BZeto]

I've been reading that the newer NF7-S boards aren't as good as the older ones. People are having a hard time getting good FSB overclocks. The newer ones apparently are made with cheaper parts.

I really hope this isn't true because I was almost set on the Abit NF7-S.

 

[Megatomic]

My DFI NFII Ultra Infinity arrived today. Hopefully I'll get a chance to install it and do a fresh install of Windows tonight so I can report on it relative to my old NF7-S R2. Wish me luck.

 

[Mem]

Wish me luck.

Megatomic,I wish you luck and welcome to the DFI club .

 

[SniperMerc]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
My DFI NFII Ultra Infinity arrived today. Hopefully I'll get a chance to install it and do a fresh install of Windows tonight so I can report on it relative to my old NF7-S R2. Wish me luck.

You'll like that board a lot, I just built a system with one in it, that CMOS reloaded feature is damn nice, don't have to reset cmos with jumper, just use ESC key and hit reset button, or you can load one of the previously saved profiles, 1-5 1 being the auto backed up one, and 2-5 being manually saved variants.

The 4 Serial ATA ports is sweet too.

If I get a chance to upgrade my Shuttle AN35/N 400 for that Infinity, I'm gonna do it.

 

[RedScare]

ok well im leaning in the direction of the DFI...i keep hearing people say "get the abit board for more reliability and stability" but no one gets specific. unless i hear people give detailed accounts of how the DFI is less "reliable" im gonna get it. the four rear usb ports is a big plus for me and the four SATA ports is also nice. i dont plan to push the fsb much higher than 200 if i decide to overclock so i dont think i will have any "stability" issues.

 

[Mem]

i dont plan to push the fsb much higher than 200 if i decide to overclock so i dont think i will have any "stability" issues.

The DFI Infinity Ultra was designed for overclocking so you won`t have a problem with stability unless you use poor components or push the overclock over the limits of the CPU etc.

 

[RedScare]

ok nevermind. i did a lot of reading over at amdmb.com and it really sounds like the DFI boards a pretty hit or miss. that as well as megatomic's post in this forum have helped me decide on the abit board. plus, this will be the first system i will be building, and as a noob im pretty sure that if i got the DFI board and ran into some problems, i wouldnt have the know how to properly troubleshoot. from what ive read it sounds like they may be the better board, but you really have to know what you're doing in order to tweak it and troubleshoot to get it to its best performance.

 

[Ken90630]

I'm just gonna make a brief comment, as I'm a long way from being a mobo expert. I'm currently trying to decide on a Socket A mobo for an Athlon XP 2600 build and one of the things I've noticed is that many of them have fans on their northbridge (like the Abit board does). I personally don't wanna have to worry about a buzzing or failed northbridge fan a year or two from now -- which seems to be a common complaint -- so for that reason alone I've ruled out any mobo with a northbridge fan. There are plenty of what-look-to-be comparable Socket A mobos that use heatsinks on their northbridge instead of a fan (Asus, AOpen, Chaintech, Shuttle and others offer such boards, with comparable features to the NF7), so I see no need to go that route unless there's some compelling superiority in another area.

Nothing against Abit otherwise, and I'm admittedly not even discussing the issue of stability. Just mentioning it as something to consider if you haven't already.

Good luck. Let us know what board you decide on and how you like it.

 

[RedScare]

well im pretty much set on the nf7-s now. the northbridge fan isnt really a concern of mine. this board has been out quite some time and i have yet to read about someone complaining about a failed nb fan. so yeah thats not an issue for me. ill let you know how it does when i get it (three weeks or so).

 

[Soulkeeper]

i think abit boards are better quality
they use japanese capacitors from reputatble sources instead of chinese or taiwanese ones
and i like the abit bios/support/software/etc. right now

dfi is good too imo tho

but it's mostly personal preferance when dealing with choosing a motherboard maker
choosing the proper chipset is atleast as important

 

[Ken90630]

Hi, redscare05,

Not to start an argument or anything, but there's actually a posting by Vrbaba on page 1 of the Motherboard forum regarding what looks like a failing or failed fan on his Abit IC7 mobo (I assume it's his northbridge fan; he doesn't say, but it'd have to be 'cuz if it was his CPU fan, his whole system would have crashed by now).

I admittedly haven't taken the time to go thru the Abit forums yet, so I'm not claiming to be an expert on this topic, but I know for a fact I've read numerous comments (on Anandtech forums and elsewhere) about buzzing and/or failed northbridge fans on different mobos, so it's not an unusual occurrence. In fact, I'd bet money that one of the first things to go on a board, if you keep it long enough, will be the northbridge fan or a capacitor.

I don't mean to dissuade you from getting the NF7 -- I'm just trying to help by mentioning what looks to be a legitimate issue with boards that use fans on their northbridge instead of just a heatsink. But, obviously if everything else on the board is to your liking, this alone probably wouldn't be enough of a reason to not get it. For all I know, maybe Abit uses a very high quality northbridge fan on the NF7 that'll last for many years.

Just sharin' my thoughts here.

 

[Ken90630]

Hi, Soulkeeper:

they use japanese capacitors from reputable sources instead of chinese or taiwanese ones

Interesting comment about cap's. Did you by any chance happen to catch the May issue of Computer Power User (CPU) magazine? On pages 34-35 there's an interesting article about capacitors and how some bad batches apparently found their way into boards from a whole slew of mobo mfgrs and have been causing all kinds of probs. It says that analysts think the bad cap's may have originated in Taiwan, but they haven't been able to prove it.

Compounding the problem, most cap's don't have markings on them, so you & I can't tell just by looking at them whether or not they're the "bad ones" or okay. The article mentions a whole slew of "Faulty Capacitor Motherboard Brands," from 1998 to the present, including Abit, AOpen, ECS, Epox, Gateway, HP, Intel, MSI, Shuttle, Soyo, Tyan and Via. Jheesh -- that's more than half of the mobo mfgrs out there!

The article also has some nice pictures of failed cap's & explains how to identify them. Good read, for anyone that might be interested.

 

[3LEMENT0]

Never Tried DFI but I do trust ABIT...their quality and stability seems to be good....concerning the NB fan, don't worry about it. The one on mine died a while back and I just noticed it a month ago. It died coz of the dust, I haven't tried cleaning my pc for years. I just took the fan off and it ran cooler with the dead fan off (obviously) and it doesn't seem to be running "hot", high 20's idle, low 30's full load. I'd personally only get ABIT or ASUS 1st before I consider other boards....Good luck on your choice.