Can somebody help me with nForce boards?

[Dug]

What's the difference between the nForce:


220
415-D
420
420-D

Thanks. Nvidia's site is no help.

 

[mechBgon]

220: single 64-bit memory controller, onboard video
415: dual 64-bit memory controllers, no onboard video
420: dual 64-bit memory controllers, onboard video

The D suffix means it has the deluxe version of nVidia's southbridge which has Dolby encoding/decoding. If you're not going to use the onboard video, then the benefits of the dual memory controllers are not too pronounced. If you do use the onboard video, then using two identical memory modules in the correct slots will give it more bandwidth and enhance performance, but it will still pale in comparison to most add-in video cards, being around a GeForce2 MX200 in performance even with two memory modules.

If you want a basic office system, an Asus A7N266-VM is a 220D board that I've had good results with. If you want to buy a new board for gaming or high-performance usage, nForce2 might be the way to go, since it will support the next wave of AMD processors.

 

[Dug]

Thank you.

I'm trying to make a cheap gaming system for by little brother, and I saw quite a few returned/refurbed Asus nforce boards at Newegg for around $39.
I wouldn't be using onboard video, and I would be purchasing a an AMD 1600

But I'm trying to decide between the nForce and an older KT board that supports SDRAM as he already has 512KB of sdram.

 

[mechBgon]

You might also consider a KM266 board that has both DDR and SDR slots, such as the Biostar M7VIG. A little more money, but you can re-use that 512Mb of RAM. It does have an AGP slot in addition to the 3D onboard video. Or of course, there's the old standby, the K7S5A, which also has both DDR and SDR slots, although the onboard sound is not very good.

 

[Wiz]

Or you could sell the sdram and use that to offset the cost of some DDR. The DDR is much better.
I pretty much like my little A7N266-VM boards, even though I did just kill one through moboslaughter.



Unfortunately I've been convicted three times this month

 

[RanDum72]

I pretty much like my little A7N266-VM boards, even though I did just kill one through moboslaughter.

You murderer. Those mobos were defenseless and you took advantage of them:|