Help choosing AMD (all in one) MB.

[Della]

Any opinions and advice of choosing AMD (all in one)MB. I cannot find any info. comparison of Nforce and
S3 ProSavage8. How is compared in performance between these chips.

Abit NV7-m (with nForce 420-d)
Epox 8kmm+ (with VIA KM266 and ProSavage8)
Gigabyte 7VKML (with VIA KM266 and ProSavage8)

Iam running with AMD 1600xp.
Also any advice on quality of those boards

 

[Iron Woode]

I think basically all AMD integrated boards are pretty similar. However I have noticed better memory management on non VIA boards.

The ECS K7SOM seems to be the counter part to the KM266 boards. I believe the SIS onboard video is a better performer, but I have no personal experience with the ProSavage 8 video.

 

[stevens]

I am pretty sure that the nforce is gonna be the best onbaord video and audio.

 

[Athlon4all]

I too have been unable to find a single KM266 review, but I will say this. When it comes down to the cores, and there is no doubt about it, the GF2MX core is technically superior to the Savage4 3d core of the ProSavage, so there is no doubt in my mind that the GF2MX will beat the ProSavage8. Now, the oither factor is that the 420-d on the NV7m will have significnatly more memory bandy than any other onboardsolution on the market (because of Twinbank) so the bottom lin e is that the 420-D will totally spank the KM266 boards and it will probably even perform better in overall perfrommance because nForce's video doesnt take abny bandy away from the cpu so go with the NV7m

 

[orpheusx]

The NV7M's video is certainly faster and it also has good audio though as far as I can tell from reading the board's .pdf manual the audio solution is *not* the MCP-D but rather the MCP-1 which I assume is the same thing minus Dolby Digital. Actually the manual is rather confusing because it lists the MCP-D in one place but in the section specifically describing the audio capabilities its referred to as the MCP-1 and no mention of 6 channel sound is made.

Of course, if any one knows for sure (i.e. has the board and has DD 5.1 setup) I'd love to know since this is a board I have been looking at closely myself.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Go nForce

 

[DainB]

nForce

 

[Della]

Help me choose!!!! between Abit NV7m, and ASUS A7N266-VM. Both are the same except 420d, and 220d. What are different in performance? Is there noticable overall?

 

[Athlon4all]

NV7m. Better video performance when using 2 DIMMs (within 15% of a GF2MX), still has sound and lan.

 

[render]

Abit NV7m

 

[orpheusx]

Doh. Just read a review of the NV7M on mikhailtech and he had photos of the board with a close-up of the southbridge. I was wrong. It *is* an MCP-D and does therefore has Dolby Digital.

On the other hand, the SPDIF daughter card (from the manual I think it is the Abit CA-21) that lets you get at those 6 channels seems not to exist anyplace I've looked. Nobody mentions it in their product descriptions. Ever! Sent an email to Abit-USA (not expecting much there...) and the nice people at newegg asking them about this component.

The A7N266-D, on the other hand, _is_ occasionally listed with SPDIF out though you'd want to check before placing the order.

If 6 channel audio is not an important feature for you then the NV7m is the better choice for the reasons everyone has been giving. If it is then you should consider the little Asus board.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

OMG -

The previews of the nForce2 look unbelieveable... wait until the end of the month.

 

[Athlon4all]

Not a month, but rather 2 or 3 until boatrds hit. nForce 2's video will certainly be faster than nForce 420-D's by Im thinking 20% but If this isnt a big gaming system, just go for a nforce1.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

I dunno... I have read from several sites that the boards should be available by mid-August.