MSI K7N420 arrived, now it's time to test

[John]

Do I need it, no.

I figured I would at least put it in another rig to do some of my own testing. Got it for 175.00 with overnight shipping included. Worst case scenario I can sell it off in the FS/T forum, bahahaha.

 

[Insane3D]

Sounds good John, keep us posted. I just ordered that Leadtek Sis735 for the same reason...do I need it..hell no!

 

[AGodspeed]

Got it for 175.00 with overnight shipping included.

Where'd you get that deal. I'm thinking of ordering one myself.

I just ordered an Epox 8KHA+. I'm a little skeptical of VIA chipsets, but I'll give a try, what the hell. (and yes Insane3D, I'm going through the "hassle" of ordering, waiting, and assembling it all, because it's fun , despite my previous comments.)

 

[Insane3D]

 

[John]

If UPS delivers today, i should have it in the rig this evening. I will post my thoughts afterwards.

 

[flexy]

<< Got it for 175.00 with overnight shipping included.

Where'd you get that deal. I'm thinking of ordering one myself.

I just ordered an Epox 8KHA+. I'm a little skeptical of VIA chipsets, but I'll give a try, what the hell. (and yes Insane3D, I'm going through the "hassle" of ordering, waiting, and assembling it all, because it's fun , despite my previous comments.) >>



lol agodspeed...i see we often share the same thoughts

funny, i wanted to get an nforce, too. Ditched it however...no point in spending that much more money...performance gain neglectible.

And...guess what i am going to order now ? An epox 8kha+, i'd love the soltek (would get it from canada)...but my heatsink wont fit..so it'll be the epox then

 

[John]

flexy, I have the 8KHA+ in here and it is a smokin' motherboard. Very stable and a feature-rich bios.

*UPS delivered the nForce board, so now it's time to play. I will report back with details later.

 

[flexy]

THEY DELIVERED IT ALREADY ?

Heck...where did you order it ??????????? I thought it may take another week or so 'til its finally in the shelves.....(looking puzzled)

Edit: Amazing.....i changed my mind 3 times this week already....1st i ditched nforce...then i wanted the epox8kha+...and now i reaaaalllllllyyyy like the soyo dragon plus....it's neat !

 

[Namuna]

I was debating the NForce board, then I read Toms' 13 mobo round-up...."Conclusion: KT266A Trounces nForce 420D"

How the HELL do ya like that? I'm leaning towards the 8KHA+ board myself

 

[John]

<< I was debating the NForce board, then I read Toms' 13 mobo round-up...."Conclusion: KT266A Trounces nForce 420D"

How the HELL do ya like that? I'm leaning towards the 8KHA+ board myself >>



I don't think trounce is a good word to use. He likes to blow things out of proportion. I just pulled my 8KHA+ out and dropped the nForce420 in my box, so I will do my own testing, lol.

 

[flexy]

yeah john,

how are your first impressions ?

 

[Bovinicus]

I wish Thomas Pabst wrote more of the articles himself. He is an extremely intelligent person, and can write much more sensible reviews than his associates. They tend to blow things out of proportion indeed. Trounces nothing. They all perform the same pretty much.

 

[flexy]

well...if you look at the other nforce reviews....it's all over pretty much the same story:


nforce is good in certain benchmarks..eg. memory benchmarks...and may be ahead one or two frames in certain games....but still the majority of benchmarks/tests shows that kt266A (the fast boards of the bunch) STILL outperforms it....which is a shame actually.

Nforce would be nice if it'd have an onboard gf3 core..because THEN the internal "AGP 6x" like speed AND 128 bit memory access would really make a difference.

The problem is (as of right now)...the boards come with that slow gf2mx400-"thing" which is nothing else than a bottleneck for every serious gamer/performance freak.....and it is just plain dumb to feed an onboard gf2mx with 128bit mem access, agpx6 speed....it doesnt make the system a fast one - from this point of view its a really totally dumb solution.....that's like releasing a new car with a 300HP turbo charge engine....but the wheels/gears/chassis etc. are built so they cant do more than 55mph.

And for us performance buffs...we dont gain anything from the 128bit mem architecture if we put on an external agp card... this all doesnt make really sense to me for my needs. May be another story for people who are not gaming etc. and for which a gf2mx is sufficient....budget/oem whatever....

 

[AMDPwred]

I think the NForce has potential but for now the KT266A will rule. Wait a little while, this is nvidias first attempt at a chipset. Give them time.

 

[Raspewtin]

1% -2% difference wasn't it? that's hardly a major difference. there have only been 2 revisions of the drivers. i think it's too early to say who will be the performance king.

 

[Demonicon]

I wish the Nvidia based boards included a DVI connector. I just built a system for my sister and didn't get the Nforce cause of the lack of DVI, the onboard graphics would have suited her quite well. flibitygibits

 

[mchammer187]

<<

nforce is good in certain benchmarks..eg. memory benchmarks...and may be ahead one or two frames in certain games....but still the majority of benchmarks/tests shows that kt266A (the fast boards of the bunch) STILL outperforms it....which is a shame actually.

Nforce would be nice if it'd have an onboard gf3 core..because THEN the internal "AGP 6x" like speed AND 128 bit memory access would really make a difference.

. >>



gf3 core would really mean anything IMO unless you can find some 250 mhz DDR mem 500 effective

thats why nforce even with twinbank only performs at > GF2 MX400 levels

 

[majewski9]

I have been noticing that Nforce, KT266A and Ali Maigk C stepping are all getting close to the same scores. I think we might have seen the performance of the Athlon bottom out. Until AMD ramps up the FSB or adds more cache or clock speed I think any of these three chipsets are just fine.

I am interest in the Nforce scores since it is still not lived up to the hype!

 

[flexy]

<< I have been noticing that Nforce, KT266A and Ali Maigk C stepping are all getting close to the same scores. I think we might have seen the performance of the Athlon bottom out. Until AMD ramps up the FSB or adds more cache or clock speed I think any of these three chipsets are just fine.
>>




yeah...my words.... i think the next jump definitevely is when AMD comes with new CPUs capable of higher FSB...and what boards will support it then.

My head aleady got dizzy...and (honestly)...it doesnt matter **** if the epox is like 4 fps faster/slower in this benchmark, the nforce is 2 fps faster/slower in another benchmark... i also noted that it may very well be the case you see some review praising the epox over other boards....the next webpage states the opposite....eg there must be an error tolerance about +/- 10% or something ...and (as for kt266A, maybe even with nforce in the comparison) there is no "clear" performance winner...decision factors merely are about features/stability/maybe overclockability too.

 

[flexy]

btw where is john and his nforce ?

would be interesting to hear from him....

 

[John]

I have been too lazy to write a mini review the last couple of days. Sorry for the delay.

The motherboard is definitely feature packed unit. It comes w/ a D-bracket with 4 diagnostic LEDs and 2 extra USB connectors plus a 2 port USB hanger. You have a total of 6 USB ports...wow!

I pulled the NB heatsink off and noticed a tiny thermal pad, wtf? I scraped it off and applied ASII.

The onboard GF2MX is nice for those of us that do not have a super gaming card already in our possession. It spanks any other integrated solution available. You can allocate 8/16/32MB of video memory. It can be disable in the bios, but you lose AGP 6x and 128bit performance , boo. I disabled the onboard, and slapped my Herc GF3 in for some high speed FPS luvin'. RTCW is a killer game isn't it? "Follow me, schell.....Fire N Z Hole!!"

You need to put you memory in slot 1 & 3 for 128bit performance only if you use the integrated video (from what I have read). I used a matching pair of Crucial PC2100's. Sandra reported 1200ish/1100ish which isn't too shabby. My Epox 8KHA+ produces similar results. The bios will allow you to run up to 157FSB, but I could only run 140 100% stable. 145MHz would lock up after 10min. The FSB is not in 1MHz increments either. 133/137/140/145/147/154/157 are the choices available. This is NOT an overclocker dream machine.

No DDR voltage adjustments, and cpu core only allows a +1 (1.85v) max setting. Boooooooooo

The integrated sound rivals that of my Santa Cruz. You get a nice spdif hanger for AC3 output. Lots of software adjustments. I am very happy with the onboard sound.

Integrated lan is always a plus, and I can tell no difference compared to my 3com 3C905C.

The board is 100% stable (for me) and the new nForce drivers are a breeze to install. There is a lot of potential with this board. If you need a high performance all-in-one motherboard, look no further than the nForce420 board.

 

[Gomce]

hands down for nforce

 

[RanDum72]

Hey John, so how come you're selling the board?

 

[John]

<< Hey John, so how come you're selling the board? >>



I wonder why people tend to ask this question?

I sell a lot of hardware. I will typically get my hands on new merchandise, test it, then sell it off to a lucky forum member. I know it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

 

[TripleJ]

Thanks John for the info. I'm getting one for my bro's comp who doesn't play games(on the puter at least) so it sounds like the right choice. The easy unified driver is attractive also.

But then I've only allocated one 256MB RAM stick. Do you think that will affect it much?