Need help on upgrade decision, A7N8X?

[Ruhnie]

I'm looking for some insight to help me on my upgrade decision for my secondary computer. I've got enough parts laying around to make a decent second system, with a Tbird 1.4 as my CPU. The original mobo I used for it got fried awhile back, so I've been looking at a replacement for it. The price difference between a 266 fsb mobo and a 400 fsb mobo is not very much. I always like to leave room for upgradeability, so buying a 2 year old board just seems dumb to me. So, here's my questions.

If I go with say, an Asus A7N8X with my Tbird, can I run the fsb at 266 and use PC2100 DDR RAM? I'm assuming the fsb and memory bus is synchronus, right? Or should I go ahead and pay the premium for good PC3200 RAM and underclock it to 266 for now? Also, I noticed that this board has 3 DIMM slots, but since it's dual-channel, how does that work if I fill all 3? Thanks for any advice you all can give.

 

[pspada]

I refuse to sell Asus equipment any longer, their support is non-existant. I'd get the Epox 8RDA+, and it's cheaper to boot. In fact, I already did, you can read about it in the 8RDA+ thread.

 

[Ruhnie]

Cool, I appreciate the recommendation. I'll definitely take a look at that board. What do you think about my RAM dilemma?

 

[mechBgon]

About the memory: the A7N8X-Deluxe and 8RDA+ have two memory controllers. One controls one DIMM, the other one controls the two remaining DIMMs. As long as both memory controllers have DIMMs, your board has no choice but to run dual-channel, so as counter-intuitive as it may sound, it runs dual-channel with three DIMMs if that's how you equip it.

Assuming your Tbird 1.4 is a 266MHz-based processor to start with, you can install it along with your PC2100 DDR RAM and it will work just like that You can manually set the memory to run synchronously with the fsb in the BIOS, a good plan. If it's the 200MHz-based variant, then you'll need to change the FSB jumper to the 100MHz setting and then it and the RAM can run synchronously at the PC1600 speed.

With memory prices on the rise again, it's hard to say what the best plan is. You can use your PC2100 with up to a 2400+ on that board, or even the rare 2600+ that has the 266MHz bus speed if you can find one, so maybe buying PC3200 now would be wasteful when you could get a faster CPU or a faster video card, new burner, etc with your money. The other benefit to the PC3200 is that it leaves lots of headroom to overclock, but if this is just for a spare machine, what's the point.

I've had one each of the A7N8X-Deluxe and the 8RDA+, and unfortunately my 8RDA+ bit the dust for no apparent reason but EPoX does have the better support (ie, they have actual human beings that reply to email).

 

[Ruhnie]

Cool, thanks. I guess I should have elaborated more on what I'm trying to accomplish, and what I'm starting with. I do in fact have the 266MHz Tbird, so no worries there. This machine I'm putting together is hopefully going to be more than just a spare machine, however. I would like it to be an acceptable gaming platform. I will be upgrading my rig with a new gen vid card, and putting my GeForce 3 in the Tbird box. I currently have 2X256 MB sticks of PC2100 RAM in my main machine, and I want to upgrade to a gig. I've considered getting some PC2700 as a replacement, so I could OC a bit more safely. Then I could put my PC2100 in my second box, and buy another stick for the third DIMM slot. Or, I could just buy more PC2100 for my main box, forget the OC, and buy some PC3200 for the second box. Decisions, decisions...

What would happen if I mixed PC2100 and PC3200 RAM on the nForce board, running them at 266MHz? Is that another option? Thanks for the help!

 

[mechBgon]

If you mix the RAM, the mobo should just run both types at the speed of the slower one. No harm in that

 

[Ruhnie]

One more question. Do the nForce2 mobo's have asynchronous bus settings between the system bus and memory bus? Could I run a 400MHz Barton cpu and run the RAM at 266MHz separately, and vice versa?