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NForce Motherboards: Opinions please

T

TOOLBoy

Member
What does everyone think of the nForce chipset? I preordered a Asus A7N266-E after all the good things Anand had to say, then I saw some people talk about the nForce and stability issues. Does anyone have any other info they can give me on the nForce stability issues, particularly the type of motherboard I'm getting?
 
I have a GeForce 3 Ti 500... I wanted an nForce because of the awesome benchmark scores it was receiving from Anand.

Does everyone think this is a pipe dream?
 
Why do you think this?

Do we even have any other KT266A boards to compare it to? Do we even have any other nForce board that has been benchmarked other than the nForce reference?

I don't see why you think the nForce is going to be unstable and not perform as well as what is being shown from Anand's benchmarks.
 
Anyway, there's no real-world difference in performance between SiS 735 and nForce. nForce is slighlty slower than VIA KT266a, but on a par with SiS 735. Why pay more for less? Yes, nForce can't deliver the performance they promised, it's not the fastest chipset and very much overpriced (I'd say some 3 times).

I'm curious as to where you're getting your information . . . all the reviews I've read show the NForce beating KT266A by 5-10% in most if not all benchmarks.
 
<< all the reviews I've read show the NForce beating KT266A by 5-10% in most if not all benchmarks. >>



Read an Anand review on nForce reference board. It's not a bit faster than KT266a, and in some tests, especially with external GF3, KT266a beats the crap out of nForce, in Quake III, to be exact. Isn't Quake III the only real-world benchmark reviewers run?

The reviews I'm reading are of shipping boards - the Asus and MSI. Which benchmarks would you like, if not Quake 3?
 


<<

<< all the reviews I've read show the NForce beating KT266A by 5-10% in most if not all benchmarks. >>



Read an Anand review on nForce reference board. It's not a bit faster than KT266a, and in some tests, especially with external GF3, KT266a beats the crap out of nForce, in Quake III, to be exact. Isn't Quake III the only real-world benchmark reviewers run? >>




There are other sites that has updated reviews, production boards and bios that are performing HIGHER then Via's solution.
 
Anyway, there's no real-world difference in performance between SiS 735 and nForce

nForce is substantially faster. I think TOOLBoy should get an ASUS nForce if he needs decent graphics and great sound. nForce truely is a value (more so once prices go down in the next few weeks) since it carries such high-end integrated parts. Also, nForce IS the fastest chipset around. People are starting to get nForce boards NOW. And the MSI nForce boards are certainly faster than any KT266A retail boards I've seen (despite Anand's contradictory statements about the BIOS issues), although not by much.
 
http://www.tbreak.com/hard/mobo/msi_nforce/page5.html

He used three boards, the MSI K7N420 Pro, the MSI K7T266 Pro2 (KT266A) and the ECS K75SA.

SiSoft Sandra
CPU Whetstone
Nforce - 1842
KT266A - 1828
SIS - 1824

CPU Dhrystone
Nforce - 3752
KT266A - 3767
Sis - 3731

So far, not a real big difference - but this is a CPU benchmark with the same speed processor.

FP 3DNow

Nforce - 8353
KT266A - 8426
Sis - 8367

FP MMX

Nforce - 7557
KT266A - 7572
Sis - 7516

FPU Memory

Nforce - 1034
KT266A - 946
Sis - 797

CPU Memory

Nforce - 823
KT266A - 758
Sis - 645

Quake 3 Demo 1 Fastest

Nforce - 200.7
KT266A - 168.3
Sis - 189

Big performance delta between the VIA and NVidia chipsets . . . once you get up to high quality, it doesn't matter because the game becomes video card limited, but still - why can't VIA push the framerate? The NForce is 20% faster!

http://www.amdworld.co.uk/msinforce5.htm

Science Mark

NForce - 140.36
KT266A - 137.09

POV Ray (rendering times)

640

NForce - 52
KT266A - 53

800

NForce - 80
KT266A - 82

1024

Nforce - 130
KT266A - 133

Quake 3 Demo 2

800

NForce - 192.5
KT266A - 181.3

1024 (video card limited)

NForce - 143.8
KT266A - 143.7

So for most everything except games, the NForce is as good or better than VIA's chipset. In games, it is superior. Considering that's most of what I do with my PC, and I have been dissatisfied with VIA's stability for a while, I think I will give the NForce a try.
 
So, lets say I want good stability and good performance. I'll be using this as a gaming machine no doubt, but I do want stability. What do you all think?

I dont care about the onboard video, the audio is cool cuz its less CPU utilization, but I have a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz... the LAN card doesnt matter that much either, it has less CPU utilization but I already have an Intel nic...

Choices choices, should I just stick with what I decided first off or what? =P
 

orcish,

sorry you seem totally un-informed !

1st) its a freakin' fact that the nforce boards (even the first tested MSIs and even the Reference board from nvidia) are the CURRENTLY freakin' fastest socket a chipsets available.

You compare it with the sis736...i do NOT...and other reviewers either..because for their comparisons they took the currently fastest kt266a board, namely the epox 8kha+.

"Cancel your order and order ECS K7S5A + "

That sounds like "Dont go with the porsche.,...but get a beetle instead"

The nforce boars are AT LEAST on par with the epox 8kha+, and in some benches (especially if you put in two sticks of ram and enable the 128bit memory) BEATS it.....look at the benches all around...look at www.tbreak.com....www.amdworld.co.uk....and many more other sites...nforce is the fastest no matter how you like the internal builtin stuff.

"order ECS K7S5A + GF2MX400/GF2 GTS instead to get a whole better speed, stability and excellent bang for the buck."

Yeah..right 😉 I am quite sure that Toolbuy (who plans to spend $210 for the asus nforce) gets a ecs k7s5a AND a gf2mx400 😉 Btw toolboy....i still have an p166 w/ voodoo 3300 here...how about that ? 😉


Regarding stability issues:

Sorry...that [censored]....

The reviews i read (and that were quite a lot, MSI and nforce reference)..NOONE ever metnioned stability issues...the OPPOSITE was true....it was said that it's outstanding these boards are so stable considering it's a nvidia's first.
(Compare that to the bios/reboot problems the first epox 8kha+ have/had)..NOTHING the like w/ nforce.

Oh...and "Reference boards are the highest performing and tweaked ones...."

Ehrm....says who ? I dont think so..except a company actually would decide to send out tweaked board to the reviewers...but you do a generalization....and based on all what you said i think you should read some more reviews 😉

Just today i stumbled over another review of the MSI...i THINK it was on amdmb.com (some site with amd in the beginning....sorry..forgot where...) and the guy put it 2 sticks of rams....in dimm1 and dimm3...and the nforce memory benchmarks literally smoked all other competitors !!!!!!
(Same with apps/games...nforce usually has some more fps..it IS the fastest chipset for AMD right now. Period.)








 
I have to say if the A7N* is what it seems to be then I'm quite disappointed and hate to see such a great chipset go to no real use. Cmedia audio? Please. nForce has clearly and VASTLY superior audio BUILT IN the chipset. Use an add-in Cmedia chip because the Dolby Digital version costs a bit more? That's just absurd. REALTEK LAN? Dear god why, I just dont understand the logic, nForce has LAN again ON THE CHIPSET and by using it it reduces CPU utilization! Why in the hell not add the connection point, why add ANOTHER chip to the board to do this? It's baffeling. Stability seems fine concerning the reviews and HOPEFULLY nVidia keeps up their reputation for excellent drivers and frequent updates.


As for the MSI, the BIOS state is currently almost completly untweakable, forget it, I've battled with MSI before so I wouldnt again anyway.
 


<< 1st) its a freakin' fact that the nforce boards (even the first tested MSIs and even the Reference board from nvidia) are the CURRENTLY freakin' fastest socket a chipsets available. >>


Define 'available' please.
 
Nforce simply is not going to make waves this time around, I agree the reference board looked promising, but some of the launch partners are changing the sound and nic which Nvidia should be concerned about, these boards are simply coming out too slow to compete with the KT266a, I still haven't heard of anyone with a Nforce board in their rig.
 


<< Nforce simply is not going to make waves this time around, I agree the reference board looked promising, but some of the launch partners are changing the sound and nic which Nvidia should be concerned about, these boards are simply coming out too slow to compete with the KT266a, I still haven't heard of anyone with a Nforce board in their rig. >>



i must admit i dont know what's going on at asus...abit....and it IS suspicious (and odd) why they use realtek insted of the onboard NIC....and especially why asus uses another soundsolution instead of the onboard.....oh...than maybe the (about $25 cheaper) asus board is the 220 ? I dont know....its just bizarre.....

As of right now i am still trying to get the information if its true that the realtek NIC (as on the asus board) uses 25% cpu power....and the other thing would be to find out if the MSI bios has changed in the meantime (to award, i have NEVER seen a review with the MSI board and an award bios, the early version seemed to all have an ugly amibios)

Guess we have to wait 'til this things are out in the stores so people can test the 'real things' ?!




 


<< Nforce simply is not going to make waves this time around, I agree the reference board looked promising, but some of the launch partners are changing the sound and nic which Nvidia should be concerned about, these boards are simply coming out too slow to compete with the KT266a, I still haven't heard of anyone with a Nforce board in their rig. >>




but you know that some (many ?) vendors here in the states and in europe sell budget-PCs already which are based on nforce ?

concerning NIC and sound...i dont know...it IS odd...ask someone from asus...but..the MORE expensive board comes WITH the onboard sound....hell YEAH that's a good way to save $15, get the cheaper nforce board (without dolby digital 5.1) and save $15 on the soundcard....ehrm...this IS bizarre......or VERY strange marketing 😉)))


 


<< I have to say if the A7N* is what it seems to be then I'm quite disappointed and hate to see such a great chipset go to no real use. Cmedia audio? Please. nForce has clearly and VASTLY superior audio BUILT IN the chipset. Use an add-in Cmedia chip because the Dolby Digital version costs a bit more? That's just absurd. REALTEK LAN? Dear god why, I just dont understand the logic, nForce has LAN again ON THE CHIPSET and by using it it reduces CPU utilization! Why in the hell not add the connection point, why add ANOTHER chip to the board to do this? It's baffeling. Stability seems fine concerning the reviews and HOPEFULLY nVidia keeps up their reputation for excellent drivers and frequent updates. >>



The MSI is better than the Asus. It's faster and it is not a joke (realtek lan or cmedia sound). Actually, the best nforce is the reference board with it's cool amr card that has lan, modem, dolby dig out, and analog out for rears, center and sub. Still waiting for one of these supposedly top tier mobo manufacturers to get a clue and build it like Nvidia showed them.
 
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