*** Official ABIT NF7/S (nForce2) Thread ***

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: culex
I'm about to purchase a NF7-S 2.0 which is to replace my dying Epox 8K7A.
Before I buy it, I just want to know if everything will be gravy.

1. Will my heatsink, Thermalright SLK-800U, fit on this thing? - Yep.
2. Because of my budget, I'll probably have to use my old RAM until I save up enough money. Will a first gen PC2100 Crucial DDR ram work without a problem? (I won't OC until I replace RAM) - Sure will.
3. I'm hearing a lot of good things about Buffalo RAMs for this board. As I'm on a tight budget, and it seems like the Buffalo 3200's are actually pretty similar to Crucial's 3200... should I get Crucial or Buffalo for my next RAM? - Get the Buffalo and save some $$$.

Thanks. - Not a problem.

 

[trmiv]

I'm trying to squeeze a bit more out of my setup. I have my 2400+ running at 10.5 x 200 at 1.7 volts, but I want to up the bus speed a bit. Right now the vdimm is unchanged, how high can I take it safely? The memory is Kingston HyperX PC3200 rated at CAS 2 6-2-2-2. It seems now if I go anything above 202 on the FSB at these timings with stock voltage, I get prime95 errors during the first test.

 

[pelikan]

Originally posted by: trmiv
I'm trying to squeeze a bit more out of my setup. I have my 2400+ running at 10.5 x 200 at 1.7 volts, but I want to up the bus speed a bit. Right now the vdimm is unchanged, how high can I take it safely? The memory is Kingston HyperX PC3200 rated at CAS 2 6-2-2-2. It seems now if I go anything above 202 on the FSB at these timings with stock voltage, I get prime95 errors during the first test.

Use 2.9 vdimm. I would recommend booting into memtest86 and making sure it passes test #5 before going into windows while pushing the fsb. That'll save you from corrupting windows. Pressing 2, 5, 5, enter, enter will run test five directly when you start memtest86.
If you hit a FSB wall try setting Ras to Cas at 3. In my benchmarks, it seems to be worth it to drop Ras to Cas to 3 if you can gain another 5 FSB.

 

[etech]

Originally posted by: culex
I'm about to purchase a NF7-S 2.0 which is to replace my dying Epox 8K7A.
Before I buy it, I just want to know if everything will be gravy.

1. Will my heatsink, Thermalright SLK-800U, fit on this thing?
2. Because of my budget, I'll probably have to use my old RAM until I save up enough money. Will a first gen PC2100 Crucial DDR ram work without a problem? (I won't OC until I replace RAM)
3. I'm hearing a lot of good things about Buffalo RAMs for this board. As I'm on a tight budget, and it seems like the Buffalo 3200's are actually pretty similar to Crucial's 3200... should I get Crucial or Buffalo for my next RAM?

Thanks.

That's the Buffalo with the winbond chips, not the Infineon. Hopefully it will be back in stock tomorrow

 

[trmiv]

I'm running this board on an Antec 300W power supply that I've had for about 4.5 years. I realize my power supply is a bit old by today's standards, would it be worth it to invest in a new power supply? (likely an entire new case with a good PS)

 

[pelikan]

I flashed to the new 19 bios for rev 2. It has the new SATA bios in it. It has decreased boot times for some people, but I have noticed no change. My boot times are okay, actually. Overclock wise it seems the same and I have not lost stability or anything like that.

 

[Cesar]

Originally posted by: pelikan
I flashed to the new 19 bios for rev 2. It has the new SATA bios in it. It has decreased boot times for some people, but I have noticed no change. My boot times are okay, actually. Overclock wise it seems the same and I have not lost stability or anything like that.

were did u get bios 19 for rev.2 its not on Abit web site!!

 

[pelikan]

Originally posted by: Cesar

Originally posted by: pelikan
I flashed to the new 19 bios for rev 2. It has the new SATA bios in it. It has decreased boot times for some people, but I have noticed no change. My boot times are okay, actually. Overclock wise it seems the same and I have not lost stability or anything like that.

were did u get bios 19 for rev.2 its not on Abit web site!!

If you use the Abit Flash Menu and tell it to update to the latest bios you will get 19. You can also download it on one of Abits asian sites.

 

[Cesar]

thanx dude :beer:

 

[Megatomic]

So pelikan, unless one is using SATA or a new 1.6GHz Duron, there is no real reason to update the BIOS to this revision? Or did I miss something?

 

[pelikan]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
So pelikan, unless one is using SATA or a new 1.6GHz Duron, there is no real reason to update the BIOS to this revision? Or did I miss something?

That's right. No real reason.

 

[PUNKtotalled]

I didn't notice any increased time for booting from sata with that new bios 19.

 

[DrZone]

Any of you overclockers get reboots before booting into windows?

I pushed my 2500+ a bit today and I cant get back into windows. I originally had a 200x10.5 setting going and now that won't. I restored the ORIGINAL 2500+ settings and still no good. Windows loads up BUT just before i get to the login screen, it reboots.

 

[KaGee]

Originally posted by: trmiv
I'm running this board on an Antec 300W power supply that I've had for about 4.5 years. I realize my power supply is a bit old by today's standards, would it be worth it to invest in a new power supply? (likely an entire new case with a good PS)

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
But if you have $$ to burn, go for it.

 

[KaGee]

 

[Noid]

Originally posted by: DrZone
Any of you overclockers get reboots before booting into windows?

I pushed my 2500+ a bit today and I cant get back into windows. I originally had a 200x10.5 setting going and now that won't. I restored the ORIGINAL 2500+ settings and still no good. Windows loads up BUT just before i get to the login screen, it reboots.

sounds like bad news ,,,I hope you have a backup ( A must have when testing an OC )

if not ,,, boot your windows installation disk ,,, and try the 'let windows try to repair' option
(it's really does work sometimes,,, but you may loose your windows updates that you applied,, and may not run the same again)

Oh ,,, and use memtest86 to test memory BEFORE booting into windows next time

 

[Noid]

Originally posted by: trmiv
I'm running this board on an Antec 300W power supply that I've had for about 4.5 years. I realize my power supply is a bit old by today's standards, would it be worth it to invest in a new power supply? (likely an entire new case with a good PS)

If you have the cash (wish I did) I'd get one of those new Antec 550's with ADJUSTABLE voltages !!!

 

[trmiv]

I guess I'll just stick with my current power supply. I haven't upgraded my computer in a long time, so I'm totally out of the loop on new hardware, just getting back into it. I noticed that new power supplies have this little power connector that looks like it plugs into this motherboard, that little power connector near the big ATX one. What is that for?

 

[pelikan]

Originally posted by: trmiv
I guess I'll just stick with my current power supply. I haven't upgraded my computer in a long time, so I'm totally out of the loop on new hardware, just getting back into it. I noticed that new power supplies have this little power connector that looks like it plugs into this motherboard, that little power connector near the big ATX one. What is that for?

Since this mb runs the cpu on the 12V rail, Abit added the ability to plug in another 12V line in the form of that 4-pin connector. It adds stability when overclocking. Without it you are pulling all the juice for the cpu through one wire.

 

[trmiv]

Hmmm, so I could possibly get a bit more out of the board if I grabbed a new PS with that connector? interesting.

 

[KaGee]

Originally posted by: pelikan
I flashed to the new 19 bios for rev 2. It has the new SATA bios in it. It has decreased boot times for some people, but I have noticed no change. My boot times are okay, actually. Overclock wise it seems the same and I have not lost stability or anything like that.

I was curious, I was at Abit's site today and the new bios is now listed there. But there is nothing stated there or in the forums section that mentions anything about an SATA bios update. It's an update for the new Duron series. Can you enlighten me further?

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: KaGee

Originally posted by: pelikan
I flashed to the new 19 bios for rev 2. It has the new SATA bios in it. It has decreased boot times for some people, but I have noticed no change. My boot times are okay, actually. Overclock wise it seems the same and I have not lost stability or anything like that.

I was curious, I was at Abit's site today and the new bios is now listed there. But there is nothing stated there or in the forums section that mentions anything about an SATA bios update. It's an update for the new Duron series. Can you enlighten me further?

taken from the abit website ..

Add Duron (FSB 266MHz) support.

 

[Noid]

New BIOS 22 for 1.x mb's...

1.x bios

(no fixes for most of us thou,,,, and no ,,, I'm not going to try it)

Add Duron FSB266 1400MHz/1600MHz/1800MHz CPU support. This BIOS does not support old Duron 1.2G and 1.3G. Users using these two CPU, please do not upgrade to this version.

Fixed when using NF7-M, the BIOS will have checksum error at certain circumstances.

Improve NF7-M DRAM compatibility when using on-board VGA function.

Remove "An Energy Star Ally" string at boot up.

BIOS compile date: 10/13/2003

 

[KaGee]

Originally posted by: Sid59

Originally posted by: KaGee

Originally posted by: pelikan
I flashed to the new 19 bios for rev 2. It has the new SATA bios in it. It has decreased boot times for some people, but I have noticed no change. My boot times are okay, actually. Overclock wise it seems the same and I have not lost stability or anything like that.

I was curious, I was at Abit's site today and the new bios is now listed there. But there is nothing stated there or in the forums section that mentions anything about an SATA bios update. It's an update for the new Duron series. Can you enlighten me further?

taken from the abit website ..

Add Duron (FSB 266MHz) support.

Exactly....! So where is everyone coming up with this SATA stuff?

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: KaGee

Originally posted by: Sid59

Originally posted by: KaGee

Originally posted by: pelikan
I flashed to the new 19 bios for rev 2. It has the new SATA bios in it. It has decreased boot times for some people, but I have noticed no change. My boot times are okay, actually. Overclock wise it seems the same and I have not lost stability or anything like that.

I was curious, I was at Abit's site today and the new bios is now listed there. But there is nothing stated there or in the forums section that mentions anything about an SATA bios update. It's an update for the new Duron series. Can you enlighten me further?

taken from the abit website ..

Add Duron (FSB 266MHz) support.

Exactly....! So where is everyone coming up with this SATA stuff?

rev 1 boards