Should I go Nforce2 or KT400

[magomago]

For some reason I've started to have reservations on the nforce2...

Which is ;better'?

And what is the southbridge for the nforce2mcp-t do excatly? some nforce2mobos have them and some like the 8rda+ I was about to buy doesn't haev it.

Can anyone englighten me? Thanks

 

[compudog]

I went with the Asus A7N8X nForce 2 board over the KT400. I was going to go with the Gigabyte GA-7VAXP Ultra (here) but the features and performance of the nForce2 swayed my decision. I would have gotten IDE Raid and a slew of other things with the Gigabyte, but I am glad I wen with the nForce. It's fast, stable and will support faster CPU's and FSB. Plus there is the dual-channel DDR as well. From the many reveiws I have read, the nForce2 is the fastest platform currently available for the Athlon XP.

 

[compudog]

Oh, the 'southbridge' (MCP-T) handles the DSP for the sound and also the NIC. The integrated nVidia NIC is fast and has very low CPU utilization. The Asus board also has a second NIC (3COM) which is handy for routing a broadband connection.

 

[magomago]

Thanks, I think i'm opting fot he Deluxe Asus a7n8x

the only problem is that its ugly so it won't look nice in my case

Damn though 140 Ah well, that is what I get for a long lasting board...right?

 

[chizow]

Yep, MCP-T = Dual Lan, Firewire, and SoundStorm support. My Asus A7N8X Deluxe will be here tomorrow. If you are considering VIA, you should be looking at the KT333 (cheaper and same performance as the KT400) or you should wait for the KT400A (late Jan. early Feb. release).

Chiz

 

[compudog]

I agree, the board is rather plain/ugly. Dress it up with cool mods --> Lighted Orb cooler on video card, cool laser cut fan guard with lighted fan on CPU, memory with silver, gold, or blue heat spreaders, cold cathode. etc.... My wife would have killed me had I modded my rig like I wanted to, but the $$ I saved bought me the WD JB (80GB) that I wanted! Good Luck with the build!

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: compudog
I agree, the board is rather plain/ugly. Dress it up with cool mods --> Lighted Orb cooler on video card, cool laser cut fan guard with lighted fan on CPU, memory with silver, gold, or blue heat spreaders, cold cathode. etc.... My wife would have killed me had I modded my rig like I wanted to, but the $$ I saved bought me the WD JB (80GB) that I wanted! <STRONG>Good Luck with the build! </STRONG>

Thanks a lot

I'm going to have to wait a little thought b4 I can mod the entire thing out. I have a case with a fan on the top and side with acrylic sides...then i'm putting a volcano9 mod (light blinks when the HDD works) on the cpu...and I put a fan that glows a few colors....luckily though thats coming also has the 80gig WD SE

I'm not sure whether to upgrade my videocard (Geforce2 GTS-V) or to rice it even more

 

[Elcs]

NForce2 is better than the KT400

*Might* be worth waiting for KT400A but then again, its that everlasting waiting loop.

Id go with the EPoX 8RDA+... if its anything like the 8KHA+ then its one damn good board.

 

[deerslayer]

Originally posted by: magomago

Originally posted by: compudog
I agree, the board is rather plain/ugly. Dress it up with cool mods --> Lighted Orb cooler on video card, cool laser cut fan guard with lighted fan on CPU, memory with silver, gold, or blue heat spreaders, cold cathode. etc.... My wife would have killed me had I modded my rig like I wanted to, but the $$ I saved bought me the WD JB (80GB) that I wanted! <STRONG>Good Luck with the build! </STRONG>

Thanks a lot

I'm going to have to wait a little thought b4 I can mod the entire thing out. I have a case with a fan on the top and side with acrylic sides...then i'm putting a volcano9 mod (light blinks when the HDD works) on the cpu...and I put a fan that glows a few colors....luckily though thats coming also has the 80gig WD SE

I'm not sure whether to upgrade my videocard (Geforce2 GTS-V) or to rice it even more

If you play a lot of games, i'd say video card I was very pleased when I finally upgraded my video card in my main rig

 

[magomago]

I went to check you RIg, but you have too many of them to see which is the REAL one.


What would the KTA400a have as a benefit...I'm wondering if it will be as big a jump as kt266 to kt266a was

 

[bgeh]

Originally posted by: magomago
I went to check you RIg, but you have too many of them to see which is the REAL one.


What would the KTA400a have as a benefit...I'm wondering if it will be as big a jump as kt266 to kt266a was

nah, i don't think there will be a big jump in performance
in fact, it not going to even support dual channel ddr(at least that is what i have read)
maybe support for the new 200mhz fsb bartons and some memory controller tweaking to increase performance, but not at the scale of the via kt266 and the via kt266a

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: bgeh

Originally posted by: magomago
I went to check you RIg, but you have too many of them to see which is the REAL one.


What would the KTA400a have as a benefit...I'm wondering if it will be as big a jump as kt266 to kt266a was

nah, i don't think there will be a big jump in performance
in fact, it not going to even support dual channel ddr(at least that is what i have read)
maybe support for the new 200mhz fsb bartons and some memory controller tweaking to increase performance, but not at the scale of the via kt266 and the via kt266a

Guess what? the store i ordered the 8rda+ had none and refunded me...I'm buying the Nfroce2 Deluuxe Asus insated (not sure how to pony up the extra 40 bucks, but i'm hoping its worth it/

 

[bgeh]

Originally posted by: magomago

Originally posted by: bgeh

Originally posted by: magomago
I went to check you RIg, but you have too many of them to see which is the REAL one.


What would the KTA400a have as a benefit...I'm wondering if it will be as big a jump as kt266 to kt266a was

nah, i don't think there will be a big jump in performance
in fact, it not going to even support dual channel ddr(at least that is what i have read)
maybe support for the new 200mhz fsb bartons and some memory controller tweaking to increase performance, but not at the scale of the via kt266 and the via kt266a

Guess what? the store i ordered the 8rda+ had none and refunded me...I'm buying the Nfroce2 Deluuxe Asus insated (not sure how to pony up the extra 40 bucks, but i'm hoping its worth it/

asus is known for charging extra for their mobos.but its high quality.yet i prefer other companies because they're cheaper and the quality is also good.

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: bgeh

Originally posted by: magomago

Originally posted by: bgeh

Originally posted by: magomago
I went to check you RIg, but you have too many of them to see which is the REAL one.


What would the KTA400a have as a benefit...I'm wondering if it will be as big a jump as kt266 to kt266a was

nah, i don't think there will be a big jump in performance
in fact, it not going to even support dual channel ddr(at least that is what i have read)
maybe support for the new 200mhz fsb bartons and some memory controller tweaking to increase performance, but not at the scale of the via kt266 and the via kt266a

Guess what? the store i ordered the 8rda+ had none and refunded me...I'm buying the Nfroce2 Deluuxe Asus insated (not sure how to pony up the extra 40 bucks, but i'm hoping its worth it/

asus is known for charging extra for their mobos.but its high quality.yet i prefer other companies because they're cheaper and the quality is also good.

Yeah, but it has all the extra goodies...dual lan, firewire, the SouthBridge for 5.1 sound, Serial ATA...I haven't found a more complete package

 

[xMikey]

Would go nforce2 as the KT400 is due to updated soon. Plus the fact that the nforce2 chipset board is better.

Mikey out!!

 

[CraigRT]

I was stuck too. but I ended up ordering my NForce2 mobo... I'm sure it won't disappoint. I would go NF2 for sure if I was you.

 

[Bovinicus]

I see no reason to go with a KT400 over an nForce2. Both solutions seem to be very stable and fast. However, the nForce2 is faster. As well, the onboard equipment that comes with it is useable, unlike the onboard equipment that comes on many other motherboards. On top of the higher performance in general, Anand made a comment that the IDE drivers with the nForce2 chipset are very good. This should make your computing experience much "smoother" in general. Either way you will be pleased, but I just see no reason to go with a solution that is slower for a similar price. Oh yeah, if you are a tweaker, then you will really like the ability of some nForce2 boards to lock the AGP/PCI bus and unlock Athlon XP CPUs without any physical modification to the CPU.

 

[compudog]

Hopefully I'll get a faster CPU (have 2100+ now) for Christmas. The ability to "unlock" the faster CPU's and lock the AGP/PCI bus is one great benefit. I have been running this Asus A7N8X for a couple of weeks 24/7 with Seti CLI running as a service, playing NOLF2, MOHaa, and others with absolutely no problems. Photoshop 7 runs very nicely as do the MS Office apps. Great purchase! Very pleased. I don't think whatever nForce2 board you go with will be a bad decision.

 

[Macro2]

right now, a nforce2. VIA will soon come with the KT400A. Ain't competition great?
Nforce and SIS 735-745 really caused VIA to quit putting out beta chipsets.
Trouble is, VIA left a little bad taste in some peoples mouths.

Jim

 

[CrystalBay]

This is a great board. The best I ever owned..

 

[magomago]

I took the plunge and drove 45 minutes to pay 157.XX for the A7N8X Deluxe model...

I think I left at around 1:15...I arrived to the store ( Btw I am now reccomending Mstar.com b/c they are REALLY nice and don't hang the phone up on their customers like mwave.com ) got the mobo and left.

Then I got stuck in traffic from 2:30 until 4....

I spent 75% of that time on the SR-90 for those who live in Southern CA. It was HELL!!!! I didnt move faster than 5 MPH for ALTEAST 30 minutes...then the rest 20 minuets was stuck at 20 MPH and once I got through the Riverside Beach Cities Juctnion I finally sped up and drove 80+ MPH just to get home faster....


But I have it and DAMMMM!!!! I can't wait for my stuff from Newegg to arrive (FEDEX purposely holds my shipments a few days b/c I don't pay for overnight...If I order something at 7-8AM it'll arrive in my city at around 3) and i'll be one happy man


But yeah, I took the nforce2 plunger and went for the high end.

Only problem- it is one UGLY board! They could've put it on cool red PCB or something..

 

[ElFenix]

i was thinking about getting an 8RDA+ and replacing my current rig with something a bit faster... and then figured out that mobo, processor, and ram would be $600. 1GB is nothing to sneeze at but i think i'll hold off.