The Micros are coming! NewEgg has Biostar M7NCG and (Micro ATX Nforce 2) and now Chaintech 7NIF2

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tryanasaurus

Senior member
Jan 28, 2001
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I just noticed NewEgg has these boards in stock. I'd be all over this if I wouldn't have seen the new Leadtek Micro ATX which comes with a TV out. Anyways just a heads up for all the other Micro ATX fans out there.

Chaintech enters the game but with no SoundStorm :( A BIG minus to an otherwise nice looking board

M7NCG

7NIF2
 
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mudboy

Senior member
Mar 21, 2000
498
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I ordered my M7NCG yesterday, now I just have to figure out what video card I want. If only the Asus V9280 VS was available...

Pete
 
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WalkingDead

Golden Member
Jul 28, 2000
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I don't see the firewire bracket in the package. Does this board has firewire? And how about TV out?
 
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Insane3D

Elite Member
May 24, 2000
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Originally posted by: mudboy
I ordered my M7NCG yesterday, now I just have to figure out what video card I want. If only the Asus V9280 VS was available...

Pete
Click to expand...

You do realize it has integrated video right? Just curious...
 
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mudboy

Senior member
Mar 21, 2000
498
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Integrated video will only be important to me when I put this board in my daughter's PC in 12-18 months after I upgrade. I got the board for the USB2, Firewire, Dual Channel DDR, onboard LAN and good onboard sound. The onboard video won't get used other than when I'm setting the system up, the northbridge hs/f will get replaced with a Zalman northbridge sink before it even gets plugged in. I just can't wait to get it, though too bad I only have PC2100 (albeit 2x512MB sticks of Crucial) and a 266 FSB CPU (albeit a Tbred 2400+) :)

Pete
 
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WalkingDead

Golden Member
Jul 28, 2000
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It looks like the firewire, USB2 and Spdif brackets are optional. I will email newegg to confirm this. Any of you received your board yet?
 
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cheapgoose

Diamond Member
May 13, 2002
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can someone tell me what the onboard graphics is equvilant to?

I'm building a box specificlly for a matx board, and it has to use onboard video.
 
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mudboy

Senior member
Mar 21, 2000
498
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Cheapgoose, onboard graphics are GF440MX.

Can't wait to get mine, I'm not really bothered by the THG test results since it will still be faster than my current NV7M. I got my Fedex tracking number, so I guess it's just time to wait. I wish I had the cash for DDR400 and a Barton (I still have to pick a graphics card, so that's where the rest of my budget is going), but that'll make a good summer upgrade.

Pete
 
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bzo

Member
Jun 26, 2001
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The newegg description now includes:

"No blackplate or firewire connectors"

I guess that means you only get what you see in the pictures. I'm also assuming that means no spdif connector. Disappointing.
 
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WalkingDead

Golden Member
Jul 28, 2000
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I think I'll wait for the Aopen or Leadtek mATX boards. The Aopen MK79-1394 has everything that I want which includes TV-out and Firewire.
 
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mudboy

Senior member
Mar 21, 2000
498
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I just received my Biostar M7NCG. I won't have a chance to install it until the weekend, so for now my initial impressions will have to do.

Packaging & documentation: C+. Box is very plain and minimal, which is fine. Manual is pretty mediocre, skinny as it is plus it's in 3 or 4 languages. Just covers basics like I/O, jumpers, etc., but nothing more. Comes with 2 CD's, 1 driver CD and 1 CD with Norton AV 2002/Ghost 2002/PFW 2002

Board: (visual) B. Without having plugged it in, it looks OK. Layout is fine, though no heatsink holes for larger sinks, which is disappointing. There are a couple of capacitors that are rather close to the socket. Jumpers are not very well marked, it was hard enough to see markings on a well-lit workbench, having to do that inside a case will be tough. There are (2) 3 pin fan connectors, 1 for the CPU and one up front for a front fan. Disappointing since I have a fan on the rear panel. Northbridge fan has a 2 pin connector. Northbridge heatsink/fan had NO grease or thermal pad, so check it. It also looks pretty anemic. I plan on replacing it with a passive Zalman northbridge heatsink anyway, so no biggie. Other than that, not a bad looking board.

Extras: D. For a $110 board, the "extras", or lack thereof, are really disappointing. No rear I/O plate, which in my opinion should be standard with all cases AND motherboards. Luckily, it's a standard layout so finding one that fits shouldn't be a problem. As mentioned, there are also no rear firewire or USB2 plates, which really is a pretty big deal to me. Anyone know where I can find some good ones, cheap? On the plus side, it did come with a floppy cable and an ATA/100 cable, which were promptly tossed in my big box o' cables.

Overall, my workbench impression of the board is pretty good, but my workbench impression of the entire package is pretty mediocre. I hope it has performance that will make up for it...

Pete

 
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joshg

Golden Member
Jul 3, 2001
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Does anyone know when the AOpen MK79G-1394 will be available? Of all the mATX nForce2 boards coming out so far, this one looks like it has the nicest feature set for me. Or, any better recommendations for mATX nForce2 with around the same feature set? I've been hearing a lot of bad stuff about some AOpen boards in the recent past, but also hearing that they are getting better again? :) TIA
 
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mudboy

Senior member
Mar 21, 2000
498
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OK, got the M7NCG installed and its up and running. I was lazy and upgrading from an NV7M so I just uninstalled the old nForce drivers, powered down, and swapped boards, didn't seem to cause any problems when I powered it up with the new board.

A couple of disappointments, feature-wise, were that there are only 2 3 pin fan connectors, one for the CPU and one at the front. The northbridge fan connector (I removed the stock unit and replaced with a Zalman) is only 2 pin. Also, there is only 1 4 pin audio header socket on the board; there should really be at least 2, 1 for CD and 1 for Aux (I have a TV card, so it does matter).

One thing I definitely noticed was the apparent increase in CPU Core and system temps. On my NV7M, my load temps were about 51C, now they are ~64C. The heatsink/fan is properly installed, and the sink itself truly does not feel any warmer than it did before, so I can only attribute the difference to the fact that the M7NCG must read temps directly from the die.

On bootup, the BIOS gives an "engineering sample" message, so I guess I'll be looking out for a "real" production BIOS update.

I didn't really get into overclocking, I'll play around some tonight but honestly I don't need to overclock. I would like to see if the board supports undervolting though.

Still no resolution on the USB2/FireWire back plates, I emailed Biostar and got a real human being who actually seemed to give a damn, but I haven't heard back from him since he said he would take the issue up with Newegg.

Other than that, seems like a decent board. I mainly got it for the onboard USB2/FireWire, as well as the fact that it's a bit more future-proof, so I'm not disappointed at all.

Pete
 
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joshg

Golden Member
Jul 3, 2001
1,359
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Yes but the AK79* is a standard ATX board, while the MK79* boards are mATX (which is what this thread refers to! :) ).

I asked Newegg about stock on the MK79 series and they said they didn't even know if they were ever going to get it (as they had heard nothing from their supplier). I have seen it show up in 2-3 shops on the net in the last week, though. ~$130 +/- if I remember correctly :) (at least for the one with 1394 firewire)
 
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Rushour

Banned
May 12, 2002
116
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0
Originally posted by: tryanasaurus
I just noticed NewEgg has these boards in stock. I'd be all over this if I wouldn't have seen the new Leadtek Micro ATX which comes with a TV out. Anyways just a heads up for all the other Micro ATX fans out there.

Chaintech enters the game but with no SoundStorm :( A BIG minus to an otherwise nice looking board

M7NCG

7NIF2
Click to expand...

Good motherboard!!!! I planned to have one.

 
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