Whats are people upgrading to now? (AMD Mobo)

[tRaptor]

Hey,

Looking to upgrade my EpoX 8K5a2+ because it dosent support Barton Processors.

I havent been in the mobo loop since i got this one.

What I'm looking for:
Serial ATA
ATA133
Onboard LAN
Onboard Sound
Dual Channel DDR (Wont use it right away, but upgrade later)

Thanks Guys,

~Tyler

 

[TrueBlueLS]

Something nForce2?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

If you look here you'll see a Barton with a crazy overclock on a 8K5A2+. Of course he's using prometia and sick voltages so obviously you won't see anything close to the FSB and Clockspeed he does but there's no reason since your board officially supports the 333fsb 2600+ that you can't use a 2500+ in your board. If the latest bios doesn't add it to the CPU ID table then you can manually set the fsb and multiplier, save&exit, turn the system off and put in the 2500+ and it should work no sweat on reboot.

 

[Corporate Thug]

NF7-s

 

[tRaptor]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
If you look here you'll see a Barton with a crazy overclock on a 8K5A2+. Of course he's using prometia and sick voltages so obviously you won't see anything close to the FSB and Clockspeed he does but there's no reason since your board officially supports the 333fsb 2600+ that you can't use a 2500+ in your board. If the latest bios doesn't add it to the CPU ID table then you can manually set the fsb and multiplier, save&exit, turn the system off and put in the 2500+ and it should work no sweat on reboot.

Thansk SO much.

Thinking of a Barton 2500 from newegg @ $84. One question, are the Bartons Unlocked?

 

[DahDee]

I just ordered a refurb Barton 2500 for $66 from Newegg and now am looking for a board, think I may pay the extra for new vs. refurb on this part just to avoid the potential hassle of hunting down the accessories if it comes bare. Am considering:

Asus A7N8X Deluxe ($124.99) -- Looks like the flagship Barton board.

Gigabyte GA-7N400PRO2 ($121.00) -- I like the 4 ram slots, can run 2 sets of dual channel? Not sure, but it looks like when Gigabyte went from the Pro to the Pro2 (this board), they added gigabit LAN -- but took out the Soundstorm encoder! I don't get that, would appreciate any input on this issue. This is also a good looking board.

Abit NF7-S ($113.00) -- Great reviews, but looks like it only goes up to 333 FSB, and I'm hoping to overclock the Barton to a 400 (200 DDR) FSB. Does this mean I shouldn't get the Abit?

I'm leaning toward trying the Gigabyte, based on the features/looks, but I'm concerned about the sound because I had planned to save a few $ by putting off getting a separate sound card.

 

[Chompman]

If you got the cash to spend go for the DFI lan party 2 ultra.
One of the fastest motherboards out there at the moment and it glows ..... glow = good

 

[DahDee]

Originally posted by: Chompman
If you got the cash to spend go for the DFI lan party 2 ultra.
One of the fastest motherboards out there at the moment and it glows ..... glow = good

For whatever it's worth, I've heard that, although not advertised, the Gigabyte also glows.

 

[Chompman]

Then again any motherboard will glow... if you can overclock the cpu enough. Though you get the work of scraping the melted plastic of your case

 

[DahDee]

Yes, yes, bonfire in my Xaser! I really did hear that the Gigabyte is UV/black light sensitive, or something, and does glow ala LanParty Ultra.

 

[wicktron]

Originally posted by: tRaptor

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
If you look here you'll see a Barton with a crazy overclock on a 8K5A2+. Of course he's using prometia and sick voltages so obviously you won't see anything close to the FSB and Clockspeed he does but there's no reason since your board officially supports the 333fsb 2600+ that you can't use a 2500+ in your board. If the latest bios doesn't add it to the CPU ID table then you can manually set the fsb and multiplier, save&exit, turn the system off and put in the 2500+ and it should work no sweat on reboot.

Thansk SO much.

Thinking of a Barton 2500 from newegg @ $84. One question, are the Bartons Unlocked?

T-Breds and Bartons are unlocked with nForce2 mobos.

Originally posted by: DahDee
I just ordered a refurb Barton 2500 for $66 from Newegg and now am looking for a board, think I may pay the extra for new vs. refurb on this part just to avoid the potential hassle of hunting down the accessories if it comes bare. Am considering:

Asus A7N8X Deluxe ($124.99) -- Looks like the flagship Barton board.

Gigabyte GA-7N400PRO2 ($121.00) -- I like the 4 ram slots, can run 2 sets of dual channel? Not sure, but it looks like when Gigabyte went from the Pro to the Pro2 (this board), they added gigabit LAN -- but took out the Soundstorm encoder! I don't get that, would appreciate any input on this issue. This is also a good looking board.

Abit NF7-S ($113.00) -- Great reviews, but looks like it only goes up to 333 FSB, and I'm hoping to overclock the Barton to a 400 (200 DDR) FSB. Does this mean I shouldn't get the Abit?

I'm leaning toward trying the Gigabyte, based on the features/looks, but I'm concerned about the sound because I had planned to save a few $ by putting off getting a separate sound card.

The Abit NF7-S (Revision 2.0) supports 400FSB CPUs. In fact, the highest AMD overclocks have been achieved with this board.

 

[DahDee]

Thanks for the Abit info, Wicktron. Makes my decision harder. Hmmmm.

 

[tRaptor]

Originally posted by: wicktron
T-Breds and Bartons are unlocked with nForce2 mobos.

Thats what i thought. However I wont be using it with a nForce mobo. I'll use it with my EpoX 8K5A2+ board (333), funny thing is, i have a 1700+ TBird A in her and its not locked.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: tRaptor

Originally posted by: wicktron
T-Breds and Bartons are unlocked with nForce2 mobos.

Thats what i thought. However I wont be using it with a nForce mobo. I'll use it with my EpoX 8K5A2+ board (333), funny thing is, i have a 1700+ TBird A in her and its not locked.

The you should be able to manipulate the multpliers on the Barton.

 

[JustStarting]

My 8K5A2+ would not unlock my XP1700+ AGOGA itself. I had to unlock it with a defogger kit.

I have upgraded to a Shuttle AN35N-nforce2-Ultra 400. Great little piece for $65. I won't be able to fully test that untill I get a real CPU. I'm just going to play around with a spare XP1900+ I picked up and unlocked also.

 

[Ant001]

NF7-S rev 2.0

400FSB
Soundstorm (Awesome)
LAN
onboard SATA (haven't used this, so no opinions)
Dual Channel (Doesn't do a whole lot unless you use onboard video)

I love my NF7-S, got 3200+ speeds with my 2500+ with no problems. Everything is unlocked out of the box. The Soundstorm is great, far superior to any PCI card I've ever heard, though I've never used Audigy 2.