which nforce board?

[Necrolezbeast]

I was looking at a refurbed MSI K7N420 Pro for $89 at newegg to put an XP1800+, 1Gb Crucial pc2100, IBM 60Gb. This is to run a dedicated CS server along with JKII for the net and LAN and also to do a little gaming on. Since I already have a case and PSU this with cost around $590, but will it do the job well?

 

[Palek]

It really depends on what video solution you intend to use. You didn't mention a specific video card, but since you did say you wanted to use your machine for gaming, I figure that you probably will be buying a video card as well. Or not?

Well, anyway, the integrated video on the nForce420 is most likely not the best video solution for you, considering that it is about as fast as a GeForce2 MX200 - not a gamer's board. BUT if you ARE planning to use the onboard video only, then I guess the MSI could be the board for you. Although, recently I have been pretty biased towards ASUS and their motherboards. I don't remember the details about their 420/220 based boards, but I am sure they are great products.

If you are thinking of buying a graphics card such as a GeForce or a Radeon, then you should probably get a motherboard built around the 415 chipset, which does not have the built-in graphics, but apart from that it has the exact same feature list as the 420 chipset. So, if you fancy an nForce415 board, there are really only two choices for you.

One would be the NV7-133R from Abit. This board has a full implementation of the audio functions of the nForce chipset, which means hardware accelerated 3D audio for games (beats a Creative Live! 5.1 board according to its spec sheet, if I remember well), and 5.1 Dolby Digital Encoded audio output for use with a Dolby Digital amp. It also has USB 2.0, LAN and RAID courtesy of the usual HighPoint controller. Look for some reviews on the internet to find out more about it.

The other choice, and this would be my choice, is the A7N266-C from ASUS. The C is very important, as this letter stands for the 415 chipset. The E models stand for the 420 chipset, and no letter means the 220 chipset (I think). The main reason why I would choose ASUS over Abit is simply the overall stability of their products. While I cannot complain about Abit in this department either, ASUS still IS the king of stability. Also, this ASUS board (the A7N266-C) actually makes use of the thermal diode on the XP chips (they call their technology C.O.P.), which makes it one of the very few boards that have this feature. The ASUS board naturally also makes full use of the nForce's audio capabilities, and they have onboard LAN as an option.

Well, I hope this helps!

How nice it would be if I could tell you to wait for the 615... But alas, nVidia scrapped it.

 

[busmaster11]

I highly recommend the A7N266-C above all else.

 

[AGodspeed]

Originally posted by: busmaster11
I highly recommend the A7N266-C above all else.

Yes this would be a good solution as a fully integrated motherboard, but remember, the ASUS A7N266-C lacks the integrated GeForce2 video.

Necrolezbeast, if you're looking for a fully integrated motherboard to run a dedicated CS server on (and play some games too), I'd suggest the ASUS A7N266-E motherboard (based on the nForce 420-D chipset) and a Socket A Athlon XP 2000+ processor. Here are the A7N266-E's specs. Here's a review from Aceshardware on the ASUS A7N266-E.

If you're more interested in Socket 478 Pentium 4 solutions, I would suggest getting an ASUS P4B533-VM motherboard (based on the Intel i845G chipset) and a 2.0GHz Pentium 4 processor. Both these boards come with LAN, sound, video, NIC, etc. just like the Socket A ASUS A7N266-E. However, the sound and video included on the A7N266-E is substantially better.

Good luck!

 

[Necrolezbeast]

well, I'd like to go cheap on video if possible so onboard would be good at first and possible upgrade later. There probably won't be too much gaming on it because I have a few other rigs that I can play on with a lot better vid card and all. I was just going to go with that board because of the price and I figure that the 1800+ should easily handle JKII or CS server especially with the RAM. If I really need to I could get a new vid card later, not too much of a hastle...

 

[Palek]

In that case, the ASUS A7N266-E would be my no.1 choice. It is the speediest nForce420-based board, if my memory serves me right... It also has the ASUS stability and quality speaking for it. It is a little pricey, though, Pricewatch has it for $140 and up...
Well, the MSI board is a good product too, you cannot go wrong with that either. I am not so sure about buying a refurbished Mobo, but hey, it sure is cheap. I personally would invest a little more money and go for a new ASUS, but that is just my opinion of course.

 

[hkctr]

You may want to wait a bit before purchasing your board. Here in Tokyo, prices on all Nvidia 420, 420-D boards are falling fast. The past few weeks, the MSI K7N420-Pro (420-D), Asus K7N266-E (420-D) and the Asus K7N266 (420) have all been available NEW, for $62-$75. I would expect the price reductions to hit the US shores pretty soon. Myself, I bought a refurbished A7N266-E for $22 and have no complaints.