Need help with new MB I plan to buy (AMD)

RIV@NVX · Feb 1, 2003, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Necrosis
Sorry about not making myself clear about the divider. Nforce2 board have seperate bus for each device. You don't even have to worry about dividers at all actually. How do you think it's possible to get a 243MHz OC w/ one of these boards?

That's one of features that makes NForce2 beat others. Excellent idea. Will KT400A have something similar?

Necrosis · Feb 1, 2003, 03:16 PM

Probably not, I imagine it will only be better support for memory.

Currently the KT400 only supports 4 banks (not four dimms) of PC3200.

Omegadrive · Feb 2, 2003, 03:31 AM

Thanks Shuki, I checked, and my card's revision is 1.1, not good

(PART # 1029420611)

Necrosis, thanks for clearing that up, now I get it, but I what I still don't get is WHY there are no full featured MBs like the ABit MAX 2.0, but using the nforce2 chipset, Could it be a limitation of the chipset itself or the manufacturers are cutting the production price by not adding those features?

Necrosis · Feb 2, 2003, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Omegadrive
Thanks Shuki, I checked, and my card's revision is 1.1, not good (PART # 1029420611)

Necrosis, thanks for clearing that up, now I get it, but I what I still don't get is WHY there are no full featured MBs like the ABit MAX 2.0, but using the nforce2 chipset, Could it be a limitation of the chipset itself or the manufacturers are cutting the production price by not adding those features?

I'm honestly not sure what the reason is but it seems almost all the motherboards w/ Serial ATA have this limitation. Honestly Serial ATA is nice but it's still in it's infancy so it will not be that great of a speed increase until SATA2. If you want to save some money & have the benefits of the nforce2 chipset you might want to look at the Epox EP-8RDA. Of course it's a stripped down board w/ no SATA but so what? You can then buy a seperate raid controller and move it to your next upgrade if you wish. I'm sure if you shop around you can pickup a raid controller & lan card for a decent price.

RIV@NVX · Feb 2, 2003, 03:59 PM

Well, the fact is that you can't always get what you want, no matter how much you are willing to give for it.

Omegadrive · Feb 2, 2003, 10:32 PM

Well, this is over, I just ordered:
1- EPOX 8RDA+
1- 512MB SAMSUNG 3200 DDR400
1- PROMISE ULTRA133 TX2 PCI
1- THERMALTAKE DDR COPPER HEAT SPREADER
1- ARTICE SILVER 3 TUBE

I hope the work correctly with my 9700, I'll cross my fingers

DriveEuro · Feb 2, 2003, 10:41 PM

So you went with the Epox. Why so?

RIV@NVX · Feb 2, 2003, 10:42 PM

Good choice! Hope it works too, because if it works - it will work excellent!

Vaporizer · Feb 3, 2003, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Omegadrive
Well, this is over, I just ordered:
1- EPOX 8RDA+
1- 512MB SAMSUNG 3200 DDR400
1- PROMISE ULTRA133 TX2 PCI
1- THERMALTAKE DDR COPPER HEAT SPREADER
1- ARTICE SILVER 3 TUBE

I hope the work correctly with my 9700, I'll cross my fingers

Good choice, that is a great board.

PS. The KT400 boards including ABIT AT7-MAX2 does NOT have a 1/6 divider, the option was removed on the AT7-MAX2 after the first BIOS update cause it didnt work. It does unlock Thouroughbreds without having to modify the CPU though.

Omegadrive · Feb 3, 2003, 02:17 AM

DriveEuro, Why? Because after a lot of thinking is better to have the memory running at whatever speed I want without having to OC the CPU bus, like for example, with this config I can have the bus at ~147Mhz and the memory at +200 (I think

)
This board has all I need, except for the RAID controller, but I ordered the Promise card to take care of that

Also, all the reviews I saw about it had an award for stability, performance and OC features. Plus, I don't have to unlock the CPU since all nforce2 boards unlock them automatically (the chipset was designed that way).

Vaporizer, I realized the KT400 divider problem when I saw the review about the MAX2.0, and no /6 divider means no memory over 185Mhz bus

(most MBs crack after this speed along with the PCI/AGP cards)

Necrosis · Feb 3, 2003, 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Omegadrive
DriveEuro, Why? Because after a lot of thinking is better to have the memory running at whatever speed I want without having to OC the CPU bus, like for example, with this config I can have the bus at ~147Mhz and the memory at +200 (I think )
This board has all I need, except for the RAID controller, but I ordered the Promise card to take care of that Also, all the reviews I saw about it had an award for stability, performance and OC features. Plus, I don't have to unlock the CPU since all nforce2 boards unlock them automatically (the chipset was designed that way).

Vaporizer, I realized the KT400 divider problem when I saw the review about the MAX2.0, and no /6 divider means no memory over 185Mhz bus (most MBs crack after this speed along with the PCI/AGP cards)

147MHz on a nForce2 board w/ 200MHz memory..not a problem! I'll even bet you might be able to get 166MHz out of the FSB w/ little or no voltage change. The Epox was rated over the Asus DLX in a recent review for features and price. BTW, Omega I think I'm running one of the first revision 97KPro's as well. It's very happy in it's new home. ;-).

BTW, for the best performance you should sync the ram with the processor as close as possible.

Matth · Feb 3, 2003, 04:05 PM

With an Nforce 2, I'd have gone for dual-DDR

I assume it does support that feature - they surely haven't made a 64 bit "lite" version?

RIV@NVX · Feb 6, 2003, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Matth
With an Nforce 2, I'd have gone for dual-DDR

I assume it does support that feature - they surely haven't made a 64 bit "lite" version?

As far as I know - it supports dual DDR.

Feb 2, 2003, 03:31 AM	Thread Starter #33
Omegadrive Drivers? What Drivers??? Join Date: May 2002 Location: Puerto Rico Posts: 1,526 Rep Power: 75	Thanks Shuki, I checked, and my card's revision is 1.1, not good (PART # 1029420611) Necrosis, thanks for clearing that up, now I get it, but I what I still don't get is WHY there are no full featured MBs like the ABit MAX 2.0, but using the nforce2 chipset, Could it be a limitation of the chipset itself or the manufacturers are cutting the production price by not adding those features? __________________ DRIVERHEAVEN ADMINISTRATOR <<E-MAIL>> <<PC SPECS>> GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

Feb 2, 2003, 03:59 PM	#35
RIV@NVX Freedom is a feature. Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Croatia, Rijeka Posts: 4,476 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Well, the fact is that you can't always get what you want, no matter how much you are willing to give for it. __________________ -- Vedran

Feb 2, 2003, 10:32 PM	Thread Starter #36
Omegadrive Drivers? What Drivers??? Join Date: May 2002 Location: Puerto Rico Posts: 1,526 Rep Power: 75	Well, this is over, I just ordered: 1- EPOX 8RDA+ 1- 512MB SAMSUNG 3200 DDR400 1- PROMISE ULTRA133 TX2 PCI 1- THERMALTAKE DDR COPPER HEAT SPREADER 1- ARTICE SILVER 3 TUBE I hope the work correctly with my 9700, I'll cross my fingers __________________ DRIVERHEAVEN ADMINISTRATOR <<E-MAIL>> <<PC SPECS>> GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

Feb 2, 2003, 10:41 PM	#37
DriveEuro HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Gurnee Illinois Posts: 4,677 Rep Power: 0	So you went with the Epox. Why so? __________________ [color=orange]ASUS P4P800 Deluxe [color=black]-[/color] 2.4C --> 3300mhz [color=black]-[/color] Mushkin PC3200 at 220 5-2-2-2 (cpu limited) [color=black]-[/color] BBAti 9800Pro at 430/375 [/color] [color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]01[/color] [color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]03[/color] 16001200 12801024

Feb 2, 2003, 10:42 PM	#38
RIV@NVX Freedom is a feature. Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Croatia, Rijeka Posts: 4,476 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Good choice! Hope it works too, because if it works - it will work excellent! __________________ -- Vedran

Feb 1, 2003, 03:16 PM	#32
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Probably not, I imagine it will only be better support for memory. Currently the KT400 only supports 4 banks (not four dimms) of PC3200.

Feb 3, 2003, 02:17 AM	Thread Starter #40
Omegadrive Drivers? What Drivers??? Join Date: May 2002 Location: Puerto Rico Posts: 1,526 Rep Power: 75	DriveEuro, Why? Because after a lot of thinking is better to have the memory running at whatever speed I want without having to OC the CPU bus, like for example, with this config I can have the bus at ~147Mhz and the memory at +200 (I think ) This board has all I need, except for the RAID controller, but I ordered the Promise card to take care of that Also, all the reviews I saw about it had an award for stability, performance and OC features. Plus, I don't have to unlock the CPU since all nforce2 boards unlock them automatically (the chipset was designed that way). Vaporizer, I realized the KT400 divider problem when I saw the review about the MAX2.0, and no /6 divider means no memory over 185Mhz bus (most MBs crack after this speed along with the PCI/AGP cards) __________________ DRIVERHEAVEN ADMINISTRATOR <<E-MAIL>> <<PC SPECS>> GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

Feb 3, 2003, 04:05 PM	#42
Matth Flash Banner Hater Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: UK Posts: 3,426 Rep Power: 93 System Specs	With an Nforce 2, I'd have gone for dual-DDR I assume it does support that feature - they surely haven't made a 64 bit "lite" version?