nForce2 400

#1 I.C. Wiener

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Posted 31 July 2003 - 06:36 PM

Hi folks,

it's nearly 1 month now since I first read a review of the Soltek NV400-64 motherboard based on the nForce2 400 on this page: http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?ArticleID=244

Well, I expected this to cause a "major uproar" cause this sweet lil board manages to outperform the ASUS A7N8X V2.0 based on the 400 Ultra chipset in almost every benchmark. Even Sandra's memory bench was in favor of the Soltek board. Remember the nForce2 400 uses a single channel memory controller only. But unfortunately this article seems to have fallen into oblivion, so I wanted to remind you of this. Why is there so little reviews out there of other motherboards based on the 400 "nu" (non Ultra)? I think there quite some boards on the market but reviews like this one are rare. I'd be very interested in boards from other manufacturers, cause Soltek is neither available in Germany nor did I ever consider buying this brand. It'd be cool to have some ASUS or EPoX mobo based on the 400nu northbridge combined with the MCP-T and some other nice features. If the performance of other boards is equally good maybe NV should rename this northbridge "nForce2 400 Uber Ultra" or something like that, hehe. I just don't understand why it's so much faster than VIA's or SiS' single channel solutions, not talking bout the embarrassment for NV itself and it's dual channel controller.

ANYWAY: I want some more reviews and I want it NOW!!!!

#2 El_Coyote

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Posted 31 July 2003 - 07:49 PM

i want something that isnt nVidia with crap drivers

KT600 or something.

#3 I.C. Wiener

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Posted 31 July 2003 - 08:52 PM

I'm looking for a new mobo right now, my KR7A-Raid is nearly 2 years old now so it's about time to do some upgrading

KT600 was one of my favourite options but first performance tests show that VIA might have done too little progress with this chipset over the KT400. It can hardly compete with the nForce2 at this time. Maybe with new Hyperions and more optimized BIOSes the situation will improve at least a little.

#4 NIKEMARINE

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Posted 31 July 2003 - 09:33 PM

(El_Coyote)

i want something that isnt nVidia with crap drivers

KT600 or something.

Dont Hate

#5 El_Coyote

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Posted 31 July 2003 - 09:38 PM

im not hating here, even tho i might hate thair gfx divition ;P

people are justr complaining everywhere about how cruddy the drivers are...

#6 NIKEMARINE

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Posted 31 July 2003 - 09:48 PM

(El_Coyote)

im not hating here, even tho i might hate thair gfx divition ;P

people are justr complaining everywhere about how cruddy the drivers are...

Dont hate

#7 El_Coyote

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Posted 31 July 2003 - 09:59 PM

lol dont repeat yaself

#8 Mertsch

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Posted 31 July 2003 - 10:16 PM

lots whats the problem with NF2 drivers ??
it works damn good here ... OK the IDE driver might be buggy but there is no REAL reason why this is necessary to use them ...

and don't look at the ASUS Board ... the Abit is the fastest NF2 board out there ...
I can recommend it ... 100% stable ... easy to use and fast

#9 Mertsch

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Posted 31 July 2003 - 10:20 PM

oh and btw I forgot ... the NF2 Ultra is not only performance optimized .... it a totally new design ... less heat and so on .... fan at 7V is way more then enough .... i think of replacing the heatsink to make it passive

#10 NIKEMARINE

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Posted 01 August 2003 - 02:54 AM

(El_Coyote)

lol dont repeat yaself

Dont hate

#11 El_Coyote

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Posted 01 August 2003 - 05:30 PM

dont... make... me... fall... asleeeeeee....

#12 Mertsch

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Posted 02 August 2003 - 02:09 PM

(NIKEMARINE)

(El_Coyote)

lol dont repeat yaself

Dont hate

?
whats behind that ???

#13 GarrettSocling

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Posted 29 August 2003 - 02:49 PM

Well, I got an Asus A7N8X-X and (after a little work) got her flying proper now. Updated to the 1006 BIOS from asus.de.

I like this board a lot. The default performance wasn't anything wildly special (according to SiSoft Sandra, the results were in-line with reference nForce2 w/PC2700 CL2 DDR (I have 2x 256MB Crucial PC2700 CL2.5 DDR).

So, to make a long story short, after fooling with the BIOS for a while I am now running my ancient Palamino 1600+ at 1578Mhz (150/150). Stable (via Hot CPU Tester overnight). My K7S5A wouldn't unlock or overclock like this

I didn't ever expect that Palamino to overclock like that either...at default voltages with a $7 Speeze cooler.

So, for the price of this budget nForce2 400 board I got a 'free' 1900+ thrown in the bargain. I'm gonna aim for 166Mhz (the memorys native speed), and reduce the multipler if I have to.

What I had is the bottom SiSoft items (1600+, K7S5A w/PC2100).

I was thinking of doing a review of this board, since there is such a dearth of A7N8X-X reviews (and nForce2 400 reviews in general). If I do so, I'll post here.

One satisfied customer,
G