Which Nforce2 Board To Go With

[ClayMeow]

Okay, i'm in the market for a new mobo.

 

I'm looking to put a Barton 2500+ in it

don't know what HSF, since it may depend on the mobo (if stuff are in the way or not)

just 2x256 2100DDR (i want dual channel capability in the mobo)

geforce fx 5200 256ddr agp8x

ata100 harddrive (so i don't need sata)

3-speaker set (2 satellites, 1 sub)

have a sb live 5.1+ i can throw in if onboard sound isn't as good

 

Keep in mind, i will NOT be overclocking it.

 

Here's the choices:

 

Asus A7n8x Deluxe - $125 ( i have one now, and beside the sudden bios death i encountered once, it's been great)

Asus A7n8x - $95 (no sata, ieee, soundstorm, dual lan....don't need any of it, except is the soundstorm that much better than the realtek ac97 for a non-surround sound setup?)

 

Abit NF7-S - $113

 

MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR - $125

MSI K7N2 Delta-L - $85 (why is this so cheap? does it have dual channel? the pic of the box i saw says it does, but newegg didn't list it)

 

Gigabyte GA 7N400Pro2 - $117

Gigabyte GA 7N400Pro - $??? (supposedly the only difference between this and pro2 is it has no dual lan which i don't care about)

Gigabyte GA 7N400-L - $83 (says it has dual channel)

 

So like i said, i'm not OCing, i don't need sata, or ieee, or raid, or dual lan. I basically want a nforce2 chip mobo that has dual channel ddr. Price isn't a MAJOR factor, but you can use that in your decision if you'd like. Obviously the cheaper the better, as long as it's everything i need and is a stable, reliable board.

 

Any input would be helpful, including if there's any other boards i should look at, including any other manufacturers? (DFI, Epox, Soyo, ???)

 

 

Also, just quickly looking, i noticed that newegg.com and zipzoomfly.com both have practically the same prices with newegg having free fedex shipping and zipzoomfly having free 2nd day air. I've never bought from zipzoomfly, but have bought several things from newegg, so should i stick with newegg, or is zipzoomfly a good site also?

[andrusk]

sounds like the a7n8x would work for you if you dont need all the extra features of the deluxe.

 

And as far as zipzoomfly goes. I have ordered probably about 2,000 dollars worth of stuff from them within the last year. And have been as happy as a claim. Fast and free shipping, good customer service, fast processing time. Good place

[Bosco]

I have both the Gigabyte N400 pro and pro2 they are both good boards and very stable

[DeMoN]

i just got the gigabyte ga-7nnxp. i really like it

[ClayMeow]

i just got the gigabyte ga-7nnxp. i really like it

what's different with the 7nnxp than the others? I'm at gigabyte's site looking at a comparison, and all i see is dual lan, but i thought the pro2 had dual lan:

 

http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Produ...e2+Ultra400.htm

 

Also, since i'm not going to be using a 400fsb, should i go with the nforce2 igp...those cards also have dual channel:

 

http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Produ...nForce2+IGP.htm

 

and i'm guessing they should be cheaper...i'll have to go look.

 

I'm not saying i'm going with gigabyte just yet though. I think, since i don't need the extra features like andrusk said, i should just go with the regular a7n8x for only $95, or the ga 7n400-L for only $83 since it seems you people are happy with your gigabytes.

 

Any msi or abit people out there?

[syneze]

Abit does have a model without SATA and soundstorm, the NF7 (no -S). And Epox 8rda is always a great board for the price... If you were overclocking I would tell you to get Abit but since you're not I would probably go with the a7n8x non deluxe.

[ClayMeow]

Abit does have a model without SATA and soundstorm, the NF7 (no -S). And Epox 8rda is always a great board for the price... If you were overclocking I would tell you to get Abit but since you're not I would probably go with the a7n8x non deluxe.

I looked on pricewatch, and found the NFS for about $75 in PartsPC.com, Xtreme Gear, and GameVE.com (anyone deal with them before?). If i find it for that, would you recommend getting that? Or would the a7n8x be better. At least with the asus, i know the customer support is top notch. So i guess the consensus seems to be i don't need any of the higher end models, so i guess my choices are:

 

asus a7n8x for $95

abit nf7 for ~$75

msi k7n2 delta-L for $85

GA 7n400-L for $83

 

even though the asus is more money, i'm leading towards that since i'm familiar with them. I have an msi kt3 ultra board, and used to have another msi board before my a7n8x, so i trust them too, but i haven't seen anyone with msi boards here.

[andrusk]

Yeah, plus if you stick with asus, at least you know if something went wrong with it theyd acutally fix it for you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

edit------

 

2121 posts, cool number B)

Edited September 26, 2003 by andrusk

[ClayMeow]

Ok, so i'm like 95% sure i'm going to go with the a7n8x (non-deluxe) mobo.

 

I was wondering though, should i even bother getting a barton 2500+? This comp isn't for me, and it doesn't need that much speed. Currently it has a 1.133 ghz 266mhz fsb Thunderbird using a dfi ak76-sn mobo. The reason i'm replacing the mobo is because i believe it is shot, but would this effect the cpu at all? It's not possible for a cpu to corrupt, is it? I mean, i am almost positive it's not an over-heating issue, so it's not fried or anything, so should i save the money (which would make my parents very happy), and just stick the thunderbird in the a7n8x? Like i said, it's gonna have 2x256 of 2100ddr which is only 266mhz like the thunderbird's fsb. what do you guys think? Try to think from an economical standpoint, and not a "tim allen" approach

[bigred]

can't hurt anything to use the tbird at first. but if it doesn't work... go pick up a duron 1600. got one for my little neices computer. 133mhz (or 266 if you ask a sales person), 256k l2... kinda sounds like an xp 1900+ tbred now don't it? they're also based on the barton core (cooler running too) and cost ~$35 which is well worth it for a basic machine.

[ClayMeow]

can't hurt anything to use the tbird at first.  but if it doesn't work... go pick up a duron 1600.  got one for my little neices computer.  133mhz (or 266 if you ask a sales person), 256k l2... kinda sounds like an xp 1900+ tbred now don't it?  they're also based on the barton core (cooler running too) and cost ~$35 which is well worth it for a basic machine.

woah, $35 you say? hmmm. see, it's for my bro, and he was fine with the speed of the 1.133ghz, which is why i said it doesn't need speed. I've never used duron's. Are they as reliable as athlons are? And what do you mean "266 if you ask a sales person"? would you recommend a duron 1600 over a xp1900+? I always wonder how to compare durons and athlons. I'm assuming either would be much better than the tbird it currently has. But i guess you're right, i can try the tbird first...i was just worried if it IS bad that it would do something evil to the mobo, but that's probably me just being paranoid.

 

EDIT: o, and the cooler running part you mentioned WOULD be nice. I didn't want to have to pay another $30-50 to cool the 2500+. Are duron's cool enough, where if not OC'd i could use the stock amd cooler with no problem?

Edited September 27, 2003 by ClayMeow

[bigred]

it's running 36c in a POS case with a stock amd cooler.

 

and the part about a salesman's 266mhz bus is the true of all athlons... divide the "fsb" you hear on websites, stores and stuff like that by 2 for amd and by 4 on intel (I know I get wound up about this subject too often).

 

basically the duron 1600 is the athlon 1900+ without the name on it... benches exactly the same too.