Questions on Nforce2

blade · Post by **blade** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 3:01 pm

I'll be getting in the asus a7n8x new version and need to know, well, what I need to know?

I have a barton 2500 and pc2700 ddr.

Any particular setting to use to get it to work?
What setting to use for the ram?
Would getting faster ram help oc'ing? And how to use dual channel?
Does the nforce unlock the cpu and can I use various mutlipliers?
Isn't the pci divider locked, so no need to worry about that, or fried hard drives from oc'ing?
I want to at least do 11x200, is that possible with my ram or is faster ram needed?

I have a fortissmo III, is the onboard 6 channel sound as good, or better than a live value? I've used cmedia sound before and it was good, but this is by realtec which I've never used.

And anything else I should know.

Thanks

DoPeY5007 · Post by **DoPeY5007** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 3:14 pm

I have the delux of that and a 2500+

to use dual chan on the board, you need two sticks of the same ram...

I OC it a lil just by mess'n with the multiplier

and I think you need faster ram to do the 11*200

BillyGoat · Post by **BillyGoat** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 3:26 pm

First off, I envy you

Now , To run dual channel just enable it and have two sticks of matching ram

pc2700= DDR333 - Depending on how much it like to overclock you can probably sqeeze the 11x200 out of it. But you might have to play with the settings a tad...The Nforce 2 should unlock all multis under 12.5 I believe

dont be afraid to give the ram a tiny bit more voltage-

Once you figure out where your mhz wall is as far as overclocking, I suggest you play around withbacking down the multiplier/ FSB and tweaking the ram timings

IE.. My p4 2000 was stable @2600 and ram timings of 1/1 but i hit the limit of my pc2100
I played around and finally ended up @ 2000@2500 with ram @ 4/3 -100 less mhz- but the system benchmarked higher in all tests because overclocking the ram at this speed was more beneficial.

As for the sound, I would
A:Listen to both
B:Benchmark with both- make sure the onboard sound doesnt give you a big perf hit

Sean · Post by **Sean** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 3:42 pm

Blade, that's correct. You don't have to worry about blowing hard drives with the A7N8X Deluxe!!

The onboard sound is meant to not take a performance hit, it uses the southbridge for processing, if I understand correctly. it's actually been known that using the onboard sound actually uses LESS resources than a seperate sound card.

Overclocking with 2700 all depends on the ram. if it's high performance PC2700, you MIGHT get to 200 MHz FSB.

The first time your board boots, you will see it at 100 mhz FSB.

Just go into the BIOS and change that to 133 for your default speed.

All multipliers will be unlocked. Also, to get access to all FSB's between (I think) 250 and 100 choose advanced or something. otherwise the menu just shows 100, 133, 166, and 200. have the 1 mhz steps is much more beneficial.

Take it easy and slow. Moving too quickly will leave you with a dead motherboard. I found that out the hard way.

The onboard sound IS WAY better than SB Live!

I agree with BG on the ram voltage. Nowadays it doesn't really hurt to AT LEAST bump ram voltage up to 2.7v. I know Corsair ram is under warranty until you pass 2.8v, which is the limit of the A7N8X before mods.

ENJOY! It's pretty exciting overclocking this board. I am currently at 193 mhz * 11 (2126 Mhz) currently testing the FSB in memtest86.

blade · Post by **blade** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 3:52 pm

change that to 133 for your default speed.

You mean 166, right? The barton is a 333 cpu.

The ram I have is not high performance, just crucial ddr with no heat spreaders. But I'll have airflow over them. So maybe what, 11x175, or something like 12.5x175? Till I get better ram.

This mobo isn't the deluxe version, just the newer version of the a7n8x. I couldn't see any big diff in the 2 anyway.

Thanks guys

matt719 · Post by **matt719** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 4:09 pm

I dunno about ASUS, but my Abit NF7 doesn't even need to have dual channel enabled, just automatically works

My bios is just filled with overclocking features... you can change just about anything you could ever want to, including the multiplier (at least on my tbred b). If you have a change of heart, I would suggest getting an Abit NF7 of some type, because they are cheaper than ASUS and there really isn't any way ASUS could be better (same chipset, etc). If you are a serious overclocker, the FSB can be set up to 300 in incrediments of 1. And whichever board you get, make sure you get it with 400MHz FSB ready... they already have that Barton 3200+ with a 400MHz FSB!

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 5:14 pm

up the ram voltagea nd take the cpu voltage to about 1.75 and play aorund and see what is comfortable for your rig - mine settled out at 13.5 x 172fsb @ 1.75 - it does more total ghz, but not much - has the fsb as high as 210 with pc3200 - but it seems happiest here

when you find a happy ghz range then you can start tweaking the memory

you'll love these nforce boards - they are as solid as the old bx boards

disable agp 8x for oc
lock agp bus at 66
pci bus is locked already

enjoy!

Sean · Post by **Sean** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 5:24 pm

Ah, yes blade, that's correct.

With crucial, I wouldn't expect much. Their PC2700 is CAS 2.5 or even 3. I know their PC3200 is CAS 3.

The only differences between the Deluxe and Non-Deluxe are the dual-nics, different southbridge (I think), no firewire, and maybe a few other things.

xsiled · Post by **xsiled** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 5:28 pm

Originally posted by matt719
I would suggest getting an Abit NF7 of some type, because they are cheaper than ASUS and there really isn't any way ASUS could be better (same chipset, etc).

you would be surprised how often you would think that but asus boards are generically SUPER FAST, i like abit, they do have great options but sometimes for reasons unexplainable asus just makes faster board after faster board...

BillyGoat · Post by **BillyGoat** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 5:29 pm

Dual on board nics and firewire=

ow *&

blade · Post by **blade** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 5:40 pm

I cannot change mobos, but I did get a deal on it refurbed. far cheaper than either new. If it works.

And I know asus makes good stuff.

What is the benefit of 2 nics?

DoPeY5007 · Post by **DoPeY5007** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 6:41 pm

Originally posted by blade

What is the benefit of 2 nics?

there are a few....

Can be a router
can have two connections to the same network for more through put ( only helpful if more then one file transfer will happen @ a time with more then one PC, so for a server )
can be connected to two networks @ one time

I know there are alot more, but that is all I can think of

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 7:20 pm

you got extra if first one breaks

BillyGoat · Post by **BillyGoat** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 7:39 pm

you got extra if first one breaks

me thinks they are both contolled by the southbridge, so if it goes out, your fuxored either way

xsiled · Post by **xsiled** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 8:24 pm

that may be but they are also controlled by totally different network chips IE: if one of the chips die, crazy heatsink installers

you have a backup

: