NF7-S Questions

I'm looking at building a new box with an NF7-S (rev 2) board, but there are some questions I can't find answers to:

1) Will Buffalo PC3700 ram run on this board? It says it supports DDR400, but PC3700 is DDR466, so do I have to OC to get access to these chips to DDR466 speeds? Also, is this RAM the quality of Corsair's? and would heat spreaders be worth buying?

2) I've read the ATX cable can cause problems with heatsinks because of the way it's positioned. Will everything work alright with a SLK-900u and vantec 92mm fan?

3) I'm not sure exactly how SATA works, but will I be able to use my ATA100 IDE drives with it? Will XP be able to install directly on it? Have the problems with SATA data corruption be solved?

4) Have the microphone input problems been fixed in rev2?

5) Will a XP2500 333mhz FSB Barton 1.83ghz allow me to overclock to 400mhz FSB at around 2.2ghz? Is the multiplier locked? I'd like to know what kind of overclocks other people are getting.

6) Will overclocking void the warranty on the motherboard itself? Or just on the CPU and RAM?

Thanks in advance,
--hax

I can answer some of those.

1)I have Kingston HyperX 3500 and my Buffalo 3700 runs better than it on this board. I had to raise the voltage to 2.9V to reach 466 with 6,2,2,2 timings though.

2)I have no trouble with the ATX connector but others may. I'm not sure.

3)The board ships with an adapter to put on one IDE drive that allows you to use it on the sata connector. To use the other sata connector you will need to purchase another adapter. I have no experience with this though because I don't use it.

4)I have no problems with my mic.

5)Your multipliers should be unlocked and 2.2Ghz should be obtainable with that setup. 400FSB should also be reached easily but to get the full benefit of your memory you'll need to run your FSB at 233 or higher. Some people can and other can't. I can run up to 240FSB but it isn't stable without a vdd volt mod.

6)Overclocking any piece of hardware will void the warranty. But, if you are only running a 400FSB then you aren't really ocing this board as it was designed to run at those speeds.

I should say that I have only been testing the Buffalo ram for a few days though and it is in no way stable at the 466 speed with those timings right now. Burn in and more voltage should get it there though.

Heh. Finally somebody who knows about this board I love these forums.

One more thing about the RAM: I don't want to overclock the FSB to go past 400 if it will void my Abit warranty, so would I be able to get more aggressive timings out of Buffalo PC3700 or Kingston HyperX PC3200? Also, if I do ever deside to overclock the RAM, how high voltage can they normally go without being burned out? And what is "burn in"?

Looking at Abit's warranty statement:

This Limited Warranty does not cover any consumable items supplied with the Product; cosmetic damages; damage or loss to any software program, data, or media; or damage due to (1) acts of God, accident misuse, abuse, negligence, commercial use or modifications of this Product; (2) improper operation or maintenance of this Product; (3) connection to improper voltage supply; or (4) attempted repair by any party other than an ABIT authorized service facility.

Click to expand...

I'm fairly sure that overclockers are covered, especially as they point customers to overclocking usenet groups on their help pages. Has anyone here had success RMA'ing an overclocked board to Abit? (I'm talking about dying for other reasons, as motherboards do, not because you overclocked it and burned it... although that would be interesting to know too.)