Best Nforce2 Board

[WinFlex]

Just wondering which board you guys think is best. Currently, most manufacturers only have one type of Nforce2 board.
Abit, Asus, Epox, and Chaintech all look strong. Suggest here which board you think is the best, based on its stability, overclockability, and features!
Also, please include information about upcoming boards with features such as RAID

 

[TheFrag]

actually, all the companies u listed has more than one.......
anyway, the Chaintech Zenith has Raid, the Epox is the supposed best OCer, but is not very stable, and I dont know about the others. I am really interested in what peopel have to say aout Chaintech overclocking, as I am considering their stripped down version, the Summit

 

[Shocker]

Thats easy!!! Get a Epox! its a great mobo...you won't regret it!!!

 

[Illah]

Chiantech OC's well. It's got vcore to 2.1v, vdimm to 3.2v, AGP voltage settings, auto-unlocks all muti's, even below 12.5x, on t-bred b's. It's got all you could want.

Only 2 problems, each fixable with a simple BIOS release:

1. FSB only goes to 200 MHz.

2. I noticed a cold-boot problem, i.e. if I have the chip overclocked it won't boot because <guess> the vcore is set after the multi when booting </guess>. If I clear the CMOS, set the vcore, save and restart, THEN set the multi and whatnot, it works fine.

I run it 200x11.5=2300 MHz w/ 1.8v (XP-2400).

--Illah

 

[WinFlex]

well, epox doesn't have sata, does it?

 

[dreammmatt]

heh...any nForce2 board will be a safe purchase, in my opinion...all the minimum features of an nforce2 board are, in my opinion, more than a lot of KT400 boards can ever offer.
i have an asus, i like it, i just dont think it's BIOS likes me...

the new bios can go to 250, but the core and northbridge voltage are still pretty low...1.85 on the vcore, and, though u cant change the nb voltage, i hear it is low...lol

 

[lchen66666]

If you do overclocking, then Epox and Asus are the best.

If you just for the features, Abit and MSI is better.

MSI is also very cheaper.

 

[TheFrag]

Epox 8rda (w/o the +) or the new chaintech might be the best for a low budget.

 

[TheFrag]

Chiantech OC's well. It's got vcore to 2.1v, vdimm to 3.2v, AGP voltage settings, auto-unlocks all muti's, even below 12.5x, on t-bred b's. It's got all you could want.

Only 2 problems, each fixable with a simple BIOS release:

1. FSB only goes to 200 MHz.

2. I noticed a cold-boot problem, i.e. if I have the chip overclocked it won't boot because <guess> the vcore is set after the multi when booting </guess>. If I clear the CMOS, set the vcore, save and restart, THEN set the multi and whatnot, it works fine.

I run it 200x11.5=2300 MHz w/ 1.8v (XP-2400).

--Illah

You have the Zenith, right?

 

[NeoGeo]

I think the stripped down Chaintech has Apogee in the name?

Quick question, if I where to pop in one of those Newegg Xp2100 tbreds with the default 13x multi, will I be able to get multipliers below 13x or above 13x?

Also, I think that the Vdd(chipset voltage) is important when reaching high fsbs, which board other than the Abit NF7 has that adjustment?

I used to recommend EPoX, but lately they're consistently leaving a sour taste in my mouth. I too would like to hear from Chaintech owners as that is the only non-EPoX board with 1.85+ Vcore.

 

[TheFrag]

I think the stripped down Chaintech has Apogee in the name?

Quick question, if I where to pop in one of those Newegg Xp2100 tbreds with the default 13x multi, will I be able to get multipliers below 13x or above 13x?

Also, I think that the Vdd(chipset voltage) is important when reaching high fsbs, which board other than the Abit NF7 has that adjustment?

I used to recommend EPoX, but lately they're consistently leaving a sour taste in my mouth. I too would like to hear from Chaintech owners as that is the only non-EPoX board with 1.85+ Vcore.

]
Yes, it is an apogge, 7NLJ1. Linkage to it om da cheap:
http://directron.com/7njl1.html

 

[TheFrag]

o ya, it comes wit rounded cables: 2 ide and 1 Fdd!!!!!!!1111

One thing, is says: System: Frequency 266/333MHz FSB

Does that mean it will only go to 166 fsb? or is it talking about CPU support? Thnx.

 

[NeoGeo]

166 is just the official cpu-supported fsb, I know the bios has adjustments for at least 200MHz.

$109 is a lot cheaper than Newegg's price of $135, and it has Cbox which places all your most used ports in the front, plus it comes with a 6-channel audio feature with headphones!

 

[thadude2]

the chaintech (i have the zenith version) is fantastic.
extremely stable, quite nice o/cer (will be the best after the bios version that will allow >200MHz fsb) and everything you could ever ask for and even more in its package. looks like a perfect ASUS model

 

[Mize]

I have the Zenith and it's a good board. I picked it over the A7N8X simply because of the high Vdimm (3.2) and Vcore (2.05) capabilities. My last board was an XP333-R and this one is a bit better, but the Iwill was great at 185 FSB. I only use the Cbox for the extra ports as the cpu temp readout only works when you're running the bundled "digidoc" software and I prefer MBM.

Mize

 

[WinFlex]

What happened to the abit nf7? It seems to be an excellent board, and abit is planning a revision that will include more features and 4 mounting holes around the socket for a wb or heavy heatsink....
does anyone own an nf7, and if so, does it overclock well? Otherwise, I'll just get the the asus... the epox doesn't have raid, and the chaintech isn't as good of an overclocker, plus it doesn't perform as well as the asus.

 

[TheFrag]

Emericana had it, but he hates it, along with 8rda+, with a passion lol.

Also, if u want a goo dOCer, I would stick with the Chaintech. he 200mhz thing is minor fixble thing. TH Chaintech, so i hear, is a lot less buggy also

 

[NeoGeo]

Chaintech looks promising...their homepage says to forgive their current state and that a new site is on the way, so I guess maybe then they'll pay more attention to bios updates

 

[WinFlex]

what do u guys think of the ASUS board... i mean it's more expensive, but it looks to be slightly faster than the Chaintech in most review benchmarks... also, it comes with many more extras and seems to be a good overclocker... one downside i think is that one can't take the vcore over 1.85 and that there's no chipset voltage adjustment...
does the chaintech sport sata, raid, and all the necessary voltage adjustments?

 

[Deathknight]

I like my A7N8X. The features rock and it ocs well. The voltage options are a bummer. There is a hidden bios option to increase the chipset voltage. Someone has released a bios hack to let this option be changed but I think its been debated whether this actually works or not.