Abit NF7-S or Asus A7N8X Deluxe?

[Shonkythehonkydonky]

Hi

Im a newbie to building a pc, and I was just looking for some opinions. The obvious is the subject, Abit NF7-S or Asus A7N8X Deluxe?
I plan on using a AMD xp 2500, and was wondering what you thought would be the better mobo. (Plan to use for gaming)

These two mobos are fairly similar as far as the chipsets go and among other things. To me the Abit mobo seems to be the best choice cause of their support of overclocking.

So let me know what you think, am I on the right track or am I a newbie with no idea whats going on?
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I suddenly have a minty green flavor.

[Google]

[Diales]

If you are looking for simplicity and features then go with the ASUS A7N8X DLX. The Abit NF7-S Revision 2 board is the one you want if your going to be overclocking.

You might wait for answer from Nathan, CooLJoE and CUBiK :-)

[DMW]

some thought needs to be given to what exactly you wish to do primarily...
you did mention that it would be used for gaming (which is exactly what I use my A7N8X-DX for SOLEY)...
features such as the dual SATA / Soundstorm chipset....etc are nice if you are looking for an all in one solution.

do you have a sound card like an SB Live or other? there are pros and cons to going either way.

the chaintech is also supposed to be an adequate OCer.... I have seen that the ASUS / ABIT / CHANTECH are probably the most OC freindly of the NF2 series (so far)
there are others that also offer good stability with some other neat features too.

speaking from my own experiences.....the ASUS is pretty damn solid.
My only wishes were that an active HSF fan was on the Northbridge and a passive (instead of nothing) one was on the southbridge.
Always be sure you sales person an promise a version 2.0 of the board...I have heard of some places still trying to iunload older boards.

another nice feature of the ASUS is the four mounting holes surrounding the socket. this allows for more aggressive cooling options.
I do not know if the others offer it.

with no real issues to address on this board....asus has just released a new bios that is kind of "backwards".....the latest one now offers support for slower processors...a few of the duron line-up.

Duron 1400 (Model 8 )(Applebred) 1.04 1006
Duron 1600 (Model 8 )(Applebred) 1.04 1006
Duron 1800 (Model 8 )(Applebred) 1.04 1006

one consideration you are going to need to make when gathering these parts, is to make sure the processor you get has good "stepping".....you don't want to wind up with a decent systen that is held up by a CPU that won't cooperate!

If you do a little digging you may see what I mean....or just PM me and I can show a site or two that promises the core codes. Even though they are all supposed to be unlocked, some cooperate more than others.

When I got my 2500....I just took from it's retail packaging..placed it in the mobo....set the bios for a 200FSB........and whalla! XP3200 @ 2205MHz on the first boot.

[alexvdl]

Good to havve you back DMW....

are there any chips that you know of that have major issues with them?
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__________[(Crayola)]>_____________
Althon xp 2100+ @ 2100+, DFI LANParty nForceII Ultra Rev. B, 512 of Kingston, and an Evil Wizard Radeon 7500!

[DMW]

hehe good to be back....man, a week without ISP is really weird....part of me was havin fits...and the rest of me was too busy shoe-horning a 3 bedroom house into a 2 bedroom condo.

none of the chips have "major issues".....and they will all OC a bit. Some will do as little as 200 ~ 300 MHz.....and others will do do as much as 600~800....depending on temps.

I have made a few posts referring to charts on the AMD chips that will give a good reference point while shopping.

a few key things to look for would be voltage ID....thermal limits....date codes.

my particular chip has a nice 1.65 stock voltage yet retains the 85C thermal limit..... this would mean that I can up the voltage signicantly if needed from my starting point.

but as I mentioned earlier...
mine runs @ 2205 w/1.65V on the core
200FSB in dual channel and 1.6V on DDR.

esssentially, there is minimal (pratically none) extra heat generated by this process because the voltages are all stock.

I would also suggest a minimum of PC3200, a matched set....twinX or the like... I bought my 2X256 Corsair XMS3200 Plat. just before they offered these "matched sets"....so mine were randomly picked.....but they still do nicely.

[Shonkythehonkydonky]

Thanks DMW for your input, you gave me a lot of usefull info.

Is there anyone out there that has that Abit model that wouldn't mind sharing your experience with it? That would be sweet.

I just want to make the right choice so i dont get burned later.

P.S. To answer dmw's question, I plan on using the on board sound. Also if it helps anyone answer the question i plan on having dual sticks of 256mb (not sure on brand yet), and i already have a Nvidia geforce 4 mx 440 se AGPx4 that i will use which i will probally upgrade down the road.
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I suddenly have a minty green flavor.

[Roger]

my only experience with abit was horrible... although that was five years ago... i should probably learn to let things go.


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i'm the fool, he's the fanboy. together we are Fanboy and Fool... Tweaknews Reviewers

[SpeesKeek]

yeah, thanks DMW... I searched google with abit nf7-s asus a7n8x and here i came out... i googled becouse i was hesistating between these two boards...

but now i'll buy a asus ... (it was on my first place yet, but... now i'm sure)
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Been there, done that....

[DMW]

and with that, I say...


you are welcome!