Are nvidia boards really the best!?

[blockers]

Hello.

I have had my NF7-S (v2.0) for quite some time now, just over a year. Throughout this time i had a NF7-S (v1.0), that was RMA'd in July, and got a v2.0 back - which was kind of aria.

Anyway, back to the subject. Throughout this time i have had lots of problems with the board, and have read about many other problems. Such as compatibility problems, BIOS errors, overheating etc.

This does not just appear to be limited to NF7-S's, Asus seem to have trouble with some twinmoss RAM, while some people find they cant overclock as well.

So the question is....are nvidia chipset motherboards really the best!? as i havent seen many posts about VIA chipsets causing this much trouble is that becuase the market is much more nvidia dominanted (well for AMD anyway.)

And.....has anyone actually had a nvidia board and not had any trouble with it at all!?

ty
Will

[mike_w]

I've had no trouble whatsoever (that I can think of right now). Only had the board since the end of last year though. Fingers crossed nothing goes wrong!

[malfunction]

My experiences - for what they're worth:

I've got an A7N8X deluxe V2.0 (the Asus board that is)... Actually I've had 2 of them. 1st one died (BIOS death - overclocked lots out of the box and it just wouldn't POST no matter what I did). I fixed it by buying another one, hot flashing the first one and selling it on (and it's still working well to this day - but it's with someone who doesn't / won't overclock...). I originally had TwinMOS PC3200 (Winbond BH5 chips) and had major difficulty reaching a 200MHz FSB with my XP1700+ and have recently swapped the TwinMOS for some Samsung PC3200... Slower timings but 200MHz is now possible (slower timings on the TwinMOS didn't help at all). The TwinMOS still performs better though as I can get the timings down to 5-2-2-2 no problem - the Samsung won't do any better than 8-3-3-2.5 for me. Anything more than 200MHz still doesn't work - and I def. do have a V2.0 mobo. Had the same problem with the first board and have read that it might be my CPU. It's def. better with the Samsung than with the TwinMOS and I don't think I have a particularly outstanding 1700+ (it needs 1.85V to get 2.1GHz - I'm cooling it with a Zalman 7000A AlCu with the fan on full power and it stays cool enough - but hotter than I'd like). Next upgrade will be a mobile 2500+... Hopefully it will clock higher and / or with less volts and run cooler too (as I've also got a 9800SE AIW in there and that runs very hot)... Should finally let me find out where the bottleneck is (i.e. duff CPU or duff mobo?)

[Byatt]

my n-force 2 had to be RMAd first time round - floppy IDE port was buggered - current one is solid as a rock - only problem has been the driver package overwriting my display driver...and the surround output on soundstorm not working.

Otherwise they are just rock solid boards - they just seem like a complete product.

[BUFF]

In terms of performance yes, the nForce2 boards are the best for Athlons.
There have been & still are certain problems with the chipset but usually there is some kind of workaround (& it isn't like VIA or SiS chipsets have been problem free either).
My 2 NF7-S V2.0's have been rock solid as has been a Soltek FRN2 that I built for a friend.

My DFI Infinity is a bit flaky but I don't believe that it is the chipset, rather some decisions that DFI made in its implementation - on the other hand, when it is running well it screams.

[Proplus]

Asus A7N8X rev2.0 probably got it the 1st week it got released, and I've had no problems with it whatsoever. I have read many compatibilty problems, and I guess I've been lucky so far.

[Howard]

My first NForce2 motherboard (the lovely Abit) has been nothing but superb from the minute I got it

I've heard enough bad things about VIA to want to stay away from them. I believe nForce2 are the best.

[Applecrusher]

My Epox 8rda3+ is perfect...
....except for the time i accidently forgot to plug the power cord back into it and it wouldnt turn on.....

[Howard]

....except for the time i accidently forgot to plug the power cord back into it and it wouldnt turn on.....

Grrr those blasted motherboards, eh?

[Spud1]

both my Asus NF2-u boards had to be RMA'd as they decided to wipe their own bios's while overclocking (i would up the fsb by 2, reboot and then get nothing). So after the 2nd one was RMA'd i just got the MSI version instead. Since then i've had no problems whatsoever, so i firmly believe that the board manufacturer has something to do with it. Ive had no end of problems with asus boards that have via chipsets too...