Which AMD Mobo? asus/abit

[iamwhoiam]

Asus A7N8X Deluxe or Abit NF7-S v2.0 nForce2? Any opinions about these 2 boards?

^^ btw i can get the asus (2nd hand) for £55 abit for ?? (prolly new so £80)

-edited... NF7-S

[Howard]

Those boards are both excellent top class material... I'm considering getting either one myself.. Not too sure which either

[Donny John]

I have the Abit NF7-S V2.0, really rocks

[mickeymouse]

abit nf7 2.0 no comarision

[Austin]

Both are absolutely great mobos, certainly as good as you should ever need for SktA. DO rem it's the NF7-S not the plain NF7 that you want as the '-S' like the A7N8X Deluxe offer the works .... certified 400FSB, Dual Channel and the full nVidia Soundstorm implimentation.

NF7-S are the most popular around here but they certainly have their cons as well as their pros, weigh it all up and both Abit and Asus are as good as each other. From memory the Abit's downsides are:

* Noisy, low quality NB fan.
* Poor layout leading to cable clutter.
* No 'XP rating' applied when you o/c, disappointing to be greeted with 'Athlon @ 2.2ghz' instead of 'AthlonXP3200+'.
* Only 1 ATA100/133 cable supplied which seems a bit tight for a top end mobo (you get a SATA data lead though).
* No game port (probably pretty common now).
* Large in physical size (but I doubt more so than most mobos).
* Possible problem with perf from onboard SATA (SIL3112) but I'd imagine all mobos without a custom built SATA solution will be the same.

Upsides:

* IDE-to-SATA convertor included.
* Has the additional 'P4 style' power connector which should help keep it rock solid stable.
* Safety o/c protection feature will reset to safe settings after 3 failed POSTs.
* All round the best for o/c'ing and one of few mobos to support the 5th FID bit to enable mults from 5.5x to 22x (ish).

I'm not as familiar with Asus' offering, it uses a passively cooled NB, applies the 'XP rating' when o/c'ed and has a good layout but is pickier about the RAM used. It pretty much evens out.

[Korky]

Cant see it being a downfall having the speed rather than the xp rating, because if u think about it, its not a 3200 when at those speeds its still just a bloody 1700+ , im all for the full mhz layout.

[gamezfreak]

Considered going for something a little different?

MSI's KT600 Delta is another option outside the nforce2 bracket.

[iamwhoiam]

i've got my heart set on an nforce2 board

[luke313]

TBH nearly every response you're gonna get on here is going to be recommending the NF7-S, as a lot (20%??) have got it.

Oh yea, I've got one, and it roXors

[iamwhoiam]

hehe, wheres the cheapest place to get it?

as i can get the asus board s/h for £55

[gamezfreak]

Try scan.co.uk or ebuyer (although i've heard bad things about service....)

[luke313]

I had found that www.komplett.co.uk were the cheapest place for the NF7-S a while ago, but I haven't checked recently.

[petrefax]

Originally posted by luke313
I had found that www.komplett.co.uk were the cheapest place for the NF7-S a while ago, but I haven't checked recently.

right enough there mate - komplett are the cheapest ATM cos they now ship via parcelforce as well as DHL, takes a bit longer but P&P via parcelforce is about £3 instead of £8 with DHL

ordered me one on sunday & am expecting it tomorrow.....thats my weekend taken care of!!

[iamwhoiam]

hmm found a new asus for £60

[BUFF]

Make sure that it is a De Luxe & a rev 2.0

[Austin]

You've checked it's the nForce2 Ultra400 as in Asus A7N8X Deluxe ... right? Other mobos are still fine but that one's right at the top of the food chain.