Asus A7N266-VM. How stable is the Nforce chipset?

[DaFinn]

So,

Looking to buy 2 of these boards for office use. Just upgraded one dual athlon server, and I have 2 MP1800+ CPUs looking for home.
Is the nforce chipset/ this specific board stable? Any known problems? OS would be W2K Pro.

Users/ others... LMK!


Thanks!

-DaFinn

 

[mcveigh]

it's damn stable!!! I have about 3 of them don't know how it likes the mp's though

 

[mechBgon]

We now have 29 in our office systems, and I'm waiting for memory modules for another four. With more than a year on most of them, running Win2000, we've found that they're nice and stable. I used Antec TruePower330 PSUs and Crucial PC2100, and the decent quality of those parts probably doesn't hurt either.

 

[DaFinn]

Rright,

I've heard enough... going to order 2 of them and see what happens.

Still want to know about heat. How hot does the chipset get with the integrated graphics? These will be mATX systems ie. small "badly" ventilated cases. I am going to put good quality cooler on the CPUs, but still...

 

[mechBgon]

The chipset's heatsink... well, lemme feel mine (I use one at home too)...

*feel, feel*

My SK-7 has enough blow-by that the heatsink is just mildly warm. Before I was using the SK-7, I recall the chipset's heatsink getting "hot." IMHO it would be good to have a case with an 80mm exhaust fan if possible.

 

[Boogak]

I've got one in my HTPC, a Coolermaster 620 case with only a 60mm output fan that I 7volted. Even running 24x7 with integrated graphics, I don't run into any heat problems. Great mobo!

 

[DaFinn]

Ordered them, should arrive on Wednesday. It should regognize the MP as XP, right? Just came to my mind...

Got 4 more comps to upgrade if these work ok... I guess its a step up from Intel810.

They will be coupled with Transcend 512Mb DDR400 (overkill I know, but they should run ok @266 ), Maxtor DM+ 8's and Samsung 52x24x52 CD-RW drives.

BTW, how is the image quality? They will be coupled with Hitachi 19" CRT's running 1280x1024@85Hz. I know the GF2MX range had a horrible image quality at higher resolutions.

 

[mechBgon]

Image quality is not so crisp at high resolutions I guess you'll be able to judge for yourself soon enough.

Incidentally, I threw one of my Corsair DDR400 modules into my A7N266-VM and it said "beeeeep, beeeeep, beeeeep...", so I pulled the plug and reset the CMOS by removing the battery for about 30 seconds, and then it was happy and ran normally.

You may also want to update your BIOS to the 1007. I have never tried an MP in it but I'd expect it'll figure it out ok.

 

[DaFinn]

Ahh,

Got these babies up and running. Setup went nice and easy. I really like these boards!

Funny thing is, I ordered both at the same time and other is rev 1.3 and other rev 1.5. Both had the same bios though? Does anybody know the difference?
Not that it matters as both work fine

 

[mboy]

I have about 40 Nforce1 based Compaq's @ work ( i spec'd, installed and maintained). I built a couple of the Asus versions for my dad for his business. Pretty darn stable. Running them with XP2000's, 256-768Mb ram, onbaord video,sound,etc. NO basic office type stuff you can throw at these that you wont be able to handle. Even using Solidworks 3D modeling software on one with 768mb ram and stock, onboard video.

 

[Zedtom]

I had to replace an Okia power supply with a Sparkle to get my system stable. These boards are very picky about the power supply and memory.

 

[mboy]

Originally posted by: Zedtom
I had to replace an Okia power supply with a Sparkle to get my system stable. These boards are very picky about the power supply and memory.

Nforce1 boards, no they arent!

 

[jyox]

They will be coupled with Transcend 512Mb DDR400 (overkill I know, but they should run ok @266 ), Maxtor DM+ 8's and Samsung 52x24x52 CD-RW drives.

Now that you have set them up? how is this "transcend "memory?
i know , u've had hardly 2days with them , but whats the early opinion?
any others out there know about this particular brand of memory?
thats the one my dealer is offering, at 266 MHz , 256MB with 2Mb cache
should i accept or play hardball??

 

[InlineFive]

All the nForce boards are very stable. All the people saying "Athlons arn't stable, go with Intel" are wrong because they are actually mean VIA K7 chipsets arn't entirely stable. I had one working perfectly for a long time untill my power supply went.

 

[tomcas1]

The Asus A7N266VM is as stable as they come. I built six all with win 2k pro. Not a lick of trouble with any of them except for one that had a network connection that would keep dropping unless it was connected thru a router instead of directly to a cable modem.

 

[RagingGuardian]

Nforce1 boards, no they arent!

Mine is