Biostar M7NCG-400 opinions?

[Zap]

I'm going to be building a gaming machine in a mATX case in the near future and have been eyeing this Biostar board, for use with either an XP2400 that I already have, or an XP-M2600.

Newegg $65.50 shipped

I wouldn't be using the integrated video. The official 400MHz FSB is nice (haven't seen that with the IGP chipset before). What really caught my eye with this board is the availability of limited vcore and multiplier adjustments in BIOS. This is really rare to have a mATX board with any overclocking features at all. The Newegg customer reviews seemed mixed on this board. You have a bunch of people with good overclocking success and flawless boards... and then you have a few (too many to ignore) with DOA or flakey boards. I'd like to have opinions of people here on this board or on suggestions for other mATX socket A boards worth considering. I will want to do minor overclocking.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Because you specify mATX I don't think there's another one in that price range that will match up. Besides, when you sell it later the IGP will make it the basis of a nice DC boxen Oh, and I wouldn't be concerned about negative user reviews at da egg since most those goobers who post the negative evals couldn't find their own a$$ with a map

 

[Slapstick]

I bought one a couple of months ago to put in a crack rack. Nice little board, no problems with it, decent features for the money. It?s been running D2ol nonstop since I put it together using an Xp2400, (about 2 months). I haven?t tried to OC it much so I can?t help you there. One thing to know is you can?t use the onboard video when you run a 200 FSB. That shouldn?t be much of a concern since you said you?d be using a different vid card. I like it enough I?m going to be ordering another one next week and put it on the rack crunching for the TeAm.

 

[Copperpipe]

I?ve had the NCG400 for a couple of weeks. It?s a fun board to tinker with since it has most of the BIOS overclocking options available in addition to the onboard video.

I was able to run mine with the onboard video at 200 FSB and complete 3Dmark2001 (in addition to Burnintest, memtest86+, etc), but only if I increased the chipset voltage to 1.8V (1.6 is default). Of course, cooling the chipset is a concern (I installed an 80mm fan directly above the Northbridge ? blows down).

I also had to increase the chipset voltage slightly to 1.7V to get it fully stable with a GF4 Ti4200 + 200 FSB.

I could run fully stable without any chipset voltage increase if I just overclocked up to 185 FSB with onboard or AGP video card.

I?m not a audiophile, but the onboard audio sounds good to me which is contrary to what others say.

The only minor peculiarities I found are:
-The CPU multipliers for my unlocked 1 ghz Duron (Morgan) would not be implemented by this board, i.e., I?d save the BIOS setup configuration with a desired non-factory multiplier, but the CPU would only run at its default value even though the BIOS setup shows a different multiplier was selected/saved. I?ve since put that CPU back into a KT266A board to get the unlocked capability. No such problems with my XP1600+ (AGOIA) Palomino or XP1700+ Tbred B.
-Prior to the last BIOS update, my board would not beep on startup.
-Board does not always automatically reboot after running memtest86+ (have to press reset button to get the reboot).

It?s a good value if you want a MATX NF2 board or if you want an NF2 board with onboard video.

 

[Zap]

Thanks guys. I think I will get this board eventually. Already have an aluminum mATX case that I want to mod a bit (for airflow and to shoehorn a high wattage power supply in). Should make for a killer portable gaming rig that's not a "me too" Shuttle system.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Zap
Thanks guys. I think I will get this board eventually. Already have an aluminum mATX case that I want to mod a bit (for airflow and to shoehorn a high wattage power supply in). Should make for a killer portable gaming rig that's not a "me too" Shuttle system.

Hey! I resemble that remark! :brokenheart:

 

[bupkus]

I would like to get an idea of how this onboard video compares to the onboard video of the nforce1 board made by ASUS. I have about a dozen of these oldies in place and they can play some older games like Harry Potter, etc. How would you compare the onboard videos?
Thanks.

 

[Zap]

Well, as I understand it, the video of the original Nforce was roughly equivalent to a Geforce MX 200. The video of the Nforce2 is roughly equivalent to a Geforce MX 440. "Roughly equivalent" meaning in feature set and memory speed (if you were using fastest dual-channel mode). End result is that the newer one should play everything as good as, or better than the original.

While I'm at it, a quick update... I ended up buying a refurb version 1.0 board from Newegg and played around with it for a while. Pretty much what was expected. 200MHz FSB needed a chipset voltage boost. All other "enthusiast" options seem there except for not being able to bridge 12.5x multiplier in BIOS. After using it for a while for testing purposes, I ended up selling it to a friend who was looking for the same thing - mATX socket A board with overclocking functions in BIOS.

For my own "non-Shuttle" mini system, I still have the brand new aluminum case sitting around. I picked up a Chaintech mATX Nforce2 Ultra 400 motherboard. No onboard video and this one really "officially" supports the higher bus speed. The only overclocking features to speak of in BIOS is the ability to bump FSB a bit. I have my mobile Athlon XP 2600+ clocked at a true 2.4GHz using the "wire trick." Thus, multiplier and voltage are not a problem, though it is a hassle.

Now, if only I get around to modding that tiny aluminum case...

 

[watkins]

Presently have four of these in the water and all are doing just fine. Ranging from XP2000+ to Barton 2500+, all w/on board graphics in use. Do not believe graphics is being tested w/ major games, but to date no user complaints. Version 1.0 and 7.0 w/7.2 coming. No overclocks but a stable board non the less. Good inexpensive build.