just ordered a NF7-S, have a few questions

[lizardboy]

I spent the last week doing some research on the NF2 mobo's, wanted to make sure I'd be happy with what I ordered since this will only be the 2nd PC I've built myself.

After being so close to ordering the 8RDA+ I read this thread and decided to give the NF7-S another look. I had read some discouraging reviews when I first started looking around, but it turns out most of these were from when the 1.0's first shipped.

Anyway, just placed my order for 2 NF7-S's (1.2) from excaliberpc along with two Vantec AeroFlow VA4-C7040's...I know these aren't the favorite HS's of most overclockers, but after reading this review (among several others) I couldn't pass it up.

Here are my questions.

1) I'm planning to install this into an Antec SX-835II case, are there any known issues with this case or 'gotchas' I should be aware of?

2) Can anyone who has this case (or something similar) comment on what length of rounded cables they're using. I need to pick up some new cables and I'm guessing I'll need 18" dual-device cables to get to my 2 hard drives and 24" dual-device cables to get up to the optical drives.

3) My video card is a PNY GForce4 Ti4200, will I be able to add/remove RAM without uninstalling the video card? Any issues with this card I should be aware of?

4) For now I'm going to be using Crucial 2100 512MB x2, I've done some reading on dual-channel ddr and I know I'll need to eventually upgrade to 2700 or 3200, but will I still get the advantages of dual-channel using 2100DDR?

5) Is there any sort of install guide people have put together? I found the warning about installing WinXP SP1 before installing the NF2 drivers - just curious what the best order is to install everything when doing a clean install. My guess would be:
-Flash latest bios
-Windows XP Pro clean install
-All critical updates & service packs from Windows Update
-Nvidia Official NF2 drivers
-Install any drivers that show up on Windows Update

That's about all I can think of for now - Thanks for all the info that can be found in this forum.

For anyone who's curious, here are the components I'm planning to install.
Athlon XP 2100+ (AIUHB)
Abit NF7-S (duh)
2 X Crucial 512MB 2100
WD 200GB 8MB or Maxtor 120GB 8MB (one's for the PC, one's for my ReplayTV)
GForce4 128MB ti4200
Vantec AeroFlow VA4-C7040
Antec SX-835II
Whatever Floppy & CD-RW drives I can scavenge/scrounge up
(payed a grand total of $630 for everything above, not including the scrounged floppy & cd-rw, thanks to AT Hot Deals)

 

[floccus]

Too many motherboard makers like to place the DIMM connectors right next to the video card. Unfortunately, ABIT is one of those motherboard makers with the NF7-S. The DIMM connectors are basically impossible to unhinge unless you go through the hassle of unscrewing and then physically uninstalling your video card just to throw in a stick of memory. For those that are picky about memory and frequently like to install different types of modules, the DIMM connector's position will be an annoyance. However, this won't be an issue with video cards that are shorter in length than our ASUS GeForce4 Ti4600.

That comes from Anand's own review of nForce2 boards.... so now you know about the memory/GPU issue

 

[lizardboy]

Originally posted by: floccus

Too many motherboard makers like to place the DIMM connectors right next to the video card. Unfortunately, ABIT is one of those motherboard makers with the NF7-S. The DIMM connectors are basically impossible to unhinge unless you go through the hassle of unscrewing and then physically uninstalling your video card just to throw in a stick of memory. For those that are picky about memory and frequently like to install different types of modules, the DIMM connector's position will be an annoyance. However, this won't be an issue with video cards that are shorter in length than our ASUS GeForce4 Ti4600.

That comes from Anand's own review of nForce2 boards.... so now you know about the memory/GPU issue

i read that but i was hoping they might have fixed in with the 1.2 release

 

[mechBgon]

The Antec 835II is a nice strong (heavy) case with good vents. I use the same chassis with a different PSU at work. If there is any "gotcha" it might be that the top section of the case tends to get warmer than necessary, because there are no vents above the bottom of the PSU. But I have a solution to that right here, easy to do in five minutes with just a screwdriver, and fully reversible too

As for the IDE cables, if you route them as directly as possible then 18" should cover it for the 5.25" bays, but 24" might let you be a little more elegant.

Because your video card is a Ti4200, it's probably not going to be long enough to interfere with the memory clips. Compare a photo of the card to a photo of the motherboard, it looks to me like the card won't reach the plane of the first DIMM slot.

Dual-channel will operate with the PC2100. It doesn't usually give much performance boost on the nF2 boards that don't feature onboard video, except in specialized circumstances. Read AnandTech's findings for SPP boards and compare to what it does for the IGP performance on IGP boards further into the same article. Clearly the extra bandwidth is needed by the IGP boards and more of a small bonus on the SPP boards.

Some people are getting their Crucial PC2100 modules waaaay beyond 166MHz bus on nForce2 boards (as in, past 185MHz ), so you may get a significant overclock out of what you've got. Just remember that the SPP board is going to run happiest if the memory and CPU are running in sync Good luck, and nice buys you got there... gotta love Hot Deals

 

[jiffylube1024]

Uh, so what's wrong with the 8RDA+? I read through that thread you linked and from the second post on most people said that 8RDA+ problems have been rectified or were caused by user error.

I'm running an 8RDA+ right now, and with the 1/29 BIOS and 2.03 nForce drivers I can safely say that I've not had a single problem with it. It crashed once when I fired it up right away with the stock BIOS and drivers from the disc; after updating, perfect!

Good luck the the NF7-S, I hear it's a really good one too .

 

[lizardboy]

mechBgon - thanks for all the info, i'll have to read those thread when i have some more time

 

[lizardboy]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
Uh, so what's wrong with the 8RDA+? I read through that thread you linked and from the second post on most people said that 8RDA+ problems have been rectified or were caused by user error.

I'm running an 8RDA+ right now, and with the 1/29 BIOS and 2.03 nForce drivers I can safely say that I've not had a single problem with it. It crashed once when I fired it up right away with the stock BIOS and drivers from the disc; after updating, perfect!

Good luck the the NF7-S, I hear it's a really good one too .

i think i would have probably been happy with the 8RDA+, but it just seemed like more & more people were recommending the NF7-S, especially with the new 1.2 revision

as one person at xtremegear said, the NF7-S is "the flavor of the month"

i guess the general impression i got fro reading many, many reviews & forums was that the epox was a bit more for the serious overclocker while the NF7-S had a few more bells & whistles...i certainly wasn't trying to say the 8RDA+ is a bad board, because i don't think that, i just think NF7-S may be a bit better for what i need

 

[mschell]

The NF7-S v.1.2 has the "15" BIOS, no need to flash as it's the latest official BIOS right now. Download the latest NForce chipset drivers from Nvidia, it's newer than the one's on the disk, the file size is around 25MB.
When doing the driver install, the installer will ask if you want to use the SW Hi Performance drivers. Decline on these and check the option to use the regular NForce drivers. WXP/SP1 should install the proper USB drivers so don't install the Nvidia ones.
If you use the Serillel adapter, don't use the pigtail power adapter, use a floppy/reg power from a spare PSU lead, the pigtail has caused flakey drive operation in some systems. The SATA drivers load just like any add in device RAID Drivers.
Enjoy one of the best NForce motherboards around!