nForce2 and 400MHz FSB???

[StevenG]

From Anand's Comdex Day 2 coverage:

"Today AMD announced the name of their ClawHammer processor - Athlon XP 64. At the same keynote they had nForce2 motherboards running with a 400MHz FSB. We just received confirmation (although AMD won't announce it until much later) that Barton will be shipping with a 400MHz FSB and the performance boost from the new FSB is pretty healthy. On current processors the use of a 400MHz FSB will improve performance anywhere from 0 - 15% on the nForce2 platform, obviously depending on the benchmark. "

Does this mean all nForce2 motherboards are capable of 400 MHz FSB (with proper PCI divider)? Maybe with just a BIOS update? I just bought an Asus A7N8X, if this is true, then that is great news!

 

[WerewolfX]

Yes all Nforce 2 board should be able to do 400ddr fsb. Some may require a bios update. I just hope that the rumors of a new Nforce stepping are true. The new steppping it supposed to go upto 500ddr.

 

[mechBgon]

Sounds like DDR400 is the right memory to buy if getting an nForce2 or KT400A board! *drool...*

 

[teqwiz]

Bought my KT-400 for this very reason. I hope this turns out ton be the case for my Soyo board. (crosses fingers)

 

[NicColt]

>Bought my KT-400 for this very reason. I hope this turns out ton be the case for my Soyo board. (crosses fingers)

I doubt this very much since KT400 doesn't even officially support DDR400 and it's not a matter of a bios either since the chipset doesn't do DDR400 (officially). Thing is that I just can't see via releasing a ddr400 bios when the chipset can't handle it. That's why they're doing the KT400A wich will support it.

Again VIA should have named this the KT333 not KT400 which is misleading.

 

[dartworth]

Will the current KT-400 boards be able to be flashed to KT-400a or is this a whole new chipset?

Hmm...

Thanks

 

[ManBOO YA]

kt 400a is a whole new chipset.

 

[teqwiz]

This board will eventually end up as my server board I'm sure as it is way too limited for future upgrading. I know that SOYO has released a bios kvx42aa4.bin whitch is suppose to support 2800+, but like you say, still limited as far as ram is concerned. Apparently there are fresh DDRx2 boards in the works which will be my next project.

 

[ThumpR777]

Any idea if the Nforce 2 is sensitive to certain brands of RAM like some of the KT400's are? What brand of RAM did they use at 400MHZ? Anyone, Anyone?

 

[mxocr]

my a7v8x and xp2200 has no problems at 200x10=2g 400bus 400ddr

 

[CyNics]

Epox representive (aoaforums) said that their nforce2 board only has agp locking feature..but not PCI bus. He said because of the chipset/board limitations and only p4 boards have this PCI/AGP (both) locking feature. So how are you going to run it at 200FSB if you can't lock your PCI at 33?? I know you still can run it at 200 even though you can't lock it, but your PCI bus will be running at 40 (overclocked). AMD said 200mhz(FSB), they were talking about the default clock(200/66/33), not overclocked(200/66/40). and I don't think OEMs want to sell oveclocked system. So...was this epox representive lying ?? or nforce2 has 1/6 divider (but I thought nforce2 doesn't use divider, they use a seperate clock generator??)??

 

[MatthewF01]

well yea i thought the clockgen was separate, so if the AGP is locked, then i believe the PCI timing comes from the same clock, and therefore would be locked as well [supposing they are indeed linked].

But however, if we have to run Nforce2 at 200Mhz to run Barton, doesnt this eliminate all chances of overclocking? The nforce2 board only goes up to 200mhz in BIOS!

Is it possible to add higher frequency adjustments with a BIOS update, or does the PLL max out at 200?

 

[AbRASiON]

Originally posted by: WerewolfX
Yes all Nforce 2 board should be able to do 400ddr fsb. Some may require a bios update. I just hope that the rumors of a new Nforce stepping are true. The new steppping it supposed to go upto 500ddr.

I've never heard this, what rumour is this and where from?
Sigh - rumours like that are what always slow me down from upgrading.

 

[AbRASiON]

Originally posted by: mxocr
my a7v8x and xp2200 has no problems at 200x10=2g 400bus 400ddr

That sounds liek a great setup - how did you unlock the 2200+ ?
.........
What kind of ram did you end up using?