*** Official ABIT NF7/S (nForce2) Thread ***

[Z80]

Originally posted by: Noid
I posted the new BIOS's on the 11th ... Is the re-posting from a lack of reading the posts or keeping in touch with the thread ??? I guess some need to re-post for re-posting sake. (gotta get that platinum status)

Abit pulled the BIOS upgrade from their site over the weekend. It was back on this morning. If you downloaded on the 11th you might want to download and reapply the upgrade. IMHO

 

[shiner]

Originally posted by: Noid
I posted the new BIOS's on the 11th ... Is the re-posting from a lack of reading the posts or keeping in touch with the thread ???

I guess some need to re-post for re-posting sake.

(gotta get that platinum status)

Meeeeeoooooooow!

 

[Noid]

I didnt need it... doesn't fix or enhance anything in my case.

Thx for the info thou

 

[Z80]

The new BIOS fixed my cold boot alarm problem. Thanks Abit! I'm also back to 400Mhz dual channel with my 2 x 256MB Crucial PC3200 DDR. Thanks again Abit! I'm a happy camper.

 

[Corporate Thug]

quick question, does this board have AGP lock? i dont see it in the BIOS

 

[mosco]

i think it is always locked, which is why you can't see it in the bios, there is nothing to adust.

 

[beatle]

They say they "calibrated" the cpu temperature again. Is this higher or lower than before?

 

[4x4expy]

It is higher than before! I used to be at 42-43c under load. Now it's 49c under load. Oh well, my CPU is not physically warmer it is just the method of reading the temp, so I'll just ignore it. I have never had a high temp issue with this CPU/mobo.

 

[spikemike]

which memory to buy, i was thinking of just buying 2x256mb crucial pc3200 since its pretty cheap to go with this board, but i noticed it was cl3 is that a problem, is it really much of a speed difference?

 

[Shimmishim]

i believe 2 and 2.5 are pretty close...

2.5 and 3... i don't remember...

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: mosco
i think it is always locked, which is why you can't see it in the bios, there is nothing to adust.

agp is adjustable from auto to some low value up to 99 mhz i believe....

 

[Z80]

Originally posted by: spikemike
which memory to buy, i was thinking of just buying 2x256mb crucial pc3200 since its pretty cheap to go with this board, but i noticed it was cl3 is that a problem, is it really much of a speed difference?

I doubt that you will notice the difference. Read the article linked in one of the previous posts (not too far back) that reviews different memory modules - Crucial pc3200 is capable of running at more aggressive settings and overclocks quite well. They compared it to several higher priced modules and it kicked ass in the benchmarks.

 

[beatle]

Has Abit pulled the file again? I can't reach it.

 

[beatle]

I got it.

My temps are back up too. Around 51C @ idle from 41C. No worries. I just hope this is close to the "real thing."

 

[spikemike]

i had a question about using the serial ATA converter that comes with nf7-s. Is it going to hurt performance of the drive at all to use it. I thought it might be a good idea to put one of my two hard drives on serial ata that way they don't share the same ide channel and then I can also put my cdrom drives on seperate channels as well. question is, should i put my boot drive on serial ata or my secondary hd?

 

[shiner]

Originally posted by: spikemike
i had a question about using the serial ATA converter that comes with nf7-s. Is it going to hurt performance of the drive at all to use it. I thought it might be a good idea to put one of my two hard drives on serial ata that way they don't share the same ide channel and then I can also put my cdrom drives on seperate channels as well. question is, should i put my boot drive on serial ata or my secondary hd?

I can't remember which site I read it on, but they said using the converter would cause a performance hit but that it would be negligible and not noticeable by most people.

 

[pelikan]

Vcore on my board (rev. 2) does not undervolt. Contrary to MBM5 readings, it actually overvolts by .28V.
I bought a good digital multimeter today and did some testing. The DMM I got is accurate to .5%. I tested vcore off three mosfets closest to the cpu, on the single flat leg facing the copper coils. The rails were tested off a molex while running Prime95. My psu is a Fortron FSP-350BN. Here are the results:

Vcore:
bios setting= 1.9V
mbm5= 1.79-1.86
DMM= 1.928 solid, no fluctuation.

12V rail:
mbm5= 11.37-11.43
DMM= 11.73 solid, no fluctuation.

5V rail:
mbm5= 5.03-5.05
DMM= 5.19 solid, no fluctuation.

Chipset VDD:
bios setting= 1.7
DMM= 1.72

Here's a link that shows testing points.

It is interesting that I got different results from another guy who tested his NF7-S rev. 2. His vcore didn't overvolt at all, but was dead-on.

 

[KimPhilby]

I gotta simple question (I feel sure) for you guys, concerning connecting one of the USB headers to my Lian Li. One of the Lian Li cables says "Shield". I guess this is equivalent to Ground as per the ABit manual (I already have two cables that say Ground 1 & 2). If I was going to bet I'd say it went onto pin 10, but can anyone confirm this? Or does it matter which ground it goes on?

Cheers
:beer:

 

[pelikan]

I did some testing with CPU Interface enabled vs. disabled. Although many people have found significantly worse performance with CPU Interface disabled, that was not the case for me. Also, many people have been able to reach a much higher FSB with CPU Interface disabled, but not in my case. I am guessing that the results depend on the memory.
With CPU Interface disabled I get about the same results in memory benchmarks (Aida32 and Sandra), one FPS less in UT2003 botmatch, and 100 less in 3DMark01.

 

[Mustanggt]

I am going to order this board to use the Sata Raid Does the NF7s use a good chip for sata that give better performance than IDE???

 

[KimPhilby]

I've read that the performance hike is nothing to write home about, but then isn't SATA more a future-proofing thing at present?

Now for a different question. Is there a guide anywhere to BIOS settings for the board, outside the CPU/RAM/voltage?

 

[pelikan]

This guide is widely considered one of the best.

 

[KimPhilby]

Soz but that's a bit basic (and a little out of date). I was wondering if there was an NF7 (or possibly an Nforce 2) specific FAQ?

 

[Booyah]

Anyone use Geil PC3200 cas2 Ultra with this board?

 

[spikemike]

since i installed this motherboard my system time has become horribly innacurate, I left it on last night and woke up this morning and the time was about 20 minutes off. And after 5 hours since i reset it, it is now over 9 minutes off. Anyway to fix this?