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

[Noid]

Originally posted by: DKlein
Thanks.
Also the BIOS screen at startup says I have the CPU/RAM set at 212MHz, although in the actual BIOS it's set to 213, and in any program I use it puts my CPU at 2.55GHz (213x12). Why is this?

It's rounding off numbers.

Many of your applications will say different results. + or -
(There is flux also. You will see up and down numbers on each poll)

Trust your math.

 

[3LEMENT0]

yeah same thing on mine, it's at 211 but at boot it says it's at 210 and MBM and Sandra reports it at 211 or 212

 

[amazed53]

Originally posted by: JameyF
I'm assuming the board only comes with one adapter and 2 will be needed for setting up a RAID with conventional ATA 133 drives. Is this correct? Is RAID possible with only ATA 133 drives connected to the board through the converters? Any got a spare they won't be using?

Hi JameyF,

I just finished installing two identical Western Digital 250GB JB 8MB Cache drives in SATA Raid Stripped mode using two adapters and am disturbed that it actually performs slower than my single Seagate 120GB 8MB IDE cache drive. I don't know if there is anything else I need to do but if anyone has any tips on what might help, please let me know. I just wanted to share my experience before anyone else wasted time and money expecting a performance increase..... <sigh>

I'm running Windows XP on the NF7-S, 1GB DDR 3200..... really bummed; can anyone help!

Jim

 

[Tiamat]

My NB isnt flat. Is there a problem? I put my ZM-NB47J on and it rocked a little. It doesnt rock with the clips on tho. Also, the ZM-nb47j's base isnt large enough to fully cover the NB is this ok? It only covers the central portion.

 

[amazed53]

Originally posted by: amazed53

Originally posted by: JameyF
I'm assuming the board only comes with one adapter and 2 will be needed for setting up a RAID with conventional ATA 133 drives. Is this correct? Is RAID possible with only ATA 133 drives connected to the board through the converters? Any got a spare they won't be using?

Hi JameyF,

I just finished installing two identical Western Digital 250GB JB 8MB Cache drives in SATA Raid Stripped mode using two adapters and am disturbed that it actually performs slower than my single Seagate 120GB 8MB IDE cache drive. I don't know if there is anything else I need to do but if anyone has any tips on what might help, please let me know. I just wanted to share my experience before anyone else wasted time and money expecting a performance increase..... <sigh>

I'm running Windows XP on the NF7-S, 1GB DDR 3200..... really bummed; can anyone help!

Jim

Welp, sorry for the "quote" of myself, but just wanted to keep the thread easier to follow. I just used Hard Drive Tach and ran the test again on my RAID 0 Striped array and here they are in comparison to my Seagate 120mb 8mb cache drive:

Random Acess: Seagate 14.5 ms; RAID Array 14ms
Read Burst: 87.9 MB/s; 103.2 MB/s
Read: 60.4 MB/s; 90.6 MB/s
Minimum: 28.8 MB/s; 63.2 MB/s
Average: 46.2 MB/s; 80.0 MB/s
CPU Utilization: 24.9%; 27.9%

I noticed that on the Sequential Speed Graph that the RAID Array was very consistently level but the single seagate had a very defined drop across the length. I hope this information is useful to you guys.. I'm pretty new to this RAID stuff. Although the numbers appear to be pretty much double of the single drive, my main reason for this hardware experiment was to cut down on bootup and game level loading times but I can't really say that has improved. Haven't timed it yet, but it all seems the same. Bummer!

Jim

 

[pelikan]

Too bad you didn't get a noticeable improvement in game load times. I would have thought you would. Thanks for posting this because I consider raid 0 sometimes but only for game load times.

 

[vlsi54199]

I'm trying to setup this board with Kingston PC3200 to run at dual channel mode. How to do that?

Thanks!!

 

[Megatomic]

Put one stick in the slot closest to the CPU, put the other stick in the farthest slot. The chipset will automatically put it in DC mode.

 

[vlsi54199]

cool, thanks man. will try it tonight

 

[vlsi54199]

will this still work if I configure the FSB and multiplier by myself?

 

[vlsi54199]

worked!!! Dual channel mode now...

However, when I run CPUZ, it shows ram runs at 200MHz instead of 400. Also the FSB to DRAM ratio is 1:1 :| where did I do wrong

many thanks!!

 

[Megatomic]

200MHz is the FSB, you need to double it to get the DDR FSB. You are all set right now man.

 

[Pollock]

Does anyone know how good the RAID controller is compared to other hardware RAID controllers? I'm trying to decide if RAID on this board is worth it or not...

 

[Megatomic]

I think it's on par with other low end standalone RAID controllers. If you want high end performance you'll have to shell out the big $$$ for high end controllers.

In other words, unless you want to buy an expensive standalone controller the onboard RAID controller is good enough.

 

[xComputerManiacx]

i recently got a NF7-S rev2.0 mobo, XP 3000+ CPU, Swiftech HS w/fan, and 3x 256MB PC2700 RAM (all used). i have a Creative TNT2 Riva 32MB vid card in the AGP slot, a IBM hard drive on IDE1, and a Yamaha burner on IDE2. i am still using the PS that came with the original system (PIII 666, unknown PS manufacturer and rating) but it doesnt have an ATX12V plug for the motherboard. could the ATX12V plug not being plugged in preventing the system from booting? a red light comes on on the motherboard, so i dont think the board is dead. even though the system wont POST or power on (the fans dont even spin up), the SYSTEM PWR and HDD ACTIVITY LEDs are on on the front panel. The previous system was a Micron Millenia PC with a Tyan-built board for Micron.

 

[GullyFoyle]

The manual states using the second power supply connection is not mandatory, but I can almost guarantee the power supply from some P-III oem system is not going to be sufficient to power that rig.
If I were you, I'd look to purchase a quality power supply of at least 400 Watts.

 

[PUNKtotalled]

xComputerManiacx


Maybe the PSU can't give anough juice to that baby.
Are you sure of the way you connected buttons and LEDs on the mainboard? Check it twice, and then try with another PSU.

 

[xComputerManiacx]

i am beginning to think the OEM PS isnt enough either. after plugging the power plug into the case, it takes a few seconds for the red led near the CMOS battery to start blinking. it takes another few seconds before it stays on. i'll be attempting to remove the OEM PS soon to check its rating and stuff. if i had the money and space, i would have built another PC from scratching instead of reusing some of these OEM junk.

as for the connections for the HDD lights and all that, the OEM case has a single 17-pin plug for all that (2x9). from the OEM motherboard, the pin assignments for that plug looks like
1-3: HDD LED Header
2-4: PWR LED
5-7: RESET SW
6-8: POWER SW
9-15: IR

from page 56 of the user's manual (pdf version. i dont have the book), the PFIO1 pin assignments are
1-3: HDD LED Header
2-4: Suspend LED Header
5-7: Hardware Reset Switch Header
6-8: Power On Switch Header
15-17-19-21: Speaker Header
16-18-20: Power On LED Header

so yeah, the pins dont line up very well. stupid OEM junk. looks like i'll have to make some adapters with some spare plugs and wires...

 

[xComputerManiacx]

good call on the PS. turns out the power supply was rated at 250 W and was from Tiger Power.

this system 'upgrade' is turning into more of a 'build a new PC'. looks like i'll be spending even more than i originally planned...

 

[PUNKtotalled]

A good PSU improves overall stability of your rig.

 

[Fern]

I can confirm that the mobo (with barton 2500) will fine w/o the second atx plug. I ran mine that way for a while b4 upgrading the psu. It was a decent 400 watt psu (turbolink).

My old Micron Millenia for a PII has a I00 watt psu (I can make out enough info on the sticker to confirm that w/o removing the psu). I'd be surprised if ur's in the P3 model was much more than 200 watts.

Pretty sure you need a bigger/better psu. Might be worthwhile to pick up a case/psu combo on sale. Just make sure it's not a crappy no-name psu like powmax etc.

 

[Slickone]

I'm building a new PC for me, and one for my parents and think I'm gonna go w/ the NF7 w/ mobile Bartons. I'm trying to decide on the NF7 or NF7-S. I believe it's been said that to make use of the Soundstorm, you have to have digital speakers connected, otherwise it routes the signal through the AC97 codec. This isn't a big deal, since I have an Audigy 2 I can use, and a Santa Cruz for my parents. Even without digital speakers, you would still get 4 channel sound with the onboard sound wouldn't you?

Is the "OEM, BAREBONE" NF7 for $45 used? And comes with nothing but the mobo, correct?

Looking for some recommendations for memory too.
For a heatsink/fan (w/ mobile 2400+), I already have an Alpha 8045 and one of the Thermalright 9xx series (can't remember!) I can use.

 

[Noid]

Originally posted by: Slickone
I believe it's been said that to make use of the Soundstorm, you have to have digital speakers connected, otherwise it routes the signal through the AC97 codec. .

That is incorrect.
If you want, you can run the optical out to any digital device.
(I send mine to my digital reciever on my home theater)

The optical out is always ON.
(unless you select headphones for output)

 

[oldman420]

shortly after purchase the northbridge cooler fan on my nf7-s failed. i ran it that way for about a week and then took it back to pc club, we pulled off the northbridge hsf and i was amazed to find only a small amount of thermal paste in the center of the chip there was no paste on the outer edges at all. there was also some sort of residue on the chip that was clear the hsf was pittfully light and apeared to be plastic.
i was shocked and disapointed. i am going to mount a real hsf on there as soon as i can get one. any recomendations?

 

[pelikan]

My fan failed too. I bought a used 50mm K6 heatsink for it. I drilled and tapped 4-40 holes for screws to mount it. I have a 50mm fan on there running at 5V. Its silent and only cost me $5. shipped from the FS/T forum.
If you want something easy are willing to spend more there are some great new northbridge heatsinks from thermalright and others. Even a cheap orb cooler would work fine. Or you could use a Zalman fanless heatsink.