Poll: Which is the most stable nForce 2 board so far?

[Ilmater]

I'm looking for a motherboard, and I'm tired of the issues I'm having with my current one. Which is the most stable/problem-free nForce 2 motherboard, currently? Also, while I personally will not be using the onboard sound and only one of the two onboard LAN adapters (for those with two), I'm concerned with only stability. Nothing else.

Also, if anyone has any specific experience with installing SCSI adapters in any of these boards, I'd like to know how your experiences are going.

 

[Gretzky]

I think there was a review here at anandtech and Epox 8RDA+ got the gold and the ASUS got the silver. But many people said that the Asus A7N8X Deluxe should of bin the gold winner.

Just went with the crowd on this one.

 

[BlueWeasel]

My vote's for the Epox 8RDA board. I got an Epox as part of building my first AMD system and it has been nothing short of perfect for what I wanted....

 

[chizow]

This is going to be a pretty biased poll, its gonna be neck and neck between the A7N8X (DLX) and the 8RDA (+). Also, its going to be hard for people to subjectively vote for a board they've never used.

Having said that, I think you should go with the 8RDA+ (I have the A7N8X-DLX). The Epox BIOS releases to date are much more frequent and much more stable. Asus' shipping BIOS is terrible, and there's only 2 decent ones of the 7 or so I've tried (and they're still limited compared to the Epox). Feature-wise, the 8RDA+ fits your needs, but also provides extra goodies like firewire for almost no add'l cost. One of the few boards nowadays that has 6 PCI slots. It also has a good sound solution, which may be a consideration once you grow out of it (saves you a soundcard later). Low price on it is an excellent $108 from TCWO.

Chiz

Edit: my opinion is more based on OCing and BIOS options, but regardless, feature/price considerations still favor the 8RDA+ as the A7N8X-DLX is overkill and $40 more.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Listen to Chizow....like alot of individuals around here, he knows exactly what he is talking about...

 

[mrman3k]

I have built a few systems for people using the A7N8X mobo, and all of them have been rock solid so far.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
Listen to Chizow....like alot of individuals around here, he knows exactly what he is talking about...

I completely understand this, but this is the easiest way to find out the widest range of opinions about these boards. Plus, others can stop asking if they come here first

 

[Darien]

I have an a7n8x deluxe. No problems.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: Ilmater

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
Listen to Chizow....like alot of individuals around here, he knows exactly what he is talking about...

I completely understand this, but this is the easiest way to find out the widest range of opinions about these boards. Plus, others can stop asking if they come here first

No problem at all...just glad to help you out. Unfortunately, this question will probably pop up again in a few days because of those that have no idea there is a Search function for these boards....

 

[mechBgon]

I think if you're looking at the stability question, then you can't just ask which motherboard is most stable, because a computer is a system of components, not just a motherboard, and that brings a lot of extra variables into the mix: drivers, power supplies, RAM, BIOS settings, BIOS revisions, cooling, operating system, usage, etc.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
I think if you're looking at the stability question, then you can't just ask which motherboard is most stable, because a computer is a system of components, not just a motherboard, and that brings a lot of extra variables into the mix: drivers, power supplies, RAM, BIOS settings, BIOS revisions, cooling, operating system, usage, etc.

True enough. I guess I should mention that I'm planning on putting a SCSI card in this board in this. I'll add that to my initial post. Otherwise, the motherboard is still a factor in the equation of stability, so I think that it's still a valid question.

 

[LED]

I have yet to read a review or installed 1 Nforce Mobo @ default settings that is not stable.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Ilmater

Originally posted by: mechBgon
I think if you're looking at the stability question, then you can't just ask which motherboard is most stable, because a computer is a system of components, not just a motherboard, and that brings a lot of extra variables into the mix: drivers, power supplies, RAM, BIOS settings, BIOS revisions, cooling, operating system, usage, etc.

True enough. I guess I should mention that I'm planning on putting a SCSI card in this board in this. I'll add that to my initial post. Otherwise, the motherboard is still a factor in the equation of stability, so I think that it's still a valid question.

You don't even need nForce2 per se, although it is sensible. Here's my office rig, SCSI and all, on nForce classic:
rig The SCSI goes ballistic on it compared to my fancier KT333-based board which theoretically should be faster. Peak throughput from the U160 card to the PCI bus is over 120Mb/sec on nForce, versus 72Mb/sec on KT333 (or 49Mb/sec on KT333 if I enabled the onboard PCI-based USB 2.0 controller). I'd expect nForce2 to do at least as well.

For the record, this system is my daily-driver workstation, and also does some file serving (it hosts the Office2000Pro administrative installation points, drivers, Windows and IE patches, antivirus installation files, etc) and hosts a shared HP 7400C scanner. It runs 24/7 for those reasons, and is as stable as heck. I should make my employers buy it off of me

 

[Insane3D]

chizow is right. People are just going to vote for the board they have most of the time, regardless of if they have even used another NF2 board. I think in this day and age, it's pretty hard to find a "unstable" mobo.

You will likely have the Asus come in first, since most people have that, and the Epox come in second, with assorted votes for the others.

 

[Slogun]

I have no knowledge or opinion on nforce boards, but had to cast a "vote" in order to see the results.
I didn't see any other option.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
chizow is right. People are just going to vote for the board they have most of the time, regardless of if they have even used another NF2 board. I think in this day and age, it's pretty hard to find a "unstable" mobo.

You will likely have the Asus come in first, since most people have that, and the Epox come in second, with assorted votes for the others.

Hehehe, that's what I did! At first I wasn't going to vote, since I only have experience with 2 K7N2-L mobos. Both have been rock solid.

Most NForce 2 "issues" that I've heard so far have been with Asus A7N8X's, probably mostly due to it's popularity, but also likely due to their particular Driver needs.

 

[Bovinicus]

The highest AMD 3DMark score is held by someone who is running an EPoX 8RDA+ at 221MHz FSB. It takes some serious stability to be able to overclock that far.

 

[Jerry944T]

One data point here. Ordered the Epox board first and cpuld not get it to POST consistantly. Kept re booting until it warmed up. (Antec 330 PS). Returned it and got the Asus (non Delux) and have had no further probs.
Probably can't go wrong on either.
Jerry

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: Slogun
I have no knowledge or opinion on nforce boards, but had to cast a "vote" in order to see the results.
I didn't see any other option.

Sorry about that. I actually had the same problem, but it's fixed now.

 

[Ilmater]

Has ANYONE used any of these with a SCSI card?

 

[mechBgon]

The MCP-T southbridge on the deluxified nForce2's is the same one as on my A7N266-VM, which I do use with SCSI (with excellent results, as I mentioned above). Is that a help or should I buy one and test it out?

(please please say I should buy one )

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
The MCP-T southbridge on the deluxified nForce2's is the same one as on my A7N266-VM, which I do use with SCSI (with excellent results, as I mentioned above). Is that a help or should I buy one and test it out?

(please please say I should buy one )

I'm going to have to demand that you buy one and test it out

The reason I ask is, I read some review (was it here at AT?) that said that one of the things they didn't like about this board was the fact that it didn't have some feature that would have helped in installing SCSI cards. I believe that it was turning off the IDE ports, but I'm not sure. Does anyone know if this has been fixed through BIOS updates or if it isn't as much of an issue as they made it out to be?

 

[mechBgon]

A little devil told me mwave.com might have more 8RDA+ in stock today. Hmmm.....

If there's an issue with nForce and SCSI, that's news to me. I haven't tried combining IDE and SCSI in my pet system, however. The closest thing I can recall was a disk-performance issue with write speeds on some of the initial nForce boards when nForce had first come out, rectified by BIOS updates with the exception of Microstar, whom I'm not sure ever got it handled. Might want to check at nforcershq for that if you're curious.

 

[Ilmater]

That's good to hear on both accounts. To those who've bought an 8RDA or 8RDA+, how annoying is that horribly placed ATX connector?

 

[Dulanic]

After 2 Epox MBs slowly died over time on me (My current one is dying) Im gonna have to go Asus.... just got one and instaled it, very happy.