The "Official" MSI K7N420 Thread (nForce 420 chipset)

[AGodspeed]

This will be the first of a series of "official" nForce threads. Post any problems, fixes, questions, etc. here.

Hopefully I'll be fooling around with this board in the next few days/weeks.

Enjoy!

EDIT*1-12-02 Update*:

1. PRESS RELEASE: NVIDIA Extends nForce Product Family with New nForce 415-D Platform Architecture

- Anandtech 415-D Thread

2. nForce Unified Driver Architecture

EDIT#2: 1-24-02

nVidia nForce 415-D Motherboards To Be as Low As $80-$90 U.S.

 

[kaytwo]

heh, I tried this, didn't seem to work that well... but if ya can't beat 'em...
I haven't had too terribly many problems as of yet, the msi boards seem like they'll actually be quite helpful, there's about a half dozen people w/the k7n420 there talking and such... one thing I'd like to "wonder about" and see what everyone else is thinking is the audio drivers. The ones that come on the CD seem to be a bit more "working" than the newer ones, when I go to adjust the individual volume of my speakers, I get only left when selecting any of the speaker configurations, and "center" when I select "no speakers"... however with the old one I'd get both left and right on all speaker configs, and "center" and something else (I forget) along with center with "no speakers". Return to Castle Wolfenstein doesn't seem to want to use more than 2 sound channels in DD mode, however Ziff-Davis's audio winbench DOES output quadraphonic sound... the 3-d is a bit shoddy as there's never really a mix between channels on the helicopter demo, but that could be because i'm running it through my hometheater setup, where the surround speakers are rather far from the front... could just be listener bias. Anyhow, if anyone else has a description of their experiences with the audio drivers, I'd love to hear them. Besides that, everything's just peachy. That heatsink on the northbridge does get hella hot though while playing wolfenstein, I'd really love to be able to mount a fan on that thing.. anyone have any ideas?
k2

 

[AGodspeed]

Opps, sorry, didn't see your other "official" nForce thread K2. But anyway, is there really only one person in this entire Motherboard forum that has an MSI K7N420 board. It's not that bad.

one thing I'd like to "wonder about" and see what everyone else is thinking is the audio drivers.

Nvidia says they'll release drivers to support EAX and any other audio features they're missing before the end of the year. Let's hope.

 

[Raspewtin]

i wish i could figure out how to hook up 4 analog speakers to this thing. it's a real pain.

 

[cyberized]

I see, right now, BUY.com, has the MSI NForce Board for $168 with FREE Shipping! I am tempted, going to buy one, BUT am trying to hold off until they get "tested" out and BIOS upgraded etc. AND price drops too.
Don't know IF I can wait though - have spent -this past year researching and buying one piece at a time - This MOBO is last piece to my new 'puter - just got a Athon XP 1600 from UBid for me "brains". Going to be COOL!

BTW - - - ? about the 56K Modem on board the MSI NForce Mobo, is it any good, does anyone know IF it will do the job as good as any other??? Cannot afford BroadBand - must stick with 56K! I presently disconnected my internal PCI 56K modem, and bought a Compaq External, quite awhile back, and it really improved my Internet experience.

Merry CHRISTmas! to ALL and to ALL a Good Night!

 

[kaytwo]

audio: have you tried the conenct-aux-in-to-an-output 4 channel strategy? I don't have an analog setup (sending DD to external receiver), but that's the general idea I get from the MSI forum, although I don't remember seeing any definite success story. As to the modem, you've gotta go out and buy a CNR card, I believe, in order to interface an rj11 jack with the onboard modem. and I have absolutely, positively no idea how this works, or what the quality of the experience is .
keep the posts coming, let's make this an honest-to-goodness AT-style support thread! hehe...
k2

 

[Raspewtin]

yes people say the aux line in becomes the 2nd set of speakers, but I have had no luck with that personally. the msi nforce forum is worthless. and even those who managed to get 4 speaker to work cannot mirror stereo sources to the rear, making 4 speaker support weak at best. the board is not bad, but I will probably get something else next year or so. on my main gripes is that it has a non standard power led connector which does not work on my case, and the other 4 of the usb connectors have faulty support.

also anyone have a clue where one can buy the CNR for expanded audio support on this board?

 

[MarkM]

re the k7n420 at buy.com, as I'm sure you know it's been listed as "backordered" for ... well, forever (ie since it was first posted there). anyone yet receive a board from buy.com? anyone know the status of their invntory over there? I've contacted buy.com but have not received a response ...

 

[RDP]

I received my Buy.com NForce a few days ago. Bought it about three or four weeks ago.

According to MSI, mulit-speaker analog is accomplished in two ways--

You can attach a cable to the jaudio2 port on the motherboard that routs two channels to a front audio port on a case with such a port; or

You can buy a CNR card from Mediatek. However, no one seems to know where such a card can be bought.

That's it. The other rumors were incorrect, and related to other MSI mobos.

IE, right now there is almost no reasonable way to get multi-speaker sound without using the spdif output.

 

[cyberized]

RDP - Merry CHRISTmas!
I did some searching for you/us: Went to Google.com, typed in "cnr boards" and WALA: immediately hit some good links and one in particular was EXCELLENT, it's the one you'll see called "MyeLabs.com" - Good article and Links there: YOU will find link to Mediatek, Wellmodem (has what you are looking for I think: FM-56CNR; Archtek also shows they produce CNRs.

Good Luck and Keep US updated!

PS - Looks like when you find something at those sites - you'll have to EMail them as to HOW you can get one.

 

[RDP]

I e-mailed Mediatek in Taiwan. We'll see if they respond.

As I have a Cambridge Soundworks speaker system with an spdif input, I may just try the board anyway. But only if Nvidia gets the EAX drivers working by the end of the year!


RDP

 

[BD231]

Why would anyone want an N-Force....

 

[RDP]

Because it's equal to the fastest Athlon chipset, if not faster, it has the promise of Audigy-level sound, and even if you don't use the video, it makes a great backup video if your card ever falters.

Any KT266A board plus an Audigy or Santa Cruz is about the same price as the MSI Nforce, and that's without figuring in the video, built in Ethernet, etc.

 

[MarkM]

Why would anyone want an N-Force....

Dunno. Why would anyone be so obvious in trolling for flames?

 

[AGodspeed]

Why would anyone want an N-Force....

In short...

1. As fast as KT266A
2. More features (including GeF2MX, ethernet/LAN, upper-level 5.1 integrated sound, high-end chip-to-chip I/O HT, etc.)
3. Will probably be more stable.

Any questions?

 

[cyberized]

Boy is it HARD to try to find out WHAT you are buying when you purchase the RETAIL MSI NForce Board. MSI won't tell you at their site (odd); the retailers don't seem to list what is included; and reviewers are a "mixed bag" on contents. One review I read this AM - the reviewer said, something like, " as usual MSI includes alot in the retail box" BUT I woud sure like to know just what "alot" is?
One place I read that they do not include a ATA 100 IDE Connector - this is nice to know, if true, then you can buy one before you sit down to put everything together. BUT I think I read somewhere else that this is included. ????? What CDROM's - any "bonus" Programs etc.????
ASUS lists their "package" and IT is NICE - but not $20-30 more nice.

Can anybody here tell us WHAT is in the retail BOX? (I asked at MSI Forum - and apparently it's a SECRET)

Merry CHRISTmas!

 

[TitleistProV1]

cyberized,

Got my MSI yesterday.

In the box are:

1. CD w/system monitor software and anti-virus program and drivers
2. HD Ribbon and Floppy cable, I assume HD cable is ATA-66
3. USB ports with a set of lights to determine status of board (name of system excapes me now),
4. A second set of USB ports (if I remember correctly)
5. Manual
6. That wierd TV out connector MSI is putting out with the system (see a review for more information)
7. the MB
8. Some wierd looking calander
9. System Sticker

Sorry, I am away from my board, so I can't list all exactly, but that is what you get. I can't wait to put it through its paces.

Sincerely,

John

 

[RDP]

I think the thing you think is a tv out connector is actually the SPDIF connector. I'm pretty sure the AGP connector is optional. Mine didn't come with one, anyway, and your description leaves out the SPDIF.

 

[cyberized]

THANKS - Titleist!

 

[TitleistProV1]

RDP,

You are correct.

John

 

[fiftysix]

Anyone know what's the maximum ram available to be alocated in the bios for the onboard video?

 

[cyberized]

32MB !

 

[Davegod75]

built one last night for my girlfriend. Seems to be running well.

 

[kaytwo]

SOUND UPDATE
Okay, this isn't going to be an analog-four-channel-run-around update, however I was doing some testing earlier tonight and found out that the DD encoding is NOT 100% "real time"... I just played the DD through my receiver and regular stereo through my headphones, and the two streams weren't perfectly in sync like they are when both outputs are on stereo. It was HARDLY noticable and something that I wouldn't think most people would pick up on (I didn't see any problem until I compared the two at the same time), but I guess it's possible that highly-trained quake/cs players and the like would be hampered by something like this IF they use DD encoding (although we all know that true fps gamers use headphones ). Just wanted to put that out there for anyone looking to buy this board. Oh yeah, and if you don't frequent the msi forums, there's a cool winamp plugin (That I somehow got to finally work) that expands stereo streams via ds3d calls into four-speaker audio--linky--that might hold you over until the next driver update if you're just begging for >2.1 channel audio. It worked for me :-D
k2

 

[RDP]

K2 (or anyone),

Do you know if the SPDIF will work with a digital 4.1 speaker setup (not dolby digital) for non-EAX games? Right now, that's all I really care about, and I've been waiting to install my MOBO until someone can confirm this. I have the Cambridge Soundworks FPS 2000 speaker system.