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

[kaytwo]

my receiver can do ds3d without dolby digital, if I select "dolby surround" the receiver says it is getting a pcm stream rather than a DD stream, and still outputs 4.1 channels... as i don't know what format those speakers use I can't tell you if that'll work, but that's what I know... hope it helps! As for games, I haven't gotten Return to Castle Wolfenstein nor Unreal Tournament to give me anything more than 2.1 speaker sound yet. Anybody else have some game experiences they'd like to add to the list?
k2

 

[RDP]

How does the sound quality compare to the sblive? Any thoughts? I don't use my 4 speaker setup much, and might settle right now for 2.1 sound if the quality is good (games, mostly).

 

[kaytwo]

that's a very subjective question rdp... personally the stereo placement on UT (btw, if you want some hardcore UT-ing and you're at Purdue, pm me! my server rawks!!!) isn't what I'd want it to be, but I don't really have much of a reference because the last system i played UT on had ac97 sound... so I have no idea what it's like compared to an sblive. I will say, however, that DD encoding does something to mp3s that makes them sound VERY nice through my receiver (even compared to dolby surround), it could be totally imagined but it sounds better than the digital (albeit just 2channel stereo, but digital nonetheless) out from my GTXP to the same receiver, even when I use the receiver's DSP to expand it into 4.1 channels. So, umm, I hope that helps... hehe

 

[kaytwo]

First off, I'd just like to say that I am ditching this stupid newfangled post editor thingy, as it's making all of my posts italic even though I was only going for one word. Anywho. RDP: from the creative website, I eventually found a little table that says the FPS2000 does *not* have SPDIF-In. Also, I brought up the comparison page for the DTT series vs. the FPS2000, and the "decoder" section shows a DD decoder for the DTT's but no decoder whatsoever for yours. So right now, I know you won't be able to use the Dolby Digital output. And in all likelyhood, no digital connection whatsoever... and a bit of an i-am-stupid update, the dolby-surround digital option only sends 2 channels to my receiver, it was expanding them and I didn't realize that. So, basically, I'm gonna go with "no chance," rdp, sorry.
k2

 

[AGodspeed]

Has anyone here tried out the ASUS nForce boards yet. I hear the C-Media chip is supposed to be very powerful. I'm wondering if anyone's tried to listen to that yet.

 

[AGodspeed]

Just ordered the K7N420 off of Newegg. We'll see how it all turns out.

 

[Leokor]

<< Has anyone here tried out the ASUS nForce boards yet. I hear the C-Media chip is supposed to be very powerful. I'm wondering if anyone's tried to listen to that yet. >>



The C-Media chip is only on A7N266 because that mobo is based on the nForce420 chipset without the "D" (no Dolby sound in the southbridge). However, A7N266-E uses the real thing, nForce420-D. No cheapo C-Medias there.

Leo

 

[Rogue]

Here's my "Official" question that no one can seem to answer for me yet. I bought some DDR from Corsair when it was real cheap. The chips read:

MT16VDDT3264AG-265A1 MICRON

According to the Nvidia memory compatibility chart, that memory is only approved for the nForce 220, not the 420. What in the hell does that mean and can I use it anyway or will it not function well (ie.-instability, slower system, etc.)? Please, someone help out.

 

[Bobek]

It´ll work just fine, as any other memory stick with Micron chips. The problem is just that the manufacturer (nVidia) can´t just test all of components which are available on the market.

 

[Bobek]

BTW I´ve read in a price list of one distribution company that they´re selling K7N420 with RAID onboard... I think this is actually a mistake, as the RAID controller isn´t even mentioned as an optional feature on MSI´s website and there´s also no silkscreen space on the mobo itself. Anything about that?

 

[MikeHall]

Would someone please test the Dobly Digital encoder? I've been waiting months for someone to try it out, yet no one has. I want to know what it sounds like for mp3s.

 

[Funky303]

hello.. I got a really hard problem. After month of trying to get a stable system with a KT266, SIS735 AMD761 boawrd with VIA 686B Southbridge I finally bought the MSI board. I installed eveything & was quite happy that eveything was running stable.

I have following hardware:
AMD Athlon 1400 MHz
2x 256 Double Sided DDR RAM from Samsung (with fpllowing nr. on it: M368L3313CT1-CB0)
I have read the booklet and placed one in mem slot 1 and the other one in mem slot 3

MagiColor GeForce 2 GTS Pro
SoundBlaster Live ! Value
Promise Inc. UDMA100 TX2 controller
1 Afreey DVD as Primary Master
1 Richoh 7163A CD-Burner As Sec. Slave
1 Samsung SV4002H as sec. Master

2x Samsung SV4084H both as master on the SCSI Controller

I have DISABLED onboard Sound & Modem, just using the onboard LAN

I started 3DMark2001 at 9 pm, left it running for 99 loops & came back next day after university, just to find it having a 1107 bench. that was quite unusual.

then i installed Sisoft Sandra 2001 te, let it run and here are the results:

http://www.funky303.de/cpumark2.jpg
http://www.funky303.de/memmark2.jpg
http://www.funky303.de/mumemark.jpg

I have read many reviews in the past & have seen screenshots taken with the same board & same cpu, often even weakre cpus, all of them getting damn higher scores.

Also i have read the problem about nvidias SUPERSTABILITY issue that just lets some kind of memory working, or tuning down the Memory Clock to 100 Mhz, but that shouldn't affect the CPU clock at all.

also my winXP nees about 2 mins to start, I have 3 times passing by the blue thing, than my sys needs about 1 min to get to the logon screen, then just another one to load my profile. which is not serverbased.

my system is connected to a DSL router with integrated DHCP server, so there shouldn't be any problem with finding an IP. I tried giving my system an IP, but the bootUp time was not shortened. I used Boot_Vis but that didn't help me too.

I reinstalled winXP then 2k, but same problem.

Another thing what I have seen is that the PC Alert III Monitor does show my cpu temp @ 50° C, but does NOT show any rotation of the CPU Cooler at all, niether the BIOS does.

so who can help me getting my fu*king system to work.

whish you a stable & running Merry Christmas & a happy even more stable & fast New Year ;o)

 

[Athlon4all]

Wow, that's a nice price at Buy.com. I wasn't aware that nForce boards were allready reaching that price level. See, right now I'm on a ECS KM133 and using the ProSavage video, and I wanted more ocing options, and I figured because I would be getting a KT266A (or so I though) because nForce would be way out of my price range, I would need a new vid card so i figgured I'd pick up a MX400 for about $50 or so plus a Shuttle AK31A for $85, but seeing this price makes me think maybe I should go for K7N420 Pro. It seems like that the biggest widespread issues are with the audio, and when using 4.1 and 5.1 speakers? I guess I'm wondering if I should expect trouble with my PCWorks 2.1's? One other question, how's it overclock while using the on-board video? Thanks! And I'll look forward to seeing how you do with yours AGod.

EDIT: I've done a little more researching and each reiview I've seen says that it does not have multiplier adjustment while the manual from MSI's site says that it does have multiplier adjustment. Somebody clear this up?

 

[Loba]

funky303

what does the cpu speed come up as when u boot up the machine.

also rtfm....

 

[Funky303]

it does show 1400 Mhz, i also ran CPUInfo. everything shows 1389 up to 1403 MHz.

The FSB was set to 133 CPU / 266 Mem / 66 AGP.

I'm gonna try to set it to 100 MHz to have a look at the difference or at least clock my memory down to 100/200 MHz.

hope for some help soon, I'm on my way to sell this damn athlon system & buy myself a nice P4 system. after buying & selling 3 maoinboards, changing Memory several times I already have lost much more money than I would have paid more for a P4 system. Also the new northwoods 2,2 GHz & up are arriving, so it'll gonna be just a short time until the 2 GHz P4 will drop value (sorry for my english, I'm a German)

 

[sprockkets]

Here's my experience:

No tv out card (bastards)

Other than that, everything works just fine, get around 72fps in Unreal at 1048 res and everything set to hi, no rear sound and no eax. Burner works fine on it.

I just built myself a Chaintech SIS735 system too. Why I say this is the Cmedia chip works great on it, digital in too. Matrix sounds great. I got the Audio Excel card from Directron.com for $26, with the digital card with it. Cmedia drivers and applications work great (many say the ones with the Dragon are buggy). Didn't need a bios upgrade for XP support either. Has thermal shutdown feature. Poor manual, but I'm happy.

So with this in mind, and being happy with my old Asus GF2 MX w/tv out and a cheap sound card and ethernet, why go nForce (till the uATX version comes out)? At least the Asus one has the 6 channel analog out. Also, using the aux slot for incoming sound doesn't work, only one side.

Also, going to MSI's forum getting the surround in DVDs to work is a pain, but that sound card came with WinDVD, and it supports it. Cyberlink doesn't seem to, even though it was supposed to as it came with my Aopen slot DVD drive.

Off to test Unreal with my new system.

 

[Gstanfor]

Version 2.1 of the MSI K7N420 Pro BIOS is available for download. BIOS page here.




<< K7N420 (MS-6373) V2.1 BIOS Release
-------------------------

1. This is Award BIOS release

2. This BIOS fixes the following problems of the previous version:
-Remove RTC Alarm item in BIOS setup because chipset dont support APM -Added CPU FAN detect item in BIOS setup
-Support AMD XP 2000+ CPU
-Added CPU Ratio item in BIOS setup >>



Greg

 

[sprockkets]

Funny, I got better results with the nForce system built in video than my Asus 7100 MX card. I only got 60fps while the nForce got around 75. Might be the sound card's fault but still impressed.

 

[arynn]

Funky303,

I had read somewhere that MSI was going to change the memory addressing in a new BIOS such that the highest performance would be achieved by putting the RAM in the first two slots instead of slots 1 and 3. (I forget where I read this - it may have been here: AMDWorld.uk article about the nForce.)

Also, if you can get the sound working on the motherboard it is supposed to be better than the Soundblaster Live (at least in CPU usage). I'm still not sure what the issues are with the onboard sound. Most of the complaints I have seen seem to be referring to the 4.1 and 5.1 features.

 

[gregor7777]

Here's my experience:

No tv out card (bastards)



Is there such a thing for this board? I hadn't heard this before.

 

[sprockkets]

Yeah, the first few people who reviewed the board got it. It pluggs into the AGP slot. All it has on the board is a tv out chip and the video connectors. Try finding a card like that anywhere.

 

[trikster2]

Seriously considering this board.

Got a new in the box SBLive! 5.1 so I have a backup if I get bit by the audio. (sblive! works right? no via-style problems???)

Figure if the onboard video saves me $50 to $70 buying a geforce MX I won't feel like I am gettting ripped off paying $170 or so for this board.

Fed up with reviews these days. I really don't care how many FPS I get in Q3 or whatever, what I want to know is can I play the games I want to play without feeling like the video card is slowing me down.

Can the MSI K&N420, using the onboard video play the following games in an OK (800x600) resolution with enough visual features enabled that the casual gamer will enjoy them:

Max Payne
Black and WHite
The new insanely power hungry EQ expansion (recommended 512MB memory 32MB graphics memory)
Dark Ages Of Camelot
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Anything else released in the next 3 months.

I know I could put together an ECS $60 mb with a GeForce2 ti or something and get better performance. But I'm an impatient sort of guy. I want to put it together and just have it work.

THanks!

Oh: And no one really talks about the quality of the 2D video. How is it compared to matrox/ATI?????

 

[RDP]

Kaytwo,

Thanks for your reply--I did some research and figured out the same thing (that the creative speakers don't have a real spdif input). I ended up returning the NForce, and buying instead a Gigabyte kt266a board and a Hercules GTXP. So far, so good, except for some usb problems. Got the highest 3dmark2k1 score I've ever gotten--near 6500, with a 1.2 gig t-bird and a geforce 3 ti200 o/c'd to 200/460. Good luck to all of you with the NForce.

 

[gregor7777]

Yeah, the first few people who reviewed the board got it. It pluggs into the AGP slot. All it has on the board is a tv out chip and the video connectors. Try finding a card like that anywhere

Well, WTF. I want to build a DiVX, DVD, etc. box and that is the one friggin thing that will now hold my project back. I was sure this board had a TV out for some reason. Can anyone get their hands on one of these cards?

Not having TV-out makes this purchase not worth the cost. I might as well get a $60 ECS and a ATi card for less than what the Nforce costs. Damn.

 

[Funky303]

Well well finally I GOT IT !!!! Month of swearing & staying awake many nights for installing & reinstalling & twaeking wit VIA Based boards for my little nifty athlon 1,4 I MADE IT !!!

my problem above dissapeared after I updated the bios to ver. 2.1 and MANUALLY SET the Multiplier to 10,5. If i left it at auto, CPUInfo told me that I have a 1,2 GHz

now finally I got better results in Sandra2001

CPU Bench:
Dhrystone ALU 3925 MIPS,
Whetstone FPU 1937 MFLOPS.

Multimedia Bench:
Integer MMX enh. 7634 it/s
Floating Point 3DNow ! enh. 8745 it/s

Memory Bench

:Q But one strange thing I found out. MSI has a wrong description in it's handbook with the CLEAR CMOS Jumper JBAT1. In the handbook the pins must have been wrong labeled. :confused
On my board the "Keep CMOS" jumper is closed between the 2 lower pins, in the handbook it's closed using the upper two pins. I didn't get the Computer running when i set the jumper like described in the manual.

So pay attention.

I also have found some nice addons like the SmartKey & IrDa modules. The SmartKey costs 29,- DM, thats somewhere around 12-13 $. The IrDa module is 69 DM, thats 30,5 $ incl. german VAT, but shipping is extra.

Have phun, I finally found a stable & fast board, offering everything I wanted.
But for now i'm happy.