AMD & nf7-s advice

[4x4expy]

I am planning my own walk on the darkside. I just got my 1700+ (0319 DLT3C) from SVC. I don't have a motherboard yet and need some advice. I am leaning toward the NF7-s, but at excaliberpc.com there is a red letter paragraph:

Important Note:
By putting this item into your shopping cart, you have confirmed your acknowledgement on the potential risk of BIOS 'Data Loss' due to BIOS tweaking, or BIOS code string missing due to improper flashing as of the limitation of nForce2 chipset. As such, it is highly advisable for you to purchase this item along with our nForce2 (Deluxe) BIOS Survival Kit as a handy backup. However, you are making your own choice. In case you decide not to purchase our nForce2 (Deluxe) BIOS Survival Kit now and you do run into trouble later on. We would only accept to offer the options of either

You purchase our nForce2 (Deluxe) BIOS Survival Kit at full price to solve your problem

Apply RMA with us to get it fixed within 30 days, or contact ABIT-USA after that directly for service

Return for credit within 30 Days after it is shipped by deducting 15% restocking fee


WTF are they talking about?! I thought that the nForce2 chipsets were supposed to be great! Will I likely run into problems trying to push this mobo to 200 or more fsb? Or should I look at a different board. The Epox 8rda+ seems like a bargain at less than $90 some places, and I see guys are getting great results from it still but it seems a little short on features. I have ruled out buying an A7n8x simply because I already have a SLK-900 HS ready to use in the setup and don't want to chance snapping off a capacitor.

Also, I was going to pick up some of the Twinmos ch-5 memory. Would I be better off getting a 512mb stick or a pair of 256mb sticks and go dual channel with it? I am leaning toward the single channel setup. This stuff is supposed to oc well enough to handle that FSB at relaxed timings right?

Thanks

 

[Audiofight]

If you are planning on pushing the cpu to its limits, than dual channel isn't for you. Unless you are getting something like the Corsair TwinX memory that is tested in pairs, the memory you buy may have enough of a variance to hold you back.

Kinda like overclocking a dual P3 board. Each chip may run at 150 fsb individually, but together may only reach 145. Happened to me.....

I would put a single 512MB stick in for now. If you are determined to do the dual channel route, make sure to buy both sticks at the same time, in hopes of getting both from the same manufacturing batch. If you buy one and the other 2 weeks later, the sticks may be slightly different in spec. Both perfectly fine at stock settings, but not behaving in DC mode when exceeding their rated specs.

Good luck.

 

[4x4expy]

No ideas on the BIOS issue?

 

[Corporate Thug]

i bought my NF7-s from excaliber, there is nothing wrong with the BIOS, you dont need the kit

 

[Swanny]

I've flashed by NF7-S BIOS twice since I got it and never run into any problems. I don't know what they're talking about.

 

[beatle]

The bios problem was more prevalent in the earlier revisions, it seems. Check out nforcershq.com for more talk about the bios problem. I've had my NF7-S v2.0 for 2 months now, going through 3 bioses, and plenty of tweaking. No problems here.

 

[4x4expy]

Thanks all. I knew I have read lots in the forum on nForce chipset boards and never recall people having such problems. Though AMD cpu/mobo use is new to me and didn't want to buy a board just to find out there are other extras I need just to get the function I want out of it. The NF7-S at excaliberpc is a v2.0. I will probably order it tonight.

 

[Shimmishim]

it's strange that people talk about this bios corruption business...

i bought an extra bios just in case but since the end of march i have not had a bios corruption... (i bought it at the end of march)...

people say it can occur when you make a large jump in the fsb... well.. i've gone from 100 to 200 mhz w/o corrupting it... maybe i'm just lucky .shrug.

 

[tchybrid]

in the new revision of the NF7-S v2.0, theres no more BIOs Corruptions as ABIT fixed this problem with it's own built in bios protection.

if you are going to get the NF7-S, make sure it's the v2.0 as it will ensure a stable setup.

just my 2 cents

 

[Heinrich]

There is scattered talk about BIOS corruption on Nforce-2 on amdmb.com but I could never nail down what exactly they were talking about. I did see several folks saying that with the most current BIOS release it's not an issue. I bought an NF7-S from excaliberpc and flashed the BIOS 2x with no problems. However, the serillel that came in the box was defective and Abit gave me a major runaround. I had to call Taiwan (!) to have it fixed. The Cliff Notes version: They approved my RMA which clearly stated that I had the MB itself up and running fine and only wanted to return the little serillel. They got the serillel and said "we have to have everything we're sending the serillel back to you." I exchanged numerous eMails with several individuals, started a thread on Abit-USA and ended up calling Taiwan. I spent about 3 hours total on the problem. It's a part that costs them $3 to manufacture probably. I have a new part sitting at home. You would not believe the complete lack of common sense and ability to read. It was dumbfounding. I've got a really bad taste in my mouth about Abit. The Excaliberpc page refers me directly to Abit for RMAs.

Conversely, I had an "almost a year old" Epox 8K3A+ go dead on me, and mailed everything back to Newegg. It was almost a year old and they just credited my CC for $90, which is $18 "depreciation." I can't believe how easy it was. I am going to increase my Newegg business from 50% to as close to 95% as possible even if their prices are a bit higher as they can be sometimes. This contrasting experience has really left an impression on me.

In closing I would buy the NF7-S but from Newegg and make sure they will send you the 2.0 version. What other retailer would credit you 90% of your purchase price a year later (if they have no replacement that matches) with no hassle?

 

[FluxCap]

You would be getting the Version 2.0 from excaliberpc.com if you ordered now and I think that is the best NForce2 board on the market (at this time)...do it !!

 

[tchybrid]

the only other place that i know of that guarantee's a v2.0 is gameve.com check there, locally located in california monterey park. =)

 

[MachoDonut]

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
it's strange that people talk about this bios corruption business...

i bought an extra bios just in case but since the end of march i have not had a bios corruption... (i bought it at the end of march)...

people say it can occur when you make a large jump in the fsb... well.. i've gone from 100 to 200 mhz w/o corrupting it... maybe i'm just lucky .shrug.

I've also heard that making a large number of changes at once could cause the corruption problem, but I've done that a couple of times after flashing to a new BIOS and never had a problem.

 

[jorojr]

I've done two bios flashes since picking up the NF7-S v2 early last month. So far, I haven't had a single problem.

 

[4x4expy]

Originally posted by: Heinrich


Conversely, I had an "almost a year old" Epox 8K3A+ go dead on me, and mailed everything back to Newegg. It was almost a year old and they just credited my CC for $90, which is $18 "depreciation." I can't believe how easy it was. I am going to increase my Newegg business from 50% to as close to 95% as possible even if their prices are a bit higher as they can be sometimes. This contrasting experience has really left an impression on me.

Thanks for the info. I buy mostly from excaliberpc but your experiences make me question whether they are worth a couple buck savings. I do like that newegg primarily uses FedEx.

 

[4x4expy]

Originally posted by: FluxCap
You would be getting the Version 2.0 from excaliberpc.com if you ordered now and I think that is the best NForce2 board on the market (at this time)...do it !!

I ordered one from excaliberpc last night. There item title contains the designation v2.0 and the description states in red letters "Revision v2.0 guaranteed", so if it is in fact not a v2.0, they will be recieving it back soon.

 

[M O M O]

Last 3 nf7-s i ordered from newegg have all been 2.0's.

 

[yodayoda]

if you flash to the newest version of the NF7-S BIOS (version 19 for the v1.x boards, version 14 for the v2 boards), you will not have the SATA data corruption issue nor will you have the overclocking BIOS corruption issue. both problems have been fixed.