amd 2500 barton board

[adomicile2]

Im new at this but everyone seems to use asus. now I want the nforce2 chipset and am also looking at a abit. this is going in a skyhawkusa matrix case with 500 watt powmax supply. I am gonna order next week so any feedback is mucho welcome.

[killer_teddy]

So just whats the question?:confused:

[adomicile2]

well what is the best of the boards for this cpu.

[killer_teddy]

EPoX EP-8RDA3+ is the board I would go with.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Yup, i'll second that, Epox8rda3+

If your not wanting to really massively overclock though and you want a nice comprehensive bundle of onboard goodies, while the 8rda3+'s is very good, the Asus a7n8x Deluxe's is fantastic.

All depends what your after, but both boards are quality

--Jakk:t

[Terminator]

Ok before the EPOX-8RDA+ and ASUS A7N8X dlx war breaks out I'll tell you that either board are Nforce2 and both perform great apparently. Can only vouch for the ASUS A7N8X dlx AND the Barton 2500 as this is my setup. Fortunate enough that I by pure luck at the time I received a REV1.04 board and could flash the BIOS to allow 200FSB chips to run. Also the barton2500 will run at 200FSB on this board but I have no idea how well it clocks on the EPOX.
I'd say that either board will more than satisy you. People LOVE their EPOX boards but I can't comment as I've never owned one. If you choose the ASUS make sure that the revision is 1.04 or above. Also you are going to hear things about the REV2.0 boards. Search the forums and you'll find these but in my opinion if you get a duff board you send it back period.

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[adomicile2]

good advice I dont overclock not to say i wont but how much overkill do i need. I do want to put a gig of ram in and would like to know which 2 512's are gonna work and give best performance?

[Bigjakkstaffa]

I reccomend 2xCrucial 512mb PC3200 for quality, stability. performance and compatibility

--Jakk:t

[killer_teddy]

www.crucial.com get it there and its guaranteed to be compatible too.

[adomicile2]

ecc or non-parity

[Someone Stupid]

The Epox 8rda+ can hit 200 fsb now for me with no mods with a 2500 Barton. Pushing 3200 on air with a Tt V9 heatsink at good temps. That alone is a miracle. Haven't pushed it to see how far I can go past 3200+ though.

The 8rda3+Pro would be my choice.

[Terminator]

If you don't intend on clocking the Barton2500 (which you should cuz it hits 2.4GHz@200FSB) then in theory you should run it in sync with 333MHz DDR RAM. I agree that using Crucial ram cuz it's ALWAYS the type of ram I've used. Personally I'd get PC3200 RAM as well but this time I'm looking to Corsair but they are pricey. Also considering getting some Kingston PC3200 but the HyperX type. Even if you only want to run your CPU at 166FSB instead of clocking to 200FSB you should still get PC3200 ram as it is a better investement for the future. I personaly wouldn't bother with EEC ram , they cost alot more.

If you want a neat little demo of ram and timimgs/EEC/etc then click the folllowing link :-

http://www.corsairmicro.com/memory_basics/153707/index.html

Tells you all about timings/EEC/etc...

Hope the demo tells you what you need.

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[Izdaari]

Abit, ASUS, EPoX, MSI and Soltek all make nice nForce2 boards. Which one you like is a matter of which brand you trust and what features you want. I personally am very fond of my ASUS A7N8X Deluxe but I'd use any of them.

Forget ECC though. You can't use it - these boards don't support it.

I'm dubious about the quality of a Powmax power supply.

[koonthul]

I am looking to purchase either the Epox or the ASUS as well, however i just noticed somthing with the North/South Bridge Nvidia chipset between the two. There are two types, the MCP and the MCP-T. Looks like the ASUS, as far as I can see, is the only one with the option to go up to the MCP-T. Go to this section of Tom's Hardware to see what that T is all about. Somebody please correct me about the Epox if I am wrong...

The Skinny on "Light" (http://www6.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20021111/nforce2-02.html)

[pandaz3]

I have a Abit NF7-S, but a plain NF7 would work well too, the S just has more features

[Izdaari]

Originally posted by koonthul
I am looking to purchase either the Epox or the ASUS as well, however i just noticed somthing with the North/South Bridge Nvidia chipset between the two. There are two types, the MCP and the MCP-T. Looks like the ASUS, as far as I can see, is the only one with the option to go up to the MCP-T. Go to this section of Tom's Hardware to see what that T is all about. Somebody please correct me about the Epox if I am wrong...

The Skinny on "Light" (http://www6.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20021111/nforce2-02.html)
You're right about that: the ASUS has the MCP-T, the Epox doesn't. That's only a big deal if you want superior onboard sound.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

The Epox has almost identical audio to the a7n8x, the only thing really preventing ot from gettign Soundstorm certification si the fact an SPDIF bracket doesnt come as standard. The a7n8x doesnt have 'superior' quality sound, theyre both the same on the ol' ear

--Jakk:t

[pandaz3]

Abit NF7-S has it all

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Newer revision of the NF7-S is a decent overclocking board, the early revisions however werent anything to remark about. If you were to go for one make sure it was a newer version

--Jakk:t

[Someone Stupid]

I have soundstorm on an epox 8rda+, but I never ordered or made the SPDIF bracket for it as I have an Audigy 2. To advertise you are certified for it, you can't just have the chip with the algorithm on it, you need an outlet to there specs. If you want Soundstorm all you need to do is make (easy) or buy a bracket. Since most won't be able to take full advatage of it, I see why they didn't through it in.

The 8RDA+Pro has the bracket included IIRC, though I may be wrong on that part.

Terminator: They actually can hit 12.5x200 unlocked (though you'd need severe cooling and RAM to do it, along with an excellent chip to stay stable. It will only go into windows for about 5 seconds at that speed, and at 2400 it will run for about 30 minutes, at 2300, it's stable for most of the day, but will crash inevitably, so I leave it at 2200 at 1.725 vcore, that way it is cool and is still running blazing fast. If I need more speed later, I'll throw it in my prometia.

Koonthul: On my 8rda+ I have the MCP-T - it's on the 8rda (non plus) that you have only the MCP.

[pandaz3]

I have the Abit NF7-S V. 2 and BTW they have a beta program for flashing the Bios over the Net...Which I did just fine and as long as you have broadband..Quick too! It has 5.1 encoding ability too unlike most.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

BTW they have a beta program for flashing the Bios over the Net...Which I did just fine and as long as you have broadband..Quick too!

Most gfx cards and mobo's have this nowadays though

--Jakk:t

[Someone Stupid]

EPoX does as well. They also have a utility to flash the BIOS with the system running. I don't trust that way so I don't use it, I just download the bios to a bootable floppy (yes, FLOPPY :) ) and run it.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Same here, the old ways are the best

--Jakk:t

[adomicile2]

thanx, alot to swallow and as buyin time is comin I have had my eye on the 2700. it only 35 bucks more and if the audio is the same Ill go with epox.

[Terminator]

Nice to hear that it hits 12.5x200 but I aint into severe cooling especially if it involves noisy fans like the Delta 7500RPM I used to use...still have it .. sure it will come in handy as the temp here in Scotland is rising...and before anyone says anything YES we DO get sunshine but blink and it's gone. :)
I like my Barton 2500 for obvious reasons..reminds me when I bought my Duron 600 and clocked it to 950.
I only consider a chip clocked when stable and mine is 12x200 = 2400MHz stable ALL the time. Just shows that it depends on the chip you get. No fancy water cooling/peltiers etc....just a copper heatsink and nice and quiet 3500RPM fan + exhaust fan.... but going to turn on the intake fan now I think as temp has rose 5C with the ambient temps being up. Really is hit and miss with what CPU you get.

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