Can I lock or manually set the PCI bus on the ABIT NF7-S?

[The Lodge]

I'm selling my current mobo (Soyo Dragon Ultra) in hopes of a better oc. I'm looking to get the Abit NF7-S, that seems to be the oc'in board of choice. I looked in the manual and saw that you can manualy set the AGP bus, but saw nothing about the PCI bus. I'm hoping to get a fsb oc around 200, but we'll see. My current board I have my 2600+ at 184*12.5@2300MHz. But my AGP bus is 74MHz and my PCI bus is, I think 37MHz. I heard running your AGP\PCI bus oc'ed for long periods of time can damage your add-ins. Is this true? And I can't afford to replace every thing in my box. So basically if you can set the PCI bus at 33MHz on this board I think it's a lock.

[Someone Stupid]

Yes you can lock it on that board. From what Iv'e read on other forums though is that board as an inordinate number of DOA's and a rather high failure rate. I can't say if it is true or not as I've only built two systems on that board, both for friends and both running practically stock parameters. It was enough heresay for me to consider another board though. Just stick with an excellent reseller like newegg just incase the rumors are true.

[The Lodge]

Good cause I don't want to ruin my Audigy card. And yes I will be getting it from newegg, built two systems from them and they are they best when it comes to RMAs'.

[fishybawb]

You don't need to lock or manually set it, it's automatically locked at the standard 33MHz. There isn't even the option to change it yourself, so there's no chance of it going wrong. :t

[Strawbs]

my understanding is that all nf2 boards come with locked PCI bus.

http://www.kurts-smilies.de/smoker.gif

[The Lodge]

You don't need to lock or manually set it, it's automatically locked at the standard 33MHz.

I guess that's why I didn't see anything in the manual about it. That explains it. Fishybawb, do you have this board? And if so, what's your current setup?

[fishybawb]

Originally posted by The Lodge
Fishybawb, do you have this board? And if so, what's your current setup?

Yep.

Abit NF7-S v2.0
Barton 2500+ @ 2300MHz (209x11)
2x256MB Crucial PC3200
Radeon 9600Pro
80GB Maxtor 7200rpm (on PATA->SATA adapter)
40GB Maxtor 5200rpm

I've heard about the high failure rate that SS mentioned, but I don't know anyone personally who's had any problems beyond the random BIOS issues that seem to affect all nForce2 mobos. It's a great board :)

[Baddog]

If you overclock this board it is a good idea to go ahead and have a spare bios chip and removal tool handy.;)

[fishybawb]

Originally posted by Baddog
If you overclock this board it is a good idea to go ahead and have a spare bios chip and removal tool handy.;)

I sold my old 8rda+ to my brother who managed to toast the BIOS within a week of setting his system up. I learnt from that and ordered a replacement chip shortly after ordering the Abit, just in case :) More manufacturers should follow Gigabyte's dual BIOS idea to save the hassle.

:t

[smokin]

hey fishybaub...did you have to change any other settings on your mobo to get it stable at that overclock speed? I just ordered the same set-up except a 9600XT card.

[fishybawb]

Originally posted by smokin
hey fishybaub...did you have to change any other settings on your mobo to get it stable at that overclock speed?

Just the CPU VCore - it's up to 1.75 from the default 1.65 :)

[The Lodge]

If you overclock this board it is a good idea to go ahead and have a spare bios chip and removal tool handy.

So what you’re saying is by oc’in you can fry your bios chip? I’ve never heard of this. Ya learn something new every day. Is it hard to replace the bios chip? Is it a pop in pop out process? I’m not the soldering type.

[Someone Stupid]

Yeah, I like the dual bios boards, but I hate Gigabyte. My 8rda+ was dead (took the cpu with it). Fortunately the Albatron I got has a dual bios. Just you can't remove the chips but it gives room for some error.

You can fry the chip if you don't touch the chassis of the case before you grab the jumper, otherwise the bios should be fine.

[The Lodge]

ESD is nobodys friend. Touching the chassis is something I made a habit of before I grab anything in the case.
80GB Maxtor 7200rpm (on PATA->SATA adapter) now is that an adapter to hook an ide hd up to the sata connecter on the board? If so would you then beable to use the raid function?

[fishybawb]

Originally posted by The Lodge
now is that an adapter to hook an ide hd up to the sata connecter on the board? If so would you then beable to use the raid function?

Yes and yes. Well, sort of. You can only use the Serillel adapter (comes with the board) on a PATA drive that's set as primary master, so if you wanted some kind of RAID setup, the second drive would have to be native SATA - buying another adapter wouldn't work AFAIK.

Originally posted by Someone Stupid
Fortunately the Albatron I got has a dual bios


I didn't know Albatron used dual BIOSes - what board is that SS?

:t

[fishybawb]

Originally posted by fishybawb
I didn't know Albatron used dual BIOSes - what board is that SS?

Just read your post below this one. What a doofus I am :D

[Someone Stupid]

Fishybawb: KX18D Pro II Has the MCP-T, your 4 main voltage adujustments and the optional SPDIF bracket is included for 90-95 dollars from newegg.

I'm thinking a lot of these dead boards are from the "ease" of overclocking. Everyone wants to do it and if I'd say half know what they were doing I'd be generous. Then you just have to factor in all the first time builders as more and more seem to be doing that as well. The end result may not be that it is a faulty product, but that user error. So you get tons of boards "dead" from ESD wiping the bios.

[fishybawb]

Originally posted by Someone Stupid
I'm thinking a lot of these dead boards are from the "ease" of overclocking. Everyone wants to do it and if I'd say half know what they were doing I'd be generous. Then you just have to factor in all the first time builders as more and more seem to be doing that as well. The end result may not be that it is a faulty product, but that user error. So you get tons of boards "dead" from ESD wiping the bios.

That's true. I have seen nForce BIOSes "self-destruct" though, without a noob toasting everything with ESD - my old 8rda+ was running fine until it refused to boot with a FF POST code. Clearing the CMOS did nothing for it and I finally sent off for a new chip from BadFlash. I sent them a mail asking what was wrong with it, and they said the data on it was corrupted and that they'd been seeing that a lot. My Abit will occasionally need the CMOS clearing after changing settings - try them again and it's fine :confused:

The KX18D Pro II looks good. I'm building a system next week for a customer and was going to go with an NF7-S, but I'm always on the look out for alternatives :)

[Someone Stupid]

Just make sure you have a standard I/O plate as it doesn't ship with one if you get it. Don't know how they could have missed that. The NB heatsink and fan is a bit tall, so avoid heatpipe coolers like on the new 9600 Saphires until you get the measurements. I had to modify the Zalman heatpipe GPU cooler because of it. It would fit, just too tightly for my liking. I took the grinder to it to give the sinks better clearance.

I've built a couple with the Abit and haven't heard from them about any problems, just from people on forums. Though I got it working and sent it to them. All the tinkering was done then and hasn't been touched since I built them (at least to my knowledge).

If the Albatron MB is built like their 4200 ti's, well it will take a ton of abuse as I've tortured that old 4200 to death and it still is kicking in the retirement computer at 315/660.

As for the EPoX, at least you got a post code, I had a cap go off like a firecracker. Killed the board and my good 2500. Everything else survived fortunately as I didn't and don't want to have to buy a new controller card especially. No post code, no nothing.

[The Lodge]

Thanks for the input fishybawb, you've been alot of help. I guess this will help me part with the two wd 40Gig BBs that I have raided now. Is it possible at all to boot to a pair of sata raided drives and also have a ide hd hooked up without it trying to boot to the ide first?

[fishybawb]

Originally posted by The Lodge
Is it possible at all to boot to a pair of sata raided drives and also have a ide hd hooked up without it trying to boot to the ide first?

Yep, just make sure that you have the "SATA" option set on the boot order menu in CMOS settings. Mine's currently set at First = Floppy, Second = CDROM, Third = SATA. If there isn't a boot floppy or CD in the drives then it boots off my primary drive (PATA on SATA adapter). On a side note, if you get the board be sure to update it to the latest BIOS - they've recently(ish) upgraded the SATA BIOS to cut down the time it takes to boot up :t

[The Lodge]

When I go to flash the bios, do you think thier flash menu program can be trusted? Has anyone used this? Or should I just do it the old fashion way? It seems like a great idea, but flashing your bios from within windows seems a little scary.

[fishybawb]

Originally posted by The Lodge
When I go to flash the bios, do you think thier flash menu program can be trusted? Has anyone used this? Or should I just do it the old fashion way? It seems like a great idea, but flashing your bios from within windows seems a little scary.

I used to use FlashMenu with no problems at all, but Peter M. said Windows flash tools were a bad idea, so I stopped. Probably a good idea to heed a BIOS engineer's advice when it comes to BIOSes :) It's easy enough to do it the "old fashioned" way, and much safer.

[The Lodge]

Might as well stick with what's tried and true, plus the normal way isn't hard or scary.

[fishybawb]

Very true. Recovering a bad flash is a real pain :(

[The Lodge]

It's a done deal then. I'll be ordering this board from newegg in a couple of hours. And by the way fishybawb, what are your temps @ 1.75v and what kind of cooling do you have?

[fishybawb]

I've got a Thermalright SK-7 heatsink with an 80mm Coolermater fan (2400rpm). Keeps the temps at around 42C idle, 50C full load. Plus I've got a pretty big case (Chieftec Matrix) and one intake and one exhaust fan (both 80mm 2000rpm YS-Techs) My temps could be lower (what's the point ;)), but I went for the silent option.

[The Lodge]

Schweet. I should be golden then. I have a Thermalright SLK-800 with a 80mm Zalman fan (3000rpm). I also have a big case (Chieftec Dragon) with one side intake 80mm and two rear exhaust 80mm fans. Not sure what the rpms are on the case fans(they came with the case). They say super red on the sticker but google searches have brought up nothing. Also my ps has a rear 80mm and a bottom 92mm fan. And a little dab of arctic silver, and I'll be stylin.

[Someone Stupid]

Probably some off market sleeve bearing fans made by a second tier company and relabeled as that is fairly common in the industry. If they are loud, replacing them would quiet it up and possibly put out more air as generally case fans that come with most cases aren't that great, although there are exceptions.

[The Lodge]

SS, you're most likely right. I mean if they were any good I think the manufacture would want their name known, and you’d be able to find something about them. Unlike the “super red”. They’ll have to do for now. I’ll pick up some new ones when I go computer “toy” shopping when taxes come back.

[Someone Stupid]

Case fans are case fans pretty much. The only fan that I make sure is quality is the one on the CPU. The rest if I'm building a comp on a budget can be skimped on as if that goes out whoever I built it for can still use the computer, if the CPU heatsink fan dies, well then they aren't going to be using their computer for long and I have to run around in circles if I don't have a spare lying around.

[fishybawb]

I agree. The YS-Techs I use are cheap and marketed as "silent". They push a decent 27CFM at 20dBA, and do the job just fine :t

[Someone Stupid]

I do have a Delta 120mm 190 CFM if your interested. It's just a tad on the noisy side. :)

And yes, that monster is back in my case (though 7volted) thanks to my barton which clocked high and cool being destroyed by the EPoX. Only audible fan, but it's a low pitch so it isn't annoying, still liked it better when it was able to run with just a smartfan running at 3000 rpm. Since it was modded the warranty was void so I didn't bother sending it in. I just tossed it, though in hindsight I should have sent Jakk my SMD's with the resistor already attached since I haven't heard if he ever got around to modding it or not.

[The Lodge]

Originally posted by Someone Stupid
Case fans are case fans pretty much.
So what your saying is that I should just save my cash because I'm not gonna see a difference in case temps by replacing the three fans? Just maybe a little more quite. (It's not to loud now.)
Oh yeah, fishybawb I noticed you mentioned something about the cheesiness of the northbridge cooling. If I'm going to be oc'in should I look into replacing that with something of better quality?

[fishybawb]

Originally posted by The Lodge
Oh yeah, fishybawb I noticed you mentioned something about the cheesiness of the northbridge cooling. If I'm going to be oc'in should I look into replacing that with something of better quality?

Definitely, the northbridge fan is at odds with the rest of the board in that it's really, REALLY poor quality - the airflow from it must be minimal and it's noisy to boot. A Vantec Iceberq would be a decent replacement, but I went with a passive solution to keep the noise down:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-118-214&depa=1

The board's got mounting holes for the NB heatsink, so pretty much anything would fit :t

[Someone Stupid]

As for case fans, higher quality ones can move a bit more air while making less noise - though they can move a ton more and make a ton more noise as well. Your not going to see a drastic difference. You MIGHT get a degree or so Celcius drop in case temps if you replace all your fans filling up all the slots, then again, you might not since you don't know their CFM. If the noise bothers you, then look into replacing them, otherwise I really wouldn't worry all that much.

As for the northbridge, on the Abit it is adequately cooled. The current nforce chips don't need high voltages to reach high FSB stability. I got 225 (450) on 1.7 (1.6 is lowest) on my Albatron and the cooling is comparable. A heatsink with a small fan mounted to it, that is more than adequate IMO.

[The Lodge]

You think that the zalman is a better cooler than the vantec one? It just doesn't seem like the vantec has a whole lot of hs. Plus my fan on my SLK-800 over hangs and will be partially blowing on the northbridge. As for the case fans, I think I'll just let them do their job. Maybe pick up one more for a front intake.

[Someone Stupid]

The Vantec doesn't need the extra mass. Zalman stuff is generally huge to begin with. If you absolutely feel you need an aftermarket cooler, get the Vantec IMO. I have to second fishybawb on that one. And definately fill all your case slots with fans especially if your overclocking. No use having a great heatsink if your blowing hot air into it, it takes away from it's effectiveness.

[The Lodge]

I think I might pick up the vantec. But that will be after I get faster ram, so I can push for a nice fsb oc. The ram I have now just isn't gonna cut it.