"What would you get if you take the NVIDIA nForce2 chipset and mix it with a 3-phase power solution, a Silicon Image SATA controller and lots of overclocking features? The ABIT NF7-S nForce2 motherboard is what you get! Come see what's unique and what's not in ABIT's ultimate nForce2 motherboard!" Click here for the full review. Please feel free to post your comments and views here!
Hey Adrian, nice review. I wanted to confirm your reporting that we will be making the changes you mentioned in the review, that is, the 4 mounting holes and some BIOS tweaks. Thanks ABIT PR
First of all, many thanks to Byron Gibson who brought up some issues for me to explore! Keep the comments coming! I have just updated the definitive review of the ABIT NF7-S nForce2 motherboard. There's now a new DualDDR Support section! There's also a minor correction of the DDR400 Support? section to prevent confusion about DDR400 support only being limited to the "first" two DIMM slots. Well, they are <u>not</u> limited to the first two slots. The NF7-S supports DDR400 in every DIMM slot but only up to a maximum of two slots. Well, that's it! Hope you enjoy the review. Don't forget to click on the picture of CPU socket! Click here for the review!
As an ABIT NF7-S owner I can say it is a very good mainboard, however there is a design flaw in revision 1 and apparently revision 1.2 (the one with 4 mounting holes) mainboards. The microphone feature of the onboard sound doesn’t work correctly with excessive amounts of background noise and static. The only remedy is to RMA the board for a "fix" to be performed on the mainboard. Although the mainboard is very good in use please consider this fact when making a purchase.
Hey thanks for the feedback, Abit user! I think you are referring to Rev. 1.1. According to ABIT, Rev. 1.2 is not out yet. Probably next week or so, I think.
Sorry, yes i meant rev 1.1 other issues that are becoming apparent are: Low voltage on all rails Opening hardware monitor can cause the processor fan to just stop SATA issues Stange siren noises on boot At least BIOS updates can solve these but the microphone one is a hardware fix only I would still recommend the board though if you can put up with that (or you get a fixed one) as its very good.
ABIT NF7-S nForce2 Motherboard Review Updated Again! Hello everyone! I just posted an important update to our ABIT NF7-S nForce2 motherboard review! This update corrects a huge mistake in the DualDDR Support section regarding ABIT's recommended order for DIMM insertion. Whether you are currently using the NF7-S or just thinking of buying it, it is imperative that you read through the updated section. Sorry for any inconvenience caused by the incorrect information posted earlier. Today's lesson - Take every recommendation in the manual with a pinch of salt!
nf7s hey guys thanks for the ram update, all the things "user" mention of the nf7-s are correct and mass problems with the rev 1.0 and 1.1 its not just some glitchey boards its about all of them but with the low voltages also even new bios 15 major power fluctuations i set mine to 1.85(highest possible) and i get variance of 1.68-1.73 (antec 430) during games. my experience is not uncommon all of us in forums have similair problems as you can imagine it does result in serious stability issues. its a great board for a number of reasons but overclocking performance...not yet it isnt. excalibur pc is offering its customers a swap to owners of early versions although abit refuses to rma you any board other then what revision you have. also a fix of sound and mic issue but no assistance of voltage issue. which i think is fairly serious. just to let you all know what your getting into. i wish someone had for all of us.
Re: nf7s Hi, My first post here. I just got the following from LYP last weekend. AXDA1700 DLT3C 9391257270088 JIUHB 0310 XPMW NF7-S rev 2.0 2x256mb Infineon -6 Using old TT Volcano 7+ at moderate speed Currently at 2300mhz 11.5x200 (FSB & ram synchronized) Tried to go to 12x200 at 1.7 but kept getting errors in Prime95 & noticed variable vcore fluctuations too. Don't dare try > 1.7v as my temperature reading is very high. Load=60C!!!!!! Scary.
[OT]Avalon: Would you mind not posting your Folding Team in your signature? We have our own DF team here, why not join us? If you don't check back in 2 days time, I will have to remove your signature. Thanks for you cooperation [/OT]
Welcome to ARP Forums, Avalon!!! i remember seeing you in LY Forums. btw don't be afraid to up the voltage. i upped mine too. from the looks of it, you're getting temp readings from the mobo's HW reading, right?
NF7-S review... That review was so good I had to register just to comment. Nice job!! I want buy an NF7-S even more now. Something I wish to point out is the references to the lack of the four HSF mounting holes. Yes, I know you updated that in the text on the first page. However, the conclusion page (the part most people skip to) makes no mention of updated boards having the holes. Furthermore, it lists the board version at the top of the page as "1.2". Some people are bound to get confused. That review was exactly what I was looking for. Nice and detailed with coverage of the components the board is made from. So few articles cover the placement of caps and MOSFET values. ... it's so discouraging. ThanX again! ........'nnock
Welcome to ARP Forums, Susquehannock!!! glad you enjoyed the review. hope you'll come back for more reviews.
Thanks for your very kind words, Susquehannock! Actually, that revision number is for the review! Hehe... The board revision is 1.0. I'm now testing the Rev. 1.2 board (yeah, got it a bit late).
Re: ABIT NF7-S nForce2 Motherboard Review Updated Again! Adrian, I just found your site from a link that was posted at the ABIT-USA forum. The link sent me to your article which contained information about the ABIT NF7-S motherboard, and the utilization of memory banks for proper dual-DDR operation. In your article, you stated that one must use bank 1 and either bank 2 or 3 to actually utilize dual-DDR. Since this goes against the information in the ABIT manual, could you tell me where you uncovered this information, and if it has been confirmed by ABIT? It wouldn't be the first time a product manual typo such as this happened. Got quite a stir going in the Abit-usa forum about this. Many are saying that your information is not correct. I would love to hear the real deal. Thanks for your time.. Mag...
Hello Magneto, A stir? Didn't ABIT-USA clear up the confusion? I confirmed it with ABIT-USA myself. The manual is wrong. I was initially misled by the manual but on investigation, I found that it was wrong. Hence, the updated review. I can understand why people may say that my findings are wrong since the manual is everything, to some people. In addition, there will be some sites that just print out whatever's written in the manual. But you can easily double-check my findings. Just unsync your RAM:FSB interface. Set your RAM to run slower than your FSB. 1. Then fill DIMM2+3. Benchmark the memory subsystem. 2. Remove the two DIMMs and fill DIMM1+2 or DIMM1+3. Benchmark again. If you follow that method, the second method will produce a higher score, thus proving beyond any doubt that for DualDDR to work, you will need to fill DIMM1+2 or DIMM1+3. Hope that helps you some!
Adrian, Thank you for your quick reply to my questions. In answer to your question.. To the best of my knowledge, ABIT didn't clear up the dual-DDR confusion. Taken from a sticky post at their forum: " Which slots should I populate for DualDDR? You should populate in reverse order from 3 to 1. The RAM slot that is furthest away from the CPU socket is DIMM3 and should be populated first. For DuallDDR you need a second DIMM and this should be placed in the middle RAM slot which is DIMM2. The RAM slot nearest the CPU is DIMM1 and should be populated last." I have heard no mention that the manual was wrong, but hey that sort of thing happens all the time. I have my DIMMs in 2 and 3, so I'll probably try out the others as you've suggested. When I look at the memory bank layout on my NF7-S rev. 1.1 board, I see banks 1 and 2 set closer together, with bank 3 out by itself. Adrian, Once again, thank you for your help. You've got a great site here and your BIOS guide is very helpful. Mag...
Hello Magneto, I can make mistakes too! And if I'm wrong, please let me know so that I can correct the review and let everyone else know too! In fact, someone just e-mailed me, claiming that he got higher results with the DIMM2+3 than with DIMM1+2. I'll try to get more details from ABIT about this. Let's try to clear this up once and for all!
Hi Adrian, Thanks for the reply. Alot of NF7-S owners that frequent the ABIT-USA forum have been retesting the memory in different banks to try and figure out just which ones do give the best dual-DDR performance. Perhaps you would like to read the thread over there. http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8747 Most of the user test results seem to show that using 1 & 3, and 2& 3, give the best results, while using 1 & 2 results in significantly lower scores. Please realize that I'm not trying to prove anyone right or wrong, but just want to know the true facts. Thanks for your help with this.. Mag...
