The long-awaited review of Abit NF7. Testing motherboards based on the NVIDIA nForce2 chipset

The launch of the nForce2 chipset on the market led to the emergence of quite interesting products based on it. For example, we have already reviewed the Chaintech CT-7NJS board on the pages. Today we bring to your attention another new product, but this time from a different manufacturer - the Abit company.

Before moving directly to the product in question, let's make a short lyrical digression and think about why boards based on NVidia nForce2 are exactly what they are?

So, as we have said many times, recently an increasing number of motherboard manufacturers are starting to release exclusive, super-equipped versions of their mainstream products. And some brands have gone even further - they are announcing not just single models of this class, but entire lines of “ultra-high” level boards, designed for the most demanding users. You may ask: what does nForce2 have to do with it? Everything is very simple: previously, the functionality of the board was expanded not only (and sometimes not so much) due to the use latest chipset, but also through the use of as many external chips and additional devices as possible. And now a chipset appears, the functionality of which is so wide that budget products on it look somewhat strange. This set of chips just begs to be turned into some unique, “with a twist” product, about which one can say “it’s easier to list what is not in this motherboard”...

That is why the manufacture of top products using it is quite logical. Moreover, the developer does not need to invent anything - everything is already there. Take it, assemble it, paint the board a little, package it beautifully - and that’s it, you’ll get your exclusive.

A detailed description of nForce2 is beyond the scope of this article, and we got carried away with the lyrics, so let's take a closer look at another unusual product - Abit NF7-S.

This board is built on the nForce2 SPP (System Platform Processor) chipset. As the name suggests, this is an option without a built-in graphics core, i.e., an SPP chip is used as the north bridge, not an IGP. The South Bridge is represented by a processor (as NVidia likes to call it) MCP-T, which, unlike the stripped-down MCP, supports two network interfaces, full 6.1 audio and a FireWire interface.

The interesting layout of the board deserves special mention - a first for Socket platforms A, except standard connector ATX power supply, this model also uses the ATX12V connector, which came from the world of Pentium 4. This step is due to the following considerations: the processor power is obtained from a voltage of +12 V, and in a standard ATX connector only this voltage is responsible one conductor. Let us remind you that the maximum power dissipation for the Athlon XP 2800+ processor is 74.3 W. And it is powered by one conductor - the current passing through it is 6.2 A. It was for reasons of reliability and safety of the processor power system that Abit introduced an additional ATX12V connector, which already contains two conductors through which the voltage is +12 V. Now their total number equals three. Accordingly, the current load on them has significantly decreased.

And now about the implementation of all this “wealth”.

Let's start with the sound. All necessary connectors, including optical S/P DIF-out, are located on back panel boards, which eliminates the need for the user to screw additional brackets with connectors into the case and reduces the tangle of wires inside the case.

There are also two USB port 2.0. Two more, along with FireWire connectors, are placed on two external brackets included in the kit. The board supports a dual-channel ATA/133 interface, which is not at all surprising today. But the use of an external Sil 3112 microcircuit from Silicon Image is already more interesting... This microcircuit is a dual-channel PCI-to-SATA Host controller. Accordingly, the board has two Serial ATA ports.

But the most interesting thing is that, in addition to the SATA cable itself, the board comes with an IDE-to-SATA adapter. It seems like a trifle, and the existence of such adapters has been known for quite a long time. But how many have seen them “live”? How many people have tried to make them work and then shared the results? We think not. So we decided to fill this gap and satisfy both our curiosity and the interest of our readers in one fell swoop. After all, if such adapters exist, it would be good to imagine how they behave in a real system.

The question may arise: “Why connect an IDE drive to a SATA interface?” Well, firstly, the sizes of PATA and SATA cables differ significantly, and the desire to “clean up the case” is already becoming a habit among our users. And secondly... Secondly, simply Interesting. So to speak, “let’s not wash it, just roll it” to look at the new interface in action. Since there are still no such drives available, we’ll at least “start up” the host controller.

Of course, there was no talk of any increase in performance from the use of the adapter; on the contrary, it would make things worse. Therefore, the task was as follows: does it work or not? And if it works, how will this affect performance? If negative - “bad, unusable adapter.”

So let's look at the diagrams. When working via SATA, the speed has increased! Yes indeed. But how much? Yes, not by much - exactly enough to write it off as a measurement error, nothing more. The only subtest that stands out is the Winbench Business Winmarks. It actually shows some increase in performance, which can even be seen with the naked eye, without the use of a magnifying glass.

Moreover, graphs for reading from plates both when connecting the drive to a standard IDE interface and through an adapter identical. That is, when they are superimposed on each other, they completely coincide.

Well, it didn't get any worse. And it pleases. It’s better, too, but it couldn’t have been any other way. Therefore, we can safely recommend a new toy for exotic lovers - IDE-to-SATA adapters. The toy has been tested in the laboratory and found absolutely harmless for users of any age...

In this article, we will not compare the performance of the heroine of our review with other products on the same chipset - this is not the place, and not the time, for such comparisons. Our goal was to draw the user’s attention to another rather interesting product. Yes, it is not intended for the widest audience, but no less interesting for that. If we add to the above the rich BIOS settings for overclocking, adjusting memory timings and voltage, as well as completely problem-free operation of the board during its “testing”, we will get a completely decent “fan” product that will help lonely computer enthusiasts brighten up long winter evenings .

ABIT NF7-S

The ABIT NF7-S motherboard, made in the ATX form factor, is based on the NVIDIA nForce2 (SPP + MSP-T) system logic set. This allows you to use it as a basis for building computer systems based on any desktop processor models from AMD (Athlon, Duron, Athlon XP), installed in the Socket A processor socket and operating at a system bus frequency of 200 and 266 MHz, as well as new models operating on a 333 MHz system bus. This model The motherboard implements an effective protection circuit against critical overheating of the processor. For this purpose it is used integrated circuit Attansic ATTP1, which is a programmable trigger that has high performance and is capable of responding to a signal from two sources: a thermal diode integrated on the processor core (unfortunately, only Athlon XP processors can boast of this), and a thermistor located in the center of the processor socket. The nForce2 SPP northbridge chip is covered by a miniature aluminum radiator with a cooling fan. For installation DDR modules The SDRAM memory on the board is equipped with three DIMM slots that support up to 3 GB of RAM specification PC1600/PC2100/PC2700 or up to 2 GB - PC3200. The ABIT NF7-S board supports both single-channel and dual-channel (DualDDR) memory modes. It should be noted that when using PC3200 memory modules, they must be installed in the third and second DIMM slots. The board's AGP graphics port slot, which meets the requirements of the AGP 3.0 specification, supports graphics expansion cards with an AGP 8x/4x interface. To build a disk subsystem, the capabilities of both the dual-channel IDE ATA133 controller integrated into the south bridge chip, which allows working with four devices with the ParallelATA interface (for this purpose, there are two IDE connectors on the board), and the Silicon Image SIL3112A controller implemented on the SerialATA board, can be used. allowing you to connect two devices with the ATA150 interface (two corresponding connectors are provided for this). Six USB 2.0 ports are supported, two of which are located on the output panel, and two pin connectors are provided on the board to connect four more. In addition, it is possible to connect two IEEE-1394 ports, the support of which is implemented through the IEEE-1394 controller integrated in the south bridge chip, the physical layer of which is made on a Realtek RTL8801B chip. The use of the six-channel AC'97 audio codec Realtek ALC650 provides the ability to reproduce 5.1 audio. Another interesting fact is that the output panel is equipped with all the necessary connectors for connecting speaker system of this format, as well as an optical S/PDIF output. The capabilities of one of the two Ethernet controllers integrated into the south bridge chip, the physical layer of which is implemented by the Realtek RTL8201BL chip, allows the user to work in 10/100Base-TX networks - for which there is an RJ-45 connector on the output panel. The Winbond W83627HF chip is used as an I/O controller chip, which supports standard I/O ports and basic hardware monitoring functions. To ensure operation of this motherboard model, a power supply that complies with the ATX 2.03 specification and has an additional 12-volt power connector is required. To expand the functionality of the motherboard, there are five PCI slots 2.2.

As basic system I/O used Phoenix AwardBIOS. ABIT's proprietary technology, SoftMenu III, the use of which has already become traditional for motherboards from this manufacturer, opens up wide opportunities for overclocking enthusiasts. A BIOS that supports the above technology in the settings menu (in the SoftMenu III item) allows you to change the main parameters of the system: FSB frequency (ranging from 100 to 237 MHz), ratio of FSB frequency and memory bus (3/3, 3/4, 3 /5, 3/6, 4/3, 4/5, 4/6, 5/3, 5/4, 5/6, 6/3, 6/4,6/5), processor supply voltage (from 1 .1 to 1.85 V in 0.025 V steps), memory modules (2.4 to 2.7 V in 0.1 V steps), AGP (1.5 to 1.8 V in 0.1 V steps ) and even the chipset (from 1.4 to 1.7 V in 0.1 V increments); It is also possible to change the multiplication factor in the range from 5 to 22 (which is only relevant for engineering samples of processors). In addition, BIOS tools allow you to monitor temperature conditions and supply voltages at the main control points, making it possible to set the processor core temperature value, upon reaching which a signal will be issued (from 50 to 120 ° C) or the system power will be turned off (at 60, 65, 70 or 75 °C).

The ABIT NF7-S motherboard package includes two 80-wire IDE cables, a cable for connecting a floppy drive, a SerialATA cable with an adapter for connecting to a regular 40-pin IDE connector and a power connector, an expansion bracket for two USB 2.0 ports , an expansion bracket for two IEEE-1394 ports and a CD-ROM, which contains, in addition to drivers and user instructions, a number of useful programs and utilities.

ASUS A7N8X

The A7N8X motherboard from ASUStek is made in the ATX form factor and has dimensions of 30.5 x 24.4 cm. It was based on the NVIDIA nForce2 system logic set (combined SPP (north bridge) and MCP-T (south bridge)), from which The main technical characteristics of this product follow. Like all motherboards that took part in our testing, this model supports any AMD processor with a 462-pin package and operating with a system bus at a frequency of 200, 266 or 333 MHz, which allows you to cover the entire range of desktop processors of the Athlon/Duron family /Athlon XP. Let's briefly touch on some design features And technical characteristics this model. The north bridge chip of the ASUS A7N8X motherboard is covered with a removable aluminum heatsink. As RAM, it is possible to use DDR SDRAM modules that comply with the specifications PC1600 (DDR200), PC2100 (DDR266), PC2700 (DDR333) or PC3200 (DDR400), for installation of which the board is equipped with three DIMM slots. Each DIMM slot accepts memory modules up to 1 GB; as it is easy to calculate, the total volume of supported random access memory is 3 GB. Note that maternal ASUS board The A7N8X allows you to use both single-channel (64-bit memory bus) and dual-channel (128-bit memory bus) modes of working with RAM. To operate in dual-channel memory mode (DualDDR), memory modules must be placed in the third and second or first DIMM slot; it is also possible to place memory modules in all three DIMM slots of the board. To install external graphics expansion cards, the board is equipped with an AGP Pro slot, the operation of which is supported by the north bridge graphics port controller, which fully meets the requirements of the AGP 3.0 specification. This makes it possible to work with 1.5-volt graphics cards with an AGP 8x/4x interface. To connect IDE devices, the capabilities of not only the two-channel IDE northbridge controller are used, which allows you to work with four ParallelATA devices with an ATA 33/66/100/133 or ATAPI interface, but also the Silicon Image Sil3112A SerialATA controller, which allows you to interact with two IDEs -devices with an interface that meets the requirements of the SerialATA 1.0 (ATA150) specification. The Realtek ALC650 chip is used as the AC’97 audio codec, which provides the ability to reproduce 5.1 audio. To connect an acoustic system of the appropriate format, the output panel of the board is equipped with two additional connectors (mini-jack), which allows switching without using the line output and microphone connector for these purposes. In addition, a coaxial S/PDIF output can be found on the output panel of the board. The ASUS A7N8X board supports two IEEE-1394 ports, as well as six USB 2.0 ports, four of which are located on the output panel, and a pin connector is provided for connecting two more. The implementation of support for both the first and second of the mentioned interfaces became possible thanks to the presence of the corresponding controllers integrated in the south bridge chip, while the physical layer of the IEEE-1394 controller is made on a Realtek RTL8801B chip. Thanks to the capabilities inherent in the south bridge chip, the user has at his disposal two 100-megabit Ethernet controllers (NVIDIA and 3Com), the physical layer of which is implemented using Realtek RTL8201BL and Altima AC101L chips. The ITE IT8708 chip is used as an I/O controller chip, which supports the operation of the main I/O interfaces and allows for basic hardware monitoring functions. The use of the ASUS ASIC chip (ASUS ASB100) provides expanded capabilities for thermal control, as well as monitoring supply voltages and cooling fan operation, thereby providing protection against critical overheating and failure of the processor and motherboard. A number of proprietary technologies were used to create the A7N8X board:

• ASUS POST Reporter - a technology through which voice commentary is provided on the completion of POST procedures, which became possible thanks to the use of the Winbond chip;
• ASUS Q-Fan - technology for intelligent control of cooling fans;
• C.O.P. (CPU Overheating Protection) - protection technology central processor from overheating, allowing you to turn off the power to the system when a certain temperature criterion is reached (use this technology only possible if processors are used AMD Athlon XP, since earlier AMD processor models did not have a thermal diode integrated into the processor core).

To expand functionality, this motherboard model has five PCI 2.2 slots.

AwardBIOS is used as the basic input/output system, through the settings menu of which you can make standard settings for the operation of computer subsystems, as well as control the temperature and supply voltage at the most critical points; In addition, it is possible to activate the “Q-Fan control” function and make the desired settings. In addition, the settings BIOS Setup provide the ability to change the FSB frequency in the range from 100 to 211 MHz in 1 MHz steps, memory bus frequency (50%, 60, 66, 75, 80, 83%, Syn, 120%, 125, 133, 150, 166, 200% relative to the FSB frequency), processor core voltage (from the nominal value to 1.85 V in steps of 0.025 V), supply voltage of AGP slots (1.5, 1.6 and 1.7 V) and DIMM slots (2.5 ; 2.6; 2.7 and 2.8 V).

The ASUS A7N8X motherboard is supplied with an 80-wire IDE cable, a 40-wire IDE cable, a floppy drive cable, two SerialATA cables, an expansion bracket with two USB ports and one game port, an expansion bracket for connecting the connector a second COM port and an expansion bracket that allows you to connect two IEEE-1394 ports. The kit also includes two CD-ROMs, one containing drivers and utilities, and the second containing detailed information. technical information about the NVIDIA nForce2 chipset.

Chaintech 7NJS

The Chaintech 7NJS motherboard is another representative of the new Zenith series of Chaintech motherboards. Like all boards in this series, the 7NJS model is distinguished by its elegant design and excellent packaging. The basis for the creation of this motherboard, as for all models presented in our testing, was the NVIDIA nForce2 chipset (SPP + MCP-T), which makes it possible to use any model from the AMD Athlon/Duron/Athlon XP family of desktop processors as a central processor , made in a 462-pin package and operating at a system bus frequency of 200, 266 or 333 MHz. The north bridge chip of the motherboard is covered with a golden radiator of the original design with a built-in cooling fan. To accommodate RAM modules, which include the use of DDR SDRAM modules of PC1600, PC2100, PC2700 or PC3200 specifications, the board is equipped with three DIMM slots, each of which supports DIMM modules up to 1 GB (the total amount of supported memory is 3 GB). At the same time, it is possible to work with memory in both single-channel and dual-channel modes. In order to use the last of the listed modes, you need to install one of the two memory modules in the third DIMM slot, which is easy to recognize by its separate location relative to the first two. The northbridge graphics port controller, which meets the AGP 3.0 specification, supports the on-board AGP slot, which allows the installation of 1.5-V graphics expansion cards with an AGP 4x/8x interface. The capabilities of the dual-channel IDE controller integrated into the south bridge allow you to connect up to four devices with an ATA33/66/100/133 or ATAPI interface. In addition, the presence on board of a single-channel IDE RAID controller Promise PDC20378 makes it possible to connect two more IDE devices and, if desired, organize a RAID array of level 0 or 1. In this case, two connection options are provided: these can be devices with an interface like ParallelATA (ATA100 or ATA133) and SerialATA (ATA150). The use of a six-channel audio controller C-Media CMI8738/PCI-6ch-MX makes it possible to reproduce high-quality 5.1 audio. The Chaintech 7NJS motherboard supports six USB 2.0 ports, two of which are soldered on the output panel, and there are two pin connectors on the board to connect the rest. The capabilities of the 100 Mbit Ethernet controller integrated in the south bridge (nForce2 MCP), coupled with the capabilities of the ICS 1893Y chip, which implements the physical (PHY) level of the controller, allow you to work in 10/100Base-TX networks, for connection to which there is equipment on the output panel of the board RJ-45 connector. The ITE IT8712F chip is used as an input/output (Super I/O) chip in this motherboard model, which ensures the operation of all standard ports and input/output interfaces, and also supports standard monitoring functions. To install expansion cards to increase the functionality of the motherboard, there are five PCI slots (PCI 2.2) and one ACR slot.

On the pages of our magazine we have already written more than once about the excellent configuration of Zenith series motherboards, therefore, without going into detailed descriptions of the accompanying accessories, this time we will limit ourselves to just a brief listing of them. So, in addition to the Chaintech 7NJS motherboard itself, you can also find in the box:

• branded plastic container for two disks (one disk with drivers and a Value Pack 2002 disk);
• an expansion bar with two connectors (in addition to the existing audio output) for connecting a 5.1 speaker system;
• panel CBox2 (which installs in a three-inch slot system unit and has four USB 2.0 ports, an IEEE-1394 port and two audio jacks for connecting headphones and a microphone);
• expansion card installed in the ACR slot, which, thanks to the use of the Realtek RTL8801 physical layer (PHY) chip, makes it possible to connect three IEEE-1394 ports, two of which are located on the external panel, and to connect the third (it is located on the CBox2 panel) an appropriate connector;
• SPDIF expansion bar (optical input-output) with fiber optic cable included;
• original Round Cable IDE cables - two 80-core IDE cables and a cable for connecting a floppy drive;
• two SerialATA cables.

The Phoenix AwadBIOS basic I/O system allows for graphical BIOS menu Setup makes standard settings for the operation of computer subsystems, monitors the supply voltage at control points and monitors the temperature of the processor, as well as controls the operation of cooling fans; in this case, you can set the processor temperature value, upon reaching which an emergency power shutdown will occur (85, 90, 95 or 100 ° C). To overclock the system, it is possible to change the FSB frequency from 100 to 200 MHz, the memory bus frequency (50%, 60, 66, 75, 80, 83, 100, 120, 125, 133, 150, 166, 200% relative to the FSB frequency) , supply voltage of the processor core (from nominal 1.525 V - to 1.85 V in steps of 0.025 V), DIMM slots (from 2.7 (?!) to 3.2 V in steps of 0.1 V) and AGP- slots (from 1.5 to 2 V in 0.1 V increments).

MSI K7N2 (MS-6570)

MSI K7N2 motherboard, made in the ATX form factor with dimensions of 30.5 x 23 cm, traditional for boards from this company color scheme, is designed to work with any AMD SocketA processors (Duron, Athlon, Athlon XP) installed in a 462-pin processor socket. The NVIDIA nForce2 system logic chipset in the SPP (System Platform Processor) and MSP-T (Media and Communications Processor Turbo) chipset version was used as the basis for creating this motherboard model. The SPP chip, covered with an aluminum heatsink, makes it possible to use anything as a central processor model range desktop processors of the Athlon family, while supporting the system bus at a frequency of both 200 or 266 MHz (which corresponds to the physical FSB frequency of 100 and 133 MHz), and 333 MHz, which allows the use of the latest models of AMD Athlon XP processors operating at 333 MHz system bus. The northbridge graphics port controller meets the requirements of the AGP 3.0 specification, which makes it possible to install 1.5-volt graphics expansion cards with both AGP 4x and AGP 8x interfaces into the AGP slot equipped on the board, which it supports. Implementation GUI AGP 8x made it possible to increase the bandwidth of the graphics port bus from 1 to more than 2 GB/s. The north bridge memory controller makes it possible to use DIMM modules of DDR SDRAM memory specifications PC1600 (DDR 200), PC2100 (DDR 266), PC2700 (DDR 333) and the not yet recognized industry specification PC3200 (DDR 400) as RAM, for installations of which the board has three DIMM slots. Each memory slot supports memory modules up to 1 GB, thereby allowing a total RAM capacity of 3 GB. To organize the computer's disk subsystem, two IDE connectors are provided to the user, the operation of which is provided by a dual-channel IDE ATA133 controller integrated in the MCP-T south bridge chip, which allows you to connect up to four IDE devices with an ATA33/66/100/133 or ATAPI interface . This motherboard model supports six USB 2.0 ports, using the capabilities of the USB controller, also integrated on the MCP-T chip. Four of the six USB 2.0 ports we mentioned are located on the output panel of the board, and there is a pin connector on the board to connect two more. Support for 5.1 audio is implemented based on the capabilities of the Realtek ALC650 AC’97 audio codec. The communication capabilities of the motherboard are provided by a 100 Mbit Ethernet controller integrated into the south bridge chip, the physical layer of which is implemented using the ICS 1893AF chip. To connect to local area networks based on the 10/100Base-TX standard, there is an RJ-45 connector on the output panel of the board. The Winbond W83627HF chip is used as an input/output chip, supporting the operation of all standard interfaces and I/O ports, as well as standard features hardware monitoring. To further expand the functionality of systems built on the MSI K7N2 motherboard, it is equipped with five PCI 2.2 slots and one ACR slot. Noteworthy is the presence on the board of an additional processor power connector (often referred to as the P4 connector), which makes it necessary to use power supplies that comply with the ATX 2.03 specification. To conclude the description of the technical characteristics, let us mention the technology for protecting the processor from critical overheating (CPU Thermal Protection), implemented in this model of motherboard. The essence of this technology comes down to the fact that the signal from the processor temperature sensor is analyzed and when the threshold temperature value of the processor core is exceeded, the system power is turned off. Note that this technology can only be used when using AMD Athlon XP processors, since only they have an integrated thermal sensor (thermal diode).

As a basic I/O system for MSI boards K7N2 uses Phoenix-Award BIOS, through the settings menu of which you can make standard settings for the operation of computer subsystems and control the temperature and supply voltage at the most critical points; in this case, it is possible to determine the critical temperature of the processor core in the range from 50 to 70 ° C, upon reaching which the power will be applied sound signal(this is possible if the Warning_Beep function is enabled). For those who like to experiment with system settings in order to evaluate its overclocking capabilities, the BIOS Setup settings allow you to change the FSB frequency (from 100 to 200 MHz in 1 MHz steps), the AGP operating frequency (from 66 to 100 MHz), and set the FSB/DRAM ratio (1/ 1, 5/6, 4/5, 3/4, 2/3, 3/5, 1/2), thereby determining the memory bus frequency, processor core voltage (from 1.55 to 1.8 V in steps 0.025 V), supply voltage for AGP slots (from 1.5 to 1.7 V in steps of 0.1 V) and DIMM slots (from 2.5 to 2.7 V in steps of 0.1 V); It is also possible to change the multiplication factor, although this only has an effect for engineering (“unlocked”) processor models.

The motherboard package includes: an 80-wire IDE cable, a cable for connecting a floppy drive, an S-Bracket expansion bracket with two digital SPDIF outputs and two analog outputs (optional), and a D-Bracket expansion bracket that allows you to connect two additional USB ports and four LED indicators (optional). With this LED matrix diagnostics can be carried out and by the combination of indications (16 possible combinations) of LEDs one can judge whether the system has completed POST procedures and identify possible malfunctions. Also included is a CD-ROM with drivers and a traditional MSI set of utilities - MSI Live Updete 2 and PC Alert 4. The MSI Live Updete 2 utility will allow you to use the included tools to install the latest versions of drivers and BIOS firmware for the motherboard without the need to search on the Internet, and the PC Alert 4 utility will make it possible to monitor the main operating parameters of the system.

Soltek SL-75FRN-L

Soltek SL-75FRN-L motherboard is one of the lightweight models of the SL-75FRN series, which is included in the new Golden flame product line, so named due to the golden coating of the board surface. This coating, combined with yellow slots and connectors, makes the appearance of boards in this series quite impressive. This model of the motherboard is made in the ATX form factor and has dimensions of 30.5 x 24.5 cm. The basis for its creation was the NVIDIA nForce2 (SPP + MCP) system logic set. The north bridge chip (nForce2 SPP) is covered with a golden radiator equipped with a cooling fan. As RAM, you can use DIMM modules PC1600, PC2100, PC2700 or PC3200, for installation of which there are three DIMM slots on the board, with the maximum total amount of supported memory being 3 GB. The Soltek SL-75FRN-L motherboard provides operation with RAM in both single-channel and dual-channel modes. To activate these modes, you must use two memory module, one of which must be installed in the third DIMM slot. The AGP slot equipped on the board allows you to use 1.5-V graphics cards with an AGP 8x/4x interface as graphics expansion cards. To organize the computer's disk subsystem, the capabilities of a two-channel IDE controller integrated in the south bridge chip (MCP) are used, which allows you to connect up to four IDE devices with an ATA33/66/100/133 or ATAPI interface. Naturally, there is support for such a popular interface as USB 2.0, for which the capabilities of the USB controller, also integrated on the MCP chip, were used. This allows support for six USB 2.0 ports, two of which are on the output panel, and two pin connectors are provided on the board to connect four more. Support for 5.1 audio is implemented based on the capabilities of the Realtek ALC650 AC’97 audio codec. The communication capabilities of the motherboard are provided by a 100 Mbit Ethernet controller integrated into the south bridge chip, the physical layer of which is implemented using the ICS 1893AF chip. To connect to local computer networks, built on the basis of the 10/100Base-TX standard, there is an RJ-45 connector on the output panel of the board. The Winbond W83627HF chip is used as an I/O chip, supporting the operation of all standard interfaces and I/O ports, as well as standard hardware monitoring functions. To accommodate additional expansion cards to increase the functionality of the system, the Soltek SL-75FRN-L motherboard has five PCI 2.2 slots. Note that the board has an additional 12-volt processor power connector, which makes it necessary to use power supplies that meet the ATX 2.03 specification. Proprietary ABS II (Anti-Burn Shield) technology allows you to control the temperature of the central processor (for this purpose, a thermal sensor is located in the center of the processor socket) and speed fan rotation, and if the temperature threshold is exceeded, automatically turn off the system power.

The Phoenix-Award BIOS is used as the basic input/output system for this motherboard model, through the settings menu of which you can make standard settings for the operation of computer subsystems and control the temperature regime, as well as the supply voltage at the most critical points. At the same time, using proprietary ABS II technology, it is possible to determine the critical temperature of the processor core in the range from 75 to 100 ° C, upon reaching which the power will be turned off. In addition, the BIOS Setup settings allow you to change the FSB frequency (from 100 to 200 MHz in 1 MHz steps), set the memory bus frequency (50%, 60, 66, 75, 80, 83, 100, 120, 125, 133, 150, 166, 200% relative to the FSB frequency), processor core voltage from 1.1 to 1.85 V in steps of 0.025 V, power supply voltage for AGP slots (from 1.5 to 1.8 V in steps of 0.1 V) and DIMM -slots (from 2.5 to 2.8 V in increments of 0.1 V); It is also possible to change the multiplication factor, although this only has an effect for engineering (“unlocked”) processor models.

The board comes complete with an 80-wire IDE cable, a cable for connecting a floppy drive, a disk with a universal set of drivers, and a CD-ROM with useful utilities(PC-cillin 2002, VirtualDrive 7, RestoreIT! 3 Lite, PartitionMagic 6.0 SE, DriveImige 4.0) and brochure with detailed instructions on working with them.

Test results

Before considering the results shown by the tested motherboards, let's try to draw some conclusions regarding the dependence of system performance on the configuration and operating modes of the memory subsystem. To do this, a series of tests were carried out for the following memory subsystem configurations:

• dual-channel operating mode at a memory bus frequency of 166 MHz (synchronous mode), while two DDR SDRAM modules were used and timings were set to 2.5-2-2-6;
• dual-channel operating mode at a memory bus frequency of 200 MHz, using two DDR SDRAM modules with timings of 2.5-3-3-7;
• single-channel memory operating mode at a memory bus frequency of 166 MHz (synchronous mode), while one DDR SDRAM module was used and timings were set to 2.5-2-2-6.

The first tests carried out showed the complete failure of the configuration operating with memory at a frequency of 200 MHz.

As follows from the results presented (Table 3), operating the system with a memory bus frequency of 200 MHz not only does not bring dividends, but moreover, it reduces performance. This is primarily determined by the impossibility of using faster memory timings, since when trying to reduce them, the stability of the system is lost. This result is not a revelation at all, because even the chipset manufacturer indicates that minimal latencies for accessing the main memory are ensured when the memory bus and system bus operate synchronously, which is the case with the AMD Athlon XP 2600+ processor running on the system bus at FSB frequency at 166 MHz, achieved when working with PC2700 memory (DDR333). But nevertheless, the use of DDR400 memory modules allows you to increase performance computer system in synchronous mode by installing faster memory timings (this makes it possible to create the BIOS Setup menu for the motherboard), which we did without any damage to the stability of operation.

As for performance when using single- or dual-channel memory modes, the advantage here, of course, remains with the latter (Table 4). To be fair, we note that this increase is not that great and is observed only in applications that require frequent manipulation of data stored in RAM. Probably, the greatest effect from dual-channel memory will be obtained when using the capabilities of the integrated graphics core on motherboards built on the basis of the NVIDIA nForce2 chipset using the nForce2 IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) chip as the northbridge chip.

The results of tests of systems with different configurations of the memory subsystem led to the conclusion that the highest performance is ensured with a two-channel synchronous mode of operation of the memory bus. It was in this configuration that the motherboards participating in our testing were tested, the results of which are shown in table. 5 .

The final values ​​​​shown by the motherboards during the tests demonstrated how close the models presented in our testing are in performance. Often the difference in the results they showed did not exceed 1%, so the difference between the best (Soltek SL-75FRN-L) and the worst (Chaintech 7NJS) integral performance indicator determined from the test results was only 1.69%. Speaking about the performance of motherboards, it should be noted that according to the results shown during testing, the ASUS A7N8X motherboard turned out to be the best, but due to the fact that this model has a slightly higher FSB frequency than the nominal one (168.24 MHz versus the required 166.67 MHz), taking into account the correction factor motherboard Soltek SL-75FRN-L was able to get ahead of it (the difference in the integral performance indicator of these models was only 0.17%). But despite this, thanks to the highest functionality and relatively low price, the ASUS A7N8X motherboard has the highest integral quality indicator and is, in our opinion, a model with the best quality/price ratio.

Everything turned out in full accordance with the well-known saying - six months have not passed, and the Abit NF7 motherboard is NVIDIA chipset nForce2 is already being tested in our laboratory. I can’t even say why there was such a delay, I just didn’t get my hands on the board. During this time, I received many letters and there were several postings in the conference asking me to test this board. With a delay, but happy to fulfill requests. I'm interested in this motherboard myself.

The chipset does not require any special introduction; everyone is familiar with it. There are no additionally installed controllers on the board, only sound and LAN card. But it’s nice and useful that a fan is installed on the north bridge. By the way, the south bridge on this chipset also gets noticeably hot. I wonder if cooling it will help with overclocking or stability? Another innovation, however, already familiar to us from the Abit KD7 (VIA KT400) motherboard is a four-pin ATX12V connector on the motherboard for Athlon.

We immediately head to the BIOS and the SoftMenu III section is the first to greet us; there are some changes here.

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Now information about the type of processor and its frequency is displayed at the top. We can change the system bus frequency from 100 to 200 MHz in 1 MHz steps and then up to 237 MHz in variable steps. Multiplier – from x5 to x22. By the way, I checked that this motherboard, like the Abit KD7, can set multipliers higher than x12.5 for younger AMD Athlon XP processors, in particular for our 1700+, which “regular” motherboards from other manufacturers cannot.

Next comes the AGP Frequency parameter, which adjusts the frequency on AGP and varies from 66 to 99 MHz regardless of the system bus. However, in the photo above you can see a completely different parameter - OnChip VGA Frequency. The fact is that the first time I turned on this board with a PCI video card, this parameter appeared instead of AGP Frequency. Apparently it is intended for boards with integrated video, like the Abit NF7-M. This parameter can change from 100 to 123 MHz in 1 MHz steps, can we really change the operating frequency of the integrated video card? Interesting!

The next parameter, CPU FSB/DRAM Ratio, allows you to set the memory operating frequency relative to the processor bus frequency. By default, the memory frequency is set according to SPD, but there are ample opportunities for manually selecting the frequency: 3/3, 3/4, 3/5, 3/6, 4/3, 4/4, 4/5, 4/6, 5 /3, 5/4, 5/5, 5/6, 6/3, 6/4 and 6/6. Conveniently, it is not necessary to calculate the resulting memory operating frequency; it is displayed in the BIOS and changes when the FSB or CPU FSB/DRAM Ratio divider is changed. So in the photo you can see that with an FSB of 133 MHz and a divider of 4/5, we get memory operation of 166 MHz, like DDR333 (133/4*5=166*2=333).

The CPU Interface parameter is not familiar to us, but apparently it is an analogue of the Enhance For Benchmark parameter on other boards from Abit. By default, it is set to the value and uses “most stable CPU/FSB parameters”; if you set it to the value, then more aggressive parameters are used.

This board, although it does not belong to the “MAX” series of products, is, like most models based on the NVIDIA nForce2 chipset from other manufacturers, highly functional and ready to satisfy all the needs of a modern user.

The scope of delivery includes:

• Packaging: standard design box;
• Documentation: motherboard user manual in 6 languages, including Russian;
• Cables: one Serial ATA, one ATA66/100/133 and a cable for connecting a disk drive;
• ABIT Serillel adapter for connecting ATA devices with a Serial ATA cable;
• Power splitter for connecting the Serillel adapter;
• A bracket for the back panel of a computer with 2 USB ports;
• A bracket for the rear panel of a computer with 2 IEEE 1394 ports;
• Blank for the rear panel of the board;
• Floppy disk with drivers for the Serial ATA controller;
• CD containing software including:
  • drivers necessary for the board to operate;
  • user manuals for the company's motherboards based on NVIDIA chipsets;
  • DirectX 8.1;
  • system monitoring utility;
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader.

The layout of the board, unfortunately, is far from ideal, but this is an inevitable price to pay for the integrated capabilities and standard size. The case contains inconvenient connectors for audio inputs, power supply, IDE and SATA and outputs for brackets with peripheral ports, and when a video card is inserted, it is inconvenient to manipulate memory modules and the IDE cable in the corresponding connectors. Access to the only available jumper is not difficult even when installing the board into the case, short description its functionality is shown on the PCB board.

In three-channel pulse stabilizer The processor supply voltage uses 6 capacitors of 2200 μF and 4 of 1200 μF.

The following controllers are integrated on the board:

• audio, implemented based on the capabilities of the chipset and the Avance Logic ALC650 AC"97 codec, with the ability to connect 5.1 audio systems and a connector for connecting front audio inputs/outputs;
• network, implemented based on the capabilities of the chipset, with support for 10BaseT/100BaseTX;
• Serial ATA RAID controller based on the Silicon Image Sil3112ACT144 chip, with the ability creating a RAID levels 0 and 1 via SATA150 protocol;
• IEEE1394 bus controller, implemented based on the capabilities of the chipset.

Not soldered, but located on the board: TV-Out connector (it will appear in the model version with an integrated video adapter).

The board uses the system monitoring capabilities of the Winbond W83627HF-AW chip. Controlled by:

• processor voltage, AGP bus, +3.3, ±5 and ±12 V, VBAT and +5 V Standby;
• rotation speed of 3 fans;
• temperature of the processor (built-in processor sensor) and board (built-in sensor on the board).

The board has 2 connectors for adjustable fan connections and 2 for unregulated ones (one of them is connected to the fan on the northbridge radiator of the chipset).

Brief characteristics of the board: memory connectors 3 DDR SDRAM; expansion slots AGP/ 5 PCI; I/O ports 2 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 2 IEEE1394/ 6 USB 2.0; dimensions 305x245 mm.

The board is configured:

Using jumpers and switches	Clear CMOS jumper
From a BIOS based on AwardBIOS 6.00PG from Phoenix	Memory timing settings	+	Row-Active Delay, RAS to CAS Delay, Row Precharge Delay, CAS Latency
	Selecting memory frequency	+	FSB:DRAM = By SPD, 3:3, 3:4, 3:5, 3:6, 4:3, 4:5, 4:6, 5:3, 5:4, 5:6, 6:3 , 6:4, 6:5
	Configuring the AGP bus	-
	Setting up work PCI buses	-
	Ability to change the frequency divider for AGP and PCI buses	+	6699 MHz in 1 MHz steps
	Manual assignment of interrupts to slots	+
	Changing the FSB frequency	+	100×237 MHz in steps of 1, 2, 3 and 5 MHz
	Changing the processor multiplier	+	x5x22
	Changing CPU Core Voltage	+	1.11.85 V in steps of 0.025 V
	Changing Memory Voltage	+	2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 V
	Changing chipset voltage	+	1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 V
	Changing the AGP bus voltage	+	1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 V

Used BIOS version 10, as the last one available at the time of testing.

The board fully corresponds to the most advanced chipset for AMD processors at the moment, providing the widest range of overclocking and customization options, excellent speed and a large number of different controllers.

Another board Abit-NF7-M is based on the nForce2 IGP + MCP2 combination, i.e. has built-in GeForce4 MX class graphics. This copy is much less interesting due to the high price and outdated, by today's standards, level of graphics.

But after the first enthusiastic responses, users gradually realized that the chipset has its own characteristics, and not all of its capabilities are fully realized. Well, let's continue to gain experience - before us is the Abit NF7-S board.

Specification of Abit NF7-S

Abit NF7-S
CPU	- AMD AthlonAthlon XP with bus frequency 100/133/166 MHz; - AMD Duron with a bus frequency of 100 MHz; - Socket 462 connector
nVidia nForce II chipset	- Northbridge nForce2 SPP; - South bridge nForce2 MCP-T; - Bus between bridges - HyperTransport (800 MB/s);
System memory	- Three 184-pin slots for DDR SDRAM DIMM - Maximum memory capacity 3 GB - PC1600/2100/2700/3200 memory type supported - 128-bit dual-channel memory access possible
Graphic arts	- AGP slot supporting 4X8X mode
Expansion options	- Five 32-bit PCI Bus Master slots; - Six USB 2.0 ports (2 built-in + 4 additional); - Two IEEE1394 (Firewire) ports - Built-in sound nForce2 APU; - Network controller nForce2
Overclocking options	- Change the FSB frequency from 100 to 237 MHz in 1 MHz steps; multiplier change; - Change the voltage on the processor, memory, chipset and AGP; - Abit SoftMenu III
Disk subsystem	- 2 UltraDMA/100/66/33 Bus Master IDE channels (supporting up to 4 ATAPI devices) - SerialATA protocol support (2 channels) - Support LS-120/ZIP/ATAPI CD-ROM
BIOS	- 2MBit Flash ROM - Award BIOS Phoenix with support for Enhanced ACPI, DMI, Green, PnP Features and Trend Chip Away Virus
Miscellaneous	- One FDD port, two serial and one parallel ports, PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports - STR (Suspend to RAM) - SPDIF Out
Power management	- Wake from modem, mouse, keyboard, network, timer and USB - Standard 20-pin ATX power connector (ATX-PW) - Additional 4-pin power connector
Monitoring	- Monitoring processor temperature, voltage, three fan speeds
Size	- ATX form factor, 245mm x 305mm (9.63" x 12")

Box

The box is decorated in the traditional Abit style: red tones, Formula 1 car. However, there is a sticker with information about the presence of a ParallelATA->SerialATA adapter.

Let me remind you that Abit was the only company that benefited from the widespread introduction of SerialATA controllers. The trick was simple - this adapter comes with the board.

As a result, the user has the opportunity to connect a regular hard drive to a SerialATA channel. However, the real effect of this is insignificant: the whole point is that today's models hard drives enough bandwidth ATA100 (not to mention ATA133).

Equipment

• Motherboard
• CD with software and drivers
• ATA-133 cable, FDD cable
• SerialATA cable + adapter Abit Serillel
• User manual in English
• Bracket with 2 additional USB2.0 ports
• Bracket with 2 additional IEEE1394 ports
• Plug for the rear panel of the case
• Floppy disk with drivers for the SerialATA controller.

The rest of the equipment is standard: cables, SerialATA cable, plug for the rear panel of the board, manual and CD with drivers.

There are two brackets included: one with two Firewire ports, the other with 2 USB ports. In addition, the kit includes a 3" floppy disk with drivers for the SerialATA controller.

As for the user manual, it is very high quality and competent. The first part of the guide is a short introduction in several languages ​​(including Russian), then there is detailed description connectors and jumpers. The description of the BIOS settings is very complete, although I did not find a description of the CPU Thermal Throttling parameter.

According to some information, this is a very interesting parameter, with which you can enable a mechanism to protect the processor from overheating. If the temperature exceeds a certain threshold, the processor begins to “skip clock cycles,” thereby reducing the load on the processor due to a drop in performance. However, in practice I did not notice real work This mechanism is quite possibly implemented in processors based on the Barton core.

One way or another, a separate review will be devoted to this issue in the near future.

And finally, the user manual has a section dedicated to installing drivers and other software.

There are some shortcomings in the user manual. In particular, there is no clear description of the memory configuration. Even the schematic image of the board does not quite correctly show the location of the slots, and the description itself does not give a clear answer to the question - in what configuration the dual-channel access will work.

Now about the CD - besides the drivers for the board, there is no additional software on it. Speaking of drivers, it is highly recommended to use drivers version 2.00 or higher ( latest version as of 10/02/2003 it is 2.03). They provide the highest level of performance.

Abit NF7-S board

The board is somewhat different from other Abit products. In appearance it looks more like a reference board from nVidia. However, the origin of the board is revealed by the original-shaped cooler installed on the north bridge.

The dimensions of the board are quite large (24.5 by 30 cm), and this moment causes some inconvenience when assembling the system. Both power connectors (main and additional) are not installed in the most optimal way - closer to the center of the board. However, they are located nearby and can be combined into one bundle. And so that the cables do not interfere with air circulation, they can be attached to the wall of the case. But unfortunately, the board does not come with a set of clamps like the AT7 MAX2 board on the KT400.

The processor socket is located very close to the edge of the board, and after installing the board in the case, installing many cooler models will be difficult.

There are special protective strips under the socket teeth to prevent the board from being damaged by a mounting clip or a slipped screwdriver.

As for the free space around the socket, it is quite enough to install massive coolers. And the presence of 4 mounting holes allows you to install various exotic cooling systems.

As for support for the built-in Athlon XP thermal sensor, in this respect the Abit NF7(-S) board is completely similar to the Epox 8RDA(+) board. In particular, the user cannot obtain information about the core temperature (either through the BIOS or through special utilities). However, according to Abit, the NF7(-S) board has hardware protection against overheating - CPU H.T.P. (Hardware Thermal Protection), which turns off the system when it reaches 110C (by the way, the user can change this parameter - details in the “System Monitoring” section).

Next, the Abit NF7(-S) board has three connectors for connecting conventional fans and one connector for connecting a fan on the chipset. Their location is not the best: CPUFAN is installed near the processor socket (as it should be), but CHAFAN and PWRFAN are installed on both sides of the main power connector. As a result, connecting fans to the latter is inconvenient - the power cables get in the way.

But the fact that a fan is used to cool the northbridge is a big plus Abit boards NF7(-S). Let's start with the fact that the north bridge of the nForce2 chipset gets very hot.

Moreover, at frequencies of 166 MHz and higher, the radiator simply gets hot - :) I first noticed this on the Epox 8RDA+ board, then the radiator on the chipset seemed hot to me. But when I removed the radiator, removed the thermal pad, which looked very much like chewing gum, and reinstalled the radiator on the KPT-8, the aluminum radiator began to burn my fingers.

So, apparently, such problems do not affect Abit NF7(-S). The cooler is mounted on more or less high-quality thermal paste and is capable of cooling the chipset at any frequency.

In any case, checking how well the northbridge cooling is implemented is an integral stage of assembling any nForce II system.

Now about the memory configuration. The NF7(-S) board has three DIMM slots: a separate slot is DIMM No. 3, which belongs to the first memory bank, and next to it are DIMM No. 1 and DIMM No. 2 slots, which belong to the second memory bank. This is such an unusual configuration :)

Let me remind you that nForce II is a dual-channel chipset, and to obtain maximum performance it is necessary to have identical modules in the first and second bank memory.

Those. Specifically for NF7-S, we install one module in DIMM No. 3, and the second in either DIMM No. 1 or DIMM No. 2. However, when upgrading, you should take into account the fact that even in single-channel mode, the nForce II board is faster than any VIA creation (KT333 or KT400).

Unfortunately, there is no LED to indicate the presence of voltage on the memory. As for the problem of the video card blocking the DIMM latches, it can only arise with very long cards. For example, my Ti4200 doesn't even reach the first DIMM slot.

By the way, please note that the AGP slot is equipped with a latch that firmly holds the video card in the slot. This is especially important for cards with massive cooling devices.

By the way, a few words about the AGP slot.

Like all nForce II boards, we can only install 1.5 V video cards in the NF7-S AGP standard 4X or AGP 8X.

Now about the expansion possibilities. The Abit NF7-S board has five PCI slots.

In addition, the PCB design allows for the installation of a SerialATA controller.

Expansion options

As for the SerialATA controller, we have an already familiar face: the two-channel Silicon Image Sil3112A. As a result, the user can connect 2 SerialATA devices. Moreover, if this hard disks, that is, it is possible to combine them into RAID array: RAID0 and RAID1 levels supported.

In addition to SerialATA devices, we can connect regular IDE devices. For this purpose, 2 connectors are installed on the NF7(-S). Both are painted the same, but have gaps and explanatory inscriptions between them.

Now about serial bus support. So, the Abit NF7-S board has 6 USB ports, two of which are located on the rear panel of the board, and another 4 are connected using brackets (only one bracket with 2 ports is included in the kit).

In addition, the board supports the IEEE-1394 serial bus ("Firewire") - two ports, both implemented in the form of a bracket, which is included in the kit.

I note that support for both standards is implemented in south bridge. For the physical wiring of FireWire, a Realtek RTL8801B chip is used.

And lastly, the Abit NF7-S board has built-in six-channel audio: the ALC650 codec is used for physical wiring. In addition, the board has a Realtek RTL8201BL (10100Mbit) network controller, which also represents a physical interface network function nForce II MCP.

Now let's look at the built-in sound. I am usually not satisfied with the quality of the built-in audio, and on most boards testing its operation is kept to a minimum. But when I became familiar with the characteristics of the nForce II sound core, I decided to pay more attention to this issue.

As a result, when testing the Epox 8RDA+ board, I did not notice any difference between the built-in audio and the external Creative Live 5.1 board. Sound quality and CPU load were the same. As a result, I left the Live 5.1 card gathering dust on the shelf :)

But when testing the Abit NF7-S board, I had to return the external sound card. The thing is that when connecting speakers/headphones to the built-in sound output, noise was constantly heard, which greatly interfered with the perception of music. All the dancing with tambourines, drivers and bios did not lead to the removal of interference :(.

This is perhaps the most important drawback of the Abit NF7-S board.

Let's look at the back panel of the board.

It is easy to notice that there is no GAME port. But there is an SPDIF output.

Traditional circuit of jumpers on the board:

On the Abit NF7(-S) board there is only one jumper (with a plastic tail:) CCMOS1 - designed to reset CMOS (located near the battery).

Now let's talk about BIOS settings.

BIOS

The board's BIOS is based on Phoenix Award v6.00PG.

This is the second board based on nForce II. And what’s interesting to note is that I glanced at reviews of other motherboards on this chipset, and noticed that all BIOS settings, in particular memory settings, are exactly the same whether it’s a Chaintech, Epox or Leadtek board.

But Abit programmers have slightly altered the BIOS, dividing the settings responsible for the processor frequency and memory timings. As a result, the memory settings section looks like this:

So, we can adjust all the main timings (which are Active(Trp), Active to precharge(Tras) and Active to CMD(Trcd)) within very wide limits. But more fine settings, the nForce 2 chipset is not offered to the user.

It is interesting to pay attention to the parameter for selecting the memory frequency.

On all nForce2 boards, the choice of memory frequency is implemented as a percentage relationship between the memory frequency and the processor bus (FSB) frequency. The Abit NF7-S board has the same set of ratios, but it looks a little different.

The interesting thing is that the synchronous mode can be selected as 33, 44, 55 or 66 :))

As for system monitoring, this section of the Abit NF7-S board's BIOS is very comprehensive, with the exception of the internal thermal sensor.

In addition, the user has access to information about the rotation speed of all three fans; There are readings of all voltages (including battery voltage). You can also set the value of the critical processor temperature, upon reaching which the system will turn off, and the temperature at which an audible warning will sound.

But the ability to set your own threshold for triggering hardware protection of the processor from overheating (Abit CPU H.T.P.) is located in the SoftMenu III section. Available values: 85C, 95C, 100C and 110C

Overclocking and stability

Almost immediately after the release of motherboards based on nForce II, they became the subject of increased interest from overclockers and computer enthusiasts. This was facilitated by greater flexibility in choosing the operating frequencies of the processor and memory, as well as the fact that the PCI bus frequency is strictly locked at 33 MHz.

All this, in principle, made it possible to increase the FSB frequency as much as possible. However, the first experiments with the Epox 8RDA+ board revealed the fact that the system was extremely reluctant to operate at frequencies above 170 MHz in synchronous dual-channel mode. It was not in vain that I emphasized the fact that the memory operates at the same frequency as the processor bus. Together with dual-channel memory access, this combination provides the highest performance indicators. And it was not by chance that I remembered the Epox 8RDA+ board - numerous users of this board noticed the fact that the obstacle to further overclocking (more than 200 MHz) is the motherboard itself, and specifically unstable work chipset on high frequencies Oh.

In most such situations, a slight increase in the Vio voltage (voltage on the chipset) helps, but unfortunately the Epox board does not have this option (as a result, hardcore overclockers are forced to modify the board - solder a 700 Ohm - 1 KOhm resistance to the IRU3037 chip).

But the user of the Abit NF7-S board can increase the voltage on the chipset to 1.7V from the standard 1.5V.

Naturally, with increased voltage, the north bridge will heat up even more, but let me remind you that the NF7 has active cooling of the chipset.

Undoubtedly this function very useful for overclocking, which cannot be said about other functions.

Let's start with the fact that the maximum voltage on the processor is only 1.85 V. This is completely insufficient for overclocking processors with the Palomino core. As for the more popular Athlon XP models with Thoroughbred A and B cores, the latter have standard voltages of 1.5V and 1.65V. For overclocking these processors, the maximum Vcore = 1.85V also looks unconvincing, and in many cases will not allow you to squeeze the maximum out of the processor.

As for increasing the memory voltage, another disappointment awaits us here - the maximum Vmem value is 2.7V.

Let me remind you that the most efficient memory operating mode on the nForce II board is synchronous. As a result, with serious overclocking, the memory will operate at frequencies of 200 MHz and higher, and at such frequencies, even overclocking memory may require an increase in Vmem voltage by +0.3V, not to mention cheaper/available memory.

In conclusion, I would like to mention the possibility of increasing the voltage on the AGP bus. The change range is from 1.5V to 1.8V (in 0.1V steps).

So, evaluating all the possibilities for overclocking, we can draw the following conclusion. The Abit NF7-S board has a full set of overclocking tools, but is not suitable for serious overclocking due to the small voltage increase range on the memory (Vmem) and the average voltage increase range on the processor (Vcore).

We wait new version BIOS?

Now about practical overclocking. Despite the fact that the board allows you to change the FSB frequency from 100 to 237 MHz, I was only able to achieve stable operation at 195 MHz in dual-channel synchronous mode. Without a doubt, with better memory I could increase the FSB frequency.

Such a wide range is explained by the fact that to encode the multiplication coefficient, Abit uses not 4 bits, like most manufacturers, but 5 bits (5 Bit Frequency ID (FID)). As a result, the Abit NF7(-S) board has support for all existing processors and those planned for release.

By the way, our board supports processors with the Barton core, the official announcement of which will take place tomorrow - February 11th. This support appeared in the latest BIOS No. 13

As for the stability of operation, during testing there were no complaints about the NF7-S board. This is explained by a high-quality power converter, a 3-phase circuit is used and six capacitors with a capacity of 2200 μF and 4 of 1200 μF are installed.

Performance

To compare performance, I chose the Epox 8RDA+ board on the nVidia nForce2 chipset.

The following equipment was used in the test system:

Test equipment
CPU	AMD Athlon XP Processor (Thoroughbred-A)
Video card	Ti4200 (315600) on NVidia GeForce4 64Mb chip nVidia Detonator v40.41
Sound card	Creative Live 5.1
HDD	IBM DTLA 307030 30Gb
Memory	256 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM, manufactured by Samsung
Frame	Inwin506 with PowerMan 300W power supply
OS	Windows 2000 English

So, performance measurements took place in the most severe mode for the board: FSB frequency = 166 MHz; memory frequency = 166 MHz, and the following operating timings were set:

In addition, we note the rich configuration of the board, which, in addition to all the necessary brackets, includes an Abit Serillel adapter.

But in the area of ​​overclocking there are some disadvantages. This primarily concerns low values ​​of Vcore and Vmem. As a result, the overclocker must purchase very high-quality memory with a guarantee of operation at high frequencies. And the dependence on the quality of a particular processor instance becomes stronger.

As some compensation, we have a voltage boost function on the chipset, which allows us to achieve higher operating frequencies in dual-channel synchronous mode.

And finally, we look at the price of the board, which is ~$130 (according to price.ru) for the NF7-S model. In my opinion, the board fully corresponds to this price. In addition, Abit’s assortment includes a cheaper model NF7 (~113$), without a SerialATA controller (and, accordingly, without a Serillel adapter:).

Conclusion

Pros:

• Good stability and performance;
• 2-channel SerialATA-RAID controller;
• Built-in 6-channel audio (nForce APU) and network;
• USB2.0 (6 ports) and IEEE-1394 (Firewire; 2 ports) interface support;
• Hardware overheat protection - Abit H.T.P.
• Rich equipment.

Minuses:

• The built-in sound is noisy.
• Minor flaws in the BIOS and manual.

Board Features:

• Overclocking capabilities are relatively weak.