Hi all
Im happily typing this on my New Nforce2 box.
I recently moved house so im saving this to a USB dongle to be posted tomorrow.
I decided to try just swapping my 8k3a+ out with the Nforce2, not supprisingly this didnt work, so ive had install winXP. I have been running win2K previously but I thought id give winXP a try.
WinXP install and Nforce drivers was dead easy untill it came to Radeon drivers, in that without a internet connection I dont have any, DOH!!!, so my testing has been somewhat limited untill tomorrow.
As most of my 3D benchmarks dont work, so I only have sandra (eugh...) and sciencemark.
So onto overclocking (holst spies several forum members salivating, eughh.. )
Im running
Watercooled MP2200
256mb Corshair 2300 cas-2.5
8RDA+
Radeon 8500
Sparkle 400watt
Maxtor +9 80gb, IBM 16gb
Plextor CDRW, matshi*tsu DVD.
Onboard sound and lan.
In the bios FSB is ajustabe from 100 to 200, Vmem to 2.9, Vagp to 1.8, VCPU to 2.2, also various memory deviders, agp frequency ajustable and memory timings (plus some things ive forgotten)
CPU was unlocked (Thanks ET) so 5 to 12.5 multi was avalable.
Im an inpatient bugger so i went straight for the jugular, 200fsb.
To my supprise I set the FSB to 200 multiplyer to 10 , memory to sync and timings to slow, and it booted into windows stable
KICK ASS!!!
My memory isnt the best, so it would only run Agressive 6,3,3,2.
Im confident that with the right memory 200 @ Agressive 1,1,1,2 will be possible.
So I cranked the CPU upto 11.5x200 but it wasnt totaly stable
In then end ive dropped the FSB to 195 and increased timings to 6.2.2.2
I loathe running sisoft memory so I ran it once, getting 3050, seems pretty good for 195
Sciencemark seems very fast, beating my previous best scores on 8k3a+ 1900mhz by loads with the same memory.
If i can work out how to take a screenshot in WinXP ill take one.
Bios im using is the one that came with the board, ill have a poke about for a better one. I think there is allready an update on the website
Im also using the drivers that came with the board, im not sure if these are the same as the ones on Nvidia.com
Needless to say ill be DLing allot at work then ripping a few CD's of drivers and bios to play with tomorrow.
Im also only using one memory stick, If I can find another that will
OC well, then ill have a go with two.
Memory is currently in DIMM-1.
Ive still to play with AGP frequency/voltage.
As for features,,
Sound quality is very good, as are the provided drivers. My SBlive5.1 wont be used again.
Im not a great audiophile but even I can tell that this is far superior.
Temperatures seem like the insocket diode, but overtemperature is run from the Internal diode, using a similar system to 85a/9a boards where shutdown is indipendant of ACPI, and as such faster and more reliable, in my mind this is a small price to pay for the loss of diode reading.
Northbridge dosent seem to get warm (no magic light or rounded cables BTW) southbridge does get warm, but not so that it afftect stability at all (even at 200) there is no SB heatsink.
Three fan headers on the board, two at the top between DIMM 3 and the CPU, another at the bottom of the board just below the firewire ports, nice header locations.
My watercooling fitted easily (mounting using the four holes around the socket) im using a OCPC Atlantis waterblock at the moment.
There is also ample room for a NB block, I do have one but havent fitted it yet.
Theres not much else I can say at the moment, if you have any questions please ask away (dont ask for a bios update)
Ill be back tomorrow with some more thorough overclocking and some 3dmarks and numbers.
Heres that sciencemark screenshot.
Can anybody beat this with a similar CPU on any board ?