Legit Reviews

I know both are great boards & both have SATA RAID, Soundstorm, etc... but which one has the best overclocking options/results? say to get a 2500+ to >2.2GHz with air cooling

Its hard to decide btwn the 2 because the price difference is $5.

Either would do fine - just make sure that if you get the Abit, it's a rev 2.0 - the earlier ones were a problem. Most people are getting the 2500+ up to 2.4g and beyond just on air.

I've used the NF7 and KV7 from ABIT with my 2500+ and both overclock fine. I'm running it at 2.3GHz on air and it still has more. I've heard great things for both. Check to see which has a better bundle

Both will do the job just fine...I'd be leaning towards the Abit.

But, I'll quote something from the forum one of the PC shops I purchase stuff from..

"i wouldnt recommend the asus currently, we have had far too many warranties on that board lately

there seems to be a problem for customers after they make changes in the bios and try to save it, the board no longer posts"

This is refering to the A7N8X Deluxe. It was the first I've heard of such problems. Maybe it's just n00bs who have no idea what they are doing in bios, or maybe it's a real problem.

Well if that is from a shop you have purchased stuff from before and trust then you might want to take their word on it. Although I know some owners of shops and every so often a shipment will get damaged on the way. Guess your going ABIT then ;)

I Have a A7N8X Deluxe, and Ive flashed it, and changed a million settings in the BIOS no problems at all.

Also a maet with one, same thing.

Both Rev 2.0 boards.

I have my 2600+ @ 200x11.5 (2304Mhz reported) 24/7....

Thanx for the reply guys
I'll go with Abit then because of all the o/cing results & cheap price.
Both have the same features don't they?
Asus has dual LAN doesn't it? What about Abit?

The NF7-S hasn't got dual LAN.
I believe most of the BIOS issues that are being refered to are with early revisions of the nForce 2.
I fubared a 1.2rev NF7-S changing the CL settings on my Corsair XMS3500 - the problem doesn't exist with the rev2.0. I believe you'll find the situation is similar for the Asus.

In all honesty, the NF7-S and A7N8X Deluxe are identical in features except for the Dual LAN. They even use the same SATA RAID controller.

I chose the NF7-S because of all the good stories I read about it when purchasing, but that was just my personal preference.

I didn't need Dual LAN either

To take advantage of the Gigabit Lan the other pc's NIC has to be Gigabit as well, right?
Otherwise it will be 100Mbits isn't it?
You use dual Lan only if you want to network 3 pc's right? Otherwise the normal Lan should be enough, yeah?

I have the nf7-s and am wondering which cpu to go with... I am really interested in a 2500 since people are getting it to 3200 speeds. Im exactly what you would call a noob so Im gonna need help one what to do as well as what not to do. Also, is 350 watts enough?

what is the slowest amd chip I could go with to get the fsb to 400? Without doing anything major?

2500+ Barton is the cheapest way to go for the AXP platform still.

Our Dealtime Site shows it for $79.99 with 2-day free shipping

Not a bad price and almost all of them have the ability to hit 400FSB with no increase in voltage.

Cool, how do I tell which barton to get rather it is unlocked or not? Or can I get the fsb to 400 w/o overclocking the speed?

All new barton's are locked currently. This changed back in early week 40 CPU's, but you can get around the locking of them.

Take a look at: http://www.cpuid.com/clockgen.php

Even with a locked barton you should be able to hit 200FSB without many issues. Just bump up the FSB to 200MHz and then raise the voltage (if needed) till the system is stable.

i know this is a late post but i have to get my 2cents in. I am using the ABIT and i love this board but i would recomend the DFI infinity with a 2500+M. the DIF is an nf2 mobo that can hit ~250 FSB with a unlocked chip. seeing as all the xp's are now locked you have to spend a bit more $$ on the mobile xp's. but its worth it the run at lower voltage and are factory unlocked. alot of people are haveing very good overclocking results with the 2400+m and the 2500+m. Some as high as 2.8ghz on air and 3ghz using phase changers. if overclocking is not your cup of tea and quiet is well then this still the combo for you. depending on what im doing i keep my cpu oc'ed to either 2.4 or 1.5 the difference is that at 1.5ghz i run at 1.2v with my fan spining at only 1300 rpm making it so quiet that it can sit on my desk with out a case and the hd is louder.