Whatever you do, do not buy an nforce 4 mainboard

[sailer]

(4Ryan and I were running neck to neck in who could have the worst luck with Asus A8N series MB's...) But none ever had temps that caused me grief prior to their various failures. Oh well, guess my nf4 days are numbered anyway, what I have will last me just fine until x38 and penryns release.

Seems a bit late to be warning people of a problem that seems to only bother you...

Might as well add me to that. 4Ryan4 and I have discussed this many times. I went through four ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe boards before I found one that worked right.

As for the NF4, it was a decent set in my opinion. Its outmoded now, so unless someone was just buying one to keep their old system running a while longer before doing a build, there's no reason to buy it. I found the NF4 on the DFI board to be solid. No troubles there.

 

[Jakc]

owner of an asus a8n e nforce4ultra board
rock solid 33 C max temp on full load ....overclocks well..guess you got a dud mobo

That is what I first thought, but then checking the temps at friends who also had nforce 4 MB's, and looking online, showed that my MB is not an exception.
I wonder how yours can run so cool.
What memory do you use, and is the 33C the CPU, the northbridge or the southbridge?

 

[frankienyc123]

Ok first off the Nforce4 chipset is an older chipset so you cant compare it to the new chipsets. In its day the NF4 was pretty much the #1 chipset for AMD systems. Im running an older S939 system using a DFI Lanparty NF4 Ultra-D and an AMD 4200x2 and i havent had a single problem with it in the two years ive had the system, stability has been perfect even when overclocking. It does run a bit warm, but not to the point of instability. To say that NF4 is a poor overclocker is just nonsense, there are many other variables that come into play when overclocking its not just the chipset.

Maybe you guys just got bad mobos. But to say NF4 is bad just because you had one bad expereince is just crazy. Maybe you should be blaming Asus for not putting sufficeint cooling for the chipset? You might want to look into a decent chipset cooler
http://www.thermalright.com/default.htm
http://www.swiftnets.com/

 

[Jakc]

First of all, the geforce 6150 with the 430 southbridge is for sale today, and direct competitor to the new AMD 690 chipset, and second I think if you read my posts, I did say I was not the onlyone to experience these problems.
More than just one bad MB.

If asus does not use the required cooling on chipsets, than that's ridiculous. You shouldn't have to glue vents to your motherboard to get some stability.

 

[ethel]

My GA-K8NF-9 does run hot, but it's got a passive heatsink and has never caused me any problems.

It also overclocks very well (330MHz) so I'm extremely happy with it and would recommend it to anyone.

So the title of this thread: 'Whatever you do, do not buy an nforce 4 mainboard' is totally over the top.

Although as others have posted it's an old chipset so who cares anyway?

 

[anticupidon]

That is what I first thought, but then checking the temps at friends who also had nforce 4 MB's, and looking online, showed that my MB is not an exception.
I wonder how yours can run so cool.
What memory do you use, and is the 33C the CPU, the northbridge or the southbridge?

well first of all i replaced the chipset cooler with a passive heatsink zalman ZM-NBF47
cpu on idle 33 C i have an artic freezer64 and mobo also 33 34 on idle
i have an amd athlon 3200 venice oc to 2500
memory 2x512 kingston400mhz

 

[Shadow703793]

Lol. Irrelevant. The chipset is too old for may to care about.

 

[ALANMAN]

Yep, my GA-K8N PRO is the best Motherboard i've ever owned, and guess what? it has an Nforce 4 chipset in it.

 

[Jakc]

I don't know about you, but over here geforce 6150 motherboards get sold every day.

 

[Jakc]

Maybe the problems only arise when it comes to DDR2 motherboards with nforce 4 chipsets on it?

 

[ALANMAN]

Are you trying to prove you're an idiot? 'Cause we already know.

 

[Jakc]

An idiot for having a motherboard that overheats? Or an idiot for trying to find out why all people that I know IRL that own an nforce 4 have similar problems as me, yet in this thread many say it runs fine.

Nah idiotic would be joining this thread to say your nforce board is the best board ever, without explaining what kind of fans and coolers you use.
Your input has even less worth than your attempts at flaming.

 

[ALANMAN]

hahahaha, well, if anything your reply humors me. i think i'll let this one go, not worth my time.

 

[Jakc]

Oh comon Alan, don't disappoint me now...
If giving more information about your "best motherboard ever" setup (aka contributing to the thread) is really that big of a task for you, how about you at least try to make a flame that is somewhat amusing?

 

[Guest]

I use an nforce 4 SLI board with no problems. I've always had additional fans to ensure good airflow through my system though, generally 1 in the front and back, depending on the case.

 

[einheriar]

Is it just me, or is this thread about a VERY old chipset that no one will be buying anymore anyway...

FYI I just bought an asrock am2nf3 , an AGP NF3 motherboard for a cheap AM2 set-up. Mind the chipset is older than the NF4, who knows what new motherboard will come out using the NF4 in times to come.

 

[croc]

Might as well add me to that. 4Ryan4 and I have discussed this many times. I went through four ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe boards before I found one that worked right.

As for the NF4, it was a decent set in my opinion. Its outmoded now, so unless someone was just buying one to keep their old system running a while longer before doing a build, there's no reason to buy it. I found the NF4 on the DFI board to be solid. No troubles there.

Ok, you win.... I gave up after two a8n -sli deluxe and one a8n-32 deluxe...

But DFI's rock. Solid, that is...

 

[leo2kp]

I've built four NForce4 PCs with no more than an intake/exhaust fan and they're all running perfectly fine. One of them is in a friend's PC which she uses for nearly 24/7 raiding on EQ2. Another one is in another friend's PC which is also used for gaming with an intake/exhaust fan and I have the CPU OC'd 300mhz (not a huge OC but still lol).

Of course, I was smart and bought all EVGA boards which came with active cooling on the south-bridge (😵)

Ya know, it's funny cuz I'm looking at a JetWay board, which I've never heard of before, but it looks exactly like the EVGA NF4 boards lol. Hm...weird.

 

[Onus]

The chipset cooler on my Abit KN8-Ultra (NF4) began shrieking in less than a year, so I replaced it. It has a large passive cooler on it now. Although stable, it is not overclocked but does seem a little warm (upper 40s after half a day of Guild Wars; CPU hits 57c now).

 

[Jakc]

Thanks for all the info guys.
It seems like nforce 4 is fine, as long as you're not trying to make your system very silent.

Jtt283, are you sure that the 40 degrees is the actual temp of the chipset? The temperature that speedfan/asus probe shows, is not the actual temp of the chipset in most cases.
If it really is 40, you should be able to touch your northbridge without burning your finger, something I was never able to do on my asus m2npv mainboard, not even when it was idle.

 

[crazypyro]

if you think the nforce4 chipsets are hot, then you obviously haven't seen a nforce 4 x16, 5 or 6 series chipset, theres a reason they use heatpipes now, and it isn't just for noise. If your nforce 4 is overheating then there are a few things you need to check on
■Case airflow is good
■Your chipset voltage is default, if you tried to overclock the chipset its gonna get hot.
■You're an idiot, and expect your components to run cool

I use an nforce4 chipset, on my DFI Lanparty, I can easily stick my hand on it and hold it there. My video card is a different issue, that thing gets hot, chipset at 30c video at 80c tiny difference. Do a little research next time.

 

[rodney_ws]

I have been having problems with my asus nforce 4 motherboard for a while now.
The thing is, that the asus chipset requires so much airflow to keep it from going so hot that the system crashes, that it is close to impossible to make a slightly silent system with this chipset.
Hence I am buying an MSI mainboard with an AMD 690 chipset on it, which uses way less power, and runs so cool that I won't even need a casefan at all.

If you ever need a MB for a silent setup, don't go for nforce 4 or geforce 6150 boards, as they will turn your life into hell. (yes they're that hot!)

My NForce 4 system just celebrated its 2nd birthday and it's been the most stable system I've ever owned... and its spent 95% of its life with a healthy 15%+ overclock. Perhaps you bought a dud or perhaps you just have terrible airflow.

 

[baddad]

I've built 6 NF4 SLI computers with no fans on the chipsets and they all run fine.

 

[Jakc]

if you think the nforce4 chipsets are hot, then you obviously haven't seen a nforce 4 x16, 5 or 6 series chipset, theres a reason they use heatpipes now, and it isn't just for noise. If your nforce 4 is overheating then there are a few things you need to check on
■Case airflow is good
■Your chipset voltage is default, if you tried to overclock the chipset its gonna get hot.
■You're an idiot, and expect your components to run cool

I use an nforce4 chipset, on my DFI Lanparty, I can easily stick my hand on it and hold it there. My video card is a different issue, that thing gets hot, chipset at 30c video at 80c tiny difference. Do a little research next time.

Case airflow in a normal system or in a silent system is a completely different matter.
The geforce 6150 mainboards with the nforce 430 southbridge are made for silent systems, as advertised on the package. (qfan, cool n quiet, passive cooling)
After buying such a mainboard I don't expect it to need the kind of airflow that you do not have in typical silent systems, as it is supposed to be a mainboard for silent systems. I don't think this makes me an idiot.

And posting on these forums and reading about peoples experiences IS the research.

 

[utaka95]

Hmmm, let's see, 8 systems with 6100 chipsets, 2 systems with 6150's - and 9 of the 10 in low airflow setups for low noise. Not 1 overheating problem. Sounds like the OP got the faulty one, at least from my experience.