Which M/B to buy - Abit An7 or Asus A7n8x Deluxe??

[paradigmshift]

I'm building up a new system, and can't decide between these 2 boards. Want to buy soon. They're about the same price. 2600+ Barton, want to overclock it, but also need it to be stable.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

There aren't many reviews on the An7 yet. It seems that it might be better at O/cing, and has the useful Guru software, but has less features and the first version bios isn't as stable. The Asus is supposed to be very stable, gets great reviews, and I think version 2 has better O/cing options. Not sure if the Abit's onboard sound is as good as the Asus, either.

[also posted in components:motherboards, wasn't sure which forum was more appropriate]

 

[twofruitz]

Asus A7n8x Deluxe

2.6C @ 3.25G (Zalman 7000AU-ALCU HSF)
ABIT IC7-Max3
2x Kingmax SuperRam 512 DDR433
GeXcube 9800pro @ 450/750
80G Seagate S-ATA150
Antec Super Lanboy w/ 350 Smart Blue PSU

 

[Ed_Phoon]

Go for Abit NF7S v2.0, the AN7 still need some improvement.
My friend took part in <A HREF="http://sg.hardwarezone.com/articles/articles.php?cid=18&id=943&PHPSESSID=e57f20e2a8f895253b9191cc87ce6eeb" target="_new"> this </A> overclocking competition using Abit AN7 told me that AN7 11.5 multiplyer doesn't work, and FSB can only reach about 210mhz, while NF7S v2.0 can hit 250mhz FSB.

That Asus A7N uisng only 2 phase power design, for some knowladge on power design and mosfet, read <A HREF="http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=3&var1=71&var2=0" target="_new"> this </A>.

You may want to read subject "Finally something worth while" in Cooler and Heatsink section, I talk about some power design thing there.

 

[Crashman]

Consider the Abit NF7-S. Abit is a better company to deal with than Asus by the way.

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<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[paradigmshift]

thanks all. I had similar threads going on a few boards, and ended up getting an An7. If it gives me any trouble I will take it back, but I like it so far apart from a few layout issues (power sockets should be closer to PSU, sys fan monitor should be too). Can't get any furhter building until I get a graphics card - was going to use my old AGP card as a stop-gap just to get it working, but the board won't accept AGP2x.

 

[Johanthegnarler]

I enjoyed that article.

p4 2.8 533fsb
intel mobo
1gb rdram pc 800
radeon9800 pro
120gb seagate s-ata

 

[rox]

If you are going to use soundstorm (digital out) the Asus is great because of the onboard SPDIF, and...it will get 2.3 Ghz easily. You might want to pull the northbridge and use As3 on it - as the stuff that is under it does not cover well, and you can use passive cooling on the southbridge, Actuallly you can buy active for your north and use the passive that was on the northbridge and use it on the sounthbdidge - easily done and makes it overclock just as high as the NF7-S. Out of the box the Abit is better though...for overclocking only.

 

[Johanthegnarler]

Unless if Asus did some kind of hardcore APU swap out that they didn't tell anyone about. Maybe it's soundstorm2! No nvm.. i can't use Asus. It seems every computer i've ever fixed had an intel or asus board. I want something new.
MSI isn't very trustworthy.. every one of those boards each have it's own weird thing it does.
I'm getting my abit.. and from the sounds of it, it seems i made a great choice.

p4 2.8 533fsb
intel mobo
1gb rdram pc 800
radeon9800 pro
120gb seagate s-ata