I need a new mobo. I'm torn between a abit (nf7-s/an7) or a DFI. I'll be water cooling and o/c'ing my xp1700 or a xp-m. I'm not bothered by the UV bits of the DFI but the package seems much better. On a price / OC'ing / package comparison which is better?
abit...make consistently good mobos, dfi current model might be great but who knows.... oc wise it seems that some people on the dfi do really well, and some people on the abit do really well... toss a coin?? its definatly a close one...
DFI! the can provide INSANE voltages for your memory.. but i dont know.. they are limited to 2.08v vcore.. and you need to mod to achieve that. Are you modding?? go for Abit. if not, DFI way to go. remember rev b for cooler holes
The NF7-S is a stable, solid board out of the box. Plenty of features and good for overclocking. It will work straight out of the box and has been the top overclocking board until recently when the Lanparty b knocked it off the top spot. The Lanparty (i have never used one so i cant go from personal experiance) is apparently a beast of an overclocker but takes a little more work and experimentation to get it going initially. It offers an amazing 3.3v vdimm but your PSU will need to be modded to allow this and keep stability, iirc it also has less problems with undervolting vcore but dont quote me on this.
Thanks guys! I think I'm going to go for the abit. I was kinda swaying that way anyway as it's cheaper and more widely available. Is it worth going for the AN7 over the NF7?
Apparently, the reason why that particular DFI board works wonders for some people is that some disgruntled designers left ABit and took their knowledge to DFI. I think it was a little before the ABit AN7 release, hence the reason for the AN7 board not performing as well as its predecessor.
[vague]I think i can remember someone saying bad things about the AN7, dont think it wason these boards however, and i cant rememeber what the complaint was[/vague]. Im sure if the AN7 was as good as the NF7 there would be a plenyfull supply of bit members raving about it. For what its worth, I loved my NF7 soo much i bought another one to upgrade my aging kt133, PC133 and creative soundblaster live for my media PC. The optical out for the sound is nice. Its a shame kameleon isnt about at the moment. Hes got the DFI and loves it. Hes also had an NF7-S so no better person to ask really. See if you can find any of his posts in this forum about it. Or bigZ might be able to tell you kameleons experiances better than i can.
i know this wasnt one of your ofiginal choices but what about the asus A7N8X-E Deluxe im thinking about getting on of these in the next few days to replace my xp333r.
But there is a 40ish quid price difference between the two if you look around and I'm not realy convinced by the UV bits...
I still say if you do not care abut looks it is all about how you like modding.. your ram will go sky-high in a DFI if they kinda like voltage.. and the vcore is the same if not better, as far as i remember.. The AN-7 is in no way better than NF-7.. the only difference whatsoever is uguru.. and what is that for?? we love the bios, and DFI made it even better.. the ones who do not love the bios must use 8rdavcore.. And AN-7 can not achieve the same speeds as NF-7 and lanparty b.. if you like modding and do not care about socket hole you could go for a very cheap solution: Soltek SL-75FRN2.. I have seen 270 on one without mods.. however, the vcore mod is easy as hell, but the working vdimm is nasty.. but definitely a nice board, got one myself. just a shame abot them holes
the price is one of the things that put me off the infinity, but if its the same then ill have to get that aswell instead of the asus *not trying to thread hijack *
well since i dont really do any oc'n then that board would be good for me, the only differences that i can see from the dfi specs from the infinity ultra II and the LANPARTY ULTRA II REVb are lanparty has gigabit lan, 4 diagnostic LEDs 1 diagnostic LED connector for external 4 diagnostic LEDs display EZ touch switches (power switch and reset switch) and thats it :|
Yeh, gigabit ethernet = useless to most people... I'd say 99.9% of residential internet connections can be handled by even some of the slowest 10/100's out there ;P I'd go with the NF7 (I have an NF7(non-S) and I love it!)
