Which NForce 2 mobo?

One of the power regulator transistors on my mobo (7VRXP) went up in smoke today. No longer POSTs. Same exact one as seen here. http://www.amdforums.com/showthr....1483795

Not sure if it's even worth RMAing it. Hopefully the rest of my components still work.
No more VIA for me, which NForce 2 mobo do you guys recommend I replace it with?? Am going to run XP Pro and maybe also RH 8 Linux. Have a 1600+ AGOIA that can do 1.8G, so I'll need a mobo with some OCing options.
Think I'm also gonna pickup an 80GB WDB 8MB cache HD as both my 40GB 60GXP deathstars have bit the dust. Will RMA them eventually.
Have an SB Live 5.1 platinum, should I stick with that or get one with Soundstorm Audio?? I have Creative 5.1 speakers (ones that are ~$90, forget the model#).

Epox 8RDA+ sounds like a good board for you. Has on board everything, and OC's pretty well. If you don't need RAID get the version without the +. The board is pretty cheap over at newegg. :)

8RDA+.....It's a gem!

Cheers,

GOTTA love the ASUS A7N8X deluxe ...........flat out ROCKS!!!

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Originally posted by ronopp007
GOTTA love the ASUS A7N8X deluxe ...........flat out ROCKS!!!

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True, but $150 is a bit expensive for a mobo. I don't need Serial ATA or Firewire.
Unlike most other Epox mobos where + means it has RAID, that's not the case with the 8RDA+.
Got my girlfriend's old mobo, Abit KT7-RAID, working again so I'm gonna use that for the time being.

Thats right, No RAID on that board or any other of the NForce boards I know of. I wonder Why?

I was planning to build an AMD system for myself as well, and Asus A7N8X was one of my prime choice, but today I checked out the board at one my local store and discovered that beside the CPU socket, there are a couple huge capacitors laying VERY CLOSE to it. I am very worry if it will interfer during the installation of the CPU, or will I able to fit a bigger HSF in there.... hrm... check out the pics here:

A7N8X:
http://usa.asus.com/mb/socketa/a7n8x/enlarge.htm

EPOX 8RDA+ (which in contrast, have tons of room around the CPU socket):
http://www.vr-zone.com/reviews/EPoX/8RDA+/

Update:
Seems my worry is correct, on amdmb.com has a review and mention that most big HSF won't fit :o

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Originally posted by lap_sponge
Thats right, No RAID on that board or any other of the NForce boards I know of. I wonder Why?

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The Chaintech 7NJS (Zenith) board comes with RAID. The only downside is that there is only one IDE connector for the RAID, and two SATA. The RAID configuration requires both drives to be on the SATA, or one on the IDE and one on the SATA. There is no way to set up a standard dual drive IDE RAID config.

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Originally posted by trogman
I was planning to build an AMD system for myself as well, and Asus A7N8X was one of my prime choice, but today I checked out the board at one my local store and discovered that beside the CPU socket, there are a couple huge capacitors laying VERY CLOSE to it. I am very worry if it will interfer during the installation of the CPU, or will I able to fit a bigger HSF in there.... hrm... check out the pics here:

A7N8X:
http://usa.asus.com/mb/socketa/a7n8x/enlarge.htm

EPOX 8RDA+ (which in contrast, have tons of room around the CPU socket):
http://www.vr-zone.com/reviews/EPoX/8RDA+/

Update:
Seems my worry is correct, on amdmb.com has a review and mention that most big HSF won't fit :o

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Umm Yes this very ture. I barely, I mean barely Got my AX-7 on that board. But many ppl have been using Big heatsinks Like the AX-7,SK-7,SLK-800,Alpha ect... I will post a pic If I can today

The A7N8X Deluxe supports SATA RAID. I believe if you get the SATA adapters for HDDs you can raid them. At least one of my friends was talking about doing that. I fit an SLK-800 on my A7N8X with no problems whatsoever.

make sure boards got mcp2-t audio south bridge and uses it,chaintech do not,msi do only one board has it,as audio is best bit of nforce one

Abit NF7-s

doesn't have the dual nic of the Asus, but is otherwise feature identical.

and has the advantage that one can use the nVidia refernece drivers and a three phase power supply!

the new 1.1 rev has the mounting holes everyone has been moaning about, i know cos i recieved two of them yesterday. :cool:

REMF

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Originally posted by lap_sponge
Thats right, No RAID on that board or any other of the NForce boards I know of. I wonder Why?

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I KNOW the Abit nForce board (NF7-S) has RAID. Have one!

At what price has the NF7-S MB been going for???
and does any one know if the voltage for the CPU goes higher then the A7N8X (1.85 I think)

Quote:

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Originally posted by REMF
Abit NF7-s

doesn't have the dual nic of the Asus, but is otherwise feature identical.

and has the advantage that one can use the nVidia refernece drivers and a three phase power supply!

the new 1.1 rev has the mounting holes everyone has been moaning about, i know cos i recieved two of them yesterday. :cool:

REMF

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Have been considering either of the Abits over the Epox.
At Newegg:
NF7 $107, NF7-S $126
8RDA $93, 8RDA+ $127

Just wondering, even though newegg lists "Onboard Audio:6-Channel AC 97 CODEC" for the NF7-S, don't all MCP2-T mobos have Soundstorm audio??

I have an SK-7 so I'm not worried about HS mounting holes.

Also, my Abit BE6, which is now my Mom's computer, has outlasted my MSI K7T Turbo and GA-7VRXP. Though I've heard a few have been less fortunate with Abit's durability.