Author Topic: nForce2 or kt600 chipset? (Read 1396 times)

Nilsen · « **on:** November 10, 2003, 04:49:32 AM »

New ah2 puter is comming along.
Now im in the process of selecting a mobo for the xp2500+ but i wonder if i should choose a nForce2 chipset or kt600.

Ive heard that the Nforce2 chipset needs 2 equal mem chips. Does this also apply to the kt600?

Any Ideas on that subject?

Reschke · « **Reply #1 on:** November 10, 2003, 07:26:15 AM »

nForce2 chipset by far. It doesn't require the two chips but it doesn't hurt to have 'em.

Nilsen · « **Reply #2 on:** November 10, 2003, 07:34:30 AM »

Thx

Its cheaper to get one 512mb chip than 2 256mb, but i belive that ive heard that performance will be alot better with 2x256mb...is this untrue then?

airguard · « **Reply #3 on:** November 10, 2003, 09:44:48 AM »

this one is supposed to be a good one:

http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=AN7&fMTYPE=Socket+A

I got the NF7-S ver2.0 myselve and have no trubble with that, the one at the link is newer and supposed to be better.

good memory is also nice to have, so I put in two corsairs like this:
http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=29900&t=1014&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=17&GrpID=9&s=pl

my amd barton 2500 runs clockstable at 3200, no lockups no hangs, all fine.

Then again you dont really need dual channel, not that big improvment and you can with no problem run a nforce card with one single memory chip if you want.

Replicant · « **Reply #4 on:** November 10, 2003, 10:58:42 AM »

I got a KT600 mobo, mainly because I like MSI's auto-online updater for the BIOS and such like. It's been working fine, no probs. Haven't had a NForce mobo so can't comment on that.

Nilsen · « **Reply #5 on:** November 10, 2003, 11:16:57 AM »

Is it true that you can update the BIOS from windows nowadays?

(I'm a diehard laptop user so im not used to all these jumbo mumbo thingies that you desktop guys are used to

. And if it wasn't for AH2 i would prolly have just stayed with laptops )

Reschke · « **Reply #6 on:** November 10, 2003, 11:20:02 AM »

Yep my last two ASUS boards with either nVidia or Via chipsets and my current gigabyte board allow BIOS updates through Windows. Also they all have online capable BIOS updates.

bloom25 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 10, 2003, 11:49:48 AM »

The nForce 2 chipset is faster, a much better overclocker, and more stable than the VIA KT600 chipset.

Using 2 sticks of memory (Dual channel mode) gives a small performance boost on nForce 2 boards. (Typically no more than 5%.) You can always start with one stick and add another later.

Nilsen · « **Reply #8 on:** November 10, 2003, 12:20:54 PM »

aha..

If its no more than 5% then i think ill go for one 512 chip and add another later if i need it....thx

zmeg · « **Reply #9 on:** November 10, 2003, 12:51:56 PM »

On gigabyte motherboards you can even put bitmaps into the bios to display while system is booting.

DAVENRINO · « **Reply #10 on:** November 10, 2003, 01:54:27 PM »

Nforce all the way. This is my third nforce box, 2 Asus & an MSI. All have been perfectly stable and reliable. As Bloom said, memory bandwith is better with 2 sticks but you can always add another later. I wouldn't trust online Bios update. Asus Nforce 2 in sig has an easy safer method. Download the Bios file to a floppy. The flash utility is built in. Press F2 on boot and type in the name of the BIOS file. It will save a copy of the current BIOS and install the new one. It doesn't get much easier than that. Another nice feature of the Asus A7N8X DLX is that it locks the PCI bus at 33 and the AGP bus at 66 so you can more safely overclock.

Nilsen · « **Reply #11 on:** November 10, 2003, 02:08:39 PM »

rgr that, but id like to avoid a floppy in my new system if i can.

DAVENRINO · « **Reply #12 on:** November 10, 2003, 03:28:59 PM »

Asus does have a Live update prog also and a lot of folks use it successfully. Or you can make a bootable CD.

DJ229 - AIER MAFIA

bloom25 · « **Reply #13 on:** November 10, 2003, 04:28:41 PM »

If you don't have a floppy drive you can (as mentioned above) make a bootable CD. Since the flash utility won't be able to write to the CD, what you do is run the flash utility from the harddrive itself once you've booted off the CD.

I haven't used a Windows flash utility to flash the bios. I personally feel safer doing it from a bootable floppy, but I can't say that I've heard any horror stories about failed flashes using those utilities so they must work ok.

FUNKED1 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 12, 2003, 05:18:17 PM »

I'll never again buy something with a VIA chipset.