Nforce Bargain Rocks

[Halo]

I just recently completed a new computer but due to a lack of funds, I needed to be practical and buy parts that were reasonable but packed enough punch to last me a while. I recently bought an ASUS NForce A7n266-Vm-AA mobo with onboard dolby digital 5.1, 6 USBs, LAN, and built-in video for $72 brand new. An AMD 1800+ proc for $50 and what do you know I have quadrupled the power I was using before. I was using a P3 600 which is now my secondary system and my third system, XP 1900, which is a work horse. No, it is not a gaming rig or a high flash video rig, but for the $350 I spent in parts to bring it to life, it is one helluva good deal. Plus I always have the AGP slot that I can drop a 4x card into when necessary. I would highly recommend this board to anyone needing a strong PC for cheap. I installed all the components and loaded My OS and in no time it was up and running. The drivers were a snap. Especially with a super cool Speeze heatsink. PCs shouldn't break the bank. . . . And it's upgradeable to an XP 2600.

[ninethirty]

Agreed, Halo. I have that same board (bought in early December) running with an XP 1700, all from Newegg. I like it -- with everything integrated I can have it running with a 1U power supply in a case that's 2" tall -- a mobile server for less than $400. A very strong board for the price.
If you're never going to play games and you're looking for a completely integrated board, you have a few choices ( VIA KL133 & KM266, nForce 1 & 2, Radeon A3 on the AMD side ) but this one seems to be a pretty good performance / price mix.

My one gripe: my audio doesn't seem to work at all. I haven't tried the digital out, but it's been long enough since I bought it that I don't think it's under warranty. I haven't heard of anyone else having this problem though, so I wonder if it's not because I was running it in a cardboard box for a while and some static madness got to it....

:-/

[Ioman]

Originally posted by ninethirty
Agreed, Halo. I have that same board (bought in early December) running with an XP 1700, all from Newegg. I like it -- with everything integrated I can have it running with a 1U power supply in a case that's 2" tall -- a mobile server for less than $400. A very strong board for the price.
If you're never going to play games and you're looking for a completely integrated board, you have a few choices ( VIA KL133 & KM266, nForce 1 & 2, Radeon A3 on the AMD side ) but this one seems to be a pretty good performance / price mix.

My one gripe: my audio doesn't seem to work at all. I haven't tried the digital out, but it's been long enough since I bought it that I don't think it's under warranty. I haven't heard of anyone else having this problem though, so I wonder if it's not because I was running it in a cardboard box for a while and some static madness got to it....

:-/

Why were you running it in a cardboard box? That's pretty funny. Sounds like a great performing board for the price.

[shagnscoob]

i woulda gone for the nforce2, but thats cuz i want 8x, and ppl may call me stupid, but alot of games are going to start using 8x, like doom3, and i want to be able to compete at the top level of performance on any game, so....

[ninethirty]

i woulda gone for the nforce2, but thats cuz i want 8x, and ppl may call me stupid, but alot of games are going to start using 8x, like doom3, and i want to be able to compete at the top level of performance on any game, so....

I agree with your decision. The benfit of 8x AGP aside, this is not the "I want to play all future games at 100 FPS" board. The nForce is still fast, but part of the point is the integrated video. If you don't want integrated video, you can get a fine board for $20 cheaper. Or you can get a better board (Nforce2 SPP, which is probably what you got, or the VIA KT400) for $10-40 more. USB 2.0 and Firewire would have been nice, but like the originator of the thread says, it's a bargain board for building a good value system.

As for the carboard box, Ioman... I tend to do that a lot. I guess I haven't quite convinced myself of the dangers of static, or whether cardboard is really a problem. But there's a dozen old (and a couple not-so-old) computers around here, so i'll be darned if i buy a dozen mid-tower cases. That's $300 just for sheet metal. And a lot of room. I just stick them on shelves, kind of like a big, ghetto rackmount :) . If i want to move them somewhere, like the nforce, I stick them in a cardboard box (this particular one lives in a Fedex small shipping box). Cheap, self-contained, portable...

(someone who has a background in electrical engineering, please feel free to call me stupid. I need to hear that.)

[shagnscoob]

goin out on a limb here, ninethirty, your a cs player huh?

[gRimLocK]

nForce 2 chipset ownz. I currently running the Asus A7N8X deluxe.

[ninethirty]

shagnscoob -- goin out on a limb here, ninethirty, your a cs player huh?
Funny! You say that because of the LAN party potential of a portable Nforce? I would be lying if I said that didn't have ANYTHING to do with it....but I definitely rationalized the purchase by saying I'd use it as a portable server going to/from work. However, it also just HAPPENS to be my best gaming platform at the moment...fringe benefit...
When nForce2 comes out with a miniATX or FlexATX (Shuttle, where are you?) board, that may go in as a replacement.

Good guess. My boss actually used to slaughter me at CS. I guess there's only so much fragging of your boss that is allowed for good employee/employer relations. ;)