Heh its a very Canadian patriotic board if you ask me :D
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Heh its a very Canadian patriotic board if you ask me :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcnbns
you kidding? the specs on this alone make it better then the DFI in my book.
but i just pray that it delivers, many times you see boards with this kind of promise and they stink when they arrive.
Considering that the ATi chipset has been found a little bit ago to be slower than the NF4 chipset at this website> http://www.behardware.com/articles/558/page1.html I think unless the Sapphire Grouper is faster than the DFI Nf4 Ultra-D, I would then rather get the DFI and a 6600 express card instead. Note I saw It on a website somewhere and I'd thought I'd saved It, So the above may not be the one. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Revv23
I just skimmed that and didn't see anything about the ATi chipset. That's the VIA K8T890 chipset, which is widely accepted as not being the performer the NForce 4 is. It's a bit cheaper though, so it works great for a value board.Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom314
Yeah, I realized that after I typed that, Sorry. I did see a comparison of the Radeon Xpress 200, Via K8T800 Pro, Norce3 and the Nforece4 Ultra and the Nforce4 was on top, But I have no idea where I saw It at, Only that It was at a major website. Although this website does have some bearing on this matter: http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/...200/page14.aspQuote:
Originally Posted by Psyche911
I found It, And wow was that hard to do.Quote:
Originally Posted by Psyche911
http://www.behardware.com/art/imprimer/530/
It seems like nForce4 Ultra is slightly faster than ATI Radeon Xpress.
^thats not what i read, from what i read the ATI did better in DX and the nf4 did better in open GL, kind of funny actually, as the video cards are the same way.
Thats not the Gruper board thats linked there, it's the test version from Nov- 2004, Gruper is a totally other board and the real specs is'nt released yet..Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom314
I was talking abot the ATi Radeon Xpress 200 chipset vs the Nf4 chipset, Not the Sapphire Grouper motherboard that is based on that same ATi chipset.Quote:
Originally Posted by chefnr1
ok yall. I haven't read the first 18 pages but i dont care. Wanted to tell yall that the x200 chipset has been relesed by MSI board at Best Buy. It has the integrated graphics of course, and an pcie 16x slot. have an 3200+ in there. Not bad for an emachine. I plan to install a game on it this thursday, so I will get to test the video. This might be the first machine that you can game right out of the box for a prebuilt system. And with 4 sata connectors and raid 0,1+, and dual channel memory installed already...its a kick at machine with upgradablilty!!!
ok :)Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom314
Do you mean this:Quote:
Originally Posted by Gsus_Freak
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p...M2-IL&class=mb
That's not the board this thread is about. That's a Micro ATX board.
But can someone tell me what the heck the difference is? The chipsets are the same, Radeon Xpress 200. Right? But it's not the enthusiast board? It is the same chipset in the enthusiast board though, just a different board itself?
The MSI uses the SB400 southbridge chip and was designed mainly for HP and has No native overclocking ability without an ECS Bios upgrade(It's been done), The Sapphire Grouper uses the much better SB450 southbridge chip which has better Azailia audio and USB 2.0, The SB400 is considered buggy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Psyche911
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
There is nothing special required in the southbridge to support overclocking. The reason why the current MSI board is not overclocking friendly is because of their choice of clock generator. A simple clock chip swap would transform the board into an easy clocker. The next obstacle is voltage options on that board or lack thereof. The chipset is exactly the same as what you've previously seen on Bullhead. This should be an indication of how board design is important when it comes to overclockability.
As for the SB400, you will find it on many oem designs. Big oems will never accept a "buggy" chip of any kind. That said, the SB450 is an evolution of the SB400 with Azalia audio support and a few other tweaks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom314
So how will people be able to discern the enthusiast board if you've got low end and high end board with the same chipset? I certainly hope Sapphire wont be the only one with this board.
At least with the (cringe) nForce 4, you've got NF4/NF4: Ultra/NF4: SLI
I hope this all becomes more apparent in time.
Then I was misinformed, Ok. From what some MSI owners who have the motherboard with the sb400 chip, They mention that the Bios has no overclocking options in It. Oh well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grayskull
Now theres a can of worms. Asus P5-a comes to mind :stick:Quote:
Originally Posted by Grayskull
The SB400 southbridge works but it uses far too much CPU and is slower than most if not all other USB 2.0 solutions, if you do buy a board based on the 200 chipset buy a board with the newer SB450 southbridge, it has decent USB and Azalia audio support.
zoom314, the boards your pals have won't have those options in bios because the clock generator and lack of voltage adjustments won't allow it (overclocking) as Greyskull pointed out.
I see, Well that's all cleared up.Quote:
Originally Posted by IRQ Conflict
Guys, there's no comparison between the qualification that happens on a big OEM's motherboard as opposed to a retail channel motherboard. The big OEM boards are tested much more thoroughly.
Also, there is a difference between "buggy" and performance. There are many situations where others have flaunted performance numbers but have many skeletons in the closet when it comes to compatibility and robustness. I can't tell you how many SATA drives I've wiped out on another vendor's platform wheras to date I haven't wiped out any on SB400.
Quote:
Originally Posted by IRQ Conflict
thats fine but when is this enthusiast board going retail?
amd and intels rush to release dual core cpus recently may suggest that socket m2 cpus will be out on time or even earlier than the projected 1st half (qtr?) next year.
so how many months do you expect to sell this board before all "enthusiasts" switch to a socket m2 mobo?
I don't think "all enthusiasts" will switch to an Intel mobo because of dual core. AMD is doing the dual core thing, too.Quote:
Originally Posted by googles
isnt m2 an amd ddr2 socket of the future?Quote:
Originally Posted by mcnbns
You are right not all will unless the performance diff is HUGE...but by that time DDR2 will have a nice foot hold...but the thing is it is like 754 or 939 just in this case it is 939 or M2...where one has DDR2 support and better CPU's (maybe better cpus)
For those of you saying the nForce 4 is faster, that may be at the time of that review. But that review was posted on November 8, 2004. Here it is, April 9, just over 5 months later and the hardware isn't even finalized. Once it is, probably 6-7 months will have passed, along with 6-7 months of driver improvements.
I think it's safe to say we currently have no idea how the board will perform. ;)