Tier 5: KT133/KT133A. These are SDRAM only chipsets that should be used with Windows 95/98SE/ME. KT7A – raid is another collectible board from Abit which has an ISA slot perfect for sound cards such as Creative AWE64 and DOS! A system based on KT7A should provide excellent performance for games released before 2000 and you should consider it for you Windows 98 PC.
I do not think that such a board should be taken into consideration for the 2000 – 2004 period so no recommendations here.

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 05:26:

all boards with this chipsets have the auxiliary power connector

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/asus-a7v8x-x

I quote myself: as I tested only Abit boards and have everything that Abit manufactured for socket 462 my recommendations will be only Abit!
So all Abit boards with KT400/KT400A chipset have the auxiliary power connector!Even the reply you mentioned contains only models manufactured by Abit!

RAM:
Tier 1: Corsair is the way to go if you want an Athlon XP 3200 or very tight timings. I did tested lots of modules from various manufacturers - Kingmax, Kingston, Aenenon, Geil - and only the ones from Corsair run without problems on my nforce2 ultra boards at 400 MHz and support tight timings/command rate 1T. There may be other modules from other manufacturers but I did not test them. Prices will be around 20 USD for a 2 GB kit and they should be relatively easy to find.

Tier 2: any 2 GB kit is enough to comfortably run XP and all games up to 2004 on any board together with a 200/266/333 MHz FSB processor. You should not have any problems sourcing DDR – 400 kits with 3-3-3-8 timings. Prices are very low, around 10 USD on eBay, but maybe you can get some DDR for free as I did. You do not need expensive low latency DDR for a Barton or a Thoroughbred; as soon as you start pushing the settings up memory timings do not matter anymore.

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 07:11:

I quote myself: as I tested only Abit boards and have everything that Abit manufactured for socket 462 my recommendations will be only Abit!
So all Abit boards with KT400/KT400A chipset have the auxiliary power connector!Even the reply you mentioned contains only models manufactured by Abit!

ah that makes more sense - it just came across as a general platform statement.

VIDEO CARD – this is a highly debated topic with very diverse opinions! High end AGP cards have become very expensive and rare.
I will state a few things before presenting the options.

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 07:12:

RAM:
Tier 1: Corsair is the way to go if you want an Athlon XP 3200 or very tight timings. I did tested lots of modules from various manufacturers - Kingmax, Kingston, Aenenon, Geil - and only the ones from Corsair run without problems on my nforce2 ultra boards at 400 MHz and support tight timings/command rate 1T. There may be other modules from other manufacturers but I did not test them. Prices will be around 20 USD for a 2 GB kit and they should be relatively easy to find.

Tier 2: any 2 GB kit is enough to comfortably run XP and all games up to 2004 on any board together with a 200/266/333 MHz FSB processor. You should not have any problems sourcing DDR – 400 kits with 3-3-3-8 timings. Prices are very low, around 10 USD on eBay, but maybe you can get some DDR for free as I did. You do not need expensive low latency DDR for a Barton or a Thoroughbred; as soon as you start pushing the settings up memory timings do not matter anymore.

There is a lot more nuance to this - as you need to be aware of what ICs a particular set of RAM is using. It can vary on the same manufacturer on the same named sticks (usually with a different revision number, but not always).

Generally sticks with Winbond BH5 CH5 or UTT were always a good shout or Samsung TCCD (2x512 or 2x256 configuration)

This is interesting reading on the subject https://forum.corsair.com/forums/topic/22537- … dr1-ic-inquiry/

Here you can see Corsair XMS3202 512MB sticks that will all look identical - aside from kit numbers and rev numbers - using 4 different IC types

CMX512 3200C2PT________XMS3202 v4.1 0440059 = INFINEON, Die Rev B
CMX512-3200C2PT________XMS3202 v4.3 0522194-0 = Samsung -5 TCCX
TWINX1024-3200C2Pro____XMS3202 v4.1 0513106-7 = Samsung -5 TCCX
CMX512-3200C2__________XMS3202 v4.2 0520114-0 = Promos -5 Rev A*
TWINX1024 3200C2PT_____XMS3202 v1.5 0516010-0 = Winbond BH5
TWINX1024-3200C2_______XMS3202 v5.1 0531053-0 = Promos -5 Rev A
CMX512-3200C2__________XMS3202 v5.2 0529148-1 = Promos -5 Rev A
CMX512-3200C2__________XMS3202 v4.2 0504045-12 = Samsung -5 TCCX
CMX512-3200C2__________XMS3202 v4.3 0532013-1 = Samsung -5 TCCX
CMX512-3200C2__________XMS3202 v4.2 0433009-0 = Samsung -5 TCCX

That is true; I will present at the end 2 examples: one with the best price to performance ratio system and one with the ultimate system. Because you do not know what IC's are used when you buy some RAM sticks my advice is for anyone going on eBay an buying some modules based on the pictures and maybe 1 screenshot or 2.
For example when I bought years ago some Corsair modules I bought in bulk several of them - maybe 20 or something like that, can't remember now - and they where different revisions.

Lostdotfish wrote on Yesterday, 07:40:

There is a lot more nuance to this - as you need to be aware of what ICs a particular set of RAM is using. It can vary on the s […]
Show full quote

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 07:12:

RAM:
Tier 1: Corsair is the way to go if you want an Athlon XP 3200 or very tight timings. I did tested lots of modules from various manufacturers - Kingmax, Kingston, Aenenon, Geil - and only the ones from Corsair run without problems on my nforce2 ultra boards at 400 MHz and support tight timings/command rate 1T. There may be other modules from other manufacturers but I did not test them. Prices will be around 20 USD for a 2 GB kit and they should be relatively easy to find.

Tier 2: any 2 GB kit is enough to comfortably run XP and all games up to 2004 on any board together with a 200/266/333 MHz FSB processor. You should not have any problems sourcing DDR – 400 kits with 3-3-3-8 timings. Prices are very low, around 10 USD on eBay, but maybe you can get some DDR for free as I did. You do not need expensive low latency DDR for a Barton or a Thoroughbred; as soon as you start pushing the settings up memory timings do not matter anymore.

There is a lot more nuance to this - as you need to be aware of what ICs a particular set of RAM is using. It can vary on the same manufacturer on the same named sticks (usually with a different revision number, but not always).

Generally sticks with Winbond BH5 CH5 or UTT were always a good shout or Samsung TCCD (2x512 or 2x256 configuration)

This is interesting reading on the subject https://forum.corsair.com/forums/topic/22537- … dr1-ic-inquiry/

Im going to be real here .. its socket A .. Ram timings don't matter at all neither does IC manufacturer, any DDR400 will be fine, you are not breaking any records here and if its DDR400 you are using then you can tune the timings down substantially on pretty much any old stick of DDR400 if its running at a lower FSB than its rated for.

The best part is prices are stupidly low for DDR 400 as its unwanted so you have a huge range to pick from in an even wider range of sizes and timings but again timings are pretty irrelevant for Socket A unless you are doing high end over clocking and trying for records.

However this is Vogons so ...naturally Ill just use the DDR500 I have instead even if its not worth using on Socket A.

This is 100% correct and applies to everything I have done during testing! As long as I used Corsair modules - any Corsair modules - Abit AN7 was happy and ran them at DDR - 400 at 3-3-3-8 CR 1T with the Barton 3200.
The important thing to remember is to set you RAM in sync with the FSB : XP 3200 with DDR - 400, XP 2800 with DDR 333; T-bred 2000 with DDR 266 and so on.

Trashbytes wrote on Yesterday, 07:48:

Im going to be real here .. its socket A .. Ram timings don't matter at all

I'd argue the counterpoint to this. Timings absolutely had a significant impact on Socket A systems. Put a set of tight 2-2-2-1T sticks in that 3200+ system and 3DMark2001 it then swap them out (or drop them to 2.5-3-3-2T) and see the difference. In an era where smooth gaming came down to achieving a smooth 30FPS or 60FPS, sometimes those timings made the difference. I feel like Socket A more than any other platform I've used (before or since) was very affected by timings.

I have to say that memory timings makes no difference in games! Actually i did test quite a few games and that was not a single one where memory timings improved the FPS! Just to be clear: all tests where done using MAXIMUM settings with high end AGP card: geforce 7800GS/7600GT. Even older games were not influenced by the timings: Undying got the same FPS with 3-3-3-8 and with 2-2-2-5.
If you think that timings do matter please put up an example! Let's say Farcry 1 got higher FPS when you used tight timings - of course at max settings with AA and AF.

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 08:33:

I have to say that memory timings makes no difference in games! Actually i did test quite a few games and that was not a single one where memory timings improved the FPS! Just to be clear: all tests where done using MAXIMUM settings with high end AGP card: geforce 7800GS/7600GT. Even older games were not influenced by the timings: Undying got the same FPS with 3-3-3-8 and with 2-2-2-5.
If you think that timings do matter please put up an example! Let's say Farcry 1 got higher FPS when you used tight timings - of course at max settings with AA and AF.

That is interesting. I don't have any suitable Socket A boards or CPUs to play with at the moment. But I do remember there being an uplift in games back in the day. 7xxx series cards are a little outside the timeframe that Socket A was at it's prime. 6800GT was my card at the time. Are you looking at frame pacing and highs/lows as well as averages?

I have both 6800GT and 7600GT. Geforce 7600GT is always faster but not by a huge amount so performance should be comparable.
Tests done back in the day were at low settings and/or low resolutions.
I tested at multiple resolutions - games always at max settings - and synthetic benchmarks at default settings first and at max settings all subsequent tests.
In fact even synthetic benchmark are not influenced by the timings! 3dmark 2001 does not care for the timings in a Barton 2800 with geforce 7800gs! I would like to see anyone with a socket A system test 3dmark 2001 with, for example, a Barton 2800 and geforce 7800gs and come up with different results when using different timings on the RAM!

VIDEO CARD – this is a highly debated topic with very diverse opinions! High end AGP cards have become very expensive and rare.
I will state a few things before presenting the options.

Most reviewers on YouTube or on the forums take a card, card X, test it in games with mediums settings and conclude: card X is bottlenecked by the CPU, you need a stronger CPU!
Case in point: someone takes a geforce 6600gt, put it in a socket 462 machine, test a few games such as Half life 2 or Farcry 1 at medium settings. Than they put the same card in a LGA 775 system with a Core 2 duo, test the same games at the same settings and draw the conclusion: heavily bottlenecked by Athlon XP, that CPU is too weak for the geforce 6600GT.
I will be blunt: I consider all of the above wrong! I am not interested in medium settings. I have a geforce 6600GT from Leadtek that I bought in 2004 and that card runs Farcry 1 and Half life 2 just fine at medium settings. Today I do not want to repeat the same experience that I had back in 2004. I want the improved experience when I build my dream system and play Farcry 1 and Half life 2 at max settings – that includes AA & AF. I want to feel like I just bought a top of the line system and my dream PC had just come true!
Geforce 6600GT has severe problems running DirectX 9 games at max settings! In fact it can not run Farcry 1 or Half life 2 at max settings at any resolution with a comfortable frame rate.
I will consider that you want a card that can play your favorites games at maximum settings in order to enjoy what it was not possible back in the day so my recommendations will be based on this assumption.

Lostdotfish wrote on Yesterday, 08:11:

Trashbytes wrote on Yesterday, 07:48:

Im going to be real here .. its socket A .. Ram timings don't matter at all

I'd argue the counterpoint to this. Timings absolutely had a significant impact on Socket A systems. Put a set of tight 2-2-2-1T sticks in that 3200+ system and 3DMark2001 it then swap them out (or drop them to 2.5-3-3-2T) and see the difference. In an era where smooth gaming came down to achieving a smooth 30FPS or 60FPS, sometimes those timings made the difference. I feel like Socket A more than any other platform I've used (before or since) was very affected by timings.

Been there fell into that rabbit hole and found it makes negligible difference in the vast majority of games when paired with a decent GPU and a 3200+ Barton, the few it does affect don't make the cost in both time and money in hunting down unicorn 2-2-2 sticks worth it over grabbing some good cheap DDR400 or even DDR 500 and tuning the timings yourself. (And even then its debatable if its worth doing but to each their own here)

I get that Vogons really loves 3dmark ..but I personally never put much into synesthetic benchmarking tools, even today I cant stand Cinebench and other not real benchmarking tools, they don't give you the whole picture of actual real world use. All you get is a snap shot of the best possible performance that tends to give many the wrong idea about hardware.

Clock speed and GPU choice had a far bigger impact on Socket A .. as did chipset selection and AGP implementation, there were vastly different performance numbers from the boards even across the same chipsets and since memory performance on Socket A is directly linked to the northbridge, the right board and how good the Northbridge silicon was made a huge difference in how good your FPS ended up being.

Even the best timings made no difference on a shit board, I went through half a dozen socket A boards back in the day when upgrading and I can say without a doubt memory timings were the least of your worries.. board choice was a big one. (I remember killing one of them from overclocking... Ahh the memories of early overclocking attempts and realizing I fucked up, or doing what others here have done and go thinking it'll only be a second or two, I don't need to clip that CPU cooler down .. it'll be fine . .right...RIGHT)

Edit - Spelling and clarity

A few comments...

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 05:08:

MOTHERBOARDS – as I tested only Abit boards and have everything that Abit manufactured for socket 462 my recommendations will be only Abit!

Well, i totally understand your point of view and why it makes sense to recommend something you have experience with, but... there are plenty of good boards out there. IMO for someone building such a system without strong personal preferences trying to find something specifically from Abit makes very little sense.

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 05:08:

Tier 1: nforce2 ultra – BEST chipset for anyone wanting to assemble the ultimate socket 462 system! There are several versions available and the one you want is with the MCP – T Southbridge! There are nforce2 boards with MCP – RAID/GIGABIT Southbridge that lack the sound storm audio chip.

It is "nforce2 ultra 400", not "nforce2 ultra" (does not exist), "nforce2", or "nforce2 400". This is very important because motherboard manufacturers tend to throw words like "ultra" in just for good measure. "nforce2 ultra 400" is the only north bridge which supports 400FSB and dual channel. Regular "nforce2 400" is single channel, "nforce2" - dual channel but 333. It is really easy to get confused here so have to be careful. Even more confusing - it seems that some boards switched to "nforce2 ultra 400" (which is newer) from "nforce2" at some point, for example EPoX EP-8RDA i have has "nforce2 ultra 400" (i even removed the heatsink to confirm), even though all info i can find online shows it should have regular "nforce2".

Also SoundStorm only matters if PCI soundcard is not going to be used. If, for example, something from audigy series is planned - there is no point, integrated audio is going to be disabled anyway. Might as well pick one with sata ports - those from nvidia actually work well with any modern devices, unlike ones from via. And also do not require any drivers to work, unlike silicon image stuff. So very convenient.

MCP2-S/R and MCP2-GB also have 8 USB ports instead of 6 on MCP2/MCP2-T, which can be quite handy depending on case and needs.

I am pretty happy with EPoX EP-8RDA3I myself. 12V VRM, very nice monitoring and ability to fiddle with everything like all the frequencies, voltages, etc in bios, nforce2 ultra 400 north bridge... the only disadvantage is regular MCP2 southbridge so no sata and no soundstorm, but soundstorm would be useless for me anyway so no big deal.

Motherboard is one of those parts which does not affect performance as long as it works properly and has the same chipset (especially with no overclocking), so a lot of options here and a lot depends on personal preference.

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 05:08:

RAM:
Tier 1: Corsair is the way to go if you want an Athlon XP 3200 or very tight timings.

I am curious who is actual chip manufacturer. I've had very good success with sticks from samsung myself, so perhaps that's another option.

I always prefer sticks from actual chip manufactures because this way there is way less lottery involved. With manufacturers like corsair who does not have their own chips you can get totally differen ram which works completely differently with the same name, which is annoying.

Trashbytes wrote on Yesterday, 07:48:

Im going to be real here .. its socket A .. Ram timings don't matter at all neither does IC manufacturer, any DDR400 will be fine, you are not breaking any records here and if its DDR400 you are using then you can tune the timings down substantially on pretty much any old stick of DDR400 if its running at a lower FSB than its rated for.

Have to be careful though, nforce2 is very picky. I have whole box of DDR1 and like 2/3 of it does not work properly on boards with this chipset. So sharing what tends to work more reliably can actually be very useful to avoid buying "few Kg of DDR1".

Timings... in my extremely limited testing i was not able to find significant difference between sensible values like 3-3-3-8-1, 2.5-3-3-7-1 and 2-2-2-2-5-1 on my system (if you use the force more voltage it is possible to make regular 3-3-3-8 DDR400 to work with 2-2-2-2-5-1 timings, at least some sticks).

Archer57 wrote on Yesterday, 13:31:

A few comments... […]
Show full quote

A few comments...

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 05:08:

MOTHERBOARDS – as I tested only Abit boards and have everything that Abit manufactured for socket 462 my recommendations will be only Abit!

Well, i totally understand your point of view and why it makes sense to recommend something you have experience with, but... there are plenty of good boards out there. IMO for someone building such a system without strong personal preferences trying to find something specifically from Abit makes very little sense.

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 05:08:

Tier 1: nforce2 ultra – BEST chipset for anyone wanting to assemble the ultimate socket 462 system! There are several versions available and the one you want is with the MCP – T Southbridge! There are nforce2 boards with MCP – RAID/GIGABIT Southbridge that lack the sound storm audio chip.

It is "nforce2 ultra 400", not "nforce2 ultra" (does not exist), "nforce2", or "nforce2 400". This is very important because motherboard manufacturers tend to throw words like "ultra" in just for good measure. "nforce2 ultra 400" is the only north bridge which supports 400FSB and dual channel. Regular "nforce2 400" is single channel, "nforce2" - dual channel but 333. It is really easy to get confused here so have to be careful. Even more confusing - it seems that some boards switched to "nforce2 ultra 400" (which is newer) from "nforce2" at some point, for example EPoX EP-8RDA i have has "nforce2 ultra 400" (i even removed the heatsink to confirm), even though all info i can find online shows it should have regular "nforce2".

Also SoundStorm only matters if PCI soundcard is not going to be used. If, for example, something from audigy series is planned - there is no point, integrated audio is going to be disabled anyway. Might as well pick one with sata ports - those from nvidia actually work well with any modern devices, unlike ones from via. And also do not require any drivers to work, unlike silicon image stuff. So very convenient.

MCP2-S/R and MCP2-GB also have 8 USB ports instead of 6 on MCP2/MCP2-T, which can be quite handy depending on case and needs.

I am pretty happy with EPoX EP-8RDA3I myself. 12V VRM, very nice monitoring and ability to fiddle with everything like all the frequencies, voltages, etc in bios, nforce2 ultra 400 north bridge... the only disadvantage is regular MCP2 southbridge so no sata and no soundstorm, but soundstorm would be useless for me anyway so no big deal.

Motherboard is one of those parts which does not affect performance as long as it works properly and has the same chipset (especially with no overclocking), so a lot of options here and a lot depends on personal preference.

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 05:08:

RAM:
Tier 1: Corsair is the way to go if you want an Athlon XP 3200 or very tight timings.

I am curious who is actual chip manufacturer. I've had very good success with sticks from samsung myself, so perhaps that's another option.

I always prefer sticks from actual chip manufactures because this way there is way less lottery involved. With manufacturers like corsair who does not have their own chips you can get totally differen ram which works completely differently with the same name, which is annoying.

Trashbytes wrote on Yesterday, 07:48:

Im going to be real here .. its socket A .. Ram timings don't matter at all neither does IC manufacturer, any DDR400 will be fine, you are not breaking any records here and if its DDR400 you are using then you can tune the timings down substantially on pretty much any old stick of DDR400 if its running at a lower FSB than its rated for.

Have to be careful though, nforce2 is very picky. I have whole box of DDR1 and like 2/3 of it does not work properly on boards with this chipset. So sharing what tends to work more reliably can actually be very useful to avoid buying "few Kg of DDR1".

Timings... in my extremely limited testing i was not able to find significant difference between sensible values like 3-3-3-8-1, 2.5-3-3-7-1 and 2-2-2-2-5-1 on my system (if you use the force more voltage it is possible to make regular 3-3-3-8 DDR400 to work with 2-2-2-2-5-1 timings, at least some sticks).

Hmm yes .. forgot about about that abomination well not abomination but its has its quirks, its about the only exception here where you do have to go hunting for sticks that it likes, I feel this is a nVidia issue as a lot of their chipsets had this problem ..even the 775 nforce chipsets had issues with DDR2/3 compatibility.

Archer57 wrote on Yesterday, 13:31:

Well, i totally understand your point of view and why it makes sense to recommend something you have experience with, but... the […]
Show full quote

Well, i totally understand your point of view and why it makes sense to recommend something you have experience with, but... there are plenty of good boards out there. IMO for someone building such a system without strong personal preferences trying to find something specifically from Abit makes very little sense.

Also SoundStorm only matters if PCI soundcard is not going to be used. If, for example, something from audigy series is planned - there is no point, integrated audio is going to be disabled anyway. Might as well pick one with sata ports - those from nvidia actually work well with any modern devices, unlike ones from via. And also do not require any drivers to work, unlike silicon image stuff. So very convenient.

MCP2-S/R and MCP2-GB also have 8 USB ports instead of 6 on MCP2/MCP2-T, which can be quite handy depending on case and needs.

I am pretty happy with EPoX EP-8RDA3I myself. 12V VRM, very nice monitoring and ability to fiddle with everything like all the frequencies, voltages, etc in bios, nforce2 ultra 400 north bridge... the only disadvantage is regular MCP2 southbridge so no sata and no soundstorm, but soundstorm would be useless for me anyway so no big deal.

Motherboard is one of those parts which does not affect performance as long as it works properly and has the same chipset (especially with no overclocking), so a lot of options here and a lot depends on personal preference.

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 05:08:

RAM:
Tier 1: Corsair is the way to go if you want an Athlon XP 3200 or very tight timings.

I am curious who is actual chip manufacturer. I've had very good success with sticks from samsung myself, so perhaps that's another option.

I always prefer sticks from actual chip manufactures because this way there is way less lottery involved. With manufacturers like corsair who does not have their own chips you can get totally differen ram which works completely differently with the same name, which is annoying.

Trashbytes wrote on Yesterday, 07:48:

Im going to be real here .. its socket A .. Ram timings don't matter at all neither does IC manufacturer, any DDR400 will be fine, you are not breaking any records here and if its DDR400 you are using then you can tune the timings down substantially on pretty much any old stick of DDR400 if its running at a lower FSB than its rated for.

Have to be careful though, nforce2 is very picky. I have whole box of DDR1 and like 2/3 of it does not work properly on boards with this chipset. So sharing what tends to work more reliably can actually be very useful to avoid buying "few Kg of DDR1".

Timings... in my extremely limited testing i was not able to find significant difference between sensible values like 3-3-3-8-1, 2.5-3-3-7-1 and 2-2-2-2-5-1 on my system (if you use the force more voltage it is possible to make regular 3-3-3-8 DDR400 to work with 2-2-2-2-5-1 timings, at least some sticks).

1. I can not and will not recommend something I never worked with nor tested. My recommendations are based entirely on what I have used personally. While I do understand that there are many socket 462 boards out there I can not say: use any nforce2 board you will find, it will be very bad advice as long as I have not tested it! Everything I said in this topic, including these final recommendations, are based on my personal experience! If I said Abit KV7 is the best all rounder board I said it because I tested it.
2. As I already said in this topic I tested the chipsets. Because sound storm is included in the MCP-T, that provided some of the advantage over competing chipsets. If you want to use a Creative audigy, please go ahead and use it.
3. Already answered that but I am going to say it again: all, and I mean all, Corsair modules worked in the AN7/NF7-S 2.0/NF7-S2G - with the lowest possible voltage I must add - regardless of revision! So my advice is pretty simple: based on my personal experience I said: go with Corsair it will work in any of the boards I recommended! I stand by that advice.

Trashbytes wrote on Yesterday, 15:01:

Archer57 wrote on Yesterday, 13:31:

A few comments... […]
Show full quote

A few comments...

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 05:08:

MOTHERBOARDS – as I tested only Abit boards and have everything that Abit manufactured for socket 462 my recommendations will be only Abit!

Well, i totally understand your point of view and why it makes sense to recommend something you have experience with, but... there are plenty of good boards out there. IMO for someone building such a system without strong personal preferences trying to find something specifically from Abit makes very little sense.

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 05:08:

Tier 1: nforce2 ultra – BEST chipset for anyone wanting to assemble the ultimate socket 462 system! There are several versions available and the one you want is with the MCP – T Southbridge! There are nforce2 boards with MCP – RAID/GIGABIT Southbridge that lack the sound storm audio chip.

It is "nforce2 ultra 400", not "nforce2 ultra" (does not exist), "nforce2", or "nforce2 400". This is very important because motherboard manufacturers tend to throw words like "ultra" in just for good measure. "nforce2 ultra 400" is the only north bridge which supports 400FSB and dual channel. Regular "nforce2 400" is single channel, "nforce2" - dual channel but 333. It is really easy to get confused here so have to be careful. Even more confusing - it seems that some boards switched to "nforce2 ultra 400" (which is newer) from "nforce2" at some point, for example EPoX EP-8RDA i have has "nforce2 ultra 400" (i even removed the heatsink to confirm), even though all info i can find online shows it should have regular "nforce2".

Also SoundStorm only matters if PCI soundcard is not going to be used. If, for example, something from audigy series is planned - there is no point, integrated audio is going to be disabled anyway. Might as well pick one with sata ports - those from nvidia actually work well with any modern devices, unlike ones from via. And also do not require any drivers to work, unlike silicon image stuff. So very convenient.

MCP2-S/R and MCP2-GB also have 8 USB ports instead of 6 on MCP2/MCP2-T, which can be quite handy depending on case and needs.

I am pretty happy with EPoX EP-8RDA3I myself. 12V VRM, very nice monitoring and ability to fiddle with everything like all the frequencies, voltages, etc in bios, nforce2 ultra 400 north bridge... the only disadvantage is regular MCP2 southbridge so no sata and no soundstorm, but soundstorm would be useless for me anyway so no big deal.

Motherboard is one of those parts which does not affect performance as long as it works properly and has the same chipset (especially with no overclocking), so a lot of options here and a lot depends on personal preference.

nd22 wrote on Yesterday, 05:08:

RAM:
Tier 1: Corsair is the way to go if you want an Athlon XP 3200 or very tight timings.

I am curious who is actual chip manufacturer. I've had very good success with sticks from samsung myself, so perhaps that's another option.

I always prefer sticks from actual chip manufactures because this way there is way less lottery involved. With manufacturers like corsair who does not have their own chips you can get totally differen ram which works completely differently with the same name, which is annoying.

Trashbytes wrote on Yesterday, 07:48:

Im going to be real here .. its socket A .. Ram timings don't matter at all neither does IC manufacturer, any DDR400 will be fine, you are not breaking any records here and if its DDR400 you are using then you can tune the timings down substantially on pretty much any old stick of DDR400 if its running at a lower FSB than its rated for.

Have to be careful though, nforce2 is very picky. I have whole box of DDR1 and like 2/3 of it does not work properly on boards with this chipset. So sharing what tends to work more reliably can actually be very useful to avoid buying "few Kg of DDR1".

Timings... in my extremely limited testing i was not able to find significant difference between sensible values like 3-3-3-8-1, 2.5-3-3-7-1 and 2-2-2-2-5-1 on my system (if you use the force more voltage it is possible to make regular 3-3-3-8 DDR400 to work with 2-2-2-2-5-1 timings, at least some sticks).

Hmm yes .. forgot about about that abomination well not abomination but its has its quirks, its about the only exception here where you do have to go hunting for sticks that it likes, I feel this is a nVidia issue as a lot of their chipsets had this problem ..even the 775 nforce chipsets had issues with DDR2/3 compatibility.

This is the only drawback of the Abit AN7. Until I used Corsair sticks I spent days testing I can not remember how many modules and none of them worked! Even with increased voltage none of them worked! Than I bought a Corsair stick and it worked!! I was so happy I stayed up all night just to watch memtest completing run after run. From that moment I bought a few lots of Corsair modules and all of them work in my nforce boards.