At this moment most of you will jump: are you out of your mind??? but CO revision with command rate 1T is impossible!!! Period correct reviews mentioned the need for CG revision in order to set CR 1T!!
Even Phil says so in this video and all from Intel versus AMD season 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGWUfpzjaBw&l … 7DrGus&index=67

I am fully aware that Phil is a god in the retro world and I am just a nobody! However Phil used a board with integrated graphics and I got an Abit. You will also see that some of my results do not align with Phil's and i will explain later why.

Archer57 wrote on 2025-10-07, 07:13:

nd22 wrote on 2025-10-07, 05:51:

Memory compatibility, NVidia style: each of the 3 boards accepts only specific kits from certain manufacturers, in this case Kingston. Corsair also works but anything else is a no go!

In this case nvidia has nothing to do with memory though, memory controller is in the CPU and is made by AMD. And yes, from my experience with s939 it can be even worse than nforce2 memory controller. At least with unbuffered memory - i've had much better success with registered memory.

I beg to differ and when I will present the next system you will see why!

Archer57 wrote on 2025-10-07, 07:13:

nd22 wrote on 2025-10-07, 05:51:

Memory compatibility, NVidia style: each of the 3 boards accepts only specific kits from certain manufacturers, in this case Kingston. Corsair also works but anything else is a no go!

In this case nvidia has nothing to do with memory though, memory controller is in the CPU and is made by AMD. And yes, from my experience with s939 it can be even worse than nforce2 memory controller. At least with unbuffered memory - i've had much better success with registered memory.

nd22 has his own monologue, let's not interfere. 😀
This is often a BIOS issue.
The Asus nForce 3 might work fine with the RAM on the previous BIOS version, but then it started crashing on the next one ( with description "improved system stability").
Moreover, the memory is from QVL.
Since then I have sworn off using their hardware.

SHEVALIER is on to something; indeed the BIOS version matters a lot. However in my case the chipset is the one that determines the memory compatibility as you will see when I present system number 2.

This is the system summary; as you can see SATA optical drive together with WD raptor 150gb make any IDE ribbon cable redundant and if you enable cool and quiet the Clawhammer will drop to 800 MHz.

nd22 wrote on 2025-10-07, 08:49:

SHEVALIER is on to something; indeed the BIOS version matters a lot. However in my case the chipset is the one that determines the memory compatibility as you will see when I present system number 2.

Memory compatibility is influenced by many things, including the order of placement and density of the memory.

Well, chipset has absolutely nothing to do with memory on this platform. Memory is physically connected to memory controller in the CPU.

However there are a number of things which can and do affect memory compatibility on the motherboard. Even on modern hardware. Topology, specific board layout, components used, power delivery, BIOS and all the memory controller settings it sets, etc, etc.

If there seems to be some correlation between memory compatibility and chipset it is likely caused by common design decisions on boards with the same chipset. Which is especially likely given everything is from the same motherboard manufacturer.

Except for the chipset, of course.
This is clearly stated in the schematic diagrams, for example, from Micro Star.
I believe them more than urban legends. Sorry.
It's just that boards with more expensive chipsets are better designed.
And it's possible, although I can't say for sure, that they are testing the BIOS before releasing it for these boards.

K7 vs K8 block diagram

SHEVALIER is right! The chipset has nothing to do with memory compatibility on socket 754 and 939! But the manufacturer own quirks when designing a board has a lot to do!! Also BIOS version matters a lot - when I put up the ULI system you will see why.

The second system is also based on a nvidia chipset: nforce4 - the only one with pci-express graphics.
Abit manufactured a single model: NV8. No different variants, just the basic board with ac97 audio and 10/100/1000 lan. There are no extra controllers but you still get 4 SATA ports, more than any other chipset. It is the only board with a pci-express based lan controller!

24 pin ATX connector looks very modern! The same windbond monitoring chip as seen on the NF8. Chipset fan lubricated with silicon oil and thermal paste replaced with MX4.

One more proof that all nforce4 are the same regardless of model/socket/revision:

nd22 wrote on 2025-10-06, 07:30:

6. Storage devices: as much as I would liked to use SSD half of the boards refused outright to run with a SSD connected! In fact only 2 out of 4 accepted a SSD. On VIA K8T800 PRO with the VT8237 there is a known problem when only SATA 150 drives are accepted or SATA 300 that can be jumpered to SATA 1.5 speed. On nforce3 despite trying multiple brands no SSD worked. Unfortunately I do not have a Sand force based SSD so I could not trick the boards into accepting flash based storage!

Weird, I have tested OCZ Arc 100 (120GB, Indilinx Barefoot) on MSI K8N Neo V2 and no problem. Performance was not so bad, if we compared with a platte HDD.

One possible problem of ABit AB-NV8 is that usage of a double slot GPU like GeForce GTX 260 could obscure all SATA ports by a few milimeters. It seems to be thus limited to single slot cards such as GeForce 9800 GT (single slot).

I have https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/gigabyte-ga-k8ne and GeForce GTX 260 obscures the top SATA port.

AlexZ wrote on 2025-10-08, 22:11:

One possible problem of ABit AB-NV8 is that usage of a double slot GPU like GeForce GTX 260 could will all SATA ports by a few milimeters. It seems to be thus limited to single slot cards such as GeForce 9800 GT (single slot).

Yeah, that's a horrible layout.

I generally dislike early pci-e boards with too many x1 above x16 - it places videocard too close to the bottom of the case, which affects cooling and makes all remaining PCI slots unavailable (so soundcard becomes problematic).

May have to use pci-e sata controller in such case, thankfully this are common and easily available.

AlezZ is 100% right! As you can see in the picture with the radeon x1950 pro there are 3 sata devices: kingston a400 960gb as system drive, wd raptor for storage benchmarks and a dvd drive. They all fit just fine.
However if i install a 9800gtx for example all SATA ports are blocked! This is a serious layout error made by Abit engineers!
Please note that the it is mandatory to put the 4 pin molex to the connector found beneath the bottom PCI slot otherwise the board will not boot!

Ydee wrote on 2025-10-08, 19:04:

nd22 wrote on 2025-10-06, 07:30:

6. Storage devices: as much as I would liked to use SSD half of the boards refused outright to run with a SSD connected! In fact only 2 out of 4 accepted a SSD. On VIA K8T800 PRO with the VT8237 there is a known problem when only SATA 150 drives are accepted or SATA 300 that can be jumpered to SATA 1.5 speed. On nforce3 despite trying multiple brands no SSD worked. Unfortunately I do not have a Sand force based SSD so I could not trick the boards into accepting flash based storage!

Weird, I have tested OCZ Arc 100 (120GB, Indilinx Barefoot) on MSI K8N Neo V2 and no problem. Performance was not so bad, if we compared with a platte HDD.

I tried Intel, adata, verbatim, kingston and kingmax and none of them works.
I should mention that I chose the cheapest variant: a400 from kingston for example.

nd22 wrote on 2025-10-06, 07:30:

On VIA K8T800 PRO with the VT8237 there is a known problem when only SATA 150 drives are accepted or SATA 300 that can be jumpered to SATA 1.5 speed.

This eventually got fixed with the VT8237R Plus revision of the southbridge. I had an Asus K8V-MX (VIA K8M800) with one of those, and it worked fine with any SATA3 SSD that I threw at it:

But that revision isn't as widespread as the older, buggy ones.

Excellent southbridge choice on that Asus. Unfortunately on KV8 PRO the buggy one is implemented!

BIOS: everything not needed is disabled, including cool and quiet. Memory settings: auto sets the ram to 3-3-3-8 CR 1T.