BIOS and Overclocking
One of the most important features, at least for the tweaker, is the BIOS. In it you can edit settings so that you get the best performance from your system, and as such perhaps increase the speed of your RAM and CPU. While many of the screens inside the BIOS are the same, lets look at two of the interesting BIOS screens specific to the Chaintech 7NIF2.
This is where most of the tweaking of settings will occur. You have the option to increase the FSB in mostly 1MHz increments, with a few exceptions. One thing to notice is that there is no CPU multiplier support in this board, so you cannot underclock your TBred to be able to use the 166MHz FSB. The memory frequency has many options, ranging from SPD to 200%. With the tested memory we had the memory speed at 120% (166MHz @ 133MHz FSB). This allows you to control exactly how fast you need the memory to be, perhaps since you are still running PC1600, or using the integrated graphics and you want to get the most out of you PC2700 or even PC3200. The memory settings can be changed quite a bit, with the RCD and RP settings going from about 1 to 7, and the RAS going down pretty far as well.
The Frame Buffer is obviously to pick how much of your memory is going to be used by the integrated graphics, the most common options should be one of 32MB, 64MB or even the highest 128MB options. For our tests we used the 64MB frame buffer, to give it the exact same amount as the GF4MX also tested. The option for AGP frequency gives you the option of locking the AGP card to a specific speed, though why anyone would want to set it to 50MHz is beyond me, though there is the standard 66MHz speed option as well. There is also the obvious support for AGP 8X, which detected our MSI GF4MX correctly and ran it at 8X. Lastly there is an option for the TV mode that the SVHS output will use, and most if not all standards are included here.
In this screen you get to see the current temperature of the system, as well as the voltages of all the relevant parts of the system. The only selectable option is for the shutdown temperature, of which you get a choice of 85, 90, 95, and 100șC before the system shuts down.
The system we received and all of the 7NIF2's did not have any multiplier or voltage adjustments, so we could only overclock our test TBred using stock voltages. In this the system POST'ed at and was stable at 150+ MHz, but this in no way tells the true limits of this systems possible 200MHz FSB, but rather of the CPU's overclocking ability at stock voltages. As for the IGP portion of the system, it seemed possible to overclock the core and memory through drivers, but not through the hardware settings. The stock speed of the core of the video card, as read by Rivatuner was 200MHz, so there should be some room for overclocking there, and I will update this review if I manage to get a hold of another board. We know that this is an IGP based system, and as such is built around the GeForce 4 MX series, so lets look at how it looks, quality wise, first in 2D and then in 3D.
Next Page - 2D Quality & TV-Out
Previous Page - The Board Continued
|
Chaintech 7NIF2 nForce 2: We take a look at Chaintech's latest nForce 2 implementation, the 7NIF2. The board not only features the nVidia IGP, but it's also based on the Micro-ATX form factor.
