Nforce3

The_Saint · May 18th, 2003, 11:14 PM

A little link for the Asus Nforce 3. I don`t like much the layout, specially for the Ram, although is not bad.

Nforce3

What do you guys think?

dragonb · May 18th, 2003, 11:27 PM

looks good, I don't mind where the ram is...maybe a pain to get to with power cables. Power supply plug in good place..
Biggest worry... longer AGP cards could hit the chipset heatsink, especially if you put a HSF onto the chipset there, could cause problems. And, it doesn't look like top end video cards are getting any smaller these days.

dragonb

Nighthawk · May 18th, 2003, 11:30 PM

That RAM placement is pretty different, but I don't really see it being a problem.

I'm more wondering about the location of the chipset, but considering it's from nVidia I'm sure they tested it with a GeForce 4. The main problem I could see with it is that it will probably be impossible to get an actively cooled fan on there and the video card will be contributing plenty of heat to that area..

The_Saint · May 19th, 2003, 01:23 AM

Yes Nighthawk you`re right about the active cooling.

I wonder if this will be the same layout and chipset of the mobos for the desktop solution of the Athlon64. What do you think?

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edit: added a link for nighthawk.

NIghthawk look at this article, it might interest you for the KT600!

Link

Nighthawk · May 19th, 2003, 01:48 AM

I saw that article as soon as it came out. Good stuff!

I read somewhere that Asus was planning a K7V600.. If so, that'll be my next board.

The_Saint · May 19th, 2003, 11:31 AM

Wizzard~Of~Ozz · May 19th, 2003, 12:00 PM

Why do motherboards always put the floppy cable at the bottom? then you have to drag a cable right in front of the intake fans because all floppies are mounted approx 1/2 way up the case or higher, rarely lower.

looks like bolt on heatsinks are only possible with this chip (no clips)

1 IDE raid port should be 2, if it's for workstations, people may want to use a stripe mirror combination and SATA has not yet become a very practicle interface yet (for performance nor price)

the chipset cooler is an issue.

the SATA connectors bing near the bottom is OK.

only 2 supervised fan headers, I'ld think you'ld want at least one other by the front?

the board mounted speaker could have been moved a bit further away from the chipset. (may interfere with certain coolers, not like you can really change it

)

Why is the com2 header right between the AGP & CPU heatsink, might make it a little useless.

USB and front mount firewire connectors are in good spots.

The IDE RAID connector is in a good spot unless you aren't using a server style case or one with lower HD racks.

I think this board would be a pain to hook up with respect to some basic things you may be using

Floppy
AGP long card
chipset cooler (active)
Com2

just some of my thoughts on it.

willy_ph · May 19th, 2003, 12:45 PM

I don't know about the positioning of the ATX connector. Should have been closer to the top-right corner.

chinq82 · May 22nd, 2003, 03:42 AM

Its different... I think getting the atx connector on may be irritating when you gotta hike it over the ram. I like how they dont have a gang of transistors near the socket. I think the USB header should be near the bottom as well.

Telexen · June 18th, 2003, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by chinq82
Its different... I think getting the atx connector on may be irritating when you gotta hike it over the ram. I like how they dont have a gang of transistors near the socket.

Going over the RAM is better than around the CPU/HSF, I think