abit NF-M2 nView

All about them.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
tempeteduson
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Jun 05, 2004 12:56 pm
Location: Houston, Texas
Contact:

abit NF-M2 nView

Post by tempeteduson » Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:14 pm

abit NF-M2 nView
abit NF-M2 nView Manual (.zip)

I am so interested in this motherboard that I have created a topic dedicated to it. It's mostly user experiences that I will be looking for once it gets released and is widely available.

The board's main attraction to PC silencers is its passive heatpipe cooling (northbridge + VRMs), the first I have seen on an mATX board. This is also abit's first attempt at a serious IGP solution for Athlon 64. As such, it is an option for HTPC use (it has optical SPDIF in/out but no TV-out), suitable for TVs with digital connections.

Today is the first time I have seen it listed by a web retailer (in the UK) with pricing information. At the time of writing, it is £ 57.36 ex VAT, or >$100 USD--a bit on the high side.

EDIT: Newegg now has the board in stock. A couple other UK retailers also have them, including scan.co.uk.

Image
Last edited by tempeteduson on Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:14 pm, edited 4 times in total.

simbloke
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2003 5:34 am

Post by simbloke » Mon Sep 25, 2006 3:11 am

The RAM slots are quite close to the CPU. I wonder if a Ninja will fit...

simbloke
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2003 5:34 am

Post by simbloke » Fri Sep 29, 2006 9:51 am

Well, I've gone and ordered one! Plus 1GB of Corsair XM2 6400 and an AMD X2 4200+.

Now I have to wait until Tuesday :(

tempeteduson
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Jun 05, 2004 12:56 pm
Location: Houston, Texas
Contact:

Post by tempeteduson » Fri Sep 29, 2006 12:25 pm

That's great! I can't wait to hear your experiences. You will tell, won't you? :wink:

simbloke
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2003 5:34 am

Post by simbloke » Wed Oct 04, 2006 12:00 am

I have the board :D

I've not had much time to play with it. Just put it together and installed the OS.

I'm using Corsair Twin2X 6400C4 with no problems. The good news is that the DD2 voltage goes from 1.8v to 2.5v! So there should be now problems with those modules that require 2.1v.

Nothing other than the stock AMD cooler at the moment. That's 3pin in a 4pin socket so the fan runs at full speed all the time :( Iwanted to get everything in the box first (NSK3300) before a tried to decide which quiet HSF would fit.

Sim

Image

Mats
Posts: 3044
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 6:54 am
Location: Sweden

Post by Mats » Wed Oct 04, 2006 3:26 am

simbloke wrote:Nothing other than the stock AMD cooler at the moment. That's 3pin in a 4pin socket so the fan runs at full speed all the time :(
Why? You have at least 2 (3 pin) fan headers within reach, why don't you use them?

simbloke
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2003 5:34 am

Post by simbloke » Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:57 pm

Why? You have at least 2 (3 pin) fan headers within reach, why don't you use them?
That's what I'm doing now. The BIOS is nice, it can can control the system fan speed based on the CPU temp, I didn't see that at first.

MC FLMJIG
Posts: 332
Joined: Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:47 pm
Location: NY
Contact:

Post by MC FLMJIG » Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:50 pm

My 1st Post!

I had to register to find a few things out.

This board has me very interested.

Have you tried to OC it yet? How high did you go? Do you have CPUZ screenies?

Max CPU Voltage?

Memory timings?

Sorry but you seem to be the only one with this mobo!

Thanks beforehand! ;)

strat_53711
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:10 am

Post by strat_53711 » Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:17 am

Looks like NewEgg now has it in stock.

I'm looking for a passive cpu heatsink for the AM2.

Does anyone know if the Silverstone NT01 V2.0 works with AM2 Socket?

MC FLMJIG
Posts: 332
Joined: Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:47 pm
Location: NY
Contact:

Post by MC FLMJIG » Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:28 am

Is Abit finally back?

Yea. NE has them that's why I've been tryin to figure out if they are good Ocer's otherwise I'm doing the Epox 6100.

bean1975
Posts: 90
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 3:46 am
Location: Vancouver

Post by bean1975 » Tue Oct 10, 2006 12:13 pm

Does it allow you to undervolt/underclock?

simbloke
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2003 5:34 am

Post by simbloke » Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:49 pm

I've only checked the RAM voltage range (1.8-2.5) but I will have a look at the others and report back.

I'm not an overclocker but getting the X2 4200 from 2.2 to 2.4 GHz was no problem.

simbloke
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2003 5:34 am

Voltage ranges

Post by simbloke » Wed Oct 11, 2006 11:10 am

CPU: 1.35v to 2.0v
DDR2: 1.75 to 2.5 correction of above
DDR2 Ref: -4% to +2%
Chipset core: 1.2v to 1.6v
SB Aux Core: 1.5v to 1.74v
Hyper Transport: 1.2v to 1.4v

MC FLMJIG
Posts: 332
Joined: Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:47 pm
Location: NY
Contact:

Post by MC FLMJIG » Wed Oct 11, 2006 11:23 am

THANK YOU!!!

You haven't OC it it?!?!?! What ya waiting 4!

Once again, THANK U

bean1975
Posts: 90
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 3:46 am
Location: Vancouver

Re: Voltage ranges

Post by bean1975 » Wed Oct 11, 2006 11:38 am

simbloke wrote:CPU: 1.35v to 2.0v
this sucks. I would have expected to be able to use 0.8V at worst 1V. If not, then this motherboard is useless for me :(

MC FLMJIG
Posts: 332
Joined: Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:47 pm
Location: NY
Contact:

Post by MC FLMJIG » Wed Oct 11, 2006 11:41 am

.8?!?!?! It probably undervolts

Steeeeve
Posts: 30
Joined: Sat May 06, 2006 9:02 am

Post by Steeeeve » Wed Oct 11, 2006 5:28 pm

Very nice!!! I love the look of it in the NSK3300 there. I got one coming for review in a few days so hopefully we can finally have an awesome mATX motherboard....although that is still to be determined

Mats
Posts: 3044
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 6:54 am
Location: Sweden

Post by Mats » Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:19 am

Here you have lots of pics, showing the BIOS, the mobo, the heatsinks removed...









...oh and yeah, they run it at 10 x 315 MHz, not Prime stable since the speed is lowered for one benchmark but that's most likely a CPU limitation since 3150 MHz is very high for a K8. Pretty good anyway.

skipper
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:29 am
Location: Denmark

Post by skipper » Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:33 am

This motherboard really sounds nice. I hope it will soon be available in Denmark.

Does anybody know if it will fit a Zalman CNPS8000?

/Skipper

skipper
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:29 am
Location: Denmark

Post by skipper » Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:44 am

Do you know if this boards is able to undervolt using rmclock og similar programs?

How much is it possible to undervolt a AM2 3500+? Can it go below 1.1 volt?

Does Speedfan work with this motherboard? Can Speedfan control cpu fan speed?

I am really looking forward to put my HTPC together.

/Skipper

tempeteduson
Posts: 189
Joined: Sat Jun 05, 2004 12:56 pm
Location: Houston, Texas
Contact:

Post by tempeteduson » Fri Oct 20, 2006 5:00 pm

Thanks, simbloke. Do you have an update for us, regarding reliability and stability?

simbloke
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2003 5:34 am

Post by simbloke » Sun Oct 22, 2006 1:46 am

tempeteduson wrote:Thanks, simbloke. Do you have an update for us, regarding reliability and stability?
So far it's been totally reliable and stable. Oh, I'm running Ubuntu Linux and the NVidia 9625 beta drivers.

I now have a Thermalright HR01 fitted. I still have the standard NSK3300 rear fan on slowest speed. The front fan is an Acoustifan running at about 1300 RPM, not that quiet so I'll be trying something else soon.

The CPU temps are usually around 28-34 degrees. That once rose to 60 when firefox got stuck for a couple of hours when I wasn't looking, not bad for a passive heatsink I think.

No OC'ing yet, I might get to it one day but it's fast enough for now. Anyway quietness is what I'm after.

starry
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 1:43 pm
Location: Conwy North Wales

Post by starry » Mon Oct 23, 2006 1:52 pm

Hi simbloke did the corsair 6400c boot ok with original bios ? or were there any issues thanks.

simbloke
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2003 5:34 am

Post by simbloke » Tue Oct 24, 2006 12:05 am

starry wrote:Hi simbloke did the corsair 6400c boot ok with original bios ? or were there any issues thanks.
I've just noticed above I said I got C4 memory, wrong, I was just thinking about that one!

What i actually got was the cheaper TWIN2X1024-6400C5.

There were no problems with the memory, it worked perfectly with the BIOS defaults.

starry
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 1:43 pm
Location: Conwy North Wales

Post by starry » Tue Oct 24, 2006 4:16 am

Thanks for the reply I am still debating on this board but from what information I can find it seems very good, I have been looking at some Geil memory link below what do you think ?

http://www.geil.com.tw/portal/product_DDR2-667DC.php

also were about in Wales do you live ?.

simbloke
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2003 5:34 am

Post by simbloke » Tue Oct 24, 2006 7:01 am

also were about in Wales do you live ?.
Sunny Bangor :wink:

Sorry, don't really know about that memory. From what I could find out before buying this board Crucial and Corsair seem to be well respected. The Corsair was cheaper so I went with that.

Reading other forums it seems many have problems with DDR2 on MATX boards because the values in the SPD have only been tested on Intel chipsets (so far). A lot of DDR2 memory seems to require more than 1.8-1.9v to to use at DDR2-800 and many other MATX boards don't allow that adjustment. No such problems with this board :)

starry
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 1:43 pm
Location: Conwy North Wales

Post by starry » Tue Oct 24, 2006 7:40 am

Were almost neighbours :) anyway thanks for the info on the memory, it seems that it's not only the matx boards that are having the problem with the SPD lots of the intel boards also having the same problem, that is why I am being cautious on what memory I get, it looks as if most will work as long as memory rated at 1.8 v anyway no hurry as yet thanks again.

Stacey Melissa
Posts: 45
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2006 10:42 am
Location: Wichita, Kansas, USA

Post by Stacey Melissa » Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:31 am

Oh wow, I had no idea this board was anything more than vaporware! <drools>

I guess the only big question with it is which big HSFs will fit with the RAM so close.

nyvz
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:53 am

Post by nyvz » Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:56 am

I'm really interested to know how much control rmclock or crystalcpuid have with this motherboard, since all other am2 matx motherboards are a disappointment in this respect. How low can the voltage go? How high? fsb? multiplier? I'm really interested in undervolting capability since I want to build a portable computer with this, and from the sound of it, it can definitely do everything else.

jackylman
Posts: 784
Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 8:13 am
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Post by jackylman » Tue Oct 24, 2006 2:08 pm

nyvz wrote:I'm really interested to know how much control rmclock or crystalcpuid have with this motherboard, since all other am2 matx motherboards are a disappointment in this respect.
Just an FYI.. My MSI K9NU can go down to 0.9V with CrystalCPUID. It also does all the whole multipliers (4x - 11x). Unless you have an FX processor, any multipliers above the stock one are locked out anyway. Unfortunately, the board doesn't handle half multipliers as well as it does whole multipliers.

Post Reply