"zork" wrote in message ...

"jpsga" wrote in message
news:wFLPc.221175$JR4.59320@attbi_s54...

"zork" wrote in message
...
Hi, I am interested in getting a new system together. I am strapped
for
budget. So I dont want to get in on the 64ish stuff.

I am considering:

1 Gigabyte 7N400Pro2 Motherboard
1 AMD AthlonT XP 2800+ Processor Retail (Barton Core)
512M PC3200 DDR RAM Kingmax

Can anyone advise whther this is a fairly cost/performance effective
solution? I am looking for a good system. I do a fair bit of work on
the
pc.
sometimes play the odd game. But mostly run several applications in
the
background. I use to have an asus a7v133 / 1 GHz Athlon tbird / 512 MB
RAM
(it barbecued recently) and found things somewhat slowing down for me.

Also, what is the difference between:

1 Gigabyte 7N400Pro2 Motherboard
1 Gigabyte 7N400Pro2 (Rev. 2.0) Motherboard

Thanks so much!

Cheers,
zork


The REV 2.0 uses a newer RAID controller chip.
I can only rave about this board.
It is *not* the least expensive mb around.
It is dual channel and does its best with matched pairs of memory. (More
quid!)
It is easy to over clock so you will get every thing the 2800 has and
then
some.
The MBM (EasyTune 4 or 5) is a accurate and handy.
Performance up grades are easy.
There is a lot of help in this ng as it is a popular board.
JPS



Great thanks so much for that!

When you say it does its best with matched pairs of memory, are you saying
it is better I get 2 x 256 MB rather than 1 x 512 MB ?

I have been a long time ASUS user, but i am finding that Gigabyte seem
more
feature rich. I hope that also includes stability

Oh, one other question. Is there a popular support forum for Gigabyte
boards. I know that a7vtroubleshooting.com is THE board to be on when it
comes to problems related to ASUS mobos. I was hoping there would be
somethign similar for the gigabyte boards? Or is this forum the best place
on the net for gigabyte?

Cheers JPS!
zork


zork,

Yes, 2x256MB is better use of the board.

The only 'support forum' I know of is this one. I read it routinely
looking for 7N400 questions and answers. If you are interested yet, I can
relay the top 4 or 5 start-up problems that are brought up.

JPS