Ian, Joe

Thanks for the responses.
I tried the Gigabyte 7VAXP and it wasn't bad.  I read the entire
Anandtech nforce review and decided to go and exchange the Gigabyte for
the Asus A7N8X Deluxe since it was the top performer in almost all
categories of their review.
So the current system is now:  Antec server case with 400w power supply;
Asus A7N8X deluxe mainboard; Athlon XP 1800+ (got a good deal packaged
with heatsink/fan, couldn't afford the thoroughbred-B yet, but did
prepare for it with the motherboard); 256meg Corsair platinum high
performance pc3200 ram w/ Cas2 (I know I need more, but local store
wanted to much so I'm going to order on the net); 80gig WD w/ 8meg
cache; Pacific Digital DVD rom drive; GeForce4 Ti4200 w/64mb ddr (had
this for about 7 months or so, can't afford a new one yet).

I got the box built with the Gigabyte board and ran 3DMark 2001 on it. I
just have the trial version of the software, so I can only run 16 of the
21 tests.  My Ti4200 is currently back at PNY awaiting replacement, so I
had to use my old GeForce2 MX.  With the Gigabyte board I got a score of
2853.
So since my Ti4200 won't be back by the time I get things rebuilt with
the new Asus board, I will get a heads up comparison between the 2
boards with my old graphics card and I will get my own evaluation on
whether it is any better.

OS is Windows XP Pro with SP1 installed.  All the latest drivers are
being used as well as DirectX 9.

That is the update...I will post when I get the box rebuilt and run the
tests.

Thanks to everyone so far....fell free to keep the suggestions coming.

Neal Collins
A+

-----Original Message-----
From: PCBUILD - Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ian
Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 8:02 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Mainboard for gaming system

Hmm, I'll be interested to see what responses you get to this one.  It's
hard to keep up with motherboard development and you really do need
user-input to find out what's true and what isn't.
I assume you've looked around the net for reports, like at Tom's
Hardware
and AnandTech?

I've also found a lot of reliable hardware information in magazines like
PCUser etc, where the technical staff have actually carried out
real-world
tests of the equipment.

I tend to stick to Gigabyte, but only because my main supplier likes
them,
and the prices aren't top shelf. My current board is a 7VRXP, which
seems to
perform pretty good, but it's over 6 months old now, and a bit dated.
My
Athlon 2000+ goes very well.

I'm not a net gamer but I get a great kick from graphic-rich games like
Dungeon Siege and Syberia.

Keep us informed on what you end up with.


Ian Porter
Computer Guys Inc.
Arrowtown
New Zealand
[log in to unmask]


----- Original Message -----
From: "Neal Collins" Subject: [PCBUILD] Mainboard for gaming system


> Hey good folks,
> Going to put together a dedicated gaming computer and have narrowed
> everything down except the motherboard.
> System will for sure include:
> Antec case with 400w power supply
> Western Digital 80gb HD with 8meg cache
> Sony DVD drive
> Corsair memory...either 256mb or 512mb of pc3200 ddr ram
> GeForce4 Ti4200 64mb video card
> Will get a switch to share my existing monitor, keyboard , and mouse
> between the gaming computer and my current system (no desk room to
add)
> Cpu will be an Athlon XP...1900+ or 2000+ or 2100+...depending on mobo
> cost
>
> The mobo's I have selected:  Asus A7V8X w/ Via Kt400 chipset, Gigabyte
> 7VAXP Ultra with Via Kt400 chipset, Asus A7N8X Deluxe with nforce
> chipset, or Soyo SY-Kt400 Dragon Ultra Platinum.
>
> I know I probably can't go wrong with any of them, but just looking
for
> opinions on what you might pick and why.
> If you have suggestions on other changes, feel free on that also.
> Probably going to use Partition magic to divide up the hard drive into
> about 10gb for WinXP Pro, 65gb for data partition, and rest for swap
> file.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Neal Collins
> A+

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