Hey, I'm new here, and have a dilemma. I'm rebuilding the core of my system, and have been looking into a new motherboard. Now, I'm on the AMD route, so my two top picks are the A7V8X and the A7N8X. I play games, so onboard video isn't something I need (I have a GeForce4 for that...) and the A7V8X is about $40 bucks cheaper, but does the nForce2 chipset offer much peformance increase or does the board have any great features I'll miss out on if I opt for the A7V8X?

It certainly does have some great features! It's biggest feature is that it isn't made by VIA, the Yugo of chipsets (if you don't remember the Yugo, don't bother). Anyway, it also has a lot of cool onboard features such as onboard sound equal or better than a $50 soundcard, and dual LAN can come in handy for me, I don't know about you. Also look at the driver support nVidia provides compared to VIA. Comparing the VIA to nVidia is more like comparing your neighbors hopped up Toyota MR2 to an Accura NSX-the quality is in the NSX, or in the nVidia chipset as the case may be.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

go with nforce2!

I switched platforms just because i hated via so much! Every problem i ever ran into was because of the VIA chipset so i went to an Intel chipset and i'm quite happy with it!

I bought my bro the asus A7N8X board for his christmas gift. Parents paying half.

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

Buy the A7N8X

Let us know <A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/community/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=25703#25703" target="_new"> What File compression format you use? </A>

Hey, thanks a lot eveyone, I really appreciate the advice. I think I'll spend the extra money and go with the A7N8X like you all recommend. Thanks again everyone.

I would also get the N8X but I happen to not have the problems that everyone else seems to have with VIA. My past 2 mobos have been VIA and I haven't had any problems regarding the VIA chipsets.

It's always darkest just before it goes pitch black.

I just ordered an a7n8x, should be here tomorrow or tuesday. I had an asus a7v-133, with the kt133a chipset. Never again in my life will I buy anything with a via chipset. Every major problem i've ever had has dealt with a via chipset. Everything from the viaapg.sys file that Tom's Hardware did a review on, from stop errors in winXP. *maybe those two are related, hmmm*, Anyways, I hope this board is ALOT better, alot easier to set up and alot more stable. I'll post some reviews when I get it up and running.

Hehe! I was going to post this same question about these two boards but someone beat me to the punch. Thanks for the opinions.

What sites are selling the A7N8X??

<font color=blue>Can anyone help me overclock my girlfriend's love toy?<font color=blue>

I purchased mine from <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com</A> , however as of yesterday they were sold out. If you go to <A HREF="http://www.pricewatch.com" target="_new">http://www.pricewatch.com</A> , several sites come up that sell this board. Hope this helps.