New Motherboard?

[caashford]

My PC is so old its practically falling apart so I have decided it is time for a serious upgrade. I want to do it myself (just a pride thing i guess). I have added a new harddrive and cd-writer, but the idea of adding a new motherboard is a bit daunting.

The three motherboards I am thinking about are:
Asus A7V8X
Asus A7N8X
and Deluxe Editions

Gigabyte GA-7VAXP

Having read the forums everyone seems to have massive respect for the Asus A7N8X, but i just dont know if i will be spending money on far more than i need.
I dont have a graphics card in my computer (no AGP slot its that old!) and was planning on just using the onboard graphics card until i can afford it. Will be graphics on the Asus A7N8X be far better than that on the other boards? I have to say i don't really understand what the benefit of 'NForce2' on the motherboard is...

I will get some PC2700 RAM and a 2100+ Processor (good price performance ratio).

So... what are your thoughts, go for an Asus board or the Gigabyte (my dads last two computers have been Gigabyte and there have been no problems with either of them). Plus the Gigabyte has optical sound (good for MiniDisc recording).

Just another quick question - whats the difference between RAID and Serial ATA, just a speed thing?

Cheers, i look forward to any response.

Chris

 

[Andyddr]

All these boards are a good choice but from what I`ve read Asus`s board seems to be one of the fastest of all the nForce2`s on the market (with Abit).

Ask anyone who has had a bad BIOS flash that there is nothing worse `cause you need to RMA the board and that can take weeks (and will sometimes cost you) so the dual BIOS of Gigabyte is great. Another factor is price. Asus is generally more expensive than the others.

Will be graphics on the Asus A7N8X be far better than that on the other boards? I have to say i don't really understand what the benefit of 'NForce2' on the motherboard is...

The nForce2 has about 2-5% increase over KT400 (waiting to get flak for that). Have a look at Toms <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/20021111/index.html" target="_new"> article </A>where he tests the nForce2 against KT400. The graphics used on nF2 is the MX version of Geforce4 and is A LOT slower but it should be fast enough to play most games but I`m sure you know that already.



Your new hardware is out-of-date

 

[BlackhawkMTV]

I started out with buying a MSI K4 Ultra but seeing the performance when I got home I was abit disappointed. The stability of that board was also horrible. So I returned it for a ASUS A7N8X Deluxe and I must say its a beautiful piece of hardware. Its a breeze to deal with not only configuring but installing windows with. Not to mention the +1000 point I gained in 3D Mark 2001 SE over the MSI board. My last board was a ASUS A7V133-C and this one is just as stable as that. Thats what I love with ASUS. Stability and speed at the same time. And all the stuff on this babe means I only have one card in my computer. 2 LAN and the soundcard is just awesome. Much better than my old Soundblaster Audigy. The only drawback when choosing ASUS is their horrible support. They never ever answers e-mail even if you send to all of their adresses. Anyway I give this board a thumbs up and I would recommend it to anyone.