Athlon Hit Parade: 10 mobos with the nForce2 Ultra400

Gigabyte GA-7NNXP, Continued

Gigabyte intends to appeal to as large a user group as possible, and it fits the board with extra voltage converters for reasons of stability; these can be found on an additional expansion module by the name of DPS. If it weren't for the second fan on the board, it would be a very good product. Together with the fan on the Northbridge, the Gigabyte board generates considerably more noise than its competitors.

Gigabyte's color scheme for the case connections is useful. The sockets are labeled and color-coded, so it is almost impossible to incorrectly connect two jumpers by mistake.

Next to Asus, Gigabyte is the only manufacturer to give its nForce2 board an AGP Pro slot. While it is true that this does not improve performance, it does allow you to use professional graphics cards that use up a lot of power.

The performance achieved in our test is impressive, and the level and amount of equipment supplied is only bettered by DFI. Question marks still hang over the need for two fans and the saturation of the senses by the aggressive color scheme.

Dual-powered system, intended to ensure system stability even under adverse conditions. If only it weren't for the additional fan.

Patrick Schmid
Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)

Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.