Gigabyte GA-7N400S-L

[TechMD]

i'm seriously considering copping one of the above. i recently tried to export some DV back to my Digital8 camcorder w/lots of tribulation & stress.:( one of the problems seems to be the speed of my current system so...

i figure it's finally time to rebuild from the ground up...

anyways, one general question and one specific:
1. anyone have any legitimate first-hand experience w/this board?

2. does this board and/or the Nvidia nForce2 Ultra400 chipset support ECC RAM modules?

TIA :)

[Ginsu543]

I've owned an Intel-based FIC board and since then I've never bought from them since. FIC boards are just too sketchy. If you are going to rebuild from the ground up, there is no reason not to 64-bit/PCI-e. That is where all the future upgrade paths will be and they have come down in price enough that you can put together a very solid system for not too much money.

Also, why do you need to know if the mobo is compatible with ECC RAM? There is really no reason to get ECC RAM for a desktop system. Besides, ECC RAM is more expensive and slower than regular non-ECC RAM.

[TechMD]

i think you misunderstood my question(s). you kind of did not answer either of them. i already have an FIC board. the new board is the one i named the post after. i am considering the ECC RAM because of the application(s) i'm intending to use. i'm building the system for audio/video editing.

as i stated originally i have as yet been unable to export my edited video back to my camera. that is essentially the only reason i am upgrading. i am not an overclocker. combine these with the fact that i do not believe ProTools is compatible w/64-bit OS/, and i'm not interested in 64bit at the moment.

thanks for the input though... :o

[bluegreenshxt]

I would go with a 64bit/pci-e system as well. You don't have to use a 64bit OS/software with it, but you will have the capability of going that route if you choose so in a few years. It would also be a computer that will last a lot longer than the nforce2 you're trying to build.

[therealwesty]

In general Gigabyte boards are a high quality part, certainly not a poor choice. They do tend to be more expensive than other brands of similar quality and features though. If you can find a Gigabyte with a price you are happy with I would certainly recommend it.

Just replacing the motherboard isn't going to give you a massive performance increase though. If you are going to get a new chip and RAM you might as well get an Athlon 64 of some sort and PC3200. This would give you a way bigger performance boost and would probably last a little longer before you were looking for your next upgrade.

[stlouis1]

personally man, i would go with the abit nf7-s, its a k7 board, i know you can find them around for about 90$ can now. it will take you current processor, but you will need new ram being as you have sd ram right now, so you will need DDR, pc 3200 would be best. im not going to do like everyone else and suggest going 64 bit, because it seems to me your jsut trying to do something quick and easy. i dont have any experience with that board in particular, but i've had a gigabyte board before and i found it to be quite an underperformer. the abit board i suggested is based on the same chipset. has usb and firewire and all the goodies save gigabit lan i think. i do not believe it supports ecc ram, but to be honest ECC ram is expensive as mentioned, and in all honesty, if you have a perfectly stable system, ECC shouldnt be necessary.

[TechMD]

thanks for the legit responses. again, i'm not looking to go 64-bit. i only moved up to the Athlon processor & 512MB RAM last year. i was using a 750MHz Duron & 256MB RAM prior to that. that kept me since 2000. i'm more concerned w/stability,functionality and the cost of my system than speed. i'll be good just stepping up to DDR RAM & the 2GHz Athlon. i just read a message from tech support at Gigabyte that says the chipset is not compatible w/ECC anyway.

it seems however that the board max's out at 1GB of RAM w/the 400MHz DDR. if i recall correctly, it is best to for the memory to be as fast as or faster than the FSB. correct me if i'm wrong. i suppose 1GB is good, but it seems kind of wasted not to be able to max out at 3GB unless using 266/333MHz DDR.

[therealwesty]

1GB of RAM is going to be fine. There aren't a lot of applications that can really benefit from over 1GB of RAM unless you are working with RAW format video/audio stuff. Any games that use more than 1GB of RAM would also demand a more powerful CPU or videocard at that level of performance.

If you were thinking of spending the money on 3GB of DDR RAM than you would get a much more noticable performance boost by getting 1GB of RAM and faster CPU with the same money.

[TechMD]

so 1GB should be fine for editing DV audio/video?

[stlouis1]

oh yeah, if you can get 1gb now, do it, cuz matching another stick later is a pain, might as well buy them as a pair at the same time

[TechMD]

i'm actually looking at a 1GB stick of RAM.

[stlouis1]

get 2 seperate identical sticks of 512mb. if you cant run dual channel, you could in the future, and sometimes 1gb sticks have higher latencies than they're 512mb counterparts.

[PCgeek]

He means higher latencies, which equal lower performance, but for the most part he's right, try to get 2 stick of 512MB

[stlouis1]

He means higher latencies, which equal lower performance, but for the most part he's right, try to get 2 stick of 512MB
lol, oops, wasnt paying attention...wait, i mean, what are you talking about

[TechMD]

okay, after further research, i've settled on this board

GA-7N400 Pro2 (http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_Spec_GA-7N400%20Pro2%20(Rev%202.x).htm)

new inquiry:

suppose i was to purchase individual sticks of DDR-RAM. how do i determine if the sticks are identical? assuming the manufacturer, size and bandwidth are the same?

i'll probably buy a pair of 512MB PC3200 but just in case i don't i'd like to know...

TIA

[therealwesty]

If you buy the sticks from the same store at the same time then there is a good chance they will be matching pieces. RAM is usually bought in batches by retailers so if you get two from the same batch you'll be fine. Might not hurt to mention that you are going to be using the RAM in a dual channel configuration.

When one of my customers orders a pair of generic RAM for use in dual channel I try to give them two sticks where the S/N is in sequence like xxxxx1 and xxxxx2.

[TechMD]

suppose i buy 1 stick this month and 1 stick next month? other than the serial number sequencing, how could a viable match be determined?

[therealwesty]

You'd want to have a good look at the physical configuration of the bits on the stick. If the sticks look identicle than have a look at the numbers on the DRAMs. If the DRAM numbers match than the sticks are identicle.

I once had a pair of Infineon sticks from the same vendor, the DRAMs matched, but the physical sticks were a little different. I plugged them into a dual channel ready Asus board. Everything seemed fine at stock speeds, but once I OCed the RAM 2MHz and tried to POST the board died.

[TechMD]

it does quite seem like its easier to just buy the pair at once. by what you're saying you could hypothetically be buying stick after stick and never get a match. can't be doing that ($$$$).

i just may purchase a pair of 1GB sticks of PC3200 DDR. i don't overclock at all. i plan on using the system for video/audio editing. i don't want any memory issues.

just how much of an issue would the latency be operating w/2 1GB sticks in dual channel mode?

[stlouis1]

its usually not that bit a different, like the 512mb stick might run cas 2.5-3-3-6 and the 1gb might run 2.5-4-4-8 for example, in actual BMs you'll notice a very small difference. the only thing low latencies really give you is overclocking potential