Gigabyte 7NNXP (nForce2 Ultra 400): Gigabyte Goes nForce
by Evan Lieb on July 5, 2003 10:53 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Final Words
After much testing, we can safely conclude that the Gigabyte 7NNXP is the most feature-filled Athlon XP motherboard we’ve ever tested. The combination of features such as IDE and Serial ATA RAID, dual LAN, dual BIOS, and IEEE 1394 FireWire, among other contributing factors, led us to this conclusion. Certainly, ASUS and ABIT’s nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboards are excellent choices for a high-end Socket A motherboard, and in general, are quite comparable to the 7NNXP's feature set. But in terms of pure onboard features (and BIOS features too), the Gigabyte 7NNXP manages to be a cut above the rest.
The only real negative thing we can say about the 7NNXP is that it doesn’t offer much bang for your buck, as it’s approximately $60 more expensive than its slightly less featured cousin, the 7N400 Pro. The 7N400 Pro is identical to the 7NNXP in every way except for two things; lack of a second onboard LAN controller (the Intel version) and the DPS technology. For $60 less, you’d be crazy to pass up the 7N400 Pro if you don’t require the second LAN port or DPS unit. In fact, if we had to choose between the Gigabyte 7N400 Pro, ABIT NF7-S and ASUS A7N8X Deluxe, we’d choose the 7N400 Pro any day of the week. All three motherboards are priced nearly the same in the U.S., so there’s little point in passing up a motherboard that offers more features and the same performance for the exact same price tag.
Therefore, we have no problem recommending the Gigabyte 7NNXP or 7N400 Pro to Athlon XP users who desire the absolute fastest motherboard with stellar overclocking ability, in addition to the best feature set we've seen from any Athlon XP motherboard to date. Currently, we are examining DFI’s nForce2 Ultra 400 LAN Party motherboard, and it has shown potential thus far. You may want to wait for the verdict on that review, but regardless of the outcome, we can safely say you won’t be making a bad choice by purchasing Gigabyte’s 7N400 Pro or 7NNXP today.
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Anonymous User - Tuesday, July 8, 2003 - link
Yes, uhm, can we go back to GIF? I hate Flash. Look, I'm on dialup, and I'm lagged a LOT by big downloads, but I still prefer GIFs to Flash (which seems to load a tad faster). My friends all agree, and most of them are dialuppers too. Please, at least put up a poll or something so you can see how we all really feel about this stupid Flash stuff.NovaPolice - Monday, July 7, 2003 - link
It looked very good on paper but it hated every brand of ddr I had on hand. I went through a couple gigs of sticks before deciding to send it back.Anonymous User - Monday, July 7, 2003 - link
I have tested both this board, and the MSI K7N2Delta. The MSI board was FAR MORE stable, and a bit (7%) faster. I wonder why in this test the Gigabyte board is compared with an EPOX via board: Just to let it outperform, which is otherwise not possible?Anonymous User - Monday, July 7, 2003 - link
They say that CPU voltage is adjustable only up to 1.85v and that chipset voltage is adjustable by 5, 7.5 or 10%. I believe this to be wrong however. What the reviewer believes to be chipset voltage is actually CPU voltage also!! Check out the review over at Digital Daily and they show how voltage up to 2.035v is possible using a combination of these 2 seperate CPU voltage controls! Quite a large difference and large overlook by the reviewer.WooDaddy - Monday, July 7, 2003 - link
Evan, are you or anyone at Anandtech going to discuss the differences between the Ultra 400 and the standard nForce 2 chipsets? Maybe a general review with reference boards? Is there a big performance difference or limiting factor for future upgrades?Anonymous User - Monday, July 7, 2003 - link
The review does not include information on the presence of Heat Sink Mounting Holes. Suggestion, add info on mounting holes or lack of to all motherboard reveiws.Anonymous User - Monday, July 7, 2003 - link
It appears that the performance test results in the Gigabyte 7NNXP review are presented in Macromedia Flash Player 6.This is unfortunate, since I am among the many web users who dislike the Flash format, and resent the numerous pop-up "ads" requesting that version 6 be installed.
I regret that I will be unable to view these results, to find out what additional complexities required them to be displayed in Flash, rather than a standard, multi-platform/browser form such as GIFs. And I hope that this is not an indication that future results will be Flash-formatted, since I am a frequent AnandTech reader and will miss whatever informative content is Flashed.
Thanks.
Anonymous User - Sunday, July 6, 2003 - link
The Anandtech review claims Gigabyte replied in 33 hours..I Wonder who in Gigabyte Should I contact ,Or what e-mail address i should mail to,
To get a Reply in ANY time frame.
CrystalBay - Sunday, July 6, 2003 - link
Nice evaluation...However perhaps the six phase power DMS prolongs the overall life of these boards, rather than inherently more stable overclocking...Replacing a board thirteen months, two or three years down the line (If lucky) is common place...I like to see more board makers produce the bare bones 400's like Solteks NV400-64L...Why because these boards can be thrown away once a year or so...