nForce2 Ultra 400 GB

My friend is looking to get a new socket A system, and I was wondering what boards come with this chipset? For those of you not familiar, the 400GB is the new revision of the Ultra 400. Also, how does this stack up to the via Kt880, in your opinion.

Bump.

There really aren't any boards out today using the Ultra 400gb chipset, and don't expect many in the near future. While the chipset is somewhat promising, it has been discourage by many for the fact that it DOES NOT INCLUDE SOUNDSTORM. I myself do not use SS anymore, but for many others this is seen as a necessity.

Furthermore, you will also not see many motherboards with this chipset for the sole fact that most vendors are moving towards providing solutions for the AMD64, which has proven to be a better seller than what most people thought. Therefore, most resources will go toward motherboards based on either the NF3 250gb, K8T800 Pro, or Intel 925/915x chipsets.

Lastly, when it comes to socket A systems, the NForce2 chipset is king. While this is not necessarily the case with an A64 platform, the Nforce2 provides greater overclockability and top-notch performance even to a VIA K7 solution with a working AGP/PCI lock.

If your friend does in fact want to build an Nforce 2 system, he should look to none other than the two current champs of its kind: the Abit NF7-S or the DFI Lanparty NF II Ultra B/ Ultra Infinity series. I myself have the DFI and experience no cold boots and I have noticed an increase in my 3d performance clock for clock over my old Abit; however, this is not to say that the Abit is without its merits as it carries a very close following of enthusiasts and bios modders and over it's year and a half lifespan has become probably the most stable motherboard available for an Athlon XP. Your best bet is to do a little forum jumping and soul searching to determine which solution would be best for him. My suggestion would be for the DFI of course but these boards are meant strictly for the enthusiast and as such are not catered toward the average user or those who are not willing to compliment a top-notch motherboard which top-notch parts (i.e. Bh-5/bh-6/OCZ EB and Mobile Bartons). In the end, the choice is yours, but good luck either way you go...

deception``

Well, he used to have an A7N8X Deluxe and a 1700+@2600+, but he killed his chip and board in an unfortunant accident. Being the kind of person he is, he gave away his 9600pro and pc3200 to friends, and decided to build a whole new rig. He has been about 6months without a pc. Enough with the background info.

One of the reasons he likes the via is because it has 4 ram slots. I have already promised to give him my prize overclocking mobile 2600+(why do I need it, I have an A64?) so overclocking ability realy isnt what he needs. He wants to spend $800 on a machine that will last, and I already told him the nForce2 ultra is the best socket A, but being out of the loop so long he seems to think newer is always better.

The Nforce2 UltraGB isn't a big change from the normal NF2 Ultra. It's just a change of South bridge.

Abit has a new motherboard the NF7-S2, which incorporates the new southbridge. The only difference you would find is integrated RAID support, and Gigabit LAN embedded in the southbridge (bypassing the PCI bus).

Unless these options are necessary, one could go with any Ultra 400 board regardless of southbridge, and not lose any sleep over it. Performance would be identical.

For what it's worth the A-bit and DFI are top-notch boards, with the DFI being more "enthusiast" oriented. Based upon experience, I'd also recommend the Soltek 75-FRN2-(R)L, and Epox 8RDA3+.

Also look for the Epox 8RDA6+ Pro in the coming days, it has the new southbridge, 8 channel sound, 6 phase power supply (for overclocking) among other new features. It could very well be the best Socket A board to date, of course that is speculation at the moment, as it hasn't been released to retailers as of yet.