We've got a A7N8X Deluxe board running here in the office. Originally, it was used to run Linux - with problems to no end with network controllers flaking out, and even eventually hard drive corruption. It was RMA'ed, and the replacement worked for about a week before flaking out with the exact same problems. However, we switched this new board over to a Windows machine, and it's working perfectly - networking works great, and there's been no hard drive corruption.

So, if you're using Windows, by all means go for it - but under Linux, steer clear away! On another note, I'd recommend staying away from nForce boards completely under Linux - nvidia released their own special binary AGP drivers which make it impossible to use any graphics acceleration with any non-nvidia graphics card. (Sounds a little like Microsoft, doesn't it?)

Regarding CPU's, if possible try to get a 2700+ or 2800+ (NOT Barton) as then tend to perform a little better. AMD over-infalted their model numbers a little with the Barton's - the 2800+ non-barton tends to win out over the 3000+ barton much of the time. On the other hand, with the lesser (2800+ and 2500+) barton's, it's hard to say exactly where they fit into the scale of things.

Or, if you're in for some fun, order one of those thoroughbred B 2100+ (1.73GHz) CPU's, and overclock it to get an Athlon "3100+" (2.4GHz) like I did ;)

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Jason Rhinelander
Gossamer Threads
jason@gossamer-threads.com