Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe OR GIGABYTE GA-7N400 PRO2 ?

[simon_c]

A couple of weeks ago I purchased an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe nForce2 Ultra 400
motherboard, and recently discovered that it can only do RAID with SATA, not
IDE hard-drives, which I was told they could do at the time of purchase.

After contacting the company, they said they realized I had given me
erroneous information, and would be happy to provide me with a GIGABYTE
GA-7N400 PRO2, which does allow IDE RAID.

There does not seem to be too many (if any) differences between the two
mobos, except some Asus WiFi thing on the Asus mobo. Does anybody know of
any other differences - quality of board, upgradability etc?

And if I get the new motherboard, it's going to take a good part of the day
reinstalling everything.

Should I stay with the Asus and go for SATA RAID, or go for the slightly
cheaper Gigabyte mobo?

What are people's experiences with these two mobos?

Thanks in advance!

Simon.

 

[jpsga]

I'd would consider a RAID controller board before switching. I have had very
good experiences with the HighPoint controller board.
Speed depends on the drive more that the controller board.
JPS

 

[kony]

I'd would consider a RAID controller board before switching. I have had very
good experiences with the HighPoint controller board.
Speed depends on the drive more that the controller board.
JPS

Good advice... that also allows moving the array to a different
motherboard, should you want/need to.

 

[Paul L]

I dont think so, the raid card is 2x price of the mb, and unless you use the
same chipset, good luck getting xp to run correctly

 

[kony]

I dont think so, the raid card is 2x price of the mb, and unless you use the
same chipset, good luck getting xp to run correctly

Hardly.

RAID cards can be had for $17, it has nothing to do with same chipset
as it applies here, which was only a question of whether to switch
boards to GET the onboard raid, or rather to keep same chipset.

It is not difficult to get XP running with a different chipset, a RAID
card, or whatever... don't let XP lull you into a daze, take control
of your PC and learn how to configure it.

 

[Paul L]

Hardly.

RAID cards can be had for $17, it has nothing to do with same chipset
as it applies here, which was only a question of whether to switch
boards to GET the onboard raid, or rather to keep same chipset.

It is not difficult to get XP running with a different chipset, a RAID
card, or whatever... don't let XP lull you into a daze, take control
of your PC and learn how to configure it.

what can I tell you, 2 years ago they were about $100, they have come down
quite a bit

I was referring to the mb chipset, not the raid card

sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. I wouldn't recommend it