Sometimes Weekly Price Guides: Motherboards and Video Cards

In our last article, we made a few comments about nForce2 Ultra 400, KT600 and beyond. nForce2 Ultra 400 took very little time to phase into the market, as virtually every manufacturer of the original nForce2 line had anticipated a chipset 'upgrade' (also, electrically the nForce2 Ultra 400 and nForce2 are almost identical). KT600 boards are still not available, but distribution channels should begin to receive them anytime soon.

Perhaps one of the most subtle and curious motherboard tales is Gigabyte. We were a little surprised when Gigabyte did not produce an nForce or nForce2 motherboard several months ago. However, since Gigabyte has been an active supporter of ATI’s Radeon series with its own “Maya” line, perhaps bad blood between NVIDIA and ATI prohibited Gigabyte from using NVIDIA’s nForce2 chipsets in their motherboards. Our sources say that Gigabyte is actively producing new video cards based on Radeon 9800 and Radeon 9600, so it looks like any indifferences between Gigabyte, ATI and NVIDIA have disappeared. Keep in mind, Gigabyte is the only company that produces products for both ATI and NVIDIA.

Product	Vendor	Price	Shipping	Total
Motherboard NVIDIA
nForce ASUS A7N266-VM	NewEgg	69.99	0.00	69.99	Check Prices
nForce2 Abit NF7-S	GameVE	115.00	0.00	115.00	Check Prices
nForce2 ASUS A7N8X	Googlegear	115.99	0.00	115.99	Check Prices
nForce2 ASUS A7N8X Deluxe	Googlegear	127.99	0.00	127.99	Check Prices
nForce2 Chaintech 7NIF2 SUMMIT	Googlegear	79.00	0.00	79.00	Check Prices
nForce2 Chaintech 7NJS Zenith	Googlegear	140.00	0.00	140.00	Check Prices
nForce2 Epox 8RDA+	Z-Buy	80.25	4.65	84.90	Check Prices
nForce2 FIC AU13	NewEgg	84.00	5.00	89.00	Check Prices
nForce2 LeadTek K7NCR18D-Pro	NewEgg	92.00	0.00	92.00	Check Prices
nForce2 MSI K7N2G-ILSR	Googlegear	139.50	0.00	139.50	Check Prices
Motherboard VIA AMD
KT333 ASUS A7V333	CompuBuzz	115.99	0.00	115.99	Check Prices
KT333 Soyo Dragon Ultra	Googlegear	101.99	0.00	101.99	Check Prices
KT400 Abit AT7-MAX2	Googlegear	136.00	0.00	136.00	Check Prices
KT400 ASUS A7V8X	NewEgg	99.99	0.00	99.99	Check Prices
KT400 Chaintech 7VJL Deluxe	Googlegear	94.00	0.00	94.00	Check Prices
KT400 Epox 8K9A2+	Z-Buy	103.00	0.00	103.00	Check Prices
KT400 Gigabyte 7VAXP	NewEgg	59.00	0.00	59.00	Check Prices
KT400 MSI KT4 Ultra FISR	GameVE	104.00	0.00	104.00	Check Prices
KT400 Shuttle AK37GT	CompuBuzz	120.00	0.00	120.00	Check Prices
KT400 Soyo Dragon Ultra	GameVE	89.00	0.00	89.00	Check Prices
KT400A DFI LanParty KT400A	NewEgg	144.99	0.00	144.99	Check Prices

As for individual motherboard releases, the DFI nForce2 LanParty motherboard has stirred a large bit of hype (but is still unavailable until June 20 with some exceptions). Epox, MSI, Chaintech and ASUS all have new offerings on the Ultra 400 chipset that are fairly widely available.

This editor still feels kind of cheated on the whole 400MHz FSB issue. We still have to question whether or not 400MHz FSB is entirely useful at all. Had AMD re-released its older processor lines on 400MHz, then perhaps we could justify the $20 hike in motherboard prices and a new chipset race. However, there is still only one AMD CPU capable of 400MHz, and the Athlon64 full release is only a few months away. If you decide to go with the AMD solution, we really don’t see any reason to jump on the 400MHz bandwagon and pay through the nose right now. (Edit: Our forum users have informed me that the 3000+ Barton is now becoming available at 400MHz FSB, although it costs more than the 3200+ 400MHz Barton.)