Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H - motherboard - micro ATX - GeForce 7100

Advantages: Cheap, Up to date, Loads of functions and features
Disadvantages: Onboard Graphic uses sytem memory

...I brought this motherborad for my custom built media centre pc about 3 months ago the specs are: CPU - Designed for AMD® Socket AM2 Processors with 2000M T/s system bus using Hyper Transport Technology - AMD® Cool 'n' Quiet Technology Chipset - NVIDIA® GeForce®7050PV/nForce 630a - Dual Head Display Controller Full NVIDIA nView multi-display technology capability, with independent display controllers for one digital HDTV and one analog monitor. Memory - 4 X 240-pin DIMM sockets support max. memory capacity 8GB - Supports Dual Channel DDR2 800 un-buffered ECC / Non-ECC memory HDMI - Integrated TMDS interface with HDCP key Graphics - Integrated GeForce7 Series Shader model 3.0 DirectX9 graphics - Programmable PureVideo HD Video Processor LAN - Gigabit Ethernet (Marvell 88E1116) Audio - On board 7.1 CH HD... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average not helpful

Advantages: HDTV output, supports AMDs Cool 'n' Quiet
Disadvantages: Only one lan

...The ASUS M2NPV-VM Motherboard for AMD single-core Athlon 64/ Sempron and Dual-core Athlon 64 X2/ Athlon FX processors using socket AM2 is very user friendly, I went with AMDs 64 x2 3800+ processor in the beginning then moved up to 4200+ 2Gb Ram without any hassle, very easy to setup and fits easily in a standard ATX case. A possible downside to the board is that it has a limited number of slots due to being a micro ATX sized board. That's not a big deal for me as the only two cards I'll be buying in the future is Graphics and a extra Lan card. Board Layout `````````````````` >In the upper right hand corner of the motherboard are the ATX 24 pin power connector, Floppy disk connector, Game/Midi port connector and four DDR2 slots. These DDR2 slots support a maximum memory capacity of 8GB and the frequencies supported is DDR2-800MHz/667... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Stability and price
Disadvantages: Possibly limited PCI slot and memory DIMM's

...this with some memory I have kicking around it obviously didn't work. Upon browsing for this issue, I see others have tried it and even MSI has verified you cant run DDR2 and DDR consecutively on this board. This would be a hindrance if we were talking about a full ATX board, however one active DIMM isn't really a big issue. In fact, the flexibility between DDR and DDR2 memory is quite welcoming. MOTHERBOARD/GENERAL Rear I/O panel: 1 x Serial port, 1 x PS/2 Keyboard and 1 x PS/2 Mouse, 1 x Audio (3 in 1), 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x RJ45 LAN jack, 1 x VGA As well as flexibility with the memory and cpu the motherboard also offers two onboard USB blocks, which will support a further four USB ports, on the front panel for example. Quite nice, as some other micro ATX boards I have seen only offer one block, which can be a problem if you have more... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful