Gigabyte GA-8GPNXP-Duo Motherboard Review :: Setup and Software

GA-8GPNXP

Due to the boards layout and design finding out where to hook up all your drives and cable connections is made easier. The board has a clearly legible silkscreen that shows where the various case wiring goes, which also helps in shaving off wasted time searching for what goes where. If new to working in this field take your time and read up on the manual to help familiarize yourself what the board has to offer as well as the different places everything hooks up to. Windows installation went without problems as did the installation of the various board features and VGA drivers. I updated the system to Windows SP1, but held back on installing SP2 due to some random problems that have crept up during the testing phase.

Wiring

Let me just say that actually getting everything to run completely stable was a major chore, but not because of the board, but because the Intel Fan and heatsink combo was reporting the CPU temps at over 200 Degrees Fahrenheit. The new four-pin design connection of the Intel retail heatsink has a wire that reports CPU temperatures to the BIOS, and after days and days of fighting with the damn thing I just gave up and called my friends at Swiftech to get some better insight as to the why of this thing malfunctions. Bill Adams really pulled through (Dude Thanks A Million) for me and luckily for me had a extra LGA775 cooler on hand that as soon as I hooked it up reported correct temperatures and allowed me to complete my tests. The really strange thing is that when we first tested the boards for the platform review it functioned just fine, but when I started to do the intense stress testing and compatibility tests it just failed repeatedly to my dismay.

System Status

System Configuration

Device Settings

Setting up the wireless LAN went off went out a problem as did the integrated GigaLAN, make sure if you are going to use a wireless network that you choose the right connection and that all the other computers are set to the same thing to avoid recognition problems along the LAN environment. The sound options can all be set to your desired liking and speaker system you will be using. The board has the new 24-Pin power connection, but for now you can still use your older 2O-Pin solution although for the new P4 platform I would highly suggest you use at least a 400w solution for added stability. Having a low watt power solution can result in improper shutdowns ands system freezes along with other random problems. Overall the setup procedure went very easily and can be tackled by just about anybody with at least a bit of mechanical experience as no major hurdles need to be overcome to get up and going with the GA-8GPNXP.

Sound Effect

Sound Info

System Hardware

• Motherboard: GA-8GPNXP
• CPU: LGA 775: 3.4GHz Extreme Edition
• Cooling: Malico LGA775 Heatsink/Fan combo
• DDR2 Memory: Crucial (Ballistix) PC2-5300 DDR2 533, CL=4-4-4-10
• PCIX VGA Card: NVIDIA 6800GT 256MB
• Hard Drives: Dual WD Raptor 36GB 10,000 RPM SATA150 drives in MODE 0 ARRAY
• Power: Epower 450W

Test Software

• SYSmark 2004
• PCmark 2004
• 3Dmark 2001
• 3Dmark 2003
• Quake 3 (Time Demo 1)
• UT2003 (Botmatch/Flyby)
• DIVX (Encoding)