- Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H
- CPU: AMD Black Edition FX64 3.2GHz
- Cooling: CoolerMaster CM SPHERE
- Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC8500 DDR2
- Video: EVGA NVIDIA 8800GTS 320M
- Hard Drives: Dual WD Raptor 75GB SATA150 RAID 0
- DVD: Sony 16X PATA
- Power Supply: CoolerMaster 850W
The motherboard was easy to get setup and going and we had no issues during the installation of the OS or the systems subsequent drivers. We first format the system, then install and run SYSmark 2007, and then we reformat, reinstall the OS and all its updates and continue with the rest of the tests. SYSmark will not work properly with the installation of all Microsoft's lovely updates that cause errors in the Sony Media Player required for the 2007 test run.
The drivers CD has an auto option that installs the motherboard drivers needed, or you can select which drivers you want to install manually. We used Windows XP SP2 for all tests shown in this review and the LAN drivers must first be installed to proceed to the online Windows update. The memory setting is set to SPD on all tests and Crucial Ballsitix Tracer PC8500 memory used on all DDR2 motherboard reviews. We run all tests in a RAID 0 Array using exclusively WD Raptor drives in the 26, 74 or 150GB capacity.
Gigabyte Board
Test Station
