the Abit nf7 options support an option that will unlock any athlon processor for overclocking, it will pull back the clock speed if the CPU gets too hot, the Vcore can reach 2.2 volts [ highest ever ] making for high over clocks. The Abit NF7 comes with 6 channel sound blaster class audio , the higher end mobos come with Soundstorm : audio as good as an audigy 2, faster , cheaper . The abit NF7 is one of the fastest Nforce 2 mobo there is, supportind dual DDR 400 etc.thinking of an A7N-8x ASUS? think AGAIN! this will own it .
But I wouldn't recommend a NF7 at this stage of the game. The Socket A is already dead. AMD has moved on to the 64Bit platform and that is where a new mobo purchase should go.Especially given the fall in pricing on Athlon 64 mobos.I have seen the SIS based ones for as low as US$70
the athlon 64 2800 is at 180 USD, and since most likely it is just a 3200 clocked lower and with half its cache disabled, some tweaking would give you some nice performance... then again , the athlon XP mobile can reach 2.9 GHZ stable with a good heatsink, at that clock it ownz the 3.2 ghz P4s at everything but memory managment . i'm trying my best to get an NF-7 , AMD is planning to release a successor to the athlon XP , when it comes out i could probalby get an athlon XP 3200 for around 100 USD... with the nforce 2 SPP's 400mhz FSB and high speed i will be flying.
I read some very interesting info that the AMD XP's will be ditchin the Socket A sometime this year for the 754 pin of the AMD64 line..hence you could buy a mobo for an XP proc, and upgrade to AMD64 without changing motherboards .. ( nice )on the other hand however, socket A will be phased out by next year .. ie. investements in socket A rite now is not worth it
