Abit NF7-S

This board is still one of the best Socket-A Motherboards money can buy. The nForce 2 Ultra-400 Chipset is great for overclocking, and this board can hit front side buses of 220+ with ease. Whilst if you want a slightly higher (10-20mHz) fsb a DFI board would suit you better, this board performs the same at lower speeds. The Northbridge fan can sometimes be a little whiney, but that is easily replaced. The heatsink mounting holes are extremely useful for heavier heatsinks such as the Thermalright SP-97 and waterblocks if watercooling is your bag. The board's onboard SoundStorm which provides 6 channel sound is excellent for onboard sound, but there are known issues ...

I bought this mobo for the first computer system i've ever built from scratch, and i have to say it is incredible. There is so much fun to be had, you can change a million and one settings from the BIOS, its great! ***Ok first things first CPU installation was a sinch, drop the CPU into the socket and push the leaver down. Give the die a nice clean along with the contact spot on the heatsink, slap (well not exactly) some Arctic Silver III on, and on goes the the heatsink. There are 4 mounting holes around the socket for the oversized overclocking heatsinks, and the board is very acomodating. ***Ram installation was the only problem i really ...