"Most of today's current DDR solutions are still far
from mature. Let's face it, the first wave of DDR motherboards and
SDRAM weren't the great boon of power most people were looking for
it. After a lot of going back to the drawing board, a lot of
criticism, several chipsets, and three different revisions of the
new DDR SDRAM, we may finally be ready to behold the true power of
DDR.
Things like CAS 2 DDR SDRAM, PC2400 SDRAM, the KT266, and our
subject today, the AMD 761 chipset, have all come along and finally
proven themselves viable components to the DDR solution.
Gigabyte's GA-7DXR is unique in more than one way. First off, it
uses the AMD 761 north bridge, along with the VIA 686B south
bridge. I haven't seen this match made before, but Gigabyte
obviously saw potential in this unlikely combination. Secondly, the
GA-7DXR raises the bar and is equipped with 3 DDR SDRAM DIMM slots
rather than the standard fare of 2. I'll be the first to say this
is one of the single biggest factors that has kept me from DDR
SDRAM to date.
Of course, the GA-7DXR wouldn't be a Gigabyte board without
their usual additions like CT5880 audio (Creative Labs Sound
Blaster 128), the PDC20265D (Promise FastTrak Lite 100), and AGP
Pro. I haven't seen these three technologies come together a single
motherboard before, and that's something a lot of motherboard
manufacturers seem to miss. Give them something they haven't seen
before.
/ Gigabyte has a lot good going for them so far. Can they pull
off a unique DDR motherboard, or will the GA-7DXR fall by the
wayside like a lot of other AMD DDR motherboards? "
