GIGABYTE GA-MA78G-DS3HP AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: Price/Performance Ratio 780G/ATI HD3200 IGP Chipset Ultra Durable Enough Bios options to overclock Supports AM3 2 PCI Express Slots Gigabyte Tech Support My System: Thermaltake Strike Mx, AMD Phenom 8650 X3 2.3 OC'd to 2.63 on factory cooler, Gigabyte MA78G-DS3HP (rev 2.0), 2 Gig's Kingston DDR2 800Mhz, PC Power & Colling (80+) 370 Watt PSU, Acer 22inch Monitor (all purchased from New Egg)

Cons: None, whatsoever!

Overall Review: I purchased this motherboard to support the AMD Phenom 8650 X3 and to serve as a home multimedia computer. My paramount concern was wheather or not I would receive a stable board. I've restarted this computer at least 30 times since I installed it and thankfully, I haven't had any issues. BE sure to go to ATI's website and download the latest catylist drivers and then (for windows Vista) be sure to run the Score tests to see your updated score applied. I overclocked the IGP GPU to 750MHZ and my vista score jumped to 4.3. lol. Still, for IGP I think thats good enough for multimedia applications. I had absoloutely no issues with the drivers that came on the CD. Contrary to some other reviews here, Gigabyte Tech support has responded to my emails within an hour with first class solutions. They've meeted or exeeded my expectations on customer service. If you're considering this board I think the current and future value is definitely present with this board.

Pros: Everything appears to be "as advertised." Board was easy to install and hook up, and BIOS is straightforward. There were no surprises. Northbridge is cooled by a heat sink, not a fan.

Cons: Does not have back panel connectors for legacy LPT or COM ports, and does not include a rear bracket and cable for the motherboard's legacy connectors. You'll have to pay extra if you need these.

Overall Review: OpenSUSE 11.1 detected and supported the onboard video and the RAID controller.

Pros: Phenom II support out of the box. DDR2 1066 Support Crossfire Ready Great OCing features in BIOS Ability to flash BIOS from USB stick Excellent on board Sound Chip.

Cons: Nothing so far

Overall Review: This is a great mobo. I just plugged in the new Phenom II X4 940 cpu, and the mobo booted in BIOS. Flashed to newest BIOS Firmware using my USB Flash stick. Installed 2x2 GB G.Skill 1066 Mem, without problems. Installed Vista 64bit and everything is running great. I purchased this mobo as a combo with the Phenom II CPU and I am glad I made that decision. Thank you NewEgg for fast shipment, you guys have never disappointed me.

Pros: Put this in my first build along with the new Phenom II BE and it booted no problems. It set the phenom vcore to 1.35 and clock to 3.0 automatically. Only thing i had to set up in bios was the memory for my G Skill 4GB 1066 but this was expected. This was my first time configuring memory settings and I did it my first try. Make sure you set the one setting to ganged for dual channel also. I didn't know what I was getting when it said HDMI but definitely know what it is now. The audio it produces is hypnotizing. I am Definitely glad I bought this board and had to write a review.

Cons: None. everything works flawless

Overall Review: My first build everything from case to cables and booted up first time and installed XP on it and using it now. Looks great in my Antec 900

Pros: This board looks really cool and has great features... blah blah blah All I care about is that it is Ubuntu 8.10 compatible out of the box.

Cons: I'm running my monitor off of a video card. When I first put the monitor in the motherboard, it didn't work... However, this is probably more because I'm a dummy rather than a being a con so it probably does work. I just didn't really give it a chance.

Overall Review: So for you Ubuntu users out there, and you want a great mobo... look no further and buy this one. (I'm limiting my review to just the OS compatibility because I spent a full month looking everyday for a great mobo, under $100, that had no Ubuntu problems. I would have paid big bucks for more people to make reviews like this.)

Pros: Solid board, second Gigabyte board and have yet to be disappointed. Most ports are easy to reach, the BIOS is easy to navigate and upgrade (via @BIOS).

Cons: The bottom two SATA ports might be obscured by a second PCI-E graphics card depending on it's length and heatsink, if you are using an AM2+ CPU (Phenom or Athlon X2 Kuma), the system will only run in unganged memory mode (this is not that bad though, see below).

Overall Review: A popular misconception is that unganged memory mode is single channel since it's labeled as only 64 bit, it is not. It is actually dual channel, but instead of running both 64 bit channels as one big 128 bit channel, it runs them as two parallel 64 bit channels, which actually increases the performance of most modern programs and games. Think of it as Crossfire for your memory, two running simultaneously at a slower speed is better than one running fast.

Pros: This Motherboard is absolutely one of the best I have had. I have built over thirty systems now for myself and others and I have to say this is the best board by far. The indepth features alone are just fantastic. I used the 2.5 gig dual core amd athlon x2 on it and gskill (2x2) ddr2 800 pc6400 4 gig of ram on it and the performance is amazing. no lag. no hour glass. I bought two and made my wife and I matching computers. She runs Vista and I run XP and I have yet to see an hourglass or Vista Wait circle on either computer. Everything just appears in a snap! By far my best computer ever.

Cons: The only con which isn't one at all is to load XP on the machine you have to take out one of the memory sticks. This is no fault of the board or memory it's just windows xp don't like 4 gig of ram and neither does the motherboard drivers disc. Pull a ram stick out and leave two gig in it. Install xp and the drivers and once everything is configured put your second ram chip back in and it will run screaming fast!

Overall Review: Can't wait for May, My next loan check I am buying the Phenom Processor for it and another four gig of ram! Might grab a few more of these boards too just for backup purposes.

Pros: BIOS is pretty intuitive, everything worked the first time I plugged it all in. Lots of USB ports. Lots of SATA ports. Only came with 2 SATA cables so plan ahead of you are buying more than 2 OEM drives that require a SATA cable.

Cons: As I type this I am watching the newest chipset driver from the Gigabyte website download at 12.3KB/sec. One hour later I have my 48.8MB audio drivers and 38.3MB chipset drivers. I am on a cable connection and I downloaded my graphics card driver in under a minute.

Overall Review: If you can download these drivers ahead of time so you don't have to wait for the extremely slow speed of the Gigabyte website.