Presentation and bundle
The box is representative of the motherboard, in that it's an understated affair. All the key features are listed on the cover, including Athlon 64 dual-core processor support.
The main 80-page English manual does a decent job of explaining board features, guiding you through installation, and it offers a reasonable troubleshooting section. It was well-written, too. There's not much in the way of hardware extras. ATA133 and floppy cables are provided, alongside a single SATA2 cable, and a customised I/O shield rounds off matters. We'd liked to have seen a S/PDIF input/output bracket that made the most of the board's high-definition audio, though.
The driver CD contained NVIDIA's ForceWare 8.12 platform and 81.33 video drivers. Installation of the various features was helped by the bundling of the company's Xpress Install software.
It's not a one-click system as found on Intel's retail motherboards, but it does make for a simpler installation. The driver CD's video drivers weren't installed as we tested with ForceWare 81.32s. Additional software included Gigabyte's EasyTune 5 Windows-based overclocking and reporting utility that, unlike the BIOS, actually reports key voltage lines. Picking out some of the better software, there's also a handy OS-based BIOS-flashing tool and Gigabyte's Xpress Recovery, a Ghost-like, BIOS-based application that can be used to backup and restore an OS partition if things go awry. However, it only allows in the installation of a single OS and works solely with IDE drives.
A bundle that looks a little sparse when compared to deluxe boards but is just about right for an ~£50 offering.
