gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H New Build ??

[OneByte]

20080503 Upgrade Questions:
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H:

AMD 780G Chipset
Radeon Hybrid Graphics onboard
AMD Phenom Quad Core 9550 X4 CPU
Optional MSI GE Force 6800 DDR3 250 MB Use if better than Integrated?
Raid 0 2-Disk Bootable 4 Partitions 3 NTFS & Linux

1. Can Raid setup be done with USB drive (memory stick etc.) instead of a floppy? I'd prefer not to install a floppy unless necessary, and think the bios setup or boot preferences menus might work for installing raid II 0 drivers with windows xp . When installing windows xp you have to hit F6 to load raid drivers from a floppy, but I'd think doing it from a memory stick or cd drive should work, right?

2. I'm thinking about trying multi-booting xp pro 32 and 64, along with Linux Ubuntu. Any problems, or preferred order of insallation? I'm currently running xp pro 32, and so maybe I should start with that, and then try the Pro 64 and Linux installs. That sound OK?

3. Graphics card or not? This MB has a new integrated ATI Radeon Hybrid AGP, and I'm planning on installing 4 GB of 800 Ram, so there should be plenty to share. But I currently have a GE Force 6800 PCI Express card that I could install, if I could figure out which one would work better. Any thoughts about what, if any, graphics card upgrade would be needed to boost onboard graphics performance in a cost effective way?

I'm just about ready to power up, so any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks for any help,

Onebyte

 

[worshipme]

I know the answer to n-3. The 780G integrated the HD 3200 graphics processor. It also has the ability to do Hybrid Crossfire with another HD 3000 card. Almost doubling the performance in many benches. So if you want a little extra boost. You'd be best of with something like a HD 3650 GDDR3.

 

[OneByte]

I know the answer to n-3. The 780G integrated the HD 3200 graphics processor. It also has the ability to do Hybrid Crossfire with another HD 3000 card. Almost doubling the performance in many benches. So if you want a little extra boost. You'd be best of with something like a HD 3650 GDDR3.

Thanks for the input. I wonder if anyone knows what kind of video or graphics performance you can get with just the onboard 3200 graphics. I really don't do high end online gaming, but do multitask, photoshop, keep many browser tabs open, and play some occasional games like Dungeon Seige, or Shadow Magic, and I hate waiting on the computer or screen.

I'd still like any suggestions on the other questions:

20080503 Upgrade Questions:
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H:

AMD 780G Chipset
Radeon Hybrid Graphics onboard
AMD Phenom Quad Core 9550 X4 CPU
Optional MSI GE Force 6800 DDR3 250 MB Use if better than Integrated?
Raid 0 2-Disk Bootable 4 Partitions 3 NTFS & Linux

1. Can Raid setup be done with USB drive (memory stick etc.) instead of a floppy? I'd prefer not to install a floppy unless necessary, and think the bios setup or boot preferences menus might work for installing raid II 0 drivers with windows xp . When installing windows xp you have to hit F6 to load raid drivers from a floppy, but I'd think doing it from a memory stick or cd drive should work, right?

2. I'm thinking about trying multi-booting xp pro 32 and 64, along with Linux Ubuntu. Any problems, or preferred order of insallation? I'm currently running xp pro 32, and so maybe I should start with that, and then try the Pro 64 and Linux installs. That sound OK?

3. Graphics card or not? This MB has a new integrated ATI Radeon Hybrid AGP, and I'm planning on installing 4 GB of 800 Ram, so there should be plenty to share. But I currently have a GE Force 6800 PCI Express card that I could install, if I could figure out which one would work better. Any thoughts about what, if any, graphics card upgrade would be needed to boost onboard graphics performance in a cost effective way?

I'm just about ready to power up, so any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks for any help,

 

[worshipme]

wonder if anyone knows what kind of video or graphics performance you can get with just the onboard 3200 graphics.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/AMD-780G-HDTV-Blu-Ray,review-30420.html

That's a good article.

 

[OneByte]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/AMD-780G-HDTV-Blu-Ray,review-30420.html

That's a good article.

Thanks. I guess I'll just go for a moderate ATI 3650 card, and see what happens. Might get the Asus, Sapphire, or MSI. I want something relatively quiet.

I got the rig up and running great. Loaded nothing but Ubuntu and had Firefox internet connectivity, lan, and most office apps up and running immediately. That was impressive.

Still trying to sort out the sata raid 0 setup (F6 routine) without using a floppy.