I'm looking at upgrading from my current 1.4ghz Tbird on a K7S5A to an XP2500/333 on the 8RDA+. Please keep in mind when reading these questions that I am not interesting in overclocking anything Only looking at this board because it appears to be the cheapest of the Nforce2's

1. Regarding the Nforce2's "dual memory controllers". Some sites say that it's important to populate only the first 2 slots and use identical memory to get the dual memory to kick in. Other sites say that it's pointless since the FSB can't actually move enough data to use the dual memory, and that this feature was intended for the IGP version to service the video system's demands. What's the call? 3*256 would much friendlier to the wallet than 2*512.

2. Memory. Somebody mentioned in another thread that the 8RDA+ doesn't like Corsair XMS. Is it known as being particularly choosy with other brands? Since I'm not going to overclock, was just going to go for some Samsung DDR333

3. Many have said that this board's onboard audio is quite good. Good enough to replace my Sblive Platinum as far as sound quality and features (ie, EAX implimentation)?

Any other thoughts on this combination? Can anybody make a convincing sales pitch for DDR400 seeing as it costs 50% more?

Thank'ee much