9800 Pro Woes with Gigabyte - VIA v. nForce chipset question

I just started building a new machine, and to my dissatisfaction the
Gigabte

GA - 7S748-L has not lived up to expectations. I have been trying to
run the 9800 pro in 8x mode to get a lot of instability (re: FFXI
causes the screen to go out of sync, and becomes black, forcing a
reboot)

After updating all the latest drivers for the SiS Chipset, and
Catalyst drivers, and latest drivers for the BIOS . . . AND actually
getting in touch with Giga-Byte . . . this board is going back.

I have looked at the A7N8X and A7V (VIA v. nforce) chipsets. I will
have a $75.00 credit when I take the GigaByte back. DO I throw more
money into getting the A7N, or just cut my losses and buy the board
with the VIA chipset and be done?

This is very aggravating.
I have seen TONS of posts about going 8X, and what is frustrating me
is the false advertising.
I WILL SAY however, that the folks at Giga-byte were VERY good and
easy to talk to.

I am running an AMD 2600XP, the box has great cooling and a 350W power
supply.
Temp inside the box ranges from 28-30C. (It was cooler before swapping
the 9800 Pro in -- that thing is a horse).

Inputs needed.

Thanks tons.

- Colorado

The only thing I can think of is the Video Card is not getting enough
power. It should have an extra power connector that connects to the
power supply. The 9800 has a lot of power requirements and without
enough power it will cause problems. I expect a Video card can pull
about 100 watts. The CPU also uses about that much power. So it
could be running out of power.

 >I just started building a new machine, and to my dissatisfaction the
 >Gigabte
 >
 >GA - 7S748-L has not lived up to expectations. I have been trying to
 >run the 9800 pro in 8x mode to get a lot of instability (re: FFXI
 >causes the screen to go out of sync, and becomes black, forcing a
 >reboot)
 >
 >After updating all the latest drivers for the SiS Chipset, and
 >Catalyst drivers, and latest drivers for the BIOS . . . AND actually
 >getting in touch with Giga-Byte . . . this board is going back.
 >
 >I have looked at the A7N8X and A7V (VIA v. nforce) chipsets. I will
 >have a $75.00 credit when I take the GigaByte back. DO I throw more
 >money into getting the A7N, or just cut my losses and buy the board
 >with the VIA chipset and be done?
 >
 >This is very aggravating.
 >I have seen TONS of posts about going 8X, and what is frustrating me
 >is the false advertising.
 >I WILL SAY however, that the folks at Giga-byte were VERY good and
 >easy to talk to.
 >
 >I am running an AMD 2600XP, the box has great cooling and a 350W power
 >supply.
 >Temp inside the box ranges from 28-30C. (It was cooler before swapping
 >the 9800 Pro in -- that thing is a horse).
 >
 >Inputs needed.
 >
 >Thanks tons.
 >
 >- Colorado<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->