Motherboards:
AMD Performance
While the current AM2 platform cannot provide the same overall performance on a per clock basis as the Intel Core 2 Duo platforms, it does not mean AM2 is not worth considering for your gaming or work machine. In fact we still find the performance of the AM2 platform to be more than acceptable for most buyers. On a price to performance scale the AM2 series are hard to beat in the low to middle range sectors from a total platform cost.
The DFI LanParty UT NF590 SLI-M2R/G is built around the NVIDIA nForce 590SLI chipset. In usual DFI fashion they have loaded the board with extra features such as two additional Serial ATA 3Gb/s ports via the Silicon Image 3132 chipset, the Karajan audio module featuring the Realtek ALC885 8-channel HD audio codec, and IEEE 1394 support. The board supports AM2 socket processors, features two full speed PCI Express x16 slots (SLI support), one x8 PCI Express slot, one x1 PCI Express slot (x4 physical), and three PCI 2.2 capable slots. The board is an excellent overclocker taking our X2 3800+ up to 3.08GHz while DDR2 speeds have reached a little over 1200, although the extra bandwidth is wasted due to the current clock/memory controller limitations of the AM2. We will be comparing this board to the Asus CrossHair and Abit AN9-32X shortly to see who reigns supreme at the high-end in AM2 performance.
The ASUS M2R32-MVP is based on the AMD/ATI RD580 chipset (CrossFire Xpress 3200) that offers CrossFire capability on the AM2 platform. The M2R32-MVP is equipped with the SB600 Southbridge that features four Serial ATA 3Gb/s ports with support for RAID 0, 1, and 0+1. ASUS also supplies the JMicron 360 SATA controller that provides the single e-SATA port on the board. The board supports AM2 socket processors, features two full speed PCI Express x16 slots (CrossFire support), two x1 PCI Express slots, and two PCI 2.3 capable slots. The board is also equipped with an ADI 1988A 8-channel HD audio codec. Although the board is targeted to the mid-range performance sector it has offered excellent performance and fairly good overclocking rates up to 315HTT to date. We will be comparing this product against the recently released EP-AD580 XR board from EPoX.
AMD mATX
We have several mATX boards supporting the AM2 processor series that we will present in our upcoming roundup. The products we will briefly cover today are just a few examples of the boards that will be included. While most of our boards are based on the NVIDIA nForce 6100 chipset, we do have a couple of AMD/ATI RS485 boards along with a VIA K8M890 based board. We are hoping to receive our first AMD RS695 motherboard shortly that features onboard X700 level graphics performance.
The Biostar NF61S MicroAM2 board is based on the NVIDIA MCP61S (GeForce 6100/nForce 405) chipset that offers good onboard video performance with the ability to upgrade to the latest graphics card technology via the x16 PCI Express slot. The board supports 2GB of DDR2 memory, HD audio via the Realtek ALC861VD, and 10/100 Fast Ethernet. The board is actually a uATX form factor and in testing has worked flawlessly to date.
We have several ASRock motherboards to review in the AM2 category and we are hoping to have the new ALiveNF6G-DVI in time for the roundup. The AM2NF4G-SATA2 board is based on the NVIDIA GeForce 6100 and nForce 410 chipsets that offer very good system performance in a mATX form factor. The board has one x16 PCI Express slot, one x1 PCI Express slot, and two PCI slots. The board supports 8GB of DDR2 memory, HD audio via the Realtek ALC888, 10/100 Fast Ethernet, and two Serial ATA 3Gb/s ports along with two ATA133 IDE connectors. The board is also Vista Premium ready.
The ECS RS485M-M motherboard is built on the AMD/ATI RS485 (Radeon Xpress 1100) and SB460 chipsets that offer balanced system performance. The board supports 16GB of DDR2 memory, 6-channel AC-97 audio via the Realtek ALC655, four SATA 1.5Gb/s ports, and 10/100 Fast Ethernet. The performance of thise board and that of the MSI based on the same chipset actually surprised us to some degree. We expect to see further performance improvements with the updated RS695 chipset.
AMD Performance
While the current AM2 platform cannot provide the same overall performance on a per clock basis as the Intel Core 2 Duo platforms, it does not mean AM2 is not worth considering for your gaming or work machine. In fact we still find the performance of the AM2 platform to be more than acceptable for most buyers. On a price to performance scale the AM2 series are hard to beat in the low to middle range sectors from a total platform cost.
The DFI LanParty UT NF590 SLI-M2R/G is built around the NVIDIA nForce 590SLI chipset. In usual DFI fashion they have loaded the board with extra features such as two additional Serial ATA 3Gb/s ports via the Silicon Image 3132 chipset, the Karajan audio module featuring the Realtek ALC885 8-channel HD audio codec, and IEEE 1394 support. The board supports AM2 socket processors, features two full speed PCI Express x16 slots (SLI support), one x8 PCI Express slot, one x1 PCI Express slot (x4 physical), and three PCI 2.2 capable slots. The board is an excellent overclocker taking our X2 3800+ up to 3.08GHz while DDR2 speeds have reached a little over 1200, although the extra bandwidth is wasted due to the current clock/memory controller limitations of the AM2. We will be comparing this board to the Asus CrossHair and Abit AN9-32X shortly to see who reigns supreme at the high-end in AM2 performance.
The ASUS M2R32-MVP is based on the AMD/ATI RD580 chipset (CrossFire Xpress 3200) that offers CrossFire capability on the AM2 platform. The M2R32-MVP is equipped with the SB600 Southbridge that features four Serial ATA 3Gb/s ports with support for RAID 0, 1, and 0+1. ASUS also supplies the JMicron 360 SATA controller that provides the single e-SATA port on the board. The board supports AM2 socket processors, features two full speed PCI Express x16 slots (CrossFire support), two x1 PCI Express slots, and two PCI 2.3 capable slots. The board is also equipped with an ADI 1988A 8-channel HD audio codec. Although the board is targeted to the mid-range performance sector it has offered excellent performance and fairly good overclocking rates up to 315HTT to date. We will be comparing this product against the recently released EP-AD580 XR board from EPoX.
AMD mATX
We have several mATX boards supporting the AM2 processor series that we will present in our upcoming roundup. The products we will briefly cover today are just a few examples of the boards that will be included. While most of our boards are based on the NVIDIA nForce 6100 chipset, we do have a couple of AMD/ATI RS485 boards along with a VIA K8M890 based board. We are hoping to receive our first AMD RS695 motherboard shortly that features onboard X700 level graphics performance.
The Biostar NF61S MicroAM2 board is based on the NVIDIA MCP61S (GeForce 6100/nForce 405) chipset that offers good onboard video performance with the ability to upgrade to the latest graphics card technology via the x16 PCI Express slot. The board supports 2GB of DDR2 memory, HD audio via the Realtek ALC861VD, and 10/100 Fast Ethernet. The board is actually a uATX form factor and in testing has worked flawlessly to date.
We have several ASRock motherboards to review in the AM2 category and we are hoping to have the new ALiveNF6G-DVI in time for the roundup. The AM2NF4G-SATA2 board is based on the NVIDIA GeForce 6100 and nForce 410 chipsets that offer very good system performance in a mATX form factor. The board has one x16 PCI Express slot, one x1 PCI Express slot, and two PCI slots. The board supports 8GB of DDR2 memory, HD audio via the Realtek ALC888, 10/100 Fast Ethernet, and two Serial ATA 3Gb/s ports along with two ATA133 IDE connectors. The board is also Vista Premium ready.
The ECS RS485M-M motherboard is built on the AMD/ATI RS485 (Radeon Xpress 1100) and SB460 chipsets that offer balanced system performance. The board supports 16GB of DDR2 memory, 6-channel AC-97 audio via the Realtek ALC655, four SATA 1.5Gb/s ports, and 10/100 Fast Ethernet. The performance of thise board and that of the MSI based on the same chipset actually surprised us to some degree. We expect to see further performance improvements with the updated RS695 chipset.
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LoneWolf15 - Monday, December 4, 2006 - link
...and not a single one of them with an onboard DVI port. The Biostar NF61S MicroAM2 certainly has enough space to have one right above the serial/VGA ports.Is there a limitation of nForce 6100/6150 that I don't know of? I thought one of the primary uses for an mATX system was for HTPC use. A DVI port ought to be standard now, and an HDMI port should be considered. Too bad; the miniITX board was the only one that did DVI.
SignalPST - Monday, December 4, 2006 - link
Great Preview! I'm eagerly looking forward to the motherboard and powersupply reviews in the upcomming weeks. Exciting news indeed, thanks AnandTech, keep up the good work!ikjadoon - Sunday, December 3, 2006 - link
You have AMD mATX boards and don't have any 6150/430 boards??? It's like having a 570 Ultra instead of the 590 SLi. Come on, what about the Abit NF-M2 nView?~Ibrahim~
jonp - Sunday, December 3, 2006 - link
Have you seen the price for this motherboard? Price must be the inverse of size.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...170-012&CMP=OTC-Froogle">Newegg page.
$309.99! When less truly is MORE!!! I think you can skip the review.
mino - Sunday, December 3, 2006 - link
Maybe you should take into account the low-volume of ITX market and the uniques position this board has in it. That borad is prety much the most ultimate solution for ITX freaks. Consider it competes with VIA C3!!! boards at $200 prices...MadAd - Monday, December 4, 2006 - link
Not really the same comparison, C3 boards have the CPU embedded and included in the price.mino - Monday, December 4, 2006 - link
Those CPU's are of $20 price and -$50 worth (compared to $40 Semprons..), to NOT have C3 included is worth paying for IMHO...yyrkoon - Sunday, December 3, 2006 - link
Well, as the last reviewr said on newegg, this is a specialty board, made for cars, and travel trailers etc. However, this board would also fill the bill, on making a small form factor storage box as seen http://www.mashie.org/casemods/udat1.html">here (udat mod, by mashie).However, I'd also have to agree with the first reviewer on newegg, in that, this board would have been better suited with a s939 CPU (or better). Also, it would have been much nicer if they replaced the PCI slot, with a PCI-E 4x physical slot (or greater), and added another DDR slot. Using a PCI bus system on this system is very limited, in that, IF you do use this board for a storage system, you would be limited to around 123MB/s (and if I remember correctly this system has a fast ethernet, and GbE interface), running RAID in a system with this board would give terrible results.
As far as the price, most Mini-ITX boards have been more expencive than PC based boards, however, they also included a CPU soldered onto the board, but some "specialty" boards simular to this also existed.
MadAd - Monday, December 4, 2006 - link
I agree that an s939 would have been better since theres not a lot of 754 inventory left in channels however there is no choice when choosing PCI over PCIe, carpc modders are using the slot for either a decent sound card (most mITX sound is AC97), wi-fi cards or occasionally pci graphics.Only gfx is in great supply on PCIe currently so that would be a problem if we couldnt use our old pci with little or no availability of pcie parts.
yyrkoon - Friday, December 8, 2006 - link
You can find PCI-E RAID controllers, and GbE controllers in abundance. Wi-Fi, perhaps not, but it should not be long before they start becoming available. As for the sound, why anyone would choose to use a computer for a sound system, over a good car audio solution is beyond me.