Motherboard News and Reviews - The week of 2003-07-07
Motherboard News and Reviews The week of 2003-07-07
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Weekly review List
- Digital-Daily : Gigabyte 7NNXP (NF2) (2003-07-07)
- AMDMB.com : Soltek NV400-64 review (2003-07-03)
- XbitLabs reviews the Abit IC7 (i875) motherboard (2003-07-09)
- AMDZone : FIC KT400 Pro (KT400A) (2003-07-10)
- TBreak : Asus SK8N (NF3) Preview (2003-07-11)
- LiquidNinjas : Abit NF7-S v2 (NF2 Ultra 400) mobo (2003-07-09)
- AMDZone : ECS L7VTA Revision 1.1 (KT400A) (2003-07-12)
- 3DExtreme reviews the DFI KT400A Lan Party (KT400A) (2003-07-12)
- AMDZone Reviews the Aopen AK77 400 Max (KT400A) Motherboard (2003-07-13)
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Digital-Daily also takes a look at the Gigabyte 7NNXP (NF2) (2003-07-07)
"During the tests, the board showed excellent stability and performance. Also, its overclocking options are very powerful, and at overclocking results the board is second to none of the competitors' products."
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Toms Hardware :
865PE/875P Motherboard Roundup July 2003
Abit IC7-G, IS7, Aopen AX4C Max, AX4C Max2, AXSPE Max, Asus P4C800 Deluxe, P4P800 Deluxe, Biostar p$tCA Pro, Chaintech 9CJS Zenith, DFI LanParty Pro 875, Elitegroup (ECS) PF1, Epox 4PCA3+, 4PDA2+, Gigabyte 8KNXP Ultra, 8KNXP, 8PENXP,8IG1000 Pro, Intel D875PBZ, D865PERL, MSI 875P Neo (MS-6758), 865PE Neo2 (MS-6728), QDI P4I875PMA-6AFR, Soltek SL-86SPE-L, Soyo P4I875 Dragon2
"Our key findings are as follows: the marketing strategists from Intel argue that the two chips differ from one another in that the 875P essentially performs better than the 865PE. The performance advantage is mainly said to result form the fast "PAT" memory access, which is officially not possible in the case of the 865.
In practice, however, a completely different picture emerges: the benchmark results of our test field prove that, depending on the manufacturer, boards based on the Intel 865PE are just as fast as boards with the Intel 875P. The key factors here are optimization of the BIOS software and adjustment of running times through the appropriate layout of the track conductors. The fast storage access (in the case of the 875P) is therefore not the sole factor determining the speed of a board."
Read the marathon review
here
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The Inquirer: Single channel Nforce2 400 dethrones its dual channel stablemate
"ENTHUSIAST SITE AMDMB.com discovered this unexpected anomaly, which could have far reaching Socket-A repercussions.
Soltek's bottom dollar SL-NV400-64 motherboard, which is based on the single channel nForce2 400 chipset, is the cause of all this news. What is amazing is that it beat Asus' dual channel flagship product - the A7N8X Deluxe, in the majority of benchmarks. Ryan Shrout, the amdmb.com reviewer, who put Soltek's motherboard through its paces, suggests that its performance lead in UT 2K3 is down to the additional overhead that a dual channel system board has to deal with. Looking at the rest of the results, I would apply that comment as a general across the board statement. "
Soltek's overall performance lead is not earth shattering, but like everything else in this industry, perception is everything. Of the 14 benchmarks that were run, Soltek's board won 11 of them, drew 2, and lost only one. For the record:
Quake 3: Evenly matched results
UT 2K3: 5.5 to 11.1% lead
3D Mark 2K1: Wins by a nose
PC Mark 2K2: Two out of three is good enough.
SiSoft Sandra 2K2: A win in memory, but ties in CPU
Cachemem: 5.7% to 9.3% lead
Business Winstone 2K1 & 2K2: A win in both
CC Winstone 2K1, 2K2, & 2K3: Soltek takes the Triple Crown
SPECviewperf 7: Asus' only win
ScienceMark: Pretty much a draw
more info here
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AMDMB.com : Soltek NV400-64 review (2003-07-03)
" The Soltek NV400-64 motherboard is a surprise hit as far as performance goes. While the features that Soltek is offering with the board are on the very low end of things, that is simply because the boards (and chipset for that matter) are aimed for a mainstream market that doesn’t have a need for fancy options like Serial ATA and RAID. All they want is a low final price - and if they happen to get a great performer as well, all the better.
This is also interesting in the fact that it’s the first time we have seen anything based on the nForce2 400 chipset. Since we never received a reference board from anyone, we are taking the Soltek board as the defacto performance we can and should look for on future nF2 400 motherboards. Which raises the question: why is the nF2 400 performing better than the nF2 Ultra 400 board? Too be completely honest, I am not sure and any answers I have gotten from NVIDIA seem stretched at best."
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HardOCP Previews the Via PT800 Pentium 4 FSB800 Chipset and compares it the the Intel i875P. (2003-07-08)
"From VIA: Supporting 800MHz FSB and Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology, the VIA PT800 chipset implements VIA’s advanced FastStream64™ DDR400 Memory Controller and AGP8X graphics port in a synchronized North Bridge configuration that maximizes bus bandwidth efficiency. When coupled with the advanced new VT8237 South Bridge, the VIA PT800 also delivers a host of advanced connectivity and multimedia features, including the industry’s first full-featured native Serial ATA/RAID controller and rich surround sound, to provide the most scalable and highest performance core logic chipset platform for mainstream Intel Pentium® 4 processor based PC systems."
Conclusions
excerpt....
To say we are very impressed with the performance of the PT800 would be a gross understatement. Most of us hoped that VIA would at least put forth a competitive product comparable to that of the Intel i875P. What we got today was a very well designed product that went head to head with the best Intel desktop chipset on the market and came out a bit ahead more often than not. VIA is to be commended on the great job they have done on engineering the PT800 chipset.
Read the whole report
here
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XbitLabs reviews the Abit IC7 (i875) motherboard (2003-07-09)
"You can get Intel PAT for free; you can get it for a lot of money, but what about getting it for just a few extra dollars? Today we are reviewing an inexpensive ABIT IC7 mainboard based on i875P and aimed on computer hardware enthusiasts. We explain every single fact about the mainboard, so, be sure to read the review before purchasing ABIT IC7."
Conclusion (excerpt)
We have reviewed a not very expensive mainboard based on i875P chipset designed for high-end desktops and workstations. The mainboard pleased us with great stability and high performance. ABIT’s traditional overclocking and tuning capabilities are available on the IC7 mainboard, as a result, the solution can eventually become popular among overclockers. If you are not going to overclock and just want to have an up-to-date higher-end mainboard, ABIT IC7 is also a good buy, I believe, however, it still has a number of disadvantages you have to keep in mind.
Read the review
here
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AMDZone reviews the FIC KT400 Pro (KT400A) Motherboard (2003-07-10)
"The Good Stuff
The KT400A Ultra did exhibit good stability. It does also add a 4 pin ATX power connector, and it does have 6 channel Cmedia audio. The price should also be low for the board.
Conclusion
We are disappointed to see the the newest VIA based board from FIC loses so many of the features of its predecessor. It has proven to be stable, and because of the decreased features the cost of the board should be quite low. If you are an enthusiast and/or overclocker this probably isn't your board, but if you are looking for a low cost KT400A board then the FIC KT400A Pro is worth looking at."
Read the whole review
here
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TBreak Asus SK8N (NF3) Preview (2003-07-11)
"The CPU/FPU benchmarks are logically lower as we are comparing a 1.6GHz CPU to a 2.1Ghz and a 3.0GHz CPU. What should be noted is the memory benchmark where the Opteron has no problems overtaking the Athlon XP by a good margin. Also remember that the Opteron benchmarks are conducted with a DDR266 memory module whereas the P4 is benchmarked with DDR400 so there's a pretty good chance of the Opteron posting numbers very close to the P4 when used with similar speed memory modules at almost half the CPU speed. That certainly wants to make us look forward to the Athlon64. Similarly, Quake3 Arena also posts some very impressive results for a 1.6GHz CPU."
Plenty of Benchmarks and charts
here
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LiquidNinjas Reviews the Abit NF7-S v2 (NF2 Ultra 400) mobo (2003-07-09)
"n Conclusion.
I think the ABIT NF7-S has tried to be a jack-of-all-trades and just about succeeded too. This board offers a staggering number of overclocking options as well as the ability to actually use them with no loss of stability until you are pushing the absolute ragged edge, on top of this you have the features that modern users demand. Quality sound, LAN, USB2, Firewire, and SATA."
more
here
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AMDZone checks out the ECS L7VTA Revision 1.1 (KT400A) MOtherboard (2003-07-12)
"The Good Stuff
The L7VTA surprised us with some great performance and came in 2nd overall. Stability was also not an issue, and there are options for RAID and Firewire and Ethernet was included on our board. Also it is important to keep in mind that this will be the lowest cost KT400A board around.
Conclusion
ECS has kept with their tradition of offering the lowest cost motherboard around and it has made them one of the top 4 board makers in the world. The L7VTA revision 1.1 continues that tradition and provides not only excellent performance, but a low price tag will be attached. If you are looking for a low cost board, and don't want to sacrifice performance then this is the board for you."
Read the whole review
here
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3DExtreme reviews the DFI KT400A Lan Party (KT400A) (2003-07-12)
"Introduction
Today 3dXtreme is reviewing another new DFI product from the the LanParty series, the DFI LanParty VIA KT400a Motherboard. This particular motherboard is based on the VIA KT400a chipset for AMD processors. Although the release of the VIA KT600 chipset is just around the corner, the VIA KT400a is the latest revision of the KT400 chipset bridging the gap in performance before the KT600 is released. DFI is one of the first manufacturers to release a motherboard based on this chipset."
Read the whole review
here
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AMDZone Reviews the Aopen AK77 400 Max (KT400A) Motherboard (2003-07-13)
"The Good Stuff
Wow. The Aopen AK77 400 Max is maxed out with features. They have so many unique features like the elaborate fan RPM control, mouse and keyboard fuse, and a 3.3V AGP warning LED. It also includes features like Serial ATA, Firewire, dual bios, and 6 channel audio with a SPDIF connector. Aopen includes plenty of utilities like the bios CD player, backup utility, and Windows bios flashing utility. The board also has plenty of overclocking options, and failed overclocks will automatically reset the system to default CPU speeds. The documentation from Aopen is excellent, and the board showed top stability. Aopen has made the bios more of a tool by adding in a CD player, dynamic fan RPM control, and allowing the bios to reset the CPU speed to default when overclocked to much.
Conclusion
The first board we have reviewed from Aopen is definitely a nice surprise. It is one most feature packed motherboards we have ever tested, and Aopen has shown the rare ability to add unique features in hardware and software The only real negative so far is that performance was lower than average. With excellent stability and plenty of hardware and software extras make the AK77 400 Max one of the top KT400A boards around. If some bios tweaking can improve on performance then it will be as good if not better than the DFI and Gigabyte boards we have tested."
Read the whole review
here
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