Built-in cooling, taken up a notch

Subject: Motherboards | November 21, 2005 - 12:13 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The Tech Report has a look at one of the latest AMD motherboards from ASUS, the A8N32-SLI.  One of the neatest features is the integrated heatpipe, to keep your northbridge happy. 

Then, check out John's review of the EPoX 8NPA SLI, see which fits you better.

"Asus' A8N32-SLI Deluxe is the first nForce4 SLI X16-based Athlon 64 motherboard to hit the

market, and it's more than just a simple refresh of Asus' nForce4 SLI design.

The rare albino Sapphire motherboard spotted

Subject: Motherboards | November 17, 2005 - 11:59 AM | Alex Marsters
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The Sapphire Pure Innovation PI-A9RX480 is a very distinctive looking board, built around the

ATI 200P chipset.  With one x16 PCIe slot, 2 normal PCIe, 2 PCI 2.2 slots, and built in audio, LAN and firewire, this board seems to have everything you would need.  Read the full review at BigBruin.

"Tell me, isn't that one of the purdiest boards you've seen seen since the Soyo Dragon KT400

Platinum?

Foxconn adds SIS's Mirage

Subject: Motherboards | November 11, 2005 - 05:27 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The Foxconn WinFast 761GXK8MC-S includes the newly released IGP from SIS, The Mirage.  Read the full review at PC Stats to see how it stacks up to the N4 boards, both in price, and performance.

Don't forget to read Ryan's review of the A8N32-SLI either.

"The Foxconn WinFast 761GXK8MC-S motherboard is based upon a new chipset from

SiS which has a couple media-friendly assets.

Return of the IGPs

Subject: Motherboards | November 9, 2005 - 01:32 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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It's been a while since a batch of motherboards with Integrated Graphics Processors has been released.  However, with the new nForce boards, we are seeing quite a few boards with a 6100 built in, like the Biostar GeForce 6100-M9 TForce reviewed by TweakTown.  Consider it the next time you are putting together a system for a non-gamer.

"The integrated desktop graphics market is often one which is overlooked by many users.

Peeking into the 2006 motherboard models

Subject: Motherboards | November 3, 2005 - 06:16 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Anandtech visited Taiwan and wandered into several motherboard manufacturers to see what is coming up for 2006, why don't you join them.

"We recently had the opportunity to visit some manufacturers in Taiwan, and with that opportunity,

we spent a lot of time previewing new motherboards and graphics products.

Size doesn't always count

Subject: Motherboards | November 2, 2005 - 01:41 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Think Computers reviews the Biostar M7VIG-400 Combo micro ATX board, that comes with a Mobile Athlon XP 2600+ Barton.  Just because it's tiny doesn't mean it lacks power.  It's able to run 

Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron, and Sempron at 200, 266 and 333 FSB speeds, has built in video (with an AGP expansion slot as well), built in audio, and a NIC as well.  This might be the board to base your first HTPC on.

'Well, today we have somethin

The purer the power, the higher you can get

Subject: Motherboards | October 28, 2005 - 01:27 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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AnandTech has a comprehensive review of the Asus P5N32-SLI: Dual x16.  It has many innovations on it, and one of the main focuses on this board seems to be improving the quality of power that the system recieves.  You night wonder what that means to you?  It means better overclocking potential ... that's what!

"The Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe is outstanding and deserves serious consideration if you are an Intel

enthusiast.

ECS' new mobo comes in grape!

Subject: Motherboards | October 26, 2005 - 03:41 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Motherboards.org has gotten a hold of the ECS KN1 SLI Extreme Motherboard, an SLI board without the paddle usually found to switch between single and dual video cards.  It even comes with a "Top Hat" a backup BIOS that sits on top of the main BIOS chip.  It will allow you to boot after a bad flash, so you can try to reflash. 

"ECS is not only one of the biggest sellers of motherboards worldwide, sometimes they actually

make products that are worthy of attention and priced right as wel

EQS's Crossfire Motherboard

Subject: Motherboards | October 20, 2005 - 06:09 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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HEXUS has had the EQS A72K9-CF for a while now, but haven't had an ATI Master card until now.  Now that they do have it, you can read their review in full.

"EQS enabled HEXUS with its EQS A72K9-CF CrossFire Edition mainboard literally weeks before we got

our grubby paws on the ATi Master graphics board required to complete the platform for our

analysis on the launch of the CrossFire platform.

Dual processor setup, with a single chip implementation

Subject: Motherboards | October 17, 2005 - 05:38 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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LostCircuits reviews the server/workstation class Foxconn Winfast NFPIK8AA-8EKRS motherboard.  Built around the nForce4 profession chipset, you need to read the full review to get an idea of what they did with this motherboard.  Essentially a dual CPU board, but without the second socket, definately unique, and definately powerful.

"Foxconn is one of the world's largest OEM manufacturers of computer parts and only recently has started to enter the enthusiast market.

TYAN INVOKES DUAL CORE POWER WITH DUAL PRODUCT LAUNCH

Subject: Motherboards | October 14, 2005 - 01:27 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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FREMONT, CA, USA, October 6th, 2005 - Leveraging on the power of dual core processors to deliver the power needed to meet demanding application requirements, Tyan is launching not one, but TWO dual core products.

One motherboard that fits Socket 939 or 754!

Subject: Motherboards | October 13, 2005 - 04:42 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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ECS + PC Chips = One bloody bizarre motherboard.

The ECS PF88 is based on an incredibly flexible SiS chipset.  I can handle Pentium 4 or Athlon64 chips, your choice.   Read all about this innovative board at hardCOREware.

"Not many people noticed when two of the most boring Motherboard OEMs merged last summer. ECS and PC Chips were never really known for making amazing or innovative products, instead focusing on low end, mainstream hardware. But they assured us, times were changing.

VIA's K8V890 chipset keeps going

Subject: Motherboards | October 11, 2005 - 01:49 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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If the high price of nForce4 boards are keeping you from moving to 64 bit computing, consider Gigabyte's GA-K8V890-9.  It isn't going to outshine a comparable nVidia bases board, but it is also significantl cheaper.  Head to HardwareZone for the full review of this boards capabilities.

"VIA may have become the underdogs in the chipset race, but we find out that the old dog still has some bite in it.

ASRock Motherboard with a split personality

Subject: Motherboards | October 6, 2005 - 11:44 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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T-break has a review of the ASRock 939Dual SATA2 up, the board with a dual personality. It will take dual core CPU's, it has Dual Channel Memory, both IDE (3) and SATA (2), an odd slot labeled "future CPU slot" and the ability to accept either an AGP 8x card, or a PCIe 16x, although not both at the same time.  All that and a price that is under $100.

"The ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 has a decent set of features supporting the 939 pin based Athlon64/Dual Core CPUs with dual channel memory controller as well a

ECS nForce4 comes with everything, barring a sink

Subject: Motherboards | September 30, 2005 - 02:09 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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It's nice to have choices, and the nForce chipset certainly offers that.  The newest one to be reviewed at PCStats is the ECS KN1-SLI Extreme, with all the functionality you'd expect, and switchless SLI.  Check it out.

"The ECS KN1-SLI Extreme looks like a pretty sweet motherboard for anyone on a budget who wants good performance, and the all important option of running dual PCI Express x16 SLI-compatible videocards.

4 NForce4 SLI Mobo's for your consideration

Subject: Motherboards | September 28, 2005 - 04:57 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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This board has everything, good looks, gobs of functionality and speed, in fact the only limitation that nV News could find was FSB overclocking.  Not because of a specific problem with the board, but because the PCI Express bus, SATA, and the link between north & south bridges all use the same clock generator.   You can't (yet) lock those frequencies in the BIOS, so you get problems with SATA and PCI Express devices if you push it too far.

"The MSI P4N Diamond has a great list

Mobo's & Processors & Chipsets, Oh My!

Subject: Motherboards | September 26, 2005 - 06:43 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Surprise, its the nForce4 SLI Intel Edition from Biostar.  If you love nForce, but need to go with Intel, it's no longer a problem.  The board has all you'd expect from nForce 4, with the nice simplicity of setup that BioStar tends to prefer, according to Bjorn3D.  If it's not a motherboard you want, 4 new chips were announced today, one Intel and 3 AMD.

"For years, NVIDIA fans and general enthusiasts wondered if NVIDIA would ever release an Intel chipset.

ECS' s939 Budget SLI Board

Subject: Motherboards | September 23, 2005 - 12:38 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Just because the ECS' Nforce 4 board, the KN1 SLI is touted as a discount board, doesn't mean they skimped on the layout of the board, or the package it comes with.  Read the full review at InsaneTek.

"The KN1 SLI Extreme is the latest AMD flagship motherboard from ECS. The motherboard performs well and has great overclocking potential.