Athlon64 Motherboards: First Look at Chaintech, FIC, and MSI
by Wesley Fink on September 23, 2003 1:03 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Chaintech ZNF3-150: Basic Features
| Motherboard Specifications | |
| CPU Interface | Socket-754 |
| Chipset | nVidia nForce3-150 Single Chip |
| Bus Speeds | 200 MHz to 400 MHz (in 1 MHz increments) |
| Core Voltages Supported | Default, 1.45V to 1.70V (in 0.025V increments) |
| AGP Voltages Supported | Default, 1.6V to 2.2V (0.1V increments) |
| DRAM Voltages Supported | Default, 2.7V to 2.9V (in 0.1V increments) |
| Chipset Voltage | Default, 1.7V to 1.9V (in 0.1V increments) |
| Memory Slots | 3 x 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots Support to 2Gb DDR400/333/266/200 |
| Expansion Slots | 1 AGP 8X Slot 5 PCI Slots 1 Chaintech MultiMedia |
| Onboard RAID | Silicon Image Sil3224 supports up to 4 SATA drives in Raid 0/1/5/10 configurations |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | Six USB 2.0 supported through nForce3 VIA VT6306 IEEE-1394 Controller for 3 ports |
| Onboard LAN | Broadcom GigaLAN |
| Onboard Audio | VIA Envy 24PT 1.1 channel 24-bit |
| Onboard Serial ATA | Six IDE drives provided by 3 IDE connectors via nForce3-150 Four SATA connectors via Sil3224 Controller |
| BIOS Revision | 9/18/2003 |
The “cage” for attaching the Heatsink/Fan for the Athlon64 is much more robust than the small, easily-broken lugs for Socket A Athlon. The holder is attached with 2 screws to a back plate, which reinforces the whole socket area. The HSF that we have seen have large clips which are connected, and then an arm for final tightening that is pushed down and locks to the holder. In actual use, the new HSF assembly is much better than what we thought it would be. It is a decent solution that should allow very effective cooling solutions to be attached to Athlon64 processors.
Chaintech uses the VIA Envy24PT, a 7.1 multi-channel format integrated audio controller. 24-bit audio resolution is supported as well as 96KHz sampling rates for digital connections. The VIA Envy24PT also supports up to 8-channel outputs enabling support for Dolby Digital EX and DTS ES DVD-Video soundtracks. It is clear from the high-end specs of Envy24 and the MultiMedia riser that Chaintech intends the ZNF3-150 on-board audio to make no apologies to any one.
Gigabit LAN is provided by the Broadcom 10/100/1000 chip.
3 firewire ports are provided by the VIA VT6306 chip. Silicon Image Sil3114 supports up to 4 Serial ATA connections with RAID 0/1/0+1. Chaintech claims Raid 0/1/5/10 compatibility in their specifications.
The Single-Channel nForce3-150 adds control for up to six IDE devices, up to ATA133, connected to the 3 IDE sockets.
The ZNF3-150 uses a very robust 4-phase power instead of the more typical 2- and 3-phase seen on other Athlon64 boards. The Radex copper heat-pipe/active fan system cools the power transistors used in the 4-phase power system.
The color coding that is used throughout the ZNF3-150 is continued onto the IO deck on the rear. The slots you see are the output from the Radex heatpipe and fan system that cools the power transistors.
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Anonymous User - Friday, September 26, 2003 - link
#5I old too, but still keep buing from AMD, Intel is way too expensive for as in Latin America, and give no clear advantage for a programmer/gamer like me.
If you been having problems with AMD, surely your are building AMD chips with PCCHIPs mainboards, and Pentiums with Intel boards, you are a smart guy!
So, if you gonna build a modern PC, you'll experience problems becouse WinXP didn't include drivers for new chipsets, so, for it all going like a charm, you need an Intel Pentium III and a Intel 2001's mainboard, anything newer, you gonna have to look for drivers, whatever the platform you choose.
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - link
#10 -You are absolutely correct in theory. However, when we moved from the Ti4600 to the ATI 9800 PRO, our encoding scores on the P4 went up about 35-45%. Don't ask me why. They did not change on the Athlon, which had led in this area before. That is one of several reasons we will be changing to another encoding benchmark.
If you doubt what I say, check Evan's 20-board 865/875 roundup done with the Ti 4600, then check the retest of some of the top boards we include in our more recent P4 reviews. Evan did the original and the update tests, and I have confirmed his results.
Anonymous User - Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - link
Since when does the video card have ANYTHING to do with DivX encoding? That is a purely CPU and RAM issue, even playback is not influenced too much by the video card anymore (speed not quality...that is an entirely different issue).Zoomer - Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - link
Hey, could you please touch on what DAC chip is powering these setups? A picture would be nice too.Envy 24bit audio would be an utter waste if some crap Realtek codec was used. It would be good if this was highlighted so that motherboard manufacturers catering to the higher end of the market will take notice.
Chaintech apparantly took note of the fact that you guys bashed every single board that had the ATX connector near the board i/o ports. Despite it being a non issue. That thick bundle can be routed so that the interference with airflow is minimised.
Anonymous User - Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - link
Please, please, please stop using Flash for graphs.dvinnen - Tuesday, September 23, 2003 - link
#5: Youe funny. Constant screw ups? It's Intell who has had to have 3 or so recalls over the last 4-5 years. And theres that bug with the Itantic which the only way to fix is to lower the clock to 800 mhz. AMD is the one who keeps screwing up?Wesley Fink - Tuesday, September 23, 2003 - link
#3 and #4 - Thank you. Now corrected.Just before posting we decided to combine the 3 reviews into one larger launch review. Unfortunately I had used the same name for two different pictures and the first one was picked up. There is a socket closeup of the FIC that never made it to the server.
Anonymous User - Tuesday, September 23, 2003 - link
yeah, about the only good thing coming out of this is the price drops soon. Otherwise still the same stupid +-5FPS differences = waste of time/effert to get excited about.i used to love amd, but just got tired of their constant screw ups, so anymore i personally don't care what stupid thing they come out with, i won't waste my time with it.
Perhaps that's cuz i'm older now and have a good job/salary and don't need/care about overclocking and or paying a few bucks more for intel quality/stability. yeah, must be just getting to be an old fogey, cuz this whole amd/intel wanna-be-war doesn't give me a hardon like it used to ;)
Thoreau - Tuesday, September 23, 2003 - link
Correction, Page 11 in the index list. First pic.Thoreau - Tuesday, September 23, 2003 - link
The 2nd page of the FIC section shows a pic from the Chaintech board. Think you got that a little mixed up there.