The perfect mATX s939 board?

rei · Post by **rei** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 9:28 pm

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/press_rel ... cfm?pId=17

Let the Good Times Roll: WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS Motherboard Introduced

September 20, 2005, Shenzhen, China - Building on the worldwide momentum of today's NVIDIA announcement of the GeForce 6 GPU-based 6150 core logic (chipset), Foxconn introduced the WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS motherboard based on that chipset. The flagship product in a series of products to be launched over the next several weeks, the new motherboard provides the highest quality, highest performance integrated graphics solution available in the market today for AMD Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core, and Athlon 64 FX processor-based systems

6150K8MA-8EKRS brief specification:
· Socket 939 for AMD Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core, and Athlon 64 FX processor
· NVIDIA GeForce 6150 GPU + nForce 430 MCP
· Supports dual channel, DDR400 x 4 DIMMs; max 4GB memory
· NVIDIA GeForce 6 programmable, Shader Model 3.0, DirectX 9 graphics processor; PureVideoTM CE-quality video processor
· Includes 1 PCIe x16 and 3 PCI adapter card slots
· Includes ATA/133 x 2 + Serial ATA II/300 x 4 (w/ RAID 0, 1, 0+1, and 5)
· 7.1-channel, high quality audio
· Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) LAN port
· IEEE-1394a x2; 8 USB 2.0
· Foxconn SuperUtilities plus NVIDIA ActiveArmor, Firewall, MediaShield, and nTune[/img]

rei · Post by **rei** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 9:38 pm

sata ii - check
firewire - check
4 dimm slots - check
gigabit - check
passive nb hsf - check
3 pci slots - check (my personal preference)
decent dx9 video - check
hd audio - check

oc options - unknown

WayneSherman · Post by **WayneSherman** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 10:14 pm

Nice board, but falls short in one area for me - dual onboard LAN ports.
I am looking for a 430 MCP w/ a 6150 or 6100 that has dual LAN to build an inexpensive Linux server/router.

Anyone know of any?

stromgald · Post by **stromgald** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 10:42 pm

Argh, I just got an MSI RS480M2 less than 3 months ago. The only thing the MSI board has against this one is brand reputation. Brand reputation isn't insignificant, but neither is gigabit lan, SATA II, nVidia chipset, and better over/under clocking options.

Good find rei.

dis · Post by **dis** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 11:44 pm

Found a downside (sorry)

"TV-out via cable/bracket"
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/products_ ... K8MA-8EKRS

Depending on the case the bracket could probably go in the graphics card slot anyway. If i can find this board for sale soon i'll grab it i think.

In the last week or so there was a very similar Asus board, can't find the link at the mo but i'll edit if it turns up later. Only prob being its probably a bracket for s-vid too, and they went with adding another PCI-express right next to the x16 lane.

Weiman · Post by **Weiman** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 11:55 pm

DVI - no check. Definitely a dealbreaker for me.

dis: You're thinking of the Asus A8N-VM CSM. It's not up on the Asus site yet, but images and specs are available elsewhere. It has a bracket for TV-out, but that's a small price to pay to make room for a DVI connector. The PCIe 1x slot is at the bottom of the board and not next to the 16x. The A8N-VM is probably my next HTPC board.

Here is a list of all known Geforce 61x0 boards:
http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p ... ostcount=4

dis · Post by **dis** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:19 am

ah.... my bad. Just, went looking and the board i had seen wasn't even an Asus, lol.
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/09/23/msi_nforce410/

I'll have to take a good look at the Asus board when theres more info, the DVI issue doesn't bother me but the PCI-E issue will be a factor.

Nice to see some decent mATX boards with onboard vid at last, i won't leave my PVR box on 24/7 simply because of the heat the gfx card pumps out. It'll be interesting to see some vid-out image quality opinions once the reviews start showing up.

Nice link Weiman

anaqer · Post by **anaqer** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 3:46 am

Me, I'll just go with the ASUS CSM - something like 5 out of 6 reviews reported serious OC difficulties with the NF4K8MC leaving me with little hope they'd get it right this time. Also, I definitely don't need more than two PCI slots so having a 1xPCIe for future upgrades (second GbE, whatever) instead is preferrable. Right now, the only thing I can see this board has going for it is the nice arrangement of the MOSFETs allowing for easier installation of a DIY heatsink.

Storm · Post by **Storm** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:58 am

we already talked about the nforce 430 MCP here

Bar81 · Post by **Bar81** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:26 pm

quality chipset - UNcheck
quality drivers - UNcheck

Why do people keep buying nvidia's crappy bugriddled products?

Weiman · Post by **Weiman** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:24 pm

Thanks, but I'll take "crappy bugriddled" nVidia over ATI's crippled southbridge and so-so drivers any day.

charger2000 · Post by **charger2000** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:13 pm

and most of all this Foxconn is compatible with the riser card of Silverstone cases

go at the bottom of this page:
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc11.htm

dis · Post by **dis** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 12:19 am

charger2000 wrote:and most of all this Foxconn is compatible with the riser card of Silverstone cases
go at the bottom of this page:
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc11.htm

Yep

Thats why i was worried about the PCI-E placement.

Weiman, the new XPress boards don't have the USB problem AFAIK, its really only the old MSI board, the one with the original ATI southbridge.

Bar81: Whats is a quality chipset then? Only others i can think of are VIA and SIS, outside of the 1st gen AMD boards.

charger2000 · Post by **charger2000** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 12:43 am

the only, partial, downside is the TV out on a bracket, but even the upcoming Asus doesn't have it soldered on the back of the MB...

I would have preferred Gigabyte or MSI, but neither of the brands is compatible with the Silverstone riser card...

Robisoda · Post by **Robisoda** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 5:48 am

Muddying the waters.

Seems that MSI has quietly slipped out a RS482/SB450 solution: RS482M4. Nice looking features (HDTV, HD audio), but likely no overclocking.

Review here that seems to be the RS482 against the 6100 and 6150 with the RS482 holding its own against the 6150. Don't know anything about the site, but some of the 6100 numbers are comparable to Anand's review, so maybe they do know what they're doing.

More reviews from credible sources needed. Need data!

Dennis

Bar81 · Post by **Bar81** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:33 am

dis wrote:
charger2000 wrote:and most of all this Foxconn is compatible with the riser card of Silverstone cases
go at the bottom of this page:
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc11.htm

Yep Thats why i was worried about the PCI-E placement.

Weiman, the new XPress boards don't have the USB problem AFAIK, its really only the old MSI board, the one with the original ATI southbridge.

Bar81: Whats is a quality chipset then? Only others i can think of are VIA and SIS, outside of the 1st gen AMD boards.

Currently:

Intel, and on a slightly lower tier SiS. That's it. nvidia isn't anywhere near the same class. VIA is a disaster and the new ATI I haven't tried so I can't comment.

dis · Post by **dis** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:45 am

Just out of interest why do you say that? A bad experience?

I've found the nForce boards after #1 have all been pretty solid offerings. Loved my NF7 v2.0 and my current DFI board is going great.

Bar81 · Post by **Bar81** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 7:42 am

dis wrote:Just out of interest why do you say that? A bad experience?

I've found the nForce boards after #1 have all been pretty solid offerings. Loved my NF7 v2.0 and my current DFI board is going great.

Why do I say what? Specifically referring to nvidia mobos?

_MarcoM_ · Post by **_MarcoM_** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:49 am

Bar81 wrote:quality chipset - UNcheck
quality drivers - UNcheck

Why do people keep buying nvidia's crappy bugriddled products?

ROTFL ahahahah.

Crappy bugriddled? Man, you need to go in vacation, for sure.

dis · Post by **dis** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 4:57 am

Bar81 wrote: Why do I say what? Specifically referring to nvidia mobos?

Yeah, i get that you like the intel boards (fair enough) but i don't get why you reckon the nVidia solutions aren't good. As i noted i've never had any real problems with them.

Bar81 · Post by **Bar81** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:01 am

Well, the reason I say what I say about nvidia is related to the quality of their product:

IDE drivers that *STILL* don't work properly I can't even begin to count the number of problems users have been having since nForce 2 on through 3 and 4. This has even leaked into SATA optical issues where many users with SATA opticals have to remove the nvidia IDE drivers to get the device to work properly.

"Hardware" firewall It simply doesn't work but rather causes all kinds of system issues. Apparently activearmor is now working (mostly) on nforce 4 boards but months after the feature was supposedly working. nForce 3 users are still SOL especially considering there never was a hardware feature of the firewall.

SATA drivers that corrupt hard drives when NCQ is enabled Embarassing and inexcusable. Simply another in the long line of non-working features and horrible drivers.

Spotty SATA optical support For some reason SATA opticals on nforce boards sometimes work and often times don't depending on maker of mobo and BIOS revision. This is inexcusable. nvidia should be at the forefront of providing the BIOS settings that can solve this problem universally as the chipset is capable of support from 3 onward.

High USB CPU utilization Above 7% in relation to Intel ~2%

Unlocked SATA ports At least on nforce 3 boards SATA 3 and 4 were unlocked. Simply shoddy design.

Brutally hot running chipsets The latest nforce4 boards need active cooling or heatpipe design only found on the most expensive (and imo useless) SLI models.

Driver abandonement of platform as soon as new platform comes out There haven't been new nForce3 WHQL drivers since freaking SEPTEMBER 17 2004 and don't tell me that's because they don't need them. As I've pointed out above, there's a hell of a lot of fixing that needs to be happening.

nvidia as it has since the beginning of its aspirations in motherboard chipsets continues to put out subpar products that simply don't match the standards that Intel chipsets have set (nothing even close to the 440BX and i850e) These shortcomings along with reducing heat output for silence are the sole reasons for me changing from an A64 rig to a P-M rig. Until AMD starts making its own chipsets or a SiS-based A64 first rate motherboard is released I'll be sticking with Intel. I love the A64 but the chipset support is horrendous and with Conroe and Merom coming up sticking with Intel for the foreseeable future looks like a solid course of action.

Chang · Post by **Chang** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:29 am

Possible issues with the 6150 / 430 chipsets aside (and given it's the next generation maybe past issues have been fixed?), here are two boards that have finally been announced that pique my interest (click on images for a larger image):

ASUS A8N-VM CSM

Albatron KM51PV

The Asus layout is a bit more "traditional" but I find the Albatron layout very, very interesting. The CPU is more centrally located, shortening the traces to the RAM (and possibly fitting in my QPack a bit better). No more video card interference when adding / removing RAM. Clear airflow path from the socket to either the back of the case and to the top of the case. All the power connectors are co-located and at the back edge of the board. The "useless" floppy connector is dropped to the bottom of the board. The drawbacks I see are the PCI-E 1x slot may be useless depending on the NB heatsink dimension (not as there are tons of PCI-E boards anyways). On-board audio isn't as nice as the Asus, but so long as it has S/PDIF, I'm happy. The other minor quibble is that mobo connectors for the power / reset / hdd indicator / leds / usb seem to be split, half next to the SATA connectors on the lower left and half above the floppy connectors on the upper left.

rei · Post by **rei** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:03 pm

Bar81...your concerns may be validated with the newly announced recall of nForce4 boards...I had corruption problems with my SATA Hitachi and PATA Samsung (MSI Neo4 Platinum -NF4U chipset) using NVIDIA IDE drivers.

AnandTech forums seem to warn people away from installing those drivers as they cause data corruption--the MS drivers don't seem to.

http://theinquirer.net/?article=27129

rei · Post by **rei** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 2:08 pm

statement from nvidia, quoted by 'rollo' half-way down the page:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview ... erthread=y

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 9:50 pm

There's still no such thing as an ATI southbridge that have decent USB performance. It's still behind the others. I wouldn't bother though, since it's only when using an external HD the transfer speed would be important. I'd not use USB for that, Firewire or Firewire 800 is a better choice.

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:06 am

That Albatron KM51PV got the best overclocking options I've seen on a K8 µATX, check the manual. I wonder how good it actually is.

winguy · Post by **winguy** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:01 am

Mats wrote:That Albatron KM51PV got the best overclocking options I've seen on a K8 µATX, check the manual. I wonder how good it actually is.

Audio Chip : Realtek ALC655

Is the Asus A8N-VM CSM the only board that has DVI and HD Audio?

Weiman · Post by **Weiman** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:20 am

winguy wrote:Is the Asus A8N-VM CSM the only board that has DVI and HD Audio?

It seems so. The only other board (besides the Albatron) that has DVI is the MSI K8NGM2, for which detailed specs aren't available yet. But the press release didn't say anything at all about the audio part.

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:26 pm

nVidia GeForce 6100 series review, including Foxconn motherboards.
Gigabyte mobo (with too-long-model-name-just-like-those-from-Foxconn) review OMG! Nice overclocker!