Socket 754 Roundup: Comparing Generation 2
by Wesley Fink on May 28, 2004 5:57 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Chaintech VNF3-250: Features and Layout
| Motherboard Specifications | |
| CPU Interface | Socket 754 Athlon 64 |
| Chipset | nVidia nForce3-250 |
| CPU Ratios | 6 to 22 in 1X increments |
| Bus Speeds | 200MHz to 400MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| PCI/AGP Speeds | Auto, 66MHz to 85MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| HyperTransport | 1x-5x (200MHz to 1GHz) |
| Core Voltage | 1.45V-1.70V in .025V increments to 1.55V and .05V increments 1.6V to 1.7V |
| DRAM Voltage | 2.5V to 2.9V in 0.1V increments |
| AGP Voltage | 1.5V to 2.2V in 0.1V increments |
| Chipset Voltage | 1.6V to 1.9V in 0.1V increments |
| Memory Slots | Three 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots Unbuffered Memory to 2GB Total |
| Expansion Slots | 1 AGP 8X Slot 5 PCI Slots 1 CMR (Chaintech Multimedia Riser) Slot |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | nVidia 2-Drive SATA by nF3-250 SATA can be combined in RAID 0, 1, JBOD |
| Onboard IDE | Two Standard nVidia ATA133/100/66 (4 drives) |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 8 USB 2.0 ports supported by nF3-250 No FireWire ports |
| Onboard LAN | 10/100 Ethernet Realtek RTO8100C PCI |
| Onboard Audio | CMedia CM19761A 6-Channel with SPDIF |
Chaintech motherboards are best known for their top-of-the-line Zenith series, which include coordinated cables, front break-out boxes, and every motherboard accessory that you could imagine. The other top Chaintech feature is a very complete selection of overclocking and control options for the Enthusiast. With that in mind, you may not be surprised to see the complete selection of Voltage and Frequency adjustments. However, you may be shocked when you realize that this kind of control is available on a motherboard designed to sell for less than $100.
The VNF3-250 is the first Zenith Value Edition motherboard. We are told that the Zenith Value Edition boards are designed to provide top-notch features for the Enthusiast and Overclocker, but without all the add-ons and frills that drive up the price. Based on that philosophy, Chaintech has certainly succeeded in reaching their target with the VNF3-250.
There are some compromises in order to reach the "under $100" price goal. Chaintech uses the nF3-250 chipset rather than the more expensive nF3-250Gb, and therefore has eliminated the on-chip Gigabit LAN and nVidia on-chip Firewall. Instead, 10/100 LAN is provided with a Realtek PCI chip. RAID is of the 2-drive SATA variety and is not the 8-drive "any-drive" IDE/RAID solution found on top-line nForce3-250Gb boards. Also, you will not find any Firewire ports on the VNF3-250, but these can be added with a PCI card if you need them. Everything else, however, is here on the Chaintech and the performance that we found with this board in our review of OCZ3700 was simply outstanding.
The VNF3-250 is a little smaller than full ATX, but nothing is cramped at all on the board. It is also worth pointing out that Chaintech, unlike most others building to a price point, still delivers a 3-phase power design. This attention to detail pays off in the great performance that we found with the Chaintech.
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intercollector - Saturday, May 29, 2004 - link
I'm a little surprised to see why the MSI K8N didn't get the gold compared to the Epox. Both seem almost identical in every way, except that the K8N seems to include Firewire. Shouldn't this feature make it surpass the Epox board?The only downside of the MSI board seems to be the limit of a 300 max FSB, which is probably fine for 99.99% of overclockers.
Klaasman - Saturday, May 29, 2004 - link
#7-Thanks for link, but my KV8 Pro still wont boot when selecting "fixed" in bios setup.
Why wouldn't my board have the pro chip? Manufacturing screw up maybe?
Wesley Fink - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
#6 -Bank Interleaving is not an option in any of the BIOS' tested here. Many current BIOS enable Bank interleaving by default. Where it is an option, we definitely enable the best interleaving option available and list what we set in the memory chart. We are not ignoring this option.
bigtoe33 - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
If you are looking for the latest Abit KV8 pro bios have a look here. http://www.bleedinedge.com/download/bios/abit%20am...multi support and PCI lock inc. if your pro board won't lock the pci bus with this bios then your board may not have the pro chipset.
Myrandex - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
Well after finishing the article, I was wondering why none of the boards are run with bank interleaving on? Doesn't it increase memory performance for the ones that support it?Myrandex - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
On the KV8 spec page, it states:Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 8 USB 2.0 ports supported by nF3-250
No FireWire
Should be K8T800 Pro instead of nF3-250.
Myrandex - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
Klaasman - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
What revision of KV8 Pro were you using and what bios version?Nobody else with a recently purchased KV8 can get the locks to work. How come your board does?
Aikouka - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
Anandtech should have looked at the problem that the Chaintech VNF3-250 has with it's RAID and installing an OS, and the problem where the board refuses to boot from SATA if you enable RAID on any IDE HDDs. People've said they've been able to circumvent it, but I haven't got it to work yet, and Chaintech is worthless when it comes to customer service. I received an automated response about 6 or 7 days after my initial submission on their website (they have no US phone number.) And I still have not received an email from a representative yet.RyanVM - Friday, May 28, 2004 - link
If there's so little variation in system performance between these, why not look at other aspects like USB throughput/CPU utilization, IDE/SATA throughput, ethernet throughput/CPU utilization, etc.Ace's Hardware just did a great article showing that the rather crummy components being used these days on cheaper motherboards have a pretty large impact in performance in those areas.
http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=65000298