Socket 754 Roundup: Comparing Generation 2
by Wesley Fink on May 28, 2004 5:57 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Gigabyte K8NSNXP: Features and Layout
| Motherboard Specifications | |
| CPU Interface | Socket 754 Athlon 64 |
| Chipset | nVidia nForce3-250 |
| CPU Ratios | 4 to 25 in 0.5X increments |
| Bus Speeds | 200MHz to 455MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| PCI/AGP Speeds | Auto, 66MHz to 100MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| Core Voltage | 0.80V to 1.7V in 0.025V increments |
| DRAM Voltage | Normal, +0.1V, +0.2V |
| VDDQ (Chipset)Voltage | Normal, +0.1V, +0.2V, +0.3V |
| HT (HyperTransport) Voltage | Normal, +0.1V, +0.2V, +0.3V |
| Memory Slots | Three 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots Unbuffered Non-ECC Memory to 2GB Total |
| Expansion Slots | 1 AGP 8X Slot 5 PCI Slots |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | nVidia 2-Drive SATA (RAID 0, 1, JBOD) Plus 2-Drive SiI3512 (RAID 0, 1, JBOD) |
| Onboard IDE/RAID | Two nVidia ATA133/100/66 (4 drives) PLUS 4-drive IT8212 GigaRAID RAID 0, 1, 0+1) |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 8 USB 2.0 ports supported by nF3-250 3 1394B FireWire ports by VIA VT6306 |
| Onboard LAN | 1Gigabit Ethernet by Marvel 8001 PCI 10/100Ethernet by ICS1883 |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC850 8-Channel with SPDIF |
The Gigabyte K8NSNXP offers some of the widest adjustment ranges and the most complete feature set of any board in this roundup. Gigabyte has promoted the Dual capability in almost all their recent high-end boards, and the K8NSNXP continues that tradition. The trademark DPS card boosts power regulation to 6-phase for stability, SATA has both nVidia and Silicon Image controllers, IDE features nVidia regular IDE plus ITE GigaRAID, Audio is 8-channel, and there are even two LAN connectors. However, despite the incredibly long feature list for this top-end board, the system is still based on the nForce3-250 chipset and not the nForce3-250Gb. That means neither LAN is on-chip (they both appear to be tied to the PCI bus), and the nVidia Firewall is not a feature on the Gigabyte.
Gigabyte builds extremely solid motherboards, and this certainly shows in the construction of this clear-blue, full-size ATX motherboard with rounded corners. Attention to detail also shows in the almost ideal placement of components on the K8NSNXP, with IDE, Floppy, ATX 20-pin and 12V connectors all at near ideal locations. The only real complaint about layout is that the DPS card blocks air flow from a down-facing fan on the Power Supply when it is installed.
For those looking for great Firewire support, the Gigabyte comes through again with 3 1394B high-speed Firewire ports. Gigabyte has been supplying 1394B on its top motherboards for some months, and that continues with the K8NSNXP. Gigabyte also provides quiet active cooling for the single chip nForce3-250. On-board headers are also located for easy connection of front ports if that is a feature of your case.
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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