FIRST LOOK: SiS 755FX for Socket 939 Athlon 64
by Wesley Fink on December 16, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
About a year ago, we were very impressed with the introduction of the SiS 755 chipset. In fact, we were so impressed that we awarded our Editor's Choice for Best Athlon 64 chipset to SiS in SiS755 Reference Board: Athlon64 from SiS. We fully expected that many of the major motherboard manufacturers would be producing boards based on the SiS 755, but that never happened. In the end, only 2 SiS 755 motherboards made it to the AnandTech labs - an ECS and a Foxconn. Both were capable budget motherboards, but neither packed the kind of enthusiast features we hoped that we would see with the 755 chipset.
Now, a year later, we are taking a first look at an update to the SiS chipset called the 755FX. The FX adds support for the latest Socket 939, dual-channel memory, and 1000 HyperTransport, but it is otherwise quite similar to the 755. This is mainly due to the fact that the Winfast 755FXK8AA uses the same 964 Southbridge that we reviewed late last year. Winfast is the brand name used by Foxconn for their Athlon 64 motherboards.
The focus with the Winfast board is really value. Foxconn tells us that the Winfast 755FX will sell for less than $100, which will be the first Socket 939 board to reach that price point. If the Winfast 755FXK8AA is a decent performer, this will open new price points for Socket 939 systems - particularly those built around the new 3000+ and 3200+ 90nm value Athlon 64s.
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nserra - Thursday, December 16, 2004 - link
The sis chipsets are very good, with the right bios configuration and drivers will do well. At least my ME and XP installation is already 3 years old and didn’t have to reinstall them because of problems.The biggest Sis problem is that the mobo maker’s dont use good quality components on the (sis) boards, at the same level of the intel based ones. When every one says intel is the best, or that sis sucks, etc... Take that into account OK.
I noted the Soltek comes on top too many times, I wonder why is that, especially over the other ones, maybe they are socket 754 based?
#6 I had the same problem you have, and now it is solved. The startup time is really fast, not as fast as the ME, but good :)
jmke - Thursday, December 16, 2004 - link
Why is DOOM3 (opengl) in the DX9 gaming category? ;)Gnoad - Thursday, December 16, 2004 - link
Any word on if it would be capable if running above 233 if a program like clockgen was used?Calin - Thursday, December 16, 2004 - link
I have bought a ECS K7S5A with SIS 735 chipset. It is still working, and is going good (except a very long startup time in WinXP).I won't stay away from SiS chipsets, especially at that price point for a mainboard
FFS - Thursday, December 16, 2004 - link
Ooops...missed t in "Switzerland" Sorry...
FFS - Thursday, December 16, 2004 - link
Good article... hope to see more boards in retail...Competition is very good.
SiS 755 was very good... in reviews...
But we never could find any SiS mobo in the shops (at least in Swizerland)
But I just do not trust SiS after I had way too many problems with SiS 648 (also was very good in reviews at it's time)
But check this out:
nSISt on nVIDIA
I a not a fun of nVIDIA although nF3 Ultra looks very atractive to me (nF4 not, since I have already good 6800GT AGP board...)
Well, too bad that Intel do not make chipsets for AMD... :)))
Poser - Thursday, December 16, 2004 - link
In the article he wrote, "The board is also a 3-phase design, instead of the 2-phase that we often see on boards designed to a price point" which made me wonder -- what's the difference? Both in a technical sense, and in a performance sense. Does the number of phases a board uses have any influence on what's the best power supply to mate it with, or am I wandering off in the wrong direction entirely? Anyone have a good link where I could dig a bit deeper?esun - Thursday, December 16, 2004 - link
Wow, this board looks like an excellent value. Here's hoping that they'll fix those minor problems, and perhaps I'll pick one up myself.Saist - Thursday, December 16, 2004 - link
just wanted to comment that I picked up ECS's 755-A2 board some time back and it is now pretty much the value board that I pick when someone doesn't want to shell out $100+ for a mother board. I'm pretty much pleased to see that SiS is continuing this with the 755FX. Hopefully it will mean a Socket 939 A64 will be joining the 3 current 754 boards.