nForce4 Ultra Roundup: Charting the Mainstream

ECS KN1 Extreme: Features and Layout

Specification	ECS KN1 Extreme
CPU Interface	Socket 939 Athlon 64
Chipset	nForce4 Ultra (single chip)
BUS Speeds	200MHz to 400MHz (in 1MHz increments)
PCI/AGP Speeds	Asynchronous (Fixed)
PCI Express	Fixed
Core Voltage	Normal, +25mV to +375mV in 25mV increments (to 1.875V on 1.5V CPU)
DRAM Voltage	Auto, 2.55V to 3.11V in 0.08V increments
Chipset Voltage	NA
Hyper Transport Ratios	Auto, 1X to 5X in 1X increments
LDT Bus Transfer	16/16, 16/8, 8/16, 8/8
CPU Ratios	Startup, 4x to 25x in 0.5x increments
DRAM Speeds	Auto, 100, 133, 166, 200
Memory Command Rate	Auto
Memory Slots	Four 184-pin DDR Dual-Channel Slots Unbuffered ECC or non-ECC Memory to 4GB Total
Expansion Slots	1 x16 PCIe Slots 2 x1 PCIe 3 PCI Slots
Onboard SATA	4-Drive SATA 2 by nF4 2 Drives by SiS 180
Onboard IDE	Two Standard NVIDIA ATA133/100/66 (4 drives)
SATA/IDE RAID	4-Drive SATA 2 PLUS 4-Drive IDE (8 total) Can be combined in RAID 0, 1 PLUS 2 Drives by SiS 180 RAID 0, 1
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394	10 USB 2.0 ports supported nF4 2 1394A FireWire ports by TI TSB43AB22A
Onboard LAN	Dual Gigabit PCIe Ethernet Gigabit PCIe by Marvel 88E1111 PHY 10/100 PCI by Realtek RTL8100C
Onboard Audio	Realtek ALC850 8-Channel codec with 6 UAJ audio jacks, CD-in, front audio, Optical and Coaxial SPDIF Out
Other Features	AMD X2 Support with 1.1A or higher BIOS Slot LEDs, Power Transistor Fan and Duct
BIOS	Award 1.1A (6/02/05)

ECS reserves the Extreme label for their top motherboards aimed at the computer enthusiast. While the Extreme boards have been very high on features, they have remained very affordable, often competing with boards that have much more modest feature sets. ECS decided some time ago that they wanted to go after the computer enthusiast; however, the path has been anything but a smooth one. As we have said in other reviews, it is one thing to aim for a board at the enthusiast market, but it is quite another to deliver the features and performance that enthusiasts really want.

Our last review of an ECS Extreme was in the Intel 915 roundup, where the ECS PF4 915P Extreme earned an Editors Choice in that huge roundup. For this roundup, we are taking a closer look at the ECS KN1 Extreme, based on the NVIDIA nForce Ultra chipset.

The ECS certainly has most of the BIOS options that an enthusiast is looking for. Memory voltage goes to 3.11V, which is significantly better than many top-name motherboards, which still have trouble supplying more than 2.8V as a memory voltage option. It would be better if options went to 3.5V, but in fairness, this range will provide the voltage needed for any memory except the high-voltage 2-2-2 OCZ VX and Mushkin Redline, which need 3.5V for best performance. Similarly, processor voltage options to +375mv are very adequate with today's CPUs, and the bus speeds to 400 and full range of processor ratios give users the option to make the most of the Athlon 64 capabilities. The only question that remains is whether or not the nice options mean anything on the KN1 Extreme; in other words, do they actually function?

Click image to enlarge.

As you can see in the picture, the color is certainly extreme on the all purple ECS motherboard. Board layout is absolutely superb, unless you happen to still use a floppy. Once again, we see the floppy connector at the very bottom of the board, which is a really difficult reach in a tall case. This poor floppy placement seemed to start with the NVIDIA Reference Board, but we wish that it would stop. In fairness, many don't use floppies any more and don't care, but if you are a floppy user, prepare for interesting cabling.

There is nothing to complain about in the rest of the layout as ECS did a very good job on the KN1 Extreme. The ATX 24-pin and 12V 4-pin power connectors are on board edges where they belong. The IDE ports are in the ideal position, the 6 SATA ports fully clear the PCIe slot, and the additional connectors are on the bottom edge of the board, outside of the slot area.

ECS also thoughtfully included both coaxial and optical SPDIF out connectors on the rear panel, which also features dual-LAN (gigabit PCIe and 10/100 PCI) connectors. Perhaps manufacturers could label their dual LAN connections because even though I have a 50/50 chance, I seem always to plug the 10/100 when I'm looking for the Gigabit LAN. ECS also features a lime-green shroud with cooling fan for the power transistors, a feature more typical of Abit than ECS. All-in-all, the layout, feature set, and BIOS options are right on target for the audience that ECS hopes to attract.

We should mention in passing that, at first, we couldn't find the CPU ratios in BIOS. After complaining to ECS that there were no ratios, they pointed us to the Power Management tab, where Hammer FID controls were located. This certainly was not an intuitive placement for CPU ratios, although we do get the logic that Hammer FID or ratios are there because of Cool'N'Quiet, which is definitely related to Power Management. In any event, the ratios are there in Power Management, so we might save you a bit of searching.