Foxconn and Gigabyte Tackle Socket AM2

Conclusion

We have now taken a look at four AM2 motherboards, and so far all of them are doing quite well. The Foxconn and Gigabyte boards are nice additions at the high end of the performance/features spectrum. Meanwhile, there are several nForce 570 SLI offerings that cover the midrange segment quite well, and if you're looking for budget AM2 motherboards we are already seeing a couple nForce 550 and nForce4 offerings for less than $90. As we mentioned in our recent CPU Price Guide, single core Athlon 64 and Sempron prices are now at extremely attractive levels, and the dual core parts should follow suit in another month. If you have an older motherboard or system that's in need of an upgrade, late July or early August is looking like an ideal time to make your move.

Looking specifically at the Foxconn and Gigabyte boards, performance is generally close enough that the real decision is going to come down to features. Each one manages to come out ahead in a couple areas, so here's a quick recap.

If you want a premium AM2 motherboard right now, the Foxconn C51XEM2AA, MSI K9N Diamond, and ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe are all presently available, with the Foxconn and ASUS boards coming in at around $200. We are a bit concerned with the default cooling of the Northbridge on the Foxconn board, but if you're willing to add active cooling on your own it performs admirably. The Foxconn onboard audio comes out slightly ahead as well, as the ALC888 on the Gigabyte is about the same as the ALC883. It also comes with FireWire 1394b, and is the only AM2 motherboard featuring that option so far.

The Gigabyte board seems to have a better overall design and layout, and the completely silent cooling solution is definitely nice. Extreme overclockers will probably want to add active cooling to the chipset heatsink(s) anyway, but depending on your choice of case it may be unnecessary. Overclocking on the prerelease Gigabyte board also seems a bit spotty, but we expect that to improve with the retail shipments. The Gigabyte wins out in the feature department when it comes to SATA ports and the expansion slots. The third X16 PCI-E slot certainly isn't required right now, but if you believe in "future proofing" your computer it could prove useful in another year or so. All you need now is actual retail availability of the Gigabyte board.

So far, our overall impression of the AM2 motherboard market is extremely positive. The processors and chipsets are definitely evolutionary in nature, but we have not tested a single AM2 motherboard that qualifies as a lame duck (knock on wood). If you haven't upgraded computers/motherboards/processors in over two years, you may finally find a reasonable excuse to do so in the next month or two. On the other hand, if you already have a decent 939 motherboard and an X2 processor, you should just stick with what you have for a while longer and wait for something truly revolutionary before you upgrade.