Socket 939 Chipsets: Motherboard Performance & PCI/AGP Locks
by Wesley Fink on June 2, 2004 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Basic Features: nVidia nForce3-250Gb Reference Board
| nVidia nForce-250Gb Ultra Motherboard Specifications for 939 MSI MS-7025 (K8N Neo2) |
|
| CPU Interface | Socket 939 Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX |
| Chipset | nForce3-250GB single-chip |
| Bus Speeds | 200MHz to 300MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| PCI/AGP Speeds | Synchronous or Asynchronous PCI/AGP Fixed at 66/33 to 100/50 (in 1MHz increments) |
| CPU Ratios | 4 to Default Ratio in 1X increments |
| Core Voltage | Default to 1.81V in % increments (with 1.50V, 1.57V, 1.60V, 1.65V, 1.68V, 1.73V, 1.76V, 1.81V) |
| HyperTransport Frequency | 1000MHz (1GHz), 1X-5X |
| HyperTransport Width | 16-bit Upstream and 16-bit Downstream |
| DRAM Voltage | Auto, 2.5V to 2.85V in 0.05V increments |
| AGP Voltage | 1.5V-1.85V in 0.05V increments |
| AUTO Overclock | D.O.T. Ranger, 1%, 3%, 5%, 7%, 9%, 11% |
| Memory Slots | Four 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered Memory to 4GB Total |
| Expansion Slots | 1 AGP 8X Slot 5 PCI Slots |
| Onboard SATA/IDE RAID | nVidia 4-Drive SATA Plus 4-Drive IDE IDE/SATA can be combined in 0, 1, 0+1 |
| Onboard IDE | Two Standard nVidia ATA133/100/66 (4 drives) |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | USB 2.0 ports supported by nF3-250 2 1394A FireWire ports by VIA VT6306 |
| Onboard LAN | 1Gigabit Ethernet on-chip by nF3-250GB |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC850 8-Channel with UAJ |
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
20 Comments
View All Comments
Wesley Fink - Friday, June 4, 2004 - link
#12 and #19 -We received the 2nd motherboard less than 24 hours before leaving for Computex, and did not sleep so first test results could be carried with us to Taiwan - so we could post when NDA expired while we were at Computex. The article was written in-between visiting booths 8000 miles from home - to bring you coverage of the show. Right now I am in Zhongshan, China and will not return until late next week.
We will test 4 dimms when we review the first SHIPPING 939 boards - when we return from China. I rarely have Reference boards and a stock test bench with me in mainland China.
SpaceRanger - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link
What bothers me, is that days later, questions still go unanswered. Not cool Anandtech. Your reputation is slipping.daveshel - Thursday, June 3, 2004 - link
Do the enthusiasts reading this article agree that we tend to upgrade motherboards more often than processors? Not true for me.FacelessNobody - Wednesday, June 2, 2004 - link
Another factor I'd like to see included in this roundup is RAID performance. Based on this review, I like the nForce3 250 more, but I've heard that VIA is ahead in their SATA RAID implementation. With the two chipsets so close, RAID performance could easily be a determining factor, not to mention one that means more to me (and probably others) than PCI/AGP locks.Eidolon - Wednesday, June 2, 2004 - link
if nVidia isn't going PCI-Express until Q3 or Q4, who is doing it like this or next month? VIA and SiS?HolgMan - Wednesday, June 2, 2004 - link
Will there be any Socket 940 Boards with either nForce3-250 or K8T800 Pro?Wesley Fink - Wednesday, June 2, 2004 - link
#10 -nVidia is showing PCI Express boards for Athlon 64 Socket 939 at Comdex. While the PCI Express boards are an unannounced product, nVidia says we may seen these as early as 3rd quarter.
MemberSince97 - Wednesday, June 2, 2004 - link
# 12 Very good point...SpaceRanger - Wednesday, June 2, 2004 - link
I saw 4 DIMM slots, but they didn't go into how stable and at what speeds these boards were capable of running with all 4 DIMM slots filled. Anyone know?Nyati13 - Wednesday, June 2, 2004 - link
#9 That is because the most important parts of what used to be a 'Northbridge' are now in the CPU itself, which leaves much less for the motherboard chipset to do.
Jeremy