ULi M1695 PCIe/AGP for Athlon 64 – Part 2 with SLI
by Wesley Fink on August 5, 2005 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Several weeks ago, we took a closer look at ULi's newest AMD chipset in FIRST LOOK: ULi M1695 PCIe/AGP Socket 939 for Athlon 64. We were impressed with what we found - a chipset with competitive performance that fully supported PCI Express and AGP 8X.
ULi promised even more, as they told us a second M1695/M1567 Reference Board would soon be available that supported all the modes of the first board plus Dual PCIe graphics and the possibility of SLI mode on release boards. With all the pluses of the original ULi Reference Board, the follow-up with dual 8X PCIe slots plus AGP was an exciting prospect! As soon as we got our hands on ULi Reference Board 2, we quickly ran it through its paces to bring you our test results.
As promised in Part 1, performance of the ULi chipset features was also evaluated. ULi is also the south bridge choice for some ATI Radeon Xpress 200 motherboard makers. This makes it important to compare the performance of on-chip features like USB.
ULi promised even more, as they told us a second M1695/M1567 Reference Board would soon be available that supported all the modes of the first board plus Dual PCIe graphics and the possibility of SLI mode on release boards. With all the pluses of the original ULi Reference Board, the follow-up with dual 8X PCIe slots plus AGP was an exciting prospect! As soon as we got our hands on ULi Reference Board 2, we quickly ran it through its paces to bring you our test results.
As promised in Part 1, performance of the ULi chipset features was also evaluated. ULi is also the south bridge choice for some ATI Radeon Xpress 200 motherboard makers. This makes it important to compare the performance of on-chip features like USB.
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Kinesis - Thursday, August 18, 2005 - link
Someone may have asked this, but I didn't see it, my apologies if this is a duplicate. But will these boards support AMD's dual core chips?ElJefe - Saturday, August 20, 2005 - link
Not only will it support it... it is the only one out that DOES support it truly. It needs no bios revision, it is built into the original bios to support it. asus, gigabyte and abit all warned me that it is highly likely that if you purchase any of their boards and put a dual core cold on them as a new system, the computer wont "post" and just sit there. youll need to buy a 939 chip or borrow someones if it isnt this m1695 asrock board. really, there hasnt been much growth since this has been reviewed in boards, so none have put the dual core bios as their official starter/tested/stable bios yet.and from reading 100's of legitimate forum entries from all 3 of those main companies, i can say that I would never do dual core without going for a board that is brand new. the problems and conflicts are rather universal and rather pathetic.
I am not sure why there isnt talk of this much in forums around here, but if you read the forums of those places you will see obvious problems (abit is the worst at the moment though, which is most unfortunate as they were my favorite company for many years)
bozilla - Friday, August 12, 2005 - link
I'm not sure if someone asked this...but is it possible to use existing AGP card and PCI-e card on the same board with Crossfire for example with this chipset? Let's look at this like this. I have an AGP X800XT PE now and I want to buy a X850XT PE Crossfire edition in PCI-E and put both in the motherboard that comes out with this chipset. Possible?Wesley Fink - Saturday, August 6, 2005 - link
nVidia has sent us the following information:"The ULI board isn't certified for SLI. It hasn't been submitted."
nVidia added that modified nVidia drivers generally indicate a board that is not certified.
nserra - Monday, August 8, 2005 - link
Well it isn't selling any way, why certify it?ElJefe - Tuesday, August 9, 2005 - link
just a tip:someone said that Asrock usa isnt going to sell this mobo in the US of A, that is not true, i called today and it definitely is going to be sold here very soon.
mino - Saturday, August 6, 2005 - link
Actually this is understandable. Why bother to certify an preview board ? For a company like Uli this would be a waste of time and money.deathwalker - Saturday, August 6, 2005 - link
I'm looking forward to the release of Mobo's on this chipset. I want to upgrade to a socket 939 system and at the same time be able to keep costly components that I have(6800gt agp card for one)for use in it. I hope we se a micro ATX version that I can drop in a Aspire X-Qpack case. Good job Anandtech for picking up on this upcoming release and covering it for your dedicated subscribers. I don't think Tom's Hardware even knows this exists..not a whisper on there site about this chipset.Zebo - Friday, August 5, 2005 - link
Not really because I already bought a AN8 Utlra.. A, as in Abit. That's really what ULi needs for wide-spread adoption.. ABIT/DFI/ASUS/Gigabyte/MSI branded boards with wild OC options.. not Asrock/tul/ECS. I waited and waited for a decent SiS755 board which was also very promising.. which never came. I'm betting the same will happen here, especially so now that board makers have to make room in their stable for ATI based chipsets.nserra - Monday, August 8, 2005 - link
But Uli offers AGP 8X, no one does this, so they will be “forced” to support it.