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Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS Motherboard Review
Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS Motherboard Review - PCSTATS
With the release of the nVIDIA's GeForce 6100-series chipsets, enthusiasts now have a high powered integrated option that does not well... suck.
 78% Rating:   
Filed under: Motherboards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Foxconn Jan 28 2006   C. Sun  
Home > Reviews > Motherboards > Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS

Small Form Factor PCs are great, but until recently the SFF options for enthusiasts have been limited. Sure you could buy an off the shelf SFF PC kit, but that's like asking an enthusiast to buy a Dell or HP to use as their main box. Enthusiasts want custom machines, with features they can customize.

With the release of the nVIDIA's GeForce 6100-series chipsets, enthusiasts now have a high powered integrated option that does not well... suck.

Current chipsets featuring integrated video are loaded with features but lack performance especially when it comes to 3D games.

On the flip side, consumers looking to build a budget workstation machine can save a bit of money with a good integrated video motherboard, which precludes the need to buy a standalone videocard right off the bat.

Integrated video; it's an area where AMD has not had a presence since the dawn of the Athlon 64 processor, and unfortunately it is also one of the largest markets.

The new nVIDIA GeForce 6100 and 6150-series 'C51' chipsets will give AMD and its supporters an excellent entry into this budget realm.

Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS

Includes:

Quick Install Guide, Driver CD, Ultra/133 IDE Cable, Floppy Cable, Serial ATA Cable, Molex Y Serial ATA Power Cable, Driver CD, NF4 RAID Controller Driver Diskette, I/O Shield

Foxconn is one of the first manufacturers to release an GeForce 6100-series motherboard, and the 6150K8MA-8EKRS specifically uses the best of class nVidia GeForce 6150 iteration and nVidia nForce 430 Southbridge.

The Foxconn 6150K8MA-8EKRS mini-ATX motherboard which supports all Socket 939 AMD Athlon64 X2/FX processors on the market, as well as up to 4GB of PC3200 DDR RAM. In terms of goodies, the motherboard incorporates onboard analog video, a 7.1-channel Azalia audio codec, a single Gigabit LAN port and IEEE 1394a.

The nVidia GeForce 6150 chipset integrates in a Geforce 6 series-class videocard which shares up to 128MB of system memory, and offers DirectX 9 Shader Model 3.0 support. A standalone graphics card can also be installed in the single PCI Express x16 slot if desired. There are three 32 bit PCI slots for other expansion peripherals, such as a wireless network card or TV tuner.

The Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS motherboard has its IDE/floppy and main ATX power connectors in the most ideal location to the right of the DIMM slots. All the bracket headers are at the bottom of the motherboard, which helps keep things tidy. Foxconn include a decent software bundle here; with a full copy of Norton Internet Security 2005 among the titles.

Both the nVidia GeForce 6150 chipset and nForce 430 Southbridge are cooled with (silent) passive aluminum heatsinks. The particular board we tested did not come with a user's manual, which is a bit surprising, however there is one included on the driver CD.

There has been a lot of focus on motherboard capacitors in the last year, so we make a point of listing the brands used on the boards we test. The electrolytic capacitors on the Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS are the brands 'KZG,' 'OST' and 'Leloa.'

If we could suggest one change for this board, it would simply be to colour coordinate the front panel I/O and USB headers. Other manufacturers are already doing this, and it really does same DIY'ers time and headaches.

The nVidia GeForce 6150 chipset supports High Definition (16:9) playback thanks to PureVideo, but the Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS motherboard only sports a S-Video output. It makes the Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS slightly less attractive for use as a HTPC motherboard, which would seem to be the ideal application for a Geforce 6150-based miniATX motherboard. If you watch movies mainly on your monitor, you can still enjoy the benefits of the GeForce 6150's HD accelerator there.

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Contents of Article: Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS
 Pg 1.  — Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS Motherboard Review
 Pg 2.  The GeForce 6100-series Chipset
 Pg 3.  The Foxconn BIOS
 Pg 4.  Benchmarks: SYSMark2004
 Pg 5.  Benchmarks: Winstone 2004, Winbench 99
 Pg 6.  Benchmarks: SiSoft Sandra, Super Pi
 Pg 7.  Benchmarks: PCMark04, PCMark05
 Pg 8.  Benchmarks: 3DMark2001, 3DMark05
 Pg 9.  Benchmarks: Comanche 4, X2: The Threat
 Pg 10.  Benchmarks: UT2003, UT2004
 Pg 11.  Benchmarks: Doom 3 and Conclusion

 
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