| |
|
GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H (890GX) Motherboard
|
 "The GA-890GPA-UD3H is aimed at the upper end of the mainstream consumer and business market with options for six SATA 3.0 drives, two USB 3.0 ports and support for up to 140 Watts CPUs. For the more mainstream consumers (and more than a few business users) the HD 4290 integrated graphics will be more than enough to keep things going smoothly. For those of you looking for a little more, the Crossfire support and two x16 mechanical PCIe 2.0 slots will be sure to keep you happy.
Of course, as this is a GIGABYTE motherboard you are going to get the usual Ultra Durable 3 components and the 2 ounces of copper in the PCB. You get all of this for only $134.99 at NewEgg.com which is not a bad price for the flexibility you get here. Now let’s see if the performance can meet the price."
|
|
|
|
 |
|
GIGABYTE X58A-UD9 Tested in Quad SLI w/ GTX 480
|
|
"Now we come to another test; can the X58A-UD9 really handle Quad SLI with four GTX 480 GPUs? - This is a bigger question than you might think. While we know that GIGABYTE dropped in two NF200 chips (each with 32 PCIe 2.0 lanes), what we do not know is if the power regulation, capacitors and other components can truly handle the current and wattage draw from four GTX 480s along with everything else that would be needed to run the board.
That is what we are going to find out today. Well, that and what kind of performance you can expect if you choose to head down this particular path. So, shall we break open the boxes containing four brand new GIGABYTE GTX 480s and fire up the test bench? - The fire extinguishers are standing by for today’s testing runs."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
GIGABYTE X58A-UD9 Tested in Three-Way SLI w/ GTX 470 Super Overclock
|
|
"We now know that the GIGABYTE X58A-UD9 can give us some great performance. However, we have not yet touched on all of the available features of this board. After all, one of the major selling points is that you can drop up to four AMD or NVIDIA graphics cards into this thing and really push the limits of graphics performance.
GIGABYTE made this board big enough for four GPUs, dropped in two NF200 chips to make sure there was enough PCIe 2.0 lanes to run them all at x16 and then topped that off with more power (dual 12-V Molex connectors) to ensure that these slots would get enough power. So, to see what we can get from this we decided to drop in three GIGABYTE GV-N470SO-13I cards. These are GTX 470 based cards from GIGABYTEs “Super Clocked” series. Each of these cards runs at a nice 700MHz core speed, up from the normal 604MHz found on the stock GTX470. They also have GIGABYTE’s WindForce (aftermarket) cooling."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ASRock P55 Extreme4 (P55 Express) Motherboard
|
|
"When Intel launched the Lynnfield CPU and the P55 chipset, it was just as the specifications for SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0 were being finalized. Too much was in the works to change the chipset and to integrate SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0 (not that we can do that yet anyway). This left Intel behind in terms of getting SATA 3.0 to the market. Companies like ASUS, GIGABYTE and MSI were forced to work with Marvell and NEC to bring this to the table. However, in almost all cases you ended up with a pair of SATA 3.0 ports and a pair of USB 3.0 ports. With AMD based boards (at least at the 890 level) you can get up to six SATA 3.0 ports for your HDD enjoyment.
The pairing of two and two (SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0) is what you normally get with Intel and their products; at least that is until ASRock dropped the P55 Extreme4 on the market. This board boasts four SATA 3.0 ports and four USB 3.0 ports (two on the back and two on the front). This is in addition to a few other nice features that we are sure will come in handy; items like THX audio, eSATA 3.0, OC DNA and mounting holes to fit both 1156 and 775 coolers."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EVGA Classified Super Record 2 SR-2 Motherboard Review
|
|
So you need more CPU power than what a single Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition processor can provide? Look no further than the EVGA Classified SR-2 motherboard. Anyone who has been following along the enthusiast motherboard industry knows exactly what this motherboard is all about. We take it for a spin with two high end Hexa-core Xeon processors and look what kind of performance you can expect if you can afford a platform like this!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
'MSI P55-GD65 Motherboard'
|
|
With Intel's launch of the Lynnfield LGA1156 based Core i7 and i5 processors
and the P55 chipset accompanying it, a range of motherboards is expected and
we’re looking at one such board today- the MSI P55-GD65.The board reviewed
today is supported by a variety of the usual overclocking features, including
MSI’s Xtreme Speed Overclocking technology, [...]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nvidia's Ion platform announcement
|
|
So in conclusion, Nvidia has created some much needed potential for a very restrictive, yet immensely popular platform. The GeForce 9400 MCP is a good part and we can't wait to test the actual product to check how viable the Ion platform is and how well it works with an Atom CPU. Will Nvidia's Ion be price competitive and will Intel offer its Atom CPUs on their own? These two factors will determine whether an Ion dream comes reality, or if we simply forget about it by breakfast.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MSI P45 Platinum Motherboard Review
|
|
The board was stable throughout testing and performed about on average with other P45 boards we have seen. One cool feature of the board is the GreenPower utility which can save energy when enabled. This is similar in concept to the EPU on ASUS motherboards and the Dynamic Energy Saver on the Gigabyte motherboards. Performance on the board is similar to the ASUS P5Q Deluxe board also on the P45 chipset and that is a good thing. One thing I wish MSI would do was get rid of the OC jumper, but it does give headroom for high overclocking when it works correctly. This board has many features that will appeal to a variety of users and should be satisfactory as the beginning of your Intel P4 system. Not quite an Editor’s Choice motherboard, but a Hot Product indeed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ASUS P5Q Pro Mainboard Review
|
|
We have just tested one more mainboard on Intel P45 Express. This time it is a mainstream solution from ASUS supporting DDR2 SDRAM. Its specifications make it a potential hit, but how good this mainboard actually is? Let’s find out!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gigabyte EP45-DS3R
|
|
"Overclocking this board felt exactly the same as overclocking the Gigabyte EP-45 Extreme. The only difference is that the multiplier had to be 6 on this DS3R whereas on the Extreme I could take it to 7. I was able to obtain a front side bus of 500MHz, which is quite good. I definitely could have gone further but the memory was holding me back. As much as I fought, I wasn't able to get anything higher than 500 x 6. I tinkered with the memory until it would finally pass MemTest and Prime 95 in Windows. Overall, it was easy to overclock but the memory was holding the motherboard back."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MSI P35 Platinum Combo Tested at HARDOCP
|
|
"I would not suggest this board to the usual DIY enthusiast. Who I would suggest it to would be system builders looking to cut down on inventory. Being able to build DDR2 and DDR3 boxes on the same platform could make configuring things simpler. This is not a bad motherboard; it is just not a great enthusiast motherboard for those wanting to build their own box."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Foxconn WinFast 6100K8MB-RS Motherboard Review
|
|
"Foxconn, a traditional OEM manufacturer, is now in the retail market with its own motherboard line, using its own brand. For AMD platform, it is using WinFast brand, which was licensed from Leadtek. Foxconn WinFast 6100K8MB-RS is a socket 754 motherboard based on the latest nVidia chipset with integrated graphics (a.k.a. on-board video): GeForce 6100. We were very curious to measure GeForce 6100 performance and compare it to commercial entry-level video cards, like GeForce 6200. That's what we've done in this review, and also compared its performance to other chipsets with on-board graphics: VIA K8M800 and SiS 760 GX."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Leadtek K7NCR13D Pro2
|
|
Twinsbyte has the Leadtek K7NCR13D Pro2 motherboard on the review
block.
In this review, we present the Leadtek Winfast K7NCR18D Pro2 Mainboard with
nVidia nForce2 chipset. Furthermore the board possesses a 6.1 soundcard and
a lot of nice features. More about this product you can read in this review.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Beginners Guides
