Choosing the right hardware III, Chipsets

Previous entries: I & II

Since I have already decided where to buy, the list of motherboards I can choose from is constrained to the motherboards the shop offers. Still plenty of choice as you can see here, this is the list of possibilities within my budget (and a little more for good measure). For every possible board I have linked the specification page at the manufacturer:

ASRock	AM2NF3-VSTA	nForce3 250, SATA RAID, 8CH	€ 50.00	ATX
ASRock	ALiveSATA2-GLAN	K8T890 CF, SATA2 RAID	€ 57.50	ATX
ASRock	ALiveXFire-eSATA2	ATI Xpress 1600, SATA2 RAID	€ 62.00	ATX
ASRock	ALiveNF5-eSATA2+	nForce 520, SATA2 RAID	€ 67.00	ATX
ASRock	ALIVENF6G-VSTA	GeForce 6100, SATA2 RAID	€ 55.00	mATX
ASRock	ALIVENF6G-DVI	NF6100-430, SATA2 RAID	€ 61.00	mATX
Asus	M2V-TVM VIA	K8M890, SATA RAID, VGA, 6CH	€ 58.00	mATX
Asus	M2V	K8T890, SATA2, SATA RAID, GLAN, 6CH	€ 62.50	ATX
Asus	M2N	nForce 430 MCP, SATA2 RAID, GLAN	€ 63.50	ATX
Asus	M2A-VM	HDMI 690G, SATA2 RAID, VGA, DVI	€ 64.50	mATX
Asus	M2N4-SLI	nForce 4 SLI, SATA, GLAN, 8CH	€ 66.50	ATX
Asus	M2N 1394	nForce 430 MCP, SATA2, Firewire	€ 69.00	ATX
Asus	M2NBP-VM	CSM Quadro NVS 210S, SATA2	€ 71.50	mATX
Asus	M2N-E SLI	nForce 500 SLI MCP, SATA2 RAID	€ 76.00	ATX
Asus	M2A-MVP	480X CrossFire, SATA2 RAID	€ 76.00	ATX
Asus	M2NPV-VM	GeForce 6150, SATA2 RAID, VGA	€ 77.00	mATX
Asus	M2N DH	nForce 430 MCP, SATA2 RAID, GLAN	€ 77.00	ATX
Asus	M2N-VM DH	GeForce 6100, SATA2 RAID, VGA	€ 83.00	mATX
Asus	M2R32-MVP	CrossFire Xpress 3200, SATA2	€ 90.00	ATX
Asus	M2N-Plus SLI Vista Ed	nForce 500 SLI MCP	€ 95.50	ATX
Asus	M2N-SLI Deluxe	nForce 570 SLI, SATA2	€ 101.50	ATX
Foxconn	K8M890M2MA-RS2H	K8M890 VGA	€ 49.00	mATX
MSI	K9MM-V	K8M800, SATA RAID, 6CH	€ 43.50	mATX
MSI	K9VGM-V VIA	K8M890, SATA, LAN	€ 51.00	mATX
MSI	K9N6SGM-V	GeForce 6100, SATA2 RAID	€ 53.00	mATX
MSI	K9AGM2-L	690V, SATA2 RAID, 8CH	€ 55.00	mATX
MSI	K9N4 ULTRA-F	nForce 500 Ultra, SATA2 RAID	€ 58.50	ATX
MSI	K9AG NEO-F	690V, SATA2 RAID, GLAN, 8CH	€ 61.00	ATX
MSI	K9N NEO-F	nForce 550, SATA2, GLAN	€ 67.00	ATX
MSI	K9AGM2-FIH	690G, SATA2 RAID, 8CH	€ 68.50	mATX
MSI	K9N SLI-2F	nForce 570, SATA2, GLAN	€ 76.00	ATX
MSI	K9NBPM2-FID	Quadro NVS210S, SATA2 RAID	€ 78.00	mATX
MSI	K9N Platinum	nForce 570 MCP, SATA2, GLAN	€ 95.50	ATX
MSI	K9N SLI Platinum	nForce 570 SLI MCP, GLAN	€ 102.00	ATX
MSI	K9N Diamond	nForce 590 SLI MCP, GLAN	€ 103.00	ATX
MSI	K9A Platinum	CrossFire Xpress 3200, SATA2	€ 116.50	ATX

This list has to be brought down to only a couple of possibilities. There are a couple of requirements of a motherboard I have:

• Chipset has to be chosen
• SATA (Raid is not necessary but is nice to have)
• LAN (100Mbit will do fine but 1000Mbit would be a plus)
• Audio (everything will do, 6 channels or 8 is of no matter)
• Video (I want to attach multiple screens so multiple RAMDACS would be nice if not possible I will also need a new video card since I only own AGP cards)
• SLI/Crossfire support is not needed
• USB (the more ports the merrier)
• Legacy ports (serial, parallel would be pluses, ps/2 is a nice to have)
• Firewire would be nice to have
• mATX would be preferable to ATX
• The CPU support has to include the chosen CPU
• Bundle (SATA cables are needed, other things would be a plus)

What chipset to choose from is the next question, this will give me a good indication of the possibilities with the board. I did the research into the different chipsets on offer for a AM2 board. The choice seems to be between a Nvidia, an AMD/ATI or a VIA chipset for the AM2 platform. The requirements will have to be met, preferably with a lot of pluses and for the lowest price off course!

VIA

The choice at VIA is between the K8M890 or the KT8T890 which according to VIA differs only in the K8T offering 4 PCI Express x1 lanes and no integrated graphics where the K8M has an integrated VIA Chrome9™ HC IGP (with HDTV output Duo View + HDTV output support) and only 1 PCI Express x1 lane. Most of the boards only offer 2 DIMM slots and that would also not be the smart choice with the future in mind. I might want to just add memory later.

Nvidia:

Nvidia has a lot more to offer and choose from. The nForce3, nForce4, nForce 500 and the nForce 600 chipsets are all available for the AM2 platform. Nforce3 is an older platform which also explicitly not supports Vista (not that I will ever run Vista but it says something about the chipset) so this chipset will not be considered. The Nforce 600 chipset which atm is only made in the 680a variant is a fantastic chipset just too expensive to fit in the budget.

This leaves the different options within the nForce 430(B) and the 500 series (500 Ultra, 520, 550, 570 Ultra MCP) as options. Both seem valid as options, they fall in the budget and offer plenty of options on board. Both chipsets are single chip designs, there is no separate north or south bridge.

Ati & AMD:

Since Ati was bought by AMD the AMD website is the place to be for these chipsets. AMD also has multiple chipsets for their own AM2 platform. The 480X CrossFire and 580X CrossFire as well as the 690V/G as north bridge, all combined with the SB600 from ATI as south bridge.

The AMD 480X CrossFire™ or AMD 580X CrossFire™ Chipsets looks to be great candidates, crossfire is an extra in my opinion. This makes it possible to add multiple Ati video cards so you can easily output to multiple monitors.

The AMD 690V/G is a very modern chipset, he G variant offers integrated graphics dual with dual display support which would be great to have. I have found out that this does not allow you to output to two CRT monitors, only to one CRT and one LCD since it offers only RGB/TV and a DVI-D port which is not convertible to a RGB port.

Next post I will look into making the choice of chipset and the consequences this has for the above list, remember I can choose only one.

//Z