*** Official Athlon 64 Motherboard Thread ***

[First]

Not surprisingly, motherboard manufacturers have been anxious to send us their Athlon 64 motherboards for review. Late last week we received our first Athlon 64 motherboard, one of at least half a dozen others we expect to receive within the next 7-10 days. We can't go into any details about these motherboards at the moment, but when the NDA expires September 23rd you'll know what you need to know.

So, as always, please post your suggestions for these A64 motherboard reviews. If there's anything in particular that you'd like to know about that we usually don't cover in our individual motherboard reviews, please let us know here. In fact, we're thinking of revamping parts of our motherboard review format soon anyway, and may launch that new format with our first Athlon 64 motherboard review. Wesley Fink and myself will be testing and posting reviews of these motherboards, so you can email or send a pm to either one of us if you have any further questions.

Take care,

Evan

 

[Aenslead]

Well, I'll take my chance:

I just wish to know if all the FUD that Crucial started with saying that Athlon64 didn't work at all that well, accompanied by OCWorkbench's news post confirming it, is true... from your point of view;

Also, what chipsets are you expecting to receive in the motherboards you about to be reviewed?

 

[INemtsev]

Will nforce3 be available for Athlon64 this year? I heard it wont be? huh...?

 

[First]

Originally posted by: Aenslead
Well, I'll take my chance:

I just wish to know if all the FUD that Crucial started with saying that Athlon64 didn't work at all that well, accompanied by OCWorkbench's news post confirming it, is true... from your point of view;

Also, what chipsets are you expecting to receive in the motherboards you about to be reviewed?

I'll have to ask Crucial about that, but my first instinct based on what I know right now would be to not worry about it.

I expect to receive an equal amount of NVIDIA and VIA based Athlon 64 motherboards before the NDA is up in September, and maybe a few SiS boards and an ALi board or two.

Originally posted by: INemtsev
Will nforce3 be available for Athlon64 this year? I heard it wont be? huh...?

Yes, it most certainly will. I already have an nForce3 motherboard in my lab.

 

[Aenslead]

Really?!

That's nice... pray tell, wich layout designs are 'cleaner'? the nForce 3 ones, ore the KT800's? Have you had any stability issues as of yet?

I am glad to know it was all FUD. Both these sources claimed also that o/cing A64 CPUs was like trying to overclock a P3 Slot 1 @ 1.13Ghz in a darn i820 mobo...

 

[Megatomic]

Evan, does the nForce3 board for A64 that you received have an AGP slot?

 

[First]

Originally posted by: Aenslead
pray tell, wich layout designs are 'cleaner'? the nForce 3 ones, ore the KT800's? Have you had any stability issues as of yet?

Can't tell you about any specifics about stability yet.

I haven't received enough nForce3 and KT800 boards to make a layout comparison yet.

Originally posted by: Megatomic
Evan, does the nForce3 board for A64 that you received have an AGP slot?

Absolutely. This isn't like the Opteron motherboard situation where Opteron boards with AGP slots are extremely rare and expensive. The A64 motherboard market (nForce3 and KT800) will be just like the Athlon XP motherboard market is today (nForce2 and KT600) except for the obvious Socket, bus layout, etc. differences. There are a few extra "features" that A64 boards have that Athlon XP boards don't, but nothing spectacular.

 

[Cashmoney995]

Can you tell us what chips you have ie. Athlon 64, FX, or what not? I havnt even figured out what the role of the two different FX chips are.

Oh yea and for motherboard reviews, note whether the mobo uses the Nvidia Nforce Soundstorm, the one that gives u the nice Nvidia menu. I bought a dumb Nforce 2 IGP mobo (the chaintech 7nif2) and it was the most horrible motherboard Ive ever bought. Sound quality was horrible, the drivers provided on the cd didnt even work, and chaintech has the most retarded website I've ever seen with the most worthless tech support as well.

Just rate the sound quality on any general set of speakers. Have it be, worthless, bad, acceptable, good, and exceptional.

Because Athlon 64 is a completely new core and processor type I think AT would appease many overclockers (honestly if u love AMD why wouldnt you overclock?) by posting wether the mobo has multipliers in auto unlock and then just a pic so we can see the available multiplier settings. Im guessing there will be no hardware mods to unlock the multiplier on the Athlon 64 because the chip has that metal a ma thingy that helps transfer heat to the heatsink (heat spreader? )

Keep up the superior work!

 

[Megatomic]

I am really looking forward to the reviews. Finally something new and revolutionary from AMD/nVidia to look forward to.

 

[Gerbil333]

I just wish to know if all the FUD that Crucial started with saying that Athlon64 didn't work at all that well

Corsair is saying the same thing, so ditto Aenslead's request.


"-If Corsairs latest board samples are anything to go by, AMD's Athlon 64 is not ready for release."

Source: OCPrice: Corsair "Ram Guy" Presentation

 

[touchmyichi]

What boards have you received/going to. Are they all just reference models from nvidia and via so far? If so, when will the retail boards come in at? Have fun testing them all out.

 

[First]

Originally posted by: touchmyichi
What boards have you received/going to. Are they all just reference models from nvidia and via so far? If so, when will the retail boards come in at? Have fun testing them all out.

So far I've received VIA KT800 and nForce3 retail motherboards, all from from tier 1 manufacturers.

 

[mechBgon]

Evan, we love ya man

Can you clarify something here: nForce3 Pro 150/250, now are they officially an Opteron-targeted item, with a separate chipset coming out for Athlon 64 ("nForce3 Elite" or whatever)? Or is nForce3 Pro 150/250 a dual-purpose Opteron/A64 chipset in nVidia's reckoning?

Also, where is that blasted MCP-S southbridge family for nForce2?

As for review material, you guys are already hitting the interesting stuff pretty well. One thing I do end up going to Newegg's photo spreads for, is the retail board's item bundle (auxiliary USB and Firewire plates, etc), but I doubt you're getting retail-boxed boards for review anyway. If you are, a rundown of what items and software are included might be nice.

If you're doing a roundup, instead of a single review, then the new heatsink/socket setup deserves a page or two of its own. People have been reversing their SocketA heatsinks ever since they came out, an impossibility with the symmetrical Hammer heatsink design. The fears of breaking the lugs off the socket, or cracking the CPU core, can be laid to rest, so that would be welcome news to people considering the new platform as they read the roundup.

 

[Mem]

Evan,I would like to know which Athlon 64 boards( chipsets) will support PCI Express?I know that`s down the road.

 

[Aenslead]

Wild guess ASUS was the one to send you these, as they normaly do.

Do you expect the same problem that AMD had back then when Athlon K7 (slot A) core was released, as in motherboard availability and support from OEMs?

What is your personal favorite chipset? Are there performance differences between one and the other? Supposedly, all that matters is the AGP tunnel, which... VIA hasn't always been good at... and of course, the feature-richness of the southbridge.

Does the nForce 3 mobo have the latest nVidia SB?

Thank you and excellent work.

 

[Macro2]

Just make sure you get the HSF on correctly. <G>

Mac...

Just pulling Mechbegons leg there.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Macro2
Just make sure you get the HSF on correctly. <G>

Mac...

Just pulling Mechbegons leg there.

LOL!

 

[Aenslead]

YEAH... so?

 

[Macro2]

so, yeah?

 

[Aenslead]

Guess we asked to many questions, meh?

 

[First]

Sorry for the delayed response guys, I'm talking with several contacts to see if I can answer some of the questions you guys posed, and confirm what I can and cannot say before launch.

 

[Tab]

What BUS are the S-ATA,USB,Firewire,IDE on? Please tell me something besides PCI

What kind of on-board audio solutions will we have and when willl we start seeing PCI-Express.

 

[Cashmoney995]

The Nforce chipset for Athlon 64 will support 7.1 sound, and will probably be as good as the Audigy 2 Platinum. PCI express motherboards are directly affected by the product selection for it. Some PCI express products are set to come out in mid december, so it could be possible that some mobo makers will release their mobo's then as well.

 

[andrew632]

Previously there were rumors that some manufacturers were to disable the integrated single channel memory controller on the A64 and have a dual channel controller available in the chipset. Can you confirm or deny this?

 

[Davbaron]

A lot of chaps here are very technical compared with myself. Don't forget us simpletons in your reviews.
Please explain what this new technology is and is meant to do. At the moment I am considering a barton rig or a Intel Springdale rig.
Please tell me why this new AMD system will be better: -Significantly ? or marginally?
What new processor types, memory etc etc will be needed?
Is present software affected?

Thanks