S2460 Tiger K7 AMD ($250 Dual-AMD m/b) - Anybody use one yet?

[MadRat]

I am curious. This board looks plausible for an inexpensive AMD-based SMP motherboard.

Not alot of documentation out there, but I dug up this IE-compatible write up.

Processor

? Dual PGA462 ZIF sockets
? Supports two AMD AthlonTM MP processors
? Two onboard VRMs
? System bus support for 200MHz or 266MHz

Expansion Slots

? One AGP slot supports 2x/4x modes
? Four 64-bit 33MHz (5-volt) PCI slots (v2.2 compliant)
? Two 32-bit 33MHz (5-volt) PCI slots (v2.2 compliant)
? Total of seven usable slots

Chipset

? AMD-760TM MP chipset
? AMD-762 north bridge and AMD-766 south bridge
? Winbond W83627HF-AW Super I/O ASIC

Hardware Monitoring

? Winbond W83782D hardware monitoring ASIC
? 3-pin fan monitoring headers
? 3-pin Wake On LAN header (optional)

Memory

? Four 184-pin 2.5v DDR DIMM sockets
? Supports up to 3GB of Registerd PC2100 DDR memory
? Supports ECC (72-bit) memory modules

Integrated PCI IDE

? Dual-channel master mode
? Supports up to four Enhanced IDE devices
? Support for DMA100/66/33 IDE and ATAPI compliant devices

Integrated I/O

? One floppy connector supports up to two drives
? Two 9-pin 16550-based serial ports
? One 25-pin SPP/ECP/EPP parallel port
? Four USB ports (two ports via optional cable)
? PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports

BIOS

? Phoenix BIOS on 2Mbit Flash ROM
? User settings for hardware monitoring
? Auto-configuration of IDE hard drive types
? Multiple boot options
? DMI 2.0 compliant

Form Factor

? ATX footprint (12" x 10.3", 304.8 x 261.62mm)
? 20-pin ATX power connector (300+W, +5V must be 30A+)
? Stacked parallel (one) and serial (two) ports
? Stacked USB (two) ports
? Stacked keyboard and mouse ports

Regulatory

? FCC Class B (Declaration of Conformity)
? European Community CE (Declaration of Conformity)

 

[MadRat]

Short review found here at 2CPU.

Conclusions
So what have we learned here? I think we have seen that the best from AMD can hang with anything Intel has in the real world, and the Tiger MP from Tyan is a reliable (and fast) board to base your dual AMD system on. The AthlonMPs put in a great showing, especially considering that the only platform to beat them in any of the benchmarks was a very expensive "server only" Tualatin system.

Is the Duron / Tiger MP based system a "budget" performance leader? That is a hard question to answer. Considering that Intel's PIII is the current "budget" SMP processor of choice (Since Intel castrated the Celeron), I think the Duron is a smart choice for the frugal hobbyist. Look at it this way, the Tiger MP is retailing online for around $200 USD, plus $80 USD each for Durons leaves you under $400 USD for a nice system. Compare that to an Intel based PIII system. Even the cheapest dual PIII board, the ECS D6VAA is ~$65 USD, then you throw in a pair of 1ghz PIII's at $165 USD each leaving you at the same $400 USD (with memory prices the way they are now, memory is a non-issue). The kicker is that the Durons will outperform the PIII's in nearly everything you do, and you have virtually unlimited upgrade potential with the AMD platform as opposed to the newly discontinued PIII. If that sounds tempting to you, our hardware sponsor, zZqonline, has a Tiger MP / Duron 1ghz bundle available right now for $399 + S/H (They also have AthlonMPs and anything else you might want .

I believe this is the longest review I have ever written, so I'll try to get it wrapped-up quickly.

The Tiger MP has proven to be a very stable base for an AMD duallie, and it can hang easily with its big brother the Thunder K7. If you're not in the market for all of the extra features built-in to the TK7, you won't be losing anything by stepping down to the Tiger MP, and you'll definitely save a bit of cash. Please remember though, just like the Thunder K7, the Tiger MP requires registered DDR.

As I seem to always find myself saying... There are no overclocking features available on the Tiger MP. If you are in the market for that, you'll likely need to wait on the other boards from Abit, Asus, and MSI (which will also cause some price wars I am sure). If you need a board now, and you want to have today's fastest dual processing platform, you can't go wrong with the Tiger MP and a pair of AthlonMPs (or even 1ghz Durons).

 

[nortexoid]

i wonder hwo dual MORGANS perform...

anybody have reviews of this?...or own a board and care to buy two 1ghz morgans and benchmark em?

 

[mikef208]

I so want the Tyan Thunder, but it needs that stupid power supply, if it wasn't for that i would have gooten it by now. What is the use of 2 NICs though? Are the 64 bit PCI slots backward compatiable with 32 bit cards

 

[RagingGuardian]

<< i wonder hwo dual MORGANS perform... >>



The review at 2cpu had dual morgan benches. It performed rather excellent considering the fsb was at 100 and the memory at PC1600.

 

[butch84]

Hey dude, no DURON could EVER outperform the PIII at equal clock speeds. The athlon, yes, but no the duron. But really it would still be cheaper to use Athlons than PIII's, and they would kill the PIII setup.

Just my $.02

 

[John]

Jason (Zuni) and a few others use the TigerMP w/ dual 1.4's.