Socket 939 Roundup: Battle at the Top
by Wesley Fink on July 30, 2004 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939: Features and Layout
| Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939 Motherboard Specifications | |
| CPU Interface | Socket 939 Athlon 64 |
| Chipset | nVidia nForce3 Ultra |
| Bus Speeds | 200MHz to 455MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| CPU Ratios | 5x to 25x in 0.5x increments |
| PCI/AGP Speeds | Auto, 66MHz to 100MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| HyperTransport | 1x-5x (200MHz to 1GHz) |
| Core Voltage | 0.8V to 1.70V in 0.025V increments |
| DRAM Voltage | +.1V, +.2V |
| AGP Voltage | +.1V, +.2V, +.3V |
| HyperTransport Voltage | +.1V, +.2V, +.3V |
| Memory Slots | Four 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Unbuffered Memory to 4GB |
| Expansion Slots | 1 AGP 8X Slot 5 PCI Slots |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | nVidia 2-Drive SATA(RAID 0, 1) Plus SiI3512 2-Drive SATA (RAID 0, 1) |
| Onboard IDE/RAID | Two Standard nVidia ATA133/100/66 (4 drives). Can be combined with SATA drives for RAID 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 8 USB 2.0 ports supported by nF3-250 2 1394B FireWire ports by TI controller |
| Dual Onboard LAN | 1Gigabit Ethernet by Marvell 8001 10/100 Ethernet by ICS 1883 |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC850 8-Channel with UAJ |
| Tested BIOS | M03 Beta |
More than any other manufacturer, Gigabyte loads their premium boards with every feature that you can think of, and then some. The K8NSNXP-939 certainly follows in that tradition as a member of the 6-Dual Deluxe family. Gigabyte has also developed a reputation of providing some of the widest ranges of adjustments to allow the Computer Enthusiast to squeeze the last bit of performance from their board, CPU, and memory, and the 939 continues that tradition.
The one glaring area that continues to plague recent Gigabyte designs is the extremely limited range of memory voltage adjustments. In this case, memory can be adjusted to +.2V and that's it. After seeing this complaint voiced in review after review, you would think that Gigabyte would seriously consider a wider range of vDIMM adjustments. Offsetting the limited vDIMM is a decent range of CPU voltage adjustments and the excellent addition of HyperTransport voltage options.
The most notable features of the K8NSNXP-939 include high-speed 1394B Firewire for firewire fanciers, Dual LAN, extensive RAID capabilities spanning SATA and IDE drives, and 8-channel audio with UAJ. We were also impressed with the updated design of the DPS 6-phase power module. It now sits lower on the board and our past complaints that the DPS impeded air flow are now history in the new design.
Layout of the Gigabyte 939 is nearly ideal, with the added step that even the SATA connectors are in locations that will not interfere with the largest PCI and AGP cards. The unique AGP EZ-Fix slot is also proving to be very useful, especially when using top-line 2-slot video cards. Anyone who has tried to remove a 6800 Ultra from a common rear-lever AGP slot probably cursed the designer and maybe broke the lever trying to find it under 2 slots of video card in a sea of capacitors. That's not to say EZ-Fix is that easy with a 2-slot card, but at least you have a fighting chance of removing the card. Gigabyte also kept capacitors away from the AGP slot.
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Richdog - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
bigtoe33 - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
If you are looking for the K8NN939 beta M03 again its availabale at bleedinedge.com on bigtoe's bios bin.http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32...
grdh20 - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
http://forum.abit-usa.com/attachment.php?s=&po...abit av8 1.3 bios link
grdh20 - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
The msi K8N Neo2 will hit the states in 2 weeks according to MSI.How will the A8V rev. 2.0 be sold in terms of order by model #. Same or different? Rev. # is only printed on the PCB, not the box.
Brickster - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
I love my new Gigabyte 939 board! It kicks a*s and is perrrty in the dark! :)Wesley Fink - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
#36 - The new Gigabyte BIOS DOES have multipliers in BIOS as I detailed in the review specifications. See the link in #35.RyanVM - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
With performance getting so similar between the various boards/chipsets, it seems to me that AT is overlooking some of the bigger differentiating factors: integrated features. It would be nice to see how the USB, Firewire, IDE/SATA, Ethernet, Sound, etc. implementations differ in CPU utilization and overall performance.For example, the Gigabyte (inexplicably) uses a 3rd party GigE controller instead of the NF3-250's controller. What impact on throughput/CPU utilization does this have? How is VIA's SATA implementation compared to nVidia's?
It seems to me that those are become more relevant of questions than "Which board has a higher Winstone rating?"
Parc - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
I had heard the Gigabyte board would not let you adjust the multipler in the bios but I saw a picture where it could be adjusted from the software in windows? Is this true? Any disadvantages to this? Also just how bad is the voltage limit holding the Gigabyte board back? Is there anyway Gigabyte could allow you any more voltage adjusts through the bios in the future or is this board hopeless for volts?bigtoe33 - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
For all who want the AV8 bios...first join the forums over at www.bleedinedge.com, then look in bigtoe's bios bin. you will find the bios under abit amd boards.http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32...
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
#31 - A friend will post a host for the BIOS soon, as I can't handle all the individual requests. Until then email me and I will be happy to send it to you.#32 & #33 - The Socket 939 boards WILL handle ECC and non-ECC memory, but I suspect the question is larger than this. Socket 940/Opteron requires REGISTERED memory and the ECC can be on or off. We have tested the 939 with Registered memory and it is definitely NOT compatable with Registered memory. If you want to keep using Registered memory (Which you may have bought for 940) you will have to stick with an Opteron.