|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
ECS KN1 SLI Extreme Motherboard Review :: The Board
The NVIDIA nForce4 SLI chipset supports all current AMD Socket 939 CPUs including the Dual Core ones recently released by AMD, which have showed promise for future applications supporting them. One advantage of the AMD platform is the compatibility of the 939 motherboards with the latest CPUs and technology. Memory support on the board consists of 4 184-pin DIMM (Dual Inline Memory Module) slots for a total of 8GB of unbuffered non-ECC DDR memory.  CPU Socket  DIMM Slots ECS included 2 PCI Express x16 slots on their KN1-SLI board. The board came from ECS with one broken PCI Express x16 lock. It didn't affect the testing, and the card stayed in place, but it was a consideration. One thing missing from the board is a “SLI paddle”. The board operates in SLI mode without the paddle, making one less thing to change around on the board. Other expansion slots on the board include 2 PCI Express x1 slots and 3 PCI slots, providing plenty of expansion room for every user.  Dual PCI x16  PCI Slots  Drive support on the board consists of the 4 SATA ports supported by the nForce4 chipset and 2 additional SATA ports supported by a Silicon Image Sil3132 chip. nForce4 and the Sil3132 chip both support RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 modes. PATA drive support is provided by two IDE connectors and a floppy drive connector make up the drive expansion on the board.  SATA Ports  I/O  I/O Input and output ports on the back panel of the board consist of 4 USB 2.0 ports, a COM1 port, two RJ45 jacks, two digital S/PDIF ports and 6 jacks for the onboard audio. Missing is a Parallel port, but a bracket is provided in the packaging if you need one. I really like the fact that ECS decided to include 2 RJ45 jacks, as it allows for a small network.       A Realtek ALC650 CODEC provides the onboard audio for the ECS KN1-SLI Extreme motherboard. NVIDIA chipsets have moved on to the High Definition Audio standard first introduced by Intel on the 925X chipset last year. He ALC650 is an adequate sound solution, offering support for up to 7.1 surround sound. The CODEC supports DirectSound, A3D 1.0, EAX 1.0 and 2.0. Discuss This Article
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
