|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
ECS has decided on a mini-ATX board configuration for the AMD690GM-M2 V1.0A. The mini-ATX form factor is designed to fit into smaller cases while also being able to be used in a regular-sized ATX case. One of the consequences of using the smaller form factor is the decisions on what to cut, in the form of expansion, memory amounts, SATA controllers and more.  Board  CPU Socket  Memory sockets AMD's 690G chipset supports the Socket AM2 platform, meaning that every current Socket AM2 CPU including the 5200+, the 5000+, the 6000+ and the FX-62 is supported by the new chipset. HyperTransport speeds up to 2000MHz are supported. With the mini-ATX form factor, only two DIMM slots are on the board. There are two spots marked for more memory modules but they aren't installed on the board as it is. ECS states the board can take up to 16GB of memory, but there aren't any 8GB sticks of memory so the practical limit at the moment is 8GB if you buy 4GB sticks.  SATA connectors  Expansion slots  PCI Express x16 lock Hard disk drives have almost completely moved to the SATA standard, which replaced the IDE standard. One of the interesting things about this board is the placement of the SATA connector's right under the PCI Express x16 video card slot. What this means is that at least two of the connections are blocked if a long video card like the 8800GTX is installed on the board. In fact three SATA ports are almost covered, making this board not an excellent choice to use a long two-slot video card. Other expansion on the board includes a PCI Express x1 slot and two PCI slots.  Speakers  Microphone  Digital Out Integrated audio is important to the user who wants to have high-quality audio without paying for an external sound card. Virtually every motherboard chipset on the market today supports High Definition Audio which is the replacement for AC'97 audio that has been the standard since 1997. The ECS board has a Realtek ALC883 HDA CODEC onboard. HDA compatible chips support Dolby Digital Live, 7.1 Surround Sound and multiple simultaneous audio streams.  Rear IO  RTL 8110S The 690G chipset was the first AMD integrated video chipset to support the HDMI connection standard. HDMI is not supported by the ECS motherboard. The rear IO of the AMD690GM-M2 board contains a standard DVI-D connector, a D-sub connector, 4 USB 2.0 ports, a PS/2 Mouse, a PS/2 Keyboard port, 6 jacks for the onboard audio and a RJ-45 jack for the integrated Gigabit Ethernet port. There is a Realtek RTL8110S PHY chip for the Gigabit Ethernet. Contents: 
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
