When choosing a motherboard, users have to deal not only with a significant number of manufacturers, but also with a large range of products from each of them, which differ in form factor, chipset and feature set. Motherboard manufacturers try to introduce a new product to every market segment, which often confuses the end customer.
The price difference between the cheapest and most expensive motherboards can be as significant as the difference in feature sets. The most experienced users will buy a motherboard equipped to suit their needs, but for beginners it is very difficult to determine what they will actually need and what features they can do without. So money is often wasted on features that will never actually be used.
We decided to investigate this problem by testing the cheapest motherboard, as well as the flagship model from a well-known manufacturer. To keep the comparison fair, we chose two Socket 775 motherboards from MSI: the 915PL Neo-V and the P4N Diamond. The first one can be purchased for just $69, while the top model will cost $219.
The next question arises. How much does the buyer win by paying three times more money for a top-end motherboard? Is it really additional features and are the features worth the price? What is the difference between the two motherboards when running everyday applications? Or to put it another way: will the buyer notice any difference at all? Let's see.
Feature Set
If you compare modern motherboards with models that were on the market a few years ago, you can find a number of differences. Let's start with the fact that users now have a clear choice between Intel architecture (Celeron and Pentium lines) and offerings from AMD (Sempron, Athlon 64). Although AMD processors and platforms have been around for several years, they have not always been able to keep up with competing Intel solutions.
And the motherboard market itself has also changed. There were times when choosing the right motherboard model and chipset could result in a performance difference of 10% or more. Today, to achieve such an increase, you have to overclock the system or processor, or upgrade the CPU. Also, if you're interested in 3D graphics, graphics card performance plays a much bigger role today than anything else.
When we're talking about mature technology, rather than components that hit the market two weeks ago, the differences between platforms drop to five percent or less for non-graphics tests. The situation is very similar to upgrading processors, since moving from a Pentium 4 3.2 GHz to 3.4 GHz makes a bigger difference in the user's imagination than in real life.
Since performance is no longer an issue today, motherboard manufacturers are focusing on hardware and software features to differentiate their products from competing solutions. Additional interfaces, higher quality components, overclocking features and numerous details are all designed to win the heart of the consumer.
The P4N Diamond board uses four voltage regulators.
In the past, motherboards have had problems due to current capacitors and low quality voltage regulators. Today, most companies are more careful about the selection of components and use better quality capacitors (say, from Japanese suppliers), as well as multiphase voltage stabilizers. The more components work together, the lower the thermal and electrical loads will be. Today, four phases are considered sufficient, although manufacturers use solutions with a larger number of them.
While the nForce4 Intel Edition chipset supports four Serial ATA II drives as well as four UltraATA/133 drives, MSI decided to add a Silicon Image controller that provides two more SATA ports.
It usually takes a long time before a chipset manufacturer adds new drive standards to its products. This is why motherboard manufacturers use additional drive controllers in top models. For example, when the Serial ATA standard first came out, companies like HighPoint, Promise and Silicon Image were already offering controller chips - long before Intel, SiS and VIA integrated SATA into their chipsets.
In addition, there is another reason for choosing additional drive controllers: some chipsets do not provide a sufficient number of legacy interfaces. A good example is the Intel 9xx line: the ICH6/ICH7 southbridges support only one UltraATA/100 port, which allows you to connect a maximum of two drives. Many users today have two optical drives installed, such as a high-speed DVD-ROM and a DVD burner, so they will have to forget about hard drives UltraATA if they use them.
MSI placed two PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controllers on the P4N Diamond board.
Network controllers were traditionally installed in a PC using an expansion card that was inserted into an empty slot. The first cards worked with the 10BASE2 or 10 Mbit/s standard and used the ISA interface, and subsequent generations moved to 100 Mbit/s and the PCI bus. The spread of broadband Internet access and the growth of home networks have led to the fact that today network adapters have become a mandatory part of computers. About six years ago, the trend of integrated networking solutions on motherboards began. Actually, this was an important step towards reducing the cost of a computer with a network interface.
The Ethernet protocol continued to evolve, and the PCI bus became a bottleneck in itself. Intel introduced the CSA (Communication Streaming Architecture) interface with the release of the 865 and 875 chipsets, which allowed a dedicated Gigabit Ethernet controller to be connected directly to the northbridge. In all previous solutions, the controller was connected to the south bridge, so network traffic passed through the channel between the two bridges.
The introduction of PCI Express caused Intel to abandon CSA because the serial bus architecture provided sufficient bandwidth for Gigabit Ethernet. Today, most high-end motherboards come with two Gigabit Ethernet ports. As a result, the computer can be used as a software router and firewall between two networks, that is, connecting two local networks, or connect the LAN to the Internet.
Here, instead of an Intel solution, a full-fledged Creative sound chip is used, although it supports the High Definition Audio standard.
In recent years, sound chips have become less important to the average user. Back in the 90s, it was necessary to install a sound card (Soundblaster or compatible) into a computer, but the release of the AC97 standard made it possible to translate sound into chipset logic. Today, all chipsets are capable of producing CD-quality multi-channel audio, with top-end motherboards providing additional digital inputs and outputs.
Some high-end motherboards use dedicated chips that raise the quality to unprecedented heights (96 kHz and 24 bits), and in a multi-channel version. In addition, they are able to reduce the load on the CPU by transferring all necessary processing to the sound chip.
Additional Interfaces
Now is the time to discuss the number of additional interfaces that can be used to connect multimedia and communication devices. Of course, the most popular interface today is USB 2.0. With it, you can connect keyboards, mice, printers, web cameras, storage devices, scanners and many other peripherals. Most motherboards provide eight or ten USB 2.0 ports, but typically you can only use four or six at a time. Additional ports are provided using a “pigtail” that connects to the USB 2.0 interface on the motherboard.
The second most popular interface is IEEE-1394, also known as FireWire. Today there are two types of the standard: IEEE 1394a with speeds of up to 400 Mbit/s, and FireWire 1394b, operating with speeds of up to 800 Mbit/s. Unlike USB 2.0, the FireWire protocol uses isochronous transmission, which is better suited for real-time data. This feature is especially interesting for streaming applications and digital video. FireWire devices can be daisy-chained, so one or two ports may be sufficient.
Software features
The presence of certain software capabilities is another factor when choosing a motherboard. Here we understand not only the programs included in the package, but also the set of BIOS functions, overclocking and monitoring capabilities, etc.
To set up all the necessary technical parameters, you will have to turn to the BIOS. Top motherboards have many adjustment options available. clock frequencies and voltages, memory latencies, bus parameters, etc. However, if you don't do any fine-tuning or overclocking, you're unlikely to need them.
MSI 915PL Neo-V is one of the most inexpensive motherboards for the Socket 775 Intel Pentium 4 line. It uses the 915P chipset, which can be considered a quite suitable solution for an inexpensive model. The memory interface supports DDR400 in dual-channel mode, with only two slots available. That is, the upgrade will require replacing the current DIMMs.
The board is designed to install graphics PCI cards Express, but it has something like an AGP slot. This is indeed a physical AGP slot, but it operates at PCI speed. So you won't get full graphics performance with an AGP card, but at least you will be able to use the AGP card before upgrading.
The board is equipped with only two 32-bit PCI slots and one x1 PCIe slot. Too little for enthusiasts, but quite sufficient for ordinary users. For network connection a Broadcom gigabit controller is in charge, while an AC97 2.3 sound system takes care of the audio. On the board you can find four SATA-150 ports, as well as one UltraATA/100 channel, providing connection to up to two devices. So you may have problems when upgrading. Especially if you want to save the optical drive and hard drive with UltraATA interfaces.
A three-phase voltage stabilizer is quite sufficient for everyone modern processors Pentium 4 up to Pentium 4 670. In our tests we used a Pentium 4 560 at 3.6 GHz. However, the chipset does not support dual-core Intel Pentium D processors. Therefore, if you are aiming for an upgrade in the future, this motherboard will not be the most ideal option.
With a retail price of just $69, this motherboard will provide all the basic features needed in a regular PC. You'll have to make do without digital audio inputs and outputs, and you'll only get eight USB 2.0 ports. But look at the test results. The 915PL Neo-V performs just as well as the P4N Diamond board, which costs $150 more, and of course has a richer feature set.
The board provides only four USB port 2.0, and their number cannot be increased. As for sound, only analog interfaces are available, but for the average user they will be quite sufficient.
The Intel ICH6 South Bridge supports four Serial ATA ports at 150 MB/s.
MSI only includes basic cables.
Now let's move on to MSI's top product. The board's textolite is painted black, not red, and the number of components is much higher than the 915PL Neo-V. MSI used the nVidia nForce4 Intel Edition chipset, which can be called the best choice for gamers and enthusiasts. It allows you to install up to two x16 PCI Express graphics cards (each in x8 mode) and expand your workload Windows table for as many as four displays. Or, of course, speed up 3D applications using SLI mode.
An x1 PCI Express slot is provided for future expansion cards. In addition, two 32-bit PCI slots are available, with the orange slot having priority - it is intended for latency-sensitive PCI cards.
Unlike the 915PL Neo-V, the P4N Diamond board works with a dual-channel DDR2 controller at speeds up to DDR2-667. Nvidia has already proven the power of its memory controller. However, if you compare the base system performance with the 915PL Neo-V, both systems offer roughly the same speed.
MSI used two Marvell gigabit controllers with a PCI Express interface, a full-fledged sound chip from Creative (24-bit and 96 kHz, PCI), a FireWire 1394a chip from VIA and an additional Serial ATA II controller from Silicon Image, connected via PCI Express. If you remove the southbridge heatsink, you can find a copper core. The North Bridge is equipped active cooling, which is not very good. However, the latest chipsets for Pentium 4 cannot do without it.
The four-phase voltage regulator is capable of handling all Socket 775 processors, including Pentium 4 up to 3.8 GHz (Pentium 4 670), as well as the dual-core Pentium D and the fashionable Pentium Extreme Edition. In addition, the P4N Diamond supports FSB1066, which the 915PL Neo-V lacks.
Thanks to the MSI CoreCell chip, the motherboard supports all kinds of overclocking options, including the ability of the BIOS to regulate the frequencies and voltages of many components, including PCI Express and memory. Of note is MSI's military-grade automatic overclocking system.
| CPU | |
| Single-core CPUs | Intel Pentium 4 Processor 560 (3.6 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache) |
| Memory | |
| Intel platform (DDR400) | 2x 512 MB - DDR400 (200 MHz) Corsair Pro Series CMX512-3200XL (XMS3208 V1.1) (CL2.0-2-2-5-1T @ 200 MHz) |
| Intel Platform (DDR2-667) | 2x 512 MB - DDR2-667 (333 MHz) Corsair CM2X512A-5400UL (XMS5400 V1.2) (CL4-3-3-8-1T @ 333 MHz) |
| Motherboard | |
| Intel platform | MSI 915PL Neo-V Rev. 1.0, BIOS 1.0) Intel 915P chipset MSI P4N Neo (Rev. 1.0, BIOS 1.2) Chipset nVidia nForce4 Intel Edition SLI |
| System hardware | |
| Graphics card (PCIe) | nVidia GeForce 6800 GT (reference card) GPU: nVidia GeForce 6800 GT (350 MHz) Memory: 256 MB DDR SDRAM (500 MHz) |
| Hard drive | Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 250 GB, 8 MB cache, 7200 rpm |
| power unit | Tagan TG480-U01, ATX 2.0, 480 W |
| Software | |
| nVidia chipset drivers | nVidia Forceware 7.13 |
| Intel Chipset Drivers | Intel Inf 7.2.1.1003 |
| Graphics driver | nVidia Forceware 77.72 |
| DirectX | Version: 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904) |
| OS | Windows XP Professional 5.10.2600, Service Pack 2 |
The MSI 915PL Neo-V board is very compact and supports dual-channel DDR400 memory.
The P4N Diamond board works with DDR2 memory.
Tests and settings
| Tests and settings | |
| OpenGL | |
| Doom III | Version: 1.0.1262 1280x1024, 32 Bit Video Quality = High Quality demo1 Graphics detail = High Quality |
| Wolfenstein Enemy Territory |
Version: 2.56 (Patch V 1.02) 1280x1024, 32 Bit timedemo 1 / demo demo4 Geometric detail = high Texture detail = high |
| DirectX 8 | |
| Unreal Tournament 2004 | Version: 3204 1280x1024, 32 Bit, Audio = off THG8-assault-single |
| 3DMark2003 | Version 3.6.0 1024x768, 32 Bit |
| DirectX 9 | |
| FarCry | Version 1.1 Build 1256 1280x1024 - 32 Bit Quality options = High |
| 3DMark 2005 | Version 1.0 1024x768, 32 Bit Graphics and CPU Default Benchmark |
| Video | |
| Pinnacle Studio 9 Plus | Version: 9.4.1 from: 352x288 MPEG-2 41 MB to: 720x576 MPEG-2 95 MB Encoding and Transition Rendering to MPEG-2/DVD no Audio |
| Auto Gordian Knot DivX 5.2.1 XviD 1.0.3 |
Version: 1.95 Audio = AC3 6ch Custom size = 100 MB Resolution settings = Fixed width Codec = XviD and DivX 5 Audio = CBR MP3, kbps 192 182 MB VOB MPEG2-source |
| Windows Media Encoder | Version: 9.00.00.2980 720x480 DV to WMV 320x240 (29.97 fps) 282 kbps streaming |
| Audio | |
| Lame MP3 | Version 3.97.1 Multi-threaded Alpha Wave 17:14 minutes (182 MB) to mp3 32 - 320 kbit VBR = level 3 |
| Applications | |
| WinRAR | Version 3.41 283 MB, 246 Files Compression = Best Dictionary = 4096 kB |
| 3DS Max 7 | Characters "Dragon_Charater_rig" 1600x1200 Rendering Single |
| Synthetic tests | |
| PCMark 2005 Pro | Version: 1.0.1 CPU and Memory Tests |
| SiSoftware Sandra Pro | Version 2005, SR1 CPU Test = Multimedia Benchmark Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |
| ScienceMark | Version 2.0 All Tests |
- Cheap and expensive motherboards provide the same performance if they are built with comparable components.
Although the P4N Diamond runs on DDR2-667 memory, it was able to beat the 915PL Neo-V by an average of 0.25% (Pentium 4 Processor 560). At the same time, for overclocking and fine-tuning, the P4N Diamond board not only offers better equipment, but also a larger set of functions. - The P4N Diamond has an excellent range of capabilities, making it a platform suitable for virtually any application.
This includes basic audio work, top-end games or professional 3D systems, as well as entry-level servers thanks to a flexible storage subsystem. - Spending $150 more for a high-end motherboard is only worth it if you're really interested in one or more of the features the P4N Diamond offers.
The test results are not just interesting: they are shocking. The results show that top chipsets with high-speed memory are not able to outperform an ordinary product with regular memory. Of course, in some high-end scenarios the hardware shines, but the average user won't notice the difference. Namely, we were guided by this when launching this project.
Overall, unless you need dual-core support or the ability to upgrade to SLI graphics, there's no reason to trade your 915 system for one of the latest top-end products.
However, don't forget about the features offered by high-end motherboard. We repeat again: if you have read the review of both boards and consider them justified additional features, then you are probably an enthusiast user and the P4N Diamond board will be good choice. If you don't know why you need additional features, then it hardly makes sense to spend three times as much money. Feel free to take the 915PL Neo-V.
Among the models designed for overclocking, the dominant positions were occupied by ASRock and MSI motherboards.
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The ASRock Z170 Pro4S wins the Best Budget Buy for Skylake Overclocking category. The MSI Z170-A Pro is slightly behind it. The first board is physically well prepared to handle higher processor frequencies - ten power phases and a power circuit completely covered by radiators.
MSI relaxed a little on this issue, paying less attention to the board: six power phases with cooling. Both boards feel comfortable in the lower price range for PCH Z170 (9,000-10,000 rubles). Of course, they will not please lovers of innovation and modern standards. However, for a reasonable person, an offer is considered the most profitable if it is balanced in terms of characteristics and capabilities.
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Leaders in ATX equipment
This group consisted of solutions designed to work in a system with one or more video cards. Such things still occur, but at the current exchange rate they have become almost the exception to the rule.
And again, the ASRock motherboard with the best combination of price/features - the Z170 Extreme4 - climbed onto the pedestal.
Following it is ASUS Z170-A.
Both models are well prepared to accept two to three video cards, connect USB 3.1 peripherals, are equipped with cooling systems and ten/twelve power phases. Overall, the average equipment score ranges between 93 and 90.
Impact of RAM on system performance
Now - a little practice. Let's compare the data exchange speed for different Intel chipsets and its dependence on the standard of RAM used, frequency and timings.
| Chipset | Memory | Frequency | Timings | WinRAR | MemTweakIt Score | Reading | Record | Copy | Delay | Cinebench | Java Micro Benchmark | 3Dmark 11P |
| B150 | DDR4 | 2133 | 10-11-11-32 1T | 5950 | 55011 | 32074 | 32359 | 28139 | 55.6 | 595 | 2389 | 1710 |
| B150 | DDR4 | 2133 | 11-12-12-33 1T | 5814 | 53968 | 31871 | 32302 | 27689 | 59.3 | 597 | 2387 | 1703 |
| B150 | DDR4 | 2133 | 12-13-13-34 1T | 5670 | 52910 | 31716 | 32151 | 27144 | 59.6 | 592 | 2388 | 1701 |
| B150 | DDR4 | 2133 | 13-14-14-35 1T | 5535 | 51971 | 31530 | 32152 | 27159 | 61.2 | 593 | 2387 | 1696 |
| B150 | DDR4 | 2133 | 14-15-15-36 1T | 5410 | 50981 | 31292 | 31916 | 26953 | 63.6 | 592 | 2383 | 1687 |
| B150 | DDR4 | 2133 | 15-16-16-36 1T | 5286 | 50042 | 31143 | 31964 | 25372 | 65.6 | 589 | 2382 | 1684 |
| B150 | DDR4 | 2133 | 16-17-17-36 1T | 5109 | 49106 | 30829 | 31840 | 26376 | 70.7 | 579 | 2298 | 1674 |
| B150 | DDR4 | 2133 | 17-18-18-38 1T | 5028 | 48250 | 30562 | 31784 | 25891 | 72.5 | 567 | 2279 | 1670 |
| H170 | DDR3 | 1866 | 8-9-9-28 1T | 5595 | 54687 | 28368 | 28583 | 27137 | 61.2 | 590 | 2381 | 1696 |
| H170 | DDR3 | 1866 | 9-10-10-28 1T | 5491 | 53498 | 28230 | 28545 | 26991 | 65.0 | 590 | 2381 | 1696 |
| H170 | DDR3 | 1866 | 10-11-11-28 1T | 5350 | 52344 | 28213 | 28538 | 26980 | 68.2 | 590 | 2380 | 1687 |
| H170 | DDR3 | 1866 | 11-12-12-28 1T | 5195 | 51243 | 28119 | 28565 | 26488 | 68.7 | 588 | 2377 | 1683 |
| H170 | DDR3 | 1866 | 12-13-13-28 1T | 5046 | 50098 | 27993 | 28534 | 25958 | 71.1 | 587 | 2370 | 1676 |
| H170 | DDR3 | 1866 | 13-14-14-28 1T | 4979 | 48900 | 27918 | 28526 | 25586 | 73.5 | 586 | 2367 | 1670 |
| H170 | DDR3 | 1333 | 9-9-9-28 1T | 4608 | 47617 | 20448 | 20470 | 19324 | 77.4 | 580 | 2377 | 1597 |
| Z170 | DDR3 | 1333 | 9-9-9-28 1T | 4612 | 48113 | 20614 | 20587 | 19428 | 76.9 | 579 | 2384 | 1594 |
| Z170 | DDR3 | 2400 | 10-12-12-31 1T | 6261 | 56477 | 35655 | 36932 | 34969 | 52.6 | 643 | 2590 | 1969 |
| Z170 | DDR3 | 2500 | 10-12-12-31 1T | 6416 | 56761 | 37077 | 38434 | 36213 | 51.7 | 646 | 2594 | 1976 |
| Z170 | DDR4 | 2133 | 15-15-15-35-2T | 5075 | 48000 | 30605 | 31690 | 26066 | 68.8 | 571 | 2324 | 1648 |
| Z170 | DDR4 | 3333 | 15-16-16-36-1T | 6900 | 58188 | 58188 | 46480 | 49640 | 45.6 | 652 | 2594 | 1989 |
| Z170 | DDR4 | 3600 | 17-18-18-34-1T | 6887 | 66690 | 48508 | 53401 | 44992 | 46.3 | 654 | 2574 | 2011 |
For systems with initial chipsets, Intel provides for the use of memory with the following frequencies: for DDR3 base – 1333 MHz, maximum – 1866 MHz; for DDR4 – 2133 MHz (base and maximum are the same).
Generalized conclusions suggest themselves - why buy expensive modules when the difference in real applications is almost invisible? For the DDR3 standard, 1333 MHz is too low to unlock its potential, but 1866 MHz sticks are already common and not too expensive.
Note that a good set of G.Skill memory with a frequency of 3600 MHz literally fails in tests due to too relaxed timings. And when comparing the 3333 MHz 15-16-16-36-1T and 3600 MHz 17-18-18-34-1T modes, the choice is obvious. Moreover, achieving 3333 MHz is much easier even on weaker boards.
Conclusion
So, let’s briefly list those models that distinguished themselves above. In the case of the micro-ATX form factor, ASRock H110M-HDV, ASRock B150M Pro4S/D3 and ASRock H110M Combo-G deserve attention in terms of price and capabilities. If we focus on equipment, then the top three here are ASUS Maximus VIII Gene, MSI Z170M Mortar and ASUS Z170M-Plus.
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When planning a compact system based on a micro-ITX motherboard, the best in this class are ASUS H110I-Plus D3, ASUS H170I-Plus D3 and ASUS Z170I Pro Gaming. If the ATX standard is your everything, then ASUS B150 Pro Gaming D3, ASUS B150-Pro and MSI B150 PC Mate are at your service.
What to do if overclocking is necessary? In this case, you can take a closer look at both affordable solutions - ASRock Z170 Pro4S and MSI Z170-A Pro, as well as more functional and expensive ASRock Z170 Extreme4 and ASUS Z170-A. And, perhaps, that’s all for now with Socket 1151 motherboards.
Now about the subtleties. When planning a configuration without overclocking the graphics core and processor, it is more profitable to choose an Intel B150 motherboard with support for the DDR3 standard. In such a system, it is desirable to operate RAM at a frequency of 1866 MHz with latencies no higher than 10-11-11-28 1T/11-12-12-28 1T. In principle, DDR4 modules are slightly faster than their DDR3 counterparts, but in general the advantages are hardly visible to the naked eye.
As for systems based on Intel Z170, based on the results obtained, approximate parity occurs when using DDR3 memory at a frequency of 2400 MHz with timings of 10-12-12-31 1T or DDR4 3333 MHz with timings of 15-16-16-36-1T . It is obvious that on at the moment There is no point in chasing the absolute speed of RAM.
Rasamaha (Dmitry Vladimirovich)
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Thank you for your help in preparing the material for publication: donnerjack.
The motherboard is the main component of any desktop PC. It must have a sufficient number of necessary connectors so that the user can install a powerful video card, a large amount of RAM and several drives. In addition, do not forget about the need to connect various peripherals. We tried to find out which motherboards can now be called the best.
The right choice“mothers” are the basis for assembling a PC: if the processor within one socket can, if desired, be changed to a faster one, the memory can be increased, the video card can be replaced, then the motherboard usually lives in the case until a radical upgrade or serious breakdown. So you should choose a motherboard with long-term use in mind... Although Intel's proverbial love for regularly changing processor sockets without backward compatibility already leads to the fact that even a small upgrade forces you to change the motherboard along with the CPU. In this regard, AMD’s conservatism looks more reasonable - remember how long the AM3+ socket has lived, which is only now being replaced by the incompatible AM4, and there is every reason to believe that the new assembly for Ryzen will be able to be updated on the same board for a long time.
- LGA 1151- Intel Skylake, Kaby Lake processors, in version v2, incompatible with the previous one (well, it’s Intel!), and Coffee Lake. This allows you to choose processors from the Celeron G4900 to the Core i9-9900K - that is, from a simple office build to a powerful workstation or gaming PC.
- LGA 2011- the socket was originally for Intel Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge-E, but Intel wouldn’t be themselves if they didn’t create a socket incompatible with it LGA 2011-3 under Haswell-E. On latest version we’ll stop there - this is an excellent platform for assembling a powerful workstation or server, and there are a lot of people who build Haswell-E PCs for home.
- LGA 2066- the latest socket for top-end Intel processors Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X are the same ones that are successfully striving to catch up and surpass the old AMD in terms of thermal package. But if you have almost 140 thousand for an 18-core Intel Core i9-7980XE, then you will definitely have money for cooling that can cope with its 165 W of heat dissipation.
- AM4- a new socket from AMD that came with AMD Ryzen. And this is an opportunity now to use processors from the inexpensive AMD A6-9500E for “office-home” assemblies to the top-end Ryzen 7 2700X, and the AM4 socket is guaranteed to last for another year or two. In addition, new APUs (processors with integrated graphics, which previously used their FM sockets) were also transferred to it.
The configuration of this card is such that you can put almost everything on it; it has not yet obsolete types of slots for connecting external and internal adapters. RAM expansion up to 4 GB. Possibility of installing a new video card, sound card, and network card. Dual-core AMD Athlon processor. The motherboard supports total memory capacities of 256, 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, and 4 GB, provided that unbuffered DDR2 (ECC/non-ECC) DIMMs are used. Additionally, memory modules must be installed in the DIMM slots in accordance with with memory module configurations.
For normal operation of DDR2 connectors, you need to install two identical (same type and size) DDR2 DIMM modules.
The motherboard supports operating systems Windows systems 2000/32-bit XP/64-bit XP/32-bit Vista/64-bit Seven/32-bit. To get the best experience from your MP, always update the software to enhance the functionality of your hardware. This motherboard is quite powerful. With a DualCore AMD Athlon X2 BE-2300 CPU, 1900 MHz, 2GB of RAM, and an nVidia GeForce 8600 GTS 256 Mb video card, it easily supports modern games that have come out since this motherboard was created. Simultaneously surfing the Internet, working with files, processing photographs, and, for example, listening to music, you can cope with these tasks immediately and without unnecessary hassle. This card has some disadvantages: noise and increased processor temperature. During powerful operation, the temperature rises to almost 60 C. This disadvantage can be eliminated by installing an additional cooler or made easier - open sidebar on the system unit.
ASUS P4P800-VM
Service capabilities: i865G - the most modern set of system logic from Intel with integrated Intel graphics Extreme Graphics 2. Unfortunately, despite the presence of a 2-channel DDR SDRAM memory controller, the Intel graphics core demonstrates quite moderate performance even by the standards of entry-level systems. Therefore, planning to buy a PC based on the Asus P4P800-VM motherboard only makes sense if you will use it for work or for games since the creation of this MP.
If we talk about processor support, then the Asus P4P800-VM is fine with this. The manufacturer has declared compatibility with all models of Pentium 4 and Celeron processors designed for the Socket478 connector, including the future Prescott. The system bus is capable of operating at frequencies up to 800 MHz, and the memory bus - up to 400 MHz.
Owners of Asus P4P800-VM will certainly be satisfied with the capabilities of the ICH5 south bridge. Support for Serial ATA, 6-channel audio and networking technologies - a good set for a PC of that time. This motherboard was one of the most modern motherboards developed by ASUS for the Pentium 4.
Settings and monitoring: the Asus P4P800-VM motherboard does not have a developed settings system. The user does not even have the ability to change the FSB frequency. On the other hand, the BIOS provides a wide range of memory subsystem adjustments - setting timings, selecting the memory bus frequency and voltage of DDR SDRAM modules.
The board is monitored according to the standard scheme - the processor and chipset temperatures, voltages and fan speeds are monitored.
Wiring: Asus P4P800-VM is made in the microATX form factor. Nevertheless, the developers have arranged all the elements very conveniently. As in full-size systems, the power connector is located next to the IDE and FDD connectors, and the latter are in close proximity to the drives.
Note that problems will arise when changing memory modules if an external video card is installed.
In general, the Asus P4P800-VM is a board with rich functionality, but with a low-performance integrated graphics core. This model can only be used with medium- and low-power programs, but for programs where the graphics core is important, this MP is not very good.
When the ASUS P4P800 board was released, Intel tried hard so that it would not spoil their image.
Let's sort it out in order. The first of them is Asus P4P800. This board features Hyper-Path technology, which optimizes the performance of the chipset, thereby adding speed to the entire system. The DDR memory that this system uses also works for this result. There is support for the AGP 8X bus, the most modern slot at that time, providing data transfer rates between the video adapter and the system up to 2.12 Gb/s. The P4P800 gives you the ability to connect to a gigabit network using the built-in 3COM 3C940 network adapter. Thanks to the efforts of Intel's engineers, the board supports Serial ATA technology, a new format for the drive connection interface: data transfer speed of 150 MBs, hot installation, convenient cables, and so on. And, of course, the ability to organize a RAID array on SATA drives. The board has multi-language BIOS menu, which helps to better understand the settings. The device also has a 6-channel AD1985 audio codec, which recognizes devices included in the audio connectors and alerts in case of incorrect connection. For people who are annoyed by the noise coming from the processor cooler, there is a function. Q-Fan, which adjusts the fan speed depending on the system load To exchange information with. external devices The P4P800 supports up to eight USB 2.0 ports. The next board P4P800-X is more new version P4P800, made on the same chipset as its predecessor. This makes them very similar, but the P4P800-X has a few new features. You can note the presence of an S/PDIF output on the rear panel, with which you can connect your computer to a six-channel sound system and, avoiding analog-to-digital conversion, get very high-quality sound. The third representative of the family is the P4P800 Deluxe. Like previous devices, it has the same standard features, but also several new useful features. For example, compatibility with FireWire peripherals, support for POST Reporter technology and an IDE RAID controller. Using this controller, you can build RAID arrays of levels 0, 1, 0+1 and JBOD from four ATA133 hard drives. The P4P800-E Deluxe board is equipped with an 802.11b Wi-Fi slot, which is designed specifically for ASUS Wi-Fi/b WLAN cards. This slot will be useful for those who did not like wires since childhood, since with its help you can organize wireless network, as well as connect your computer with a laptop, PDA and other WLAN devices. Well, the latest board made on the same chipset is the P4P800 SE. As always, the FSB frequency at which the device operates remains unchanged, but the developers had to sacrifice something. It looks like this board was released as a simplified version of the P4P800-E Deluxe, and is therefore cheaper. It doesn't have a Wi-Fi slot and uses a simpler 6-channel audio codec (the P4P800-E Deluxe has an eight-channel audio adapter based on a Realtek ALC850 chip). All devices - P4P800S, P4P800S-X, P4P800S-E Deluxe and P4P800S SE - are based on the Intel 848P chipset. Since the devices are made on the same NMS, they do not have significant differences in performance. The presence of a new chipset made it possible to support Pentium 4 (including Prescott) and Celeron processors. These motherboards are very similar, probably the only difference that immediately catches your eye is the presence of a Wi-Fi slot on the P4P800S and P4P800S-E Deluxe boards. It is quite possible to overclock this processor to 3.6 GHz with a rated power of 2.8 GHz.
ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
The layout of the ASUS Crosshair IV Formula motherboard was also quite successful - power connectors and interface ports are located at the edges of the board, which is convenient for connection. The RAM slots on the bottom side do not have latches, so a video card installed in the upper PCIEx16 slot will definitely not interfere with the removal of memory modules.
In addition, the RAM modules are powered by a 2-phase stabilizer, which should increase the stability and reliability of the system, especially in overclocking mode. Three aluminum radiators are used as a cooling system for system logic chips and a power stabilizer, which are combined together with a copper heat pipe. During testing, the cooling system had a completely acceptable temperature. The temperature of the radiator of the south bridge reached - 40? C, and the temperature of the radiator on the north bridge was higher - about 43 ° C. One of the functional advantages of ASUS Crosshair IV Formula is the ability to organize ATI CrossFireX in x16+ x16 or x16+x8+x8 configurations. To do this, the board has three PCIE x16 slots, with the slots placed one after another so that you can easily install video cards with a dual-slot cooling system. In addition, the motherboard has a PCIE x4 slot located at the very bottom and two PCI slots. Based on the SB850 south bridge, six SATA 3.0 ports are implemented, with the ability to organize SATA RAID 0, 1, 5 and 0+1, as well as 12 USB 2.0 ports, six of which are located on the rear panel. Thanks to the additional JMicron JMB363 controller, the board supports two more SATA 3Gb/s ports, one of which is located on the interface panel.
But the ASUS Crosshair IV Formula motherboard does not support PATA devices, just as it does not support the outdated LPT, COM and FDD data exchange interfaces. Among the controllers installed on the ASUS Crosshair IV Formula motherboard are the VIA 6312N FireWire controller and the Marvell 8059 gigabit LAN controller.
