NVIDIA nForce 500: Biostar and MSI Aim for the Gold
by Gary Key on June 8, 2006 4:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Basic Features: Biostar 590 SLI / MSI 570 SLI
The Biostar board is designed around NVIDIA's flagship nForce 590 SLI chipset with one purpose in mind, the ability to let your AM2 processor reach its maximum potential while offering a class leading feature set. The MSI board is based upon NVIDIA's performance oriented nForce 570 SLI chipset that offers a slightly reduced feature set along with X8 SLI operation. This is the chipset that will probably account for the bulk of SLI board sales as it offers similar performance to the nForce 590 SLI for a lower price.
The Biostar board offers an extremely feature rich range of BIOS options that offer a significant amount of control over the board. Our one issue with the BIOS and overall with the board is the limited memory voltage options when compared to our other AM2 boards. In order to reach 2.3V you have to enable a jumper on the board but the memory is then fixed at 2.3V. Considering our 570 SLI boards offer memory ranges in various increments up to 2.45V, this is an oversight for Biostar on their flagship board.
The MSI board offers a limited array of BIOS options compared to the 590 SLI boards we have tested to date although most major performance areas are covered with the exception of MCP and HT voltage options. We feel like these two voltage options are a requirement if a user wants to overclock the board in a stable manner past a 310~315HTT setting.
The Biostar board is designed around NVIDIA's flagship nForce 590 SLI chipset with one purpose in mind, the ability to let your AM2 processor reach its maximum potential while offering a class leading feature set. The MSI board is based upon NVIDIA's performance oriented nForce 570 SLI chipset that offers a slightly reduced feature set along with X8 SLI operation. This is the chipset that will probably account for the bulk of SLI board sales as it offers similar performance to the nForce 590 SLI for a lower price.
| Specifications | ||
| BioStar TForce 590 SLI Deluxe | MSI K9N SLI Platinum | |
| Market Segment | Enthusiast - SLI (2x16) | Performance - SLI (2x8) |
| CPU Interface | AM2 | AM2 |
| SLI Technology | Yes | Yes |
| NVIDIA LinkBoost | Yes | No |
| NVIDIA FirstPacket | Yes | Yes |
| NVIDIA DualNet | Yes | Yes |
| Memory - Enhanced Performance Profiles | Yes | No |
| Teaming | Yes | Yes |
| TCP/IP Accleration | Yes | Yes |
| MediaShield | Yes | Yes |
| GPU Ex- | Yes | No |
| Chipset: | nForce 590 SLI | nForce 570 SLI |
| Chipset Voltage: | Auto, 1.55V, 1.60V, 1.65V,1.70V | Auto |
| Memory Speeds: | DDR2 - Auto, 400, 533, 667, 800 | DDR2 - Auto, 400, 533, 667, 800 |
| Memory Voltage: | 1.95V, 2.00V, 2.05V, 2.10V - 2.30V via jumper | 1.800V to 2.45V in .05 increments |
| Memory Settings: | tCL, tRAS, tRP, tRCD, tRPD, tRC, CMD, tWR, tRWT, tWTR, tREF, DQS Skews, Async Latencies. Rx FIFO |
tCL, tRAS, tRP, tRCD, tRPD, tRC, CMD, Bank Inteleaving |
| PCI Express Speeds: | 100MHz~200MHz | 100MHz~145MHz |
| HyperTransport Frequency: | 100MHz~500MHz in various increments | 200MHz~425MHz in various increments |
| HyperTransport Multiplier: | Auto, 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x AM2 to NB, NB to SB |
Auto, 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x AM2 to NB |
| HyperTransport Linkwidth: | 8/8, 16/16 - NB and SB | 8/8, 16/16 |
| HyperTransport Linkwidth Voltage: | Auto, 1.25V, 1.3V, 1.35V, 1.4V | Auto |
| CPU Clock Multiplier: | Auto, 4x ~ 12x (4800+) Maximum Dependent upon CPU - 20x Max |
Auto, 5x ~ 25x Maximum Dependent upon CPU |
| CPU Voltage: | Auto, .800V to 2.00V in .025 increments | Auto, .800V to 1.350V in .025 increments |
| CPU Voltage - Extra: | Not Applicable | .05V to .35V in .05V increments |
| Dynamic Overclocking: | V6 Tech - 10%~15% V8 Tech - 15%~25% V12 Tech - 25%~30% |
CoreCell - Six Levels 1%~15% Increase |
| Memory Slots: | 4 x 240-pin DIMM Slots 4GB Capacity | 4 x 240-pin DIMM Slots 4GB Capacity |
| Expansion Slots: | 2 x PCI Express x16 1 x PCI Express x4 1x PCI Express x1 2 x PCI 2.3 |
2 x PCI Express x16 (x8 operation for SLI / multi-GPU) 2 x PCI Express x1 3 x PCI 2.3 |
| Onboard SATA 2.0: | 4 x SATA 3Gb/s Ports 2 x e-SATA 3Gb/s Ports |
6 x SATA 3Gb/s Ports |
| Onboard SATA 2.0 RAID: | RAID 0, 0+1, 5, JBOD | RAID 0, 0+1, 5, JBOD |
| Onboard IDE: | 1 x UltraDMA Connector 133/10/66/33 Two Drive Support |
1 x UltraDMA Connector 133/10/66/33 Two Drive Support |
| Onboard USB2.0: | Six via Rear Panel, Four via motherboard headers | Four via Rear Panel, six via motherboard headers |
| Onboard IEEE-1394a: | VIA VT6307 | VIA VT6307 |
| Onboard LAN: | 2 Gbe - Marvell 88E1116 | 2 Gbe - Vitesse VSC8601 |
| Onboard Audio: | Realtek ALC882 | Realtek ALC883 |
| Power Connectors: | 8-pin ATX, 24-Pin ATX | 4-pin ATX, 24-Pin ATX, 4-pin 12V molex |
| Back Panel I/O Ports: | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x Audio I/O Panel 2 x RJ45 LAN 6 x USB 2.0 2 x e-SATA 1 x IEEE-1394a |
1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x Audio I/O Panel 2 x RJ45 LAN 4 x USB 2.0 1 x Parallel Port 1 x Serial Port 1 x S/PDIF Coaxial Out 1 x S/PDIF Optical Out |
| Other Features: | T-Power: O.N.E. - OC Navigator Engine C.R.P. - CMOS Reload M.I.T- Memory Integration Test I.F.P - Integrated Flash Program S.R.S. - Self Recovery System Windows Overclock Engine Windows Smart Fan Function Windows Live Update Windows Hardware Monitor |
DigiCell- Inclusive Monitoring / Configuration Program Live Update - Windows based driver/bios update utility Dual Core Center - Windows based Monitoring / Overclocking Utility Mega Stick - MSI MP3 Program I-Speeder - Network Monitoring Utility |
| NTune 5.0 Support: | Limited | Limited |
| BIOS | Award, BioStar N5SAA522 | AMI, MSI Version 1.00 |
The Biostar board offers an extremely feature rich range of BIOS options that offer a significant amount of control over the board. Our one issue with the BIOS and overall with the board is the limited memory voltage options when compared to our other AM2 boards. In order to reach 2.3V you have to enable a jumper on the board but the memory is then fixed at 2.3V. Considering our 570 SLI boards offer memory ranges in various increments up to 2.45V, this is an oversight for Biostar on their flagship board.
The MSI board offers a limited array of BIOS options compared to the 590 SLI boards we have tested to date although most major performance areas are covered with the exception of MCP and HT voltage options. We feel like these two voltage options are a requirement if a user wants to overclock the board in a stable manner past a 310~315HTT setting.
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Puddleglum - Thursday, June 8, 2006 - link
First comes AMD, then comes Intel. You must wait. Are you opposed to the 965/975x?Conroe comes out in about a month, so I'm sure you'll be seeing massive amounts of reviews in the coming weeks/days.
Myrandex - Thursday, June 8, 2006 - link
I don't know if it is just me, but it looks like in the graphical layout of the 570 that it says 16x connection to the first video card than an 8x connection to the second. I think it should have 16x / SLI (8x) or something on it.Jason
Myrandex - Thursday, June 8, 2006 - link
Also the following needs changed:The Realtek ALC-883 codec offers competitive CPU utilization rates when compared to the Realtek ALC-882 on the Asus board.
I think the Asus needs to be changed to Biostar.
JarredWalton - Thursday, June 8, 2006 - link
Asus changed to Biostar. As for the nF570 graphic, the X16 is because if you use a single GPU, you can get all 16 lanes, but if you use two GPUs, both will get 8 lanes. Yeah, it could be done better, but that image is direct from NVIDIA.Regards,
Jarred Walton
Editor
AnandTech.com
shortylickens - Thursday, June 8, 2006 - link
They jusy had to add two more digits, didnt they?Couldnt call it the Nforce 55, 57 and 59. Are they trying to compete on names again? Must need that extra digit I guess.
Before long we'll have Radeon XXXYYYZZZ9700 Thousand Million Pro Uber Leet Haxor and then we'll see GeForce 999 FXZ 88000 Ultra Grand Prix GT XML.
Then someone will get the idea to simplify the naming system and the whole mess starts over.
Visual - Friday, June 9, 2006 - link
Does the XML model also offer XSLT hardware acceleration? That'd rock, explorer is so slow on it...But I think I'll hold up for now till I can get the Turbo-Diesel Injection models.
Schizzlefuzz - Thursday, June 8, 2006 - link
I've only used Biostar for budget builds before, using DFI and Asus for performance builds, but the TForce 590 SLI Deluxe might be added when I start building AM2 systems for customers.