NVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE: Enthusiast Features on a Budget
by Gary Key on March 23, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Basic Features: ECS C19-A SLI
When compared to the Biostar TForce4 U 775 nForce4 Ultra based chipset, the BIOS is lacking such options as SPP and FSB voltages along with lower VCore and DIMM voltage settings. Also, the HyperTransport design provides x4/x8 up and down links at a maximum limit of 800MHz.
The board ships with an accessory package that includes the standard assortment of IDE/SATA cables and power connectors. ECS includes a driver CD and software utilities for your system. The board fully supports NVIDIA's nTune performance tuning application with version 3.0 being supplied by ECS.
| Specification | ECS C19-A SLI |
| CPU Interface | LGA775-based Pentium 4, Pentium 4 XE, Celeron D, and Pentium D processors. |
| Chipset | NVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE - SPP (C19XE) NVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE - MCP (MCP51) |
| Pentium D Support | 805D, 820D, 830D, 840D, 840EE, 920D, 930D, 940D, 950D, 955EE, 965EE |
| Front Side Bus | 1066 / 800 / 533 MHz |
| Front Side Bus Speeds | Default, 450MHz ~ 1300MHz in 1MHz increments |
| Memory Speeds | Default, 400MHz ~ 1300MHz in 1MHz increments |
| PCI Bus Speeds | Default |
| PCI Express Bus Speeds | Default, 100MHz ~ 148.4375MHz in various increments |
| Set Processor Multiplier | 12X to 60X, (in 1X step increments) |
| LDT Multipliers | 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x |
| Core Voltage | Default, 1.1000V to 1.6000V (in 0.0125V increments) |
| DRAM Voltage | Default, 1.8V to 2.2V (in 0.05V increments) |
| SPP Chipset Voltage | Default |
| FSB Voltage | Default |
| Memory Slots | (4) x DIMM, max. 4GB per DIMM, max. 16GB total system memory, DDR2 667/533, non-ECC, un-buffered memory |
| Expansion Slots | (2) x PCI-E x16 (operates in x8,x8 mode for SLI) (2) x PCI-E x1 (3) x PCI 2.3 |
| Onboard SATA | NVIDIA nForce 430: (4) x SATA II |
| Onboard IDE | NVIDIA nForce 430: (2) x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33 |
| SATA/IDE RAID | NVIDIA nForce 430: (4) x SATA II RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5 |
| Onboard USB 2.0 | (8) USB2.0 ports |
| Onboard LAN | Marvell 88E1115 PCI 10/100/1000Mb/s Ethernet LAN - PHY |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC-883, 8-channel capable Audio, 95dB S/N ratio |
| Power Connectors | 24-pin ATX 4-pin ATX 12V 4-pin 12V (required for SLI operation) |
| Back Panel I/O Ports | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x Parallel (LPT) 1 x Serial (COM 1) 1 x S/PDIF Optical Out 1 x S/PDIF Coaxial Out 1 x Audio I/O Panel 1 x RJ45 4 x USB |
| BIOS | AMI 1.0D (2/7/06) |
When compared to the Biostar TForce4 U 775 nForce4 Ultra based chipset, the BIOS is lacking such options as SPP and FSB voltages along with lower VCore and DIMM voltage settings. Also, the HyperTransport design provides x4/x8 up and down links at a maximum limit of 800MHz.
The board ships with an accessory package that includes the standard assortment of IDE/SATA cables and power connectors. ECS includes a driver CD and software utilities for your system. The board fully supports NVIDIA's nTune performance tuning application with version 3.0 being supplied by ECS.
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blackmetalegg - Friday, March 24, 2006 - link
"Unfortunately, we ran into an issue with this process as the clear CMOS process sometimes required the removal of the battery for the jumper process to work. This process is not acceptable, considering how well other BIOS recovery systems work."Sounds a lot like the reviewer is too lazy to use his finger to release the battery from its holder.
Gary Key - Friday, March 24, 2006 - link
Certainly not lazy as I removed the battery at least a dozen times during testing. The fact remains that having to remove the battery is not an acceptable option when the clear CMOS jumper does not work over 60% of the time because the bios self recovery routine fails 85% of the time when the memory settings are extended past the board's ability to boot properly. This only occurred a couple of times when setting the FSB past the board's limit.
kmmatney - Friday, March 24, 2006 - link
I hate removing the battery. I broke the flimsy battery clip off of one motherboard doing this, and had to solder new wires in place and dangle a new battery from it. Removing the battery for a BIOS clear is not good.cornfedone - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
Obviously this mobo wasn't tested before release or it wouldn't have all the problems it has.phillock - Thursday, February 1, 2018 - link
Sounds a lot like the reviewer is too lazy to use his finger to release the battery from its holder.https://jumjex.bandcamp.com/releases
Puddleglum - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
Not sure if it's worth fixing or not, but the Content Creation (Disk Controller Performance) chart shows the Biostar TForce4 in red, mistaken as the board being tested.smut - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
Is this going to be an Intel only board?Gary Key - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
Yes. The upcoming NVIDIA nForce 500 launch will address chipset updates to the AMD product family.
bldckstark - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
No, upon release the board will come with alternate CPU sockets included in the box. You got an AMD? Just pop out the Intel socket and plug in the AMD socket. Gat a VIA, Cyrix, or TI85 chip? Just break the chosen socket out of the plastic holders like a model car part.Oh, wait, I guess you want to know if ECS is going to make an AMD board. Duh.
Gary Key - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
Our next article will have a high resolution picture of the capacitors and other items of importance in a pop-up window. I am sure the capacitors utilized on this board will be of interest to you. ;->