nForce4 Ultra Roundup: Charting the Mainstream
by Wesley Fink on July 5, 2005 10:28 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Winfast NF4UK8AA (Foxconn): Features and Layout
| Specification | Winfast NF4UK8AA |
| CPU Interface | Socket 939 Athlon 64 |
| Chipset | nForce4 Ultra (single chip) |
| BUS Speeds | 200MHz to 300MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| PCI/AGP Speeds | Asynchronous (Fixed) |
| PCI Express | 100MHz to 145MHz in 1MHz increments |
| Core Voltage | Default, 1.20V to 1.80V in 0.025V increments |
| DRAM Voltage | 2.5V, Default, 2.7V, 2.8V |
| Chipset Voltage | Default, 1.6V, 1.7V, 1.8V |
| LDT Bus Transfer | 16/16, 16/8, 8/16, 8/8 |
| Hyper Transport | 1x to 5x in 1x Intervals |
| LDT Voltage | Default, 1.3V, 1.4V, 1.5V |
| CPU Ratios | NONE |
| DRAM Speeds | Auto, 100, 133, 166, 200 |
| Memory Command Rate | Auto, 1T, 2T |
| Memory Slots | Four 184-pin DDR Dual-Channel Slots Unbuffered ECC or non-ECC Memory to 4GB Total |
| Expansion Slots | 1 x16 PCIe Slots 2 x1 PCIe 4 PCI Slots |
| Onboard SATA | 4-Drive SATA 2 by nF4 |
| Onboard IDE | Two Standard NVIDIA ATA133/100/66 (4 drives) |
| SATA/IDE RAID | 4-Drive SATA 2 PLUS 4-Drive IDE (8 total) Can be combined in RAID 0, 1 |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 10 USB 2.0 ports supported nF4 2 1394A FireWire ports by Agere FW3226-100 |
| Onboard LAN | Gigabit Ethernet PCIe by Vitesse VSC8201 PHY |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC850 8-Channel codec with 5 UAJ audio jacks, CD-in, front audio, and coaxial SPDIF Out |
| Other Features | AMD X2 Support with NF4UK8AA (6/29/05) or higher BIOS |
| BIOS | Phoenix Award Shipping BIOS |
Foxconn may not be well-known to some readers, but Foxconn is the manufacturer of almost every connector that you will find on almost every motherboard on the market. In addition, Foxconn is one of the world's largest motherboard manufacturers. Foxconn makes motherboards for many companies, and counts Intel to be among their clients. The quality of Foxconn boards is well-established, so it should come as no surprise that Foxconn is now interested in marketing their own branded motherboards.
The Winfast NF4UK8AA is another nForce4 Ultra motherboard that is long on built-in features, but is sold at a modest street price of $97. Foxconn includes two Firewire ports, 8-channel audio, a Phoenix Award BIOS with AMD x2 support, Gigabit PCIe Ethernet, and the full implementation of the NVIDIA nForce4 chipset features.
The BIOS feature set also is reasonably attractive with a full range of options for CPU voltage, memory voltage, chipset voltage and HT voltage. There is also a wide range of CPU speed selections from 200 to 300. Frankly, 2.8V is not enough on memory voltage with top memory now going to 3.5V and higher, and 300 looks low when other boards are running at over 300 at a 9X multiplier, but the controls that the enthusiast wants are all here. That is all except CPU ratios or multipliers. The AMD Athlon 64 features unlocked multipliers on all processors downwards, and unlocks up and down with FX CPUs. This is an important feature that differentiates AMD from the competition. However, an unlocked CPU is virtually useless if the multiplier adjustments are not available in BIOS. If Foxconn intends to sell to AMD enthusiasts, then they need to quickly make the same options available to buyers that competitors routinely provide.
Click image to enlarge.
The IDE connectors, 24-pin ATX power connector, and DIMM slots were all in near ideal locations and presented no issues.
Foxconn has placed the 4-pin 12V power connector between the CPU and the rear panel connectors, which can present some cabling challenges in some case designs. It works better at a board edge, but Foxconn Winfast is not alone in using the center of the board location for the 12V connector. The floppy is at the bottom right of the motherboard - a difficult reach in tall cases.
Additional connectors are well located along board edges and out of the way of the slot area. Foxconn also provides a rear coaxial SPDIF connector, which proves that you don't have to give up SPDIF connectors on a $100 motherboard.
While there are certainly several areas that can be improved upon in the layout of the NF4UK8AA, it is a pretty easy board to work with overall. The board is also built with obvious care and quality components, which is not a surprise when you consider the quality reputation that Foxconn enjoys in the motherboard market.
Like every other board in this roundup, Foxconn uses the ALC850 audio codec. Realtek appears to be doing a very good job of convincing Asian manufacturers of the features and value represented by the ALC850.
Epox 9NPA+ Ultra: Overclocking and Stress Testing
Winfast NF4UK8AA (Foxconn): Overclocking and Stress Testing
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arfan - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
"So ECS, Foxconn, Biostar - we can only suggest that you need to add features and performance that will make an AMD user want to buy your boards. "Why u think's ECS is bad ???
From your benchmark, ECS is not too bad, their ranking in the middle until top1.
Sorry, if myenglish is so bad.
smn198 - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
Page 1: "There are no performance differences in the SLI and Ultra chipsets, or even the base nForce4 for that matter. These chipsets differ only in which features are available to the buyer - but they beat with the same heart."I thought the base nForce4 had a 800MHz HT where as the Ultra and SLI have 1GHz. Is that not correct?
Frallan - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
For PSU requirements read the mfg websites. Especially the DFI comes with explicit requirements.480W 24pin ATX 2.0+ PSU and from experiance Id have to say that U want a 1st tier PSU on top of that. Anecdotal advices that its possible to run a DFI SLI set up overclocked from a 350W PSU exists but fact remains that a good solid 500W+ ATX 2.0+ PSU will help U with stability.
Calin - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
What I want to ask: does the processor works with four DS DIMMS at 1T command rate at lower frequency? By what you say (that 2T command rate is much slower than 1T command rate), then 1T command rate at 333MHz would be faster than 2T command rate at 400MHz.Vesperan - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
I love the look of that Epox board. Pity noone imports Epox products into New Zealand any more.GhostlyGhost - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
Ermm.. It's "Marvell". With two l's.Heidfirst - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
I think that you must have a bad example of the ABIT. A no. of other sites (HardOCP, Hexus etc.) have all been over 300 ref. clock with it.Not to mention that there is also now the non-Fatality AN8 Ultra which is cheaper & yet has better sound & 3.55Vdimm instead of 2.8V on the Fatality ...
Affectionate-Bed-980 - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
I think the Neo4 should've been included even though it was in the SLI test. Same with the Asus board. Those are really important boards. I'm sure if you add up the Asus and MSI users they would outnumber Biostar + Foxconn + Chaintech + ECS. Iono. just my 2 cents. I dont want to go look at the SLI review and then compare it to this review to see other boards and do a mental benchmark merge to get hte relative performance.You know what we should make? We should make the uber super chart system. Kinda like THG's CPU charts. Just make the interactive system comparation machine. Choose a CPU, a mobo, a gfx card etc. If you bench every component (not every combo), but just CPUs vs CPUs, mobos vs mobos, you can get the relative score and construct a relative table for combinations..... hmm just a thought.
Palek - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
A few mistakes made it into the final article...-------------------------------------------------
Page 7
1. The following bit does not belong in this review. Cut and paste?
"There are absolutely no PCIe slots at all on the Neo4/SLI except for the pair of x16 slots for SLI video. MSI tells us that the 2nd PCIe can function as a PCIe x1 slot if you're not using it for video, but that is it for PCIe. Does this really matter? Right now, it really isn't important, since we had a very hard time even finding a PCIe x1 LAN card for the new PCI Express. It may matter in the future, but by that time, you will likely have moved on to a newer version of whatever chipset is the latest wonder. This is particularly clear when you look at the feature set of the MSI, since it is definitely a cut above the other boards in this roundup."
2. "SPDIG" should be SPDIF, or S/PDIF if you want to be really accurate.
Page 11
1. The title row of the table is incorrect. The motherboard name should read:
"DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra"
2. Link to next page is also incorrect, same as above.
Page 12
1. Title of the page is incorrect, same as above.
2. Title row of the table is incorrect, same as above.
Page 13
1. "SPDIG" round two.
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Also, do guys have any idea why placing the codec on a daughter card reduces CPU overhead? Obviously there is something more going on than just the physical relocation of the chips. Any theories or explanations?
Xenoterranos - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
Just a word about the soundblaster Live on the MSI board..."That price tag [200$] may be a bit high for the average gamer who just spent most of his/her savings on a Pentium II / Voodoo2 setup, however if you're going to swallow the cost of an expensive sound card it might as well be the Creative Labs SB Live!"
That was Anandtech back in '99. And you're getting this for free! (well, almost)