Asus A8N-VM CSM: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Finally Arrives
by Wesley Fink on December 1, 2005 12:04 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Basic Features: Asus A8N-VM CSM
With the feature list for the GeForce 6150/nForce 430 chipset, you will get a pretty good idea of the features and capabilities of the Asus A8N-VM CSM. The only significant addition to the feature set is the welcomed addition of Firewire ports with the VIA 6307 chipset.
This is also the first NVIDIA chipset board that we have tested to support High Definition Azalia audio. Asus has used the same ADI AD1986A chipset used on the recently reviewed Asus A8R-MVP motherboard. However, the SPDIF connection is only provided by an optional bracket. TV out is another feature that requires an optional bracket. Since HTPC/Multimedia buyers will be looking for these features, the optional brackets will be a huge disappointment for many buyers.
Asus does a great job with placement of power connectors. Even on this micro ATX board, the 24-pin ATX and 4-pin 12V are both near board edges where they work best. Both single and dual-core Socket 939 AMD processors work well on the Asus.
With the feature list for the GeForce 6150/nForce 430 chipset, you will get a pretty good idea of the features and capabilities of the Asus A8N-VM CSM. The only significant addition to the feature set is the welcomed addition of Firewire ports with the VIA 6307 chipset.
| Asus A8N-VM CSM | |
| CPU Interface | Socket 939 Athlon 64 Supports AMD Cool'n'Quiet |
| Form Factor | Micro ATX |
| Chipset | NVIDIA GeForce6150 Northbridge - NVIDIA nForce 430 MCP Southbridge |
| Integrated Graphics | NVIDIA 6150 GPU Dual VGA Output: DVI-D and RGB Maximum Resolution 1920x1440 Note: DVI-D only supports digital output and cannot be converted to output RGB signal to a CRT display |
| Bus Speeds | 200 to 240MHz in 1MHz Increments |
| PCIe Speeds | Fixed |
| PCI | Fixed at 33 |
| Expansion Slots | 1 x16 PCIe 1 x1 PCIe 2 PCI |
| OnBoard GPU | Auto, Always Enable |
| Frame Buffer (UMA) | 16M, 32M, 64M, 128M, Disabled (64M Default) |
| Core Voltage | Not Adjustable |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | Not Adjustable |
| HyperTransport Frequency | 1000MHz (1GHz) Supports AMD Cool'n'Quiet |
| HyperTransport Multiplier | Auto, 1X, 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X |
| DRAM Voltage | Not Adjustable |
| Memory Slots | Four 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration ECC/non ECC Regular Unbuffered Memory to 4GB Total |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 2 SATA II Drives by nForce 410 (RAID 0, 1, JBOD) |
| Onboard IDE/IDE RAID | Two Standard ATA133/100/66 (4 drives) |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 8 USB 2.0 ports supported by nF430 2 IEEE 1394 by VIA 6307 |
| Onboard LAN | Gigabit Ethernet by Marvell 88E1111 PHY |
| Onboard Audio | High Definition ADI Soundmax AD1986A 6-channel, auto jack sensing, SPDIF out |
| BIOS | AMI 0506 (11/18/2005) |
This is also the first NVIDIA chipset board that we have tested to support High Definition Azalia audio. Asus has used the same ADI AD1986A chipset used on the recently reviewed Asus A8R-MVP motherboard. However, the SPDIF connection is only provided by an optional bracket. TV out is another feature that requires an optional bracket. Since HTPC/Multimedia buyers will be looking for these features, the optional brackets will be a huge disappointment for many buyers.
Click to enlarge.
Asus does a great job with placement of power connectors. Even on this micro ATX board, the 24-pin ATX and 4-pin 12V are both near board edges where they work best. Both single and dual-core Socket 939 AMD processors work well on the Asus.
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Anton74 - Thursday, December 1, 2005 - link
It appears this type of board is mostly touted for HTPC use, but I think it's quite excellent for a capable office system as well because of the DVI connector, dual-head capability and gigabit LAN - and of course all the other connectivity goodness that's largely standard these days. And passive cooling, which I appreciate.I'm not aware of the existence of any other board with integrated graphics that has a DVI connector and can drive 2 monitors without additional expense. This is absolutely great for a very productive office setup without really breaking the bank (although using a cheaper Sempron CPU is out, since it's Socket 939).
Of course, competing boards should follow based on this chipset, which is only going to be a good thing. (Are all GeForce 6150 boards expected to have DVI connectors?)
By the way, are there some availability issues with this board? Newegg.com has had it listed out of stock for a good while now, periodically pushing back the ETA (which now isn't even mentioned anymore). Not many retailers seem to carry it yet, judging from the RTPE.
bob661 - Thursday, December 1, 2005 - link
The only issue with this is that you can't use one of those DVI to VGA converters on this board. There are several warnings on the website and in the manual not to do that.Calin - Friday, December 2, 2005 - link
There are many (cheaper, it's true) LCD panels that support VGA in, so this won't be such a big problem. Sad is that - if you want dual out, you need a panel with DVI input.Anton74 - Thursday, December 1, 2005 - link
Indeed, but for office applications - especially for those that care enough to invest in a dual head setup - LCD panels are generally more desirable I would think. I know it's what I want for my work system.
Degrador - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
The article has been removed?? Product Disclosure Statement?ksherman - Thursday, December 1, 2005 - link
called an NDA (non-Disclosure Agreement) ;)Degrador - Friday, December 2, 2005 - link
lol, it is too, right term wasn't coming to mind :)Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, December 1, 2005 - link
The article got pushed back by a day to accommodate the Yonah exclusive yesterday. That's why it was temporarily removed.Take care,
Anand
Degrador - Friday, December 2, 2005 - link
Thanks for the reply Anand, it's nice to have a site where we can still get reasons for things :)bob661 - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
It would have been nice if Asus included High Definition Audio on this board.