PC Motherboard And Chipset Reviews And News
There's nobody quite like Mom and when it comes to performance desktop computers or business class workhorse machines, motherboards are always what bring the computing family together. Motherboards house all PC components from the processor, to memory and storage. Here you'll find our coverage on big motherboard brands and products from ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, EVGA, ASRock and many more, along with the chipsets from AMD and Intel that power the PC Master Race.
For the last year, Abit's biggest challenge has been conquering itself. Struggling with a combination of internal financial woes, corporate investigations, and a generally un-exciting product lineup, there is no doubt that the once mighty Abit has sagged as of late. Once considered a tier one motherboard maker with a keen ear to the needs...
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For the better part of the last decade, there has only been two major players in the discreet graphics field, and as one of those players, nVidia needs no introduction. The GPU manufacturer has stayed at or near the forefront of technological advances through the years. Although there has been a misstep or two along the way, you generally...
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ATI has been coming on very strong these past few months, bolstering their GPU line-up with a slew of new products, ranging from the entry level Radeon X1300 all the way on up to the flagship Radeon X1900 XTX. The company's well documented execution problems from 2005 are behind them, and they seem to be firing on all...
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While the majority of our coverage here at HotHardware.com tends to favor enthusiast class products, the fact of the matter is affordable mainstream products are far more prevalent in the marketplace. Flagship video cards and overclockable motherboards are certainly nice, but there is a much larger market for highly integrated motherboards...
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Looking back on 2005's list of hot products, dual-core CPUs and dual-graphics solutions are a couple of things that immediately come to mind. Adoption of dual-core processors continues to increase, with both Intel and AMD bringing their own renditions to the frontline. Both company's products have their own pros and cons, however. ...
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There is a current trend in PC hardware to have two of everything. Whether it's two (or more) drives in a RAID configuration, dual-core CPUs, dual-channel memory, or adding an additional video card to increase frame rates; it's apparent that doubling-up is here to stay. Up until recently, running two video cards simultaneously...
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Abit has earned a reputation over the years, as a builder of top-quality motherboards geared for high-performance enthusiasts and extreme overclockers. They've produced some exceedingly popular products in the past, like the legendary BX6 and long-time favorite the TH7-II RAID, and the company continues to innovate today. In our tenure here...
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When NVIDIA first resurrected the term "SLI" from the technology archives, it was welcomed back with open arms. Although the exact definition has changed from it's 3Dfx roots, it boils down to two graphics cards working on the same job. The obvious benefit is that two cards should be able to easily outperform even the fastest single...
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With the adoption of PCI Express as a next-gen I/O technology, all of the major chipset manufacturers worked hard to bring compatible chipsets to market. Naturally, Intel was first on the scene with the 900 series chipsets. But on the AMD side, VIA was first to market with its K8T890 Chipset. Building on the successes of...
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If we took a moment to reflect on some of the biggest technological advancements in recent history, SLI has to be on the short list. Thanks in part to the increased bandwidth of PCI Express, NVIDIA paved the way for running two matching PCI Express based video cards concurrently, resulting in what we know today as SLI. As with...
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Over the last couple of years, we've evaluated quite a number of socket 939 motherboards for AMD Athlon 64 processors. The vast majority of these motherboards were based on NVIDIA's very popular nForce 3/4 chipsets, although a smattering were based on chipsets from SiS or VIA as well. In November of last year though, ATI also chimed in with...
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We certainly do evaluate and showcase our fair share of ASUS products here at HotHardware, and it's no great mystery because Asus is also typically one of the first out of the block with a new chipset technology. The company's new A8N32 SLI Deluxe motherboard is no exception. NVIDIA's new nForce 4 SLI X16 chipset has been out the...
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Foxconn manufactures a wide range of products, ranging from video cards, to connectors, and as we'll explore today, motherboards. Over the years, we've had some experience with Foxconn, and while their products have not always been hardcore-enthusiast friendly, they have produced decent products. Today we'll be sampling Foxconn's WinFast NF4SK8AA-8EKRS,...
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Looking back over the course of PC history, as processor clock speeds have risen, we've seen larger and typically louder heatsinks, fans, and other cooling measures implemented, with the singular goal of keeping temperatures in check. Some would say it's a small price to pay for the performance gained, but an increasing number of PC...
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As we move into the third quarter of 2005, dual-core processors are gaining ground in the mainstream market. Both Intel and AMD now offer competing dual-core processors in the form of AMD's Athlon X2, and Intel's Pentium D and Pentium Extreme Edition. As we've touched on in recent articles, AMD's strength lies in their backward...
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When we last checked in with Shuttle back in April, we took a look at their current entry for the Intel platform, which was based on the latest chipset at the time, the i925XE. Our introduction for that piece went something along the lines of how the SFF market typically lags behind the full-sized board market, but how Shuttle was right...
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With today's ever advancing PC technology, it seems that two things ultimately remain unchanged; an increase in performance usually means an escalation in heat output. Currently, air cooling techniques can still keep most computer hardware operating at reasonable temperatures, but those who decide to squeeze every ounce of performance...
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We probably haven't stressed this often enough, whether to you our faithful readers or to our OEM contacts in the PR and Product teams at various companies we work with here at HotHardware. But let it be known unequivocally now, we LOVE board revisions. Don't get us wrong, we're not losing it on you. We'd rather a...
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Today we're going to take a look at three enthusiast class motherboards based on the NVIDIA nForce 4 Ultra chipset, the Abit Fatal1ty AN8, the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum, and the ECS KN1 Extreme. All three of these motherboards take the core features inherent to the NVIDIA nForce 4 Ultra,...
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With the Dual-Core processor push in full effect, prospective upgraders now have a whole new line of products to consider before making a purchase. From the Intel side you have the Intel Pentium D series, which offers two non-HyperThreaded cores in a single package and the Pentium Extreme Edition with its dual-HyperThreaded cores. ...
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When Intel released their previous line of chipsets, namely the i915 and 925X, they got a luke warm reception at best. Performance gains over of the 865/875 platform were minimal, and there weren't many upgrade options available at the time of launch. On top of that, users were faced with the unenviable task of purchasing a new CPU,...
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With the advent of the mini-PC, a completely new industry has been born. Well, maybe it isn't so new anymore, but what started out almost as a novelty has matured into a major craze in the enthusiast market. Today's mini-PCs come in a broad range of flavors with a wide variety of features. Sitting high atop the list of unique...
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