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Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 Motherboard Review
Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 Motherboard Review - PCSTATS
The Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 is powered by the nForce3 Ultra chipset, and includes an onboard Serial ATA RAID controller, IEEE 1394b Firewire, Gigabit LAN, a 10/100 NIC, 7.1 channel audio.
 84% Rating:   
Filed under: Motherboards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Gigabyte Sep 03 2004   C. Sun  
Home > Reviews > Motherboards > Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939

Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 Motherboard Review

When nVIDIA first announced its nForce3-150 chipset for the Athlon64 processor, many consumers had mixed feelings. Next came the nForce3-250, and while nVidia did state it had updated the NF3-250 to address the issues of the NF3-150, it didn't really help out those who wanted an Athlon64 system.

However, now that AMD's Socket 939 CPU has been released, all the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place nicely care of the nForce3 Ultra chipset. For starters, consumers can use dual channel DDR RAM with the Athlon64 processor, and they also have the choice of upgrading to a higher end Athlon64 FX CPU if they wish.

In this review, PCstats is testing a brand new Socket 939 motherboard from Gigabyte which is priced at around $350 CDN ($240 US). The Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 is powered by the nForce3 Ultra chipset, and includes an onboard Serial ATA RAID controller, IEEE 1394b Firewire, Gigabit LAN, a 10/100 NIC, 7.1 channel audio, dual BIOS chips and Gigabyte's proprietory Dual Power System (DPS).

Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 Motherboard

Includes:

Users Manual, Serial ATA RAID manual, Driver CD, Gigabyte Sticker, Ultra/133 IDE cable, Floppy Drive cable, three Serial ATA cables, Three Molex to Serial ATA cables, Rear I/O Shield, External Serial ATA Bracket, Audio Bracket, USB Bracket, USB/IEEE1394b Bracket

The layout of the components and slots on the GA-K8NSNXP-939 motherboard is excellent, a common trend with Gigabyte's boards - the main IDE/floppy drive and ATX power connector couldn't be placed in a better location!

It's also nice with motherboard designers locate all the headers, ie. Serial ATA channels, USB2.0, IEEE1394b, etc. at the very bottom of the motherboard. It certainly helps when one's installing all the PCI brackets to have all the connectors out of the way of expansion cards. Oddly, there are two Serial ATA channels just above the AGP slot... which seems to be a trend of all nForce3-250 based boards we've tested thus far.

The Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 is nicely labeled, so that wherever there is a header or connector, you'll find identification near by. For example, the two Serial ATA slots above the AGP are labelled SATA0_SB, SATA1_SB while the Serial ATA channels on the bottom of the board are labelled SATA0_SII, STAT1_SII. If you haven't guessed yet, SB stands for the Southbridge while SII indicates the Serial ATA channels run through the onboard Silicon Image Sil3512CT128 controller! Talk about a company that goes all the way!

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Contents of Article: Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939
 Pg 1.  — Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 Motherboard Review
 Pg 2.  The nForce3 Ultra
 Pg 3.  The nVIDIA Hardware Firewall
 Pg 4.  Let's Overclock the GA-K8NSNXP-939
 Pg 5.  System Specs and Benchmarks
 Pg 6.  Benchmarks: Winstone 2002, Winbench 99
 Pg 7.  Benchmarks: SiSoft Sandra 2004, Super Pi
 Pg 8.  Benchmarks: PCMark2002, PCMark04
 Pg 9.  Benchmarks: 3DMark2001, AquaMark3
 Pg 10.  Benchmarks: Comanche 4, X2: The Threat
 Pg 11.  Benchmarks: UT2003, Conclusions

 
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