ECS KN1SLI Extreme (nVidia nForce4 SLI)
Author:
Date: 19.09.2005
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ECS KN1SLI Extreme
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| Chipset |
nVidia nForce4 SLI |
| Processor |
AMD Athlon 64 Socket939 (fsb 200MHz) |
| Memory |
PC2100/PC2700/PC3200 |
| HDD |
2x UltraDMA/133(RAID)
4x SerialATA II (RAID)
2x SerialATA II (RAID) |
| Additional |
2 IEEE-1394
Audio AC'92 v2.3
10 USB 2.0
LAN: Gigabit Ethernet + 10100 Ethernet |
| Price: |
~135-140$ (Price.Ru) |
As the nForce4 SLI chipset is getting popular, second-rank manufacturers have started producing motherboards on its base. The overall saving during production has resulted in that some companies managed to produce products at a price not exceeding 140$. An example - Albatron has released the K8SLI motherboard at 130-135$, and Epox came up with its model EP-9NPAJ SLI at 125-130$.
ECS can hardly be called a second-rank manufacturer. So many petty manufacturers feared that ECS might release a cheap and competitive motherboard. The apprehension have partly come true: engineers at Elitegroup were able to develop quite an interesting board, at quite affordable amount. The model has been dubbed KN1SLI Extreme, and among its peculiarities is the programmatical switching between SLI modes, additional dual-channel SerialATA II controller, support for the Firewire, and a system for cooling the power supply model. At the same time, the retail price of the board is within 135-140$. In view of the very good package bundle of the board, it looks like the board KN1SLI is going to be one of the best at the "price/quality" relation.
In today's review, we'll find out how true these assumptions will prove.
ECS KN1SLI Extreme Specifications
| ECS KN1SLI Extreme |
| Processor |
- AMD Athlon 64/Sempron with the bus speed 200 MHz;
- Socket 939;
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| Chipset |
- Chipset nVidia nForce4 SLI;
- Communication with the processor: HyperTransport bus (16/16bit)
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| System memory |
- Four 184-pin slots for DDR SDRAM DIMM
- Maximum memory capacity 4 GB
- Dual-channel memory access
- Supported memory types -PC2100/PC2700/PC3200
- Onboard power indicator
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| Graphic |
Two PCI Express x16 slots (in the SLI mode, the slots use 8 PCI Express channels each); |
| Expansion capabilities |
- Three 32-bit PCI Bus Master slots;
- One PCI Express x1 slot
- Ten USB 2.0 ports ( 4 integrated + 6 additional);
- Two IEEE1394 ports (Firewire; 2 additional)
- Integrated audio AC'92 v2.3;
- Gigabit Ethernet LAN controller
- 10100 Ethernet LAN controller
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| Overclocking capabilities |
- FSB adjustable within 200 to 400 MHz in 1 MHz increments; multiplier adjustable;
-- Adjustable voltages on the processor, memory.
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| Disk subsystem |
- 2 channels UltraDMA133/100/66/33 Bus Master IDE (with support for 4 ATAPI-devices & RAID 0, 1, 0+1 );
- Support for SerialATA II (4 channels - nForce4 SLI, with support for RAID );
- Additional SerialATA IIRaid controller (Silicon Image Sil13132 chip, 2 channels);
- Support for LS-120 / ZIP / ATAPI CD-ROM
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| BIOS |
- 4 MBit Flash ROM
- Award Phoenix BIOS with support for Enhanced ACPI, DMI, Green, PnP Features, and Trend Chip Away Virus
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| Miscellaneous |
- One port for FDD, one serial and one parallel port, ports for PS/2 mouse and keyboard
- IrDA
- STR (Suspend to RAM)
- SPDIF Out
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| Power management |
- Wake-up on modem, mouse, keyboard, LAN, timer, and USB
- 24-pin power connector ATX (ATX-PW)
- Additional 4-pin power connector
- Additional 4-pin Molex power connector
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| Monitoring |
- Monitoring the temperature of the processor, system , monitoring of voltages, detection of the speed of the four fans. |
| Dimensions |
- ATX form factor, 244mm x 305mm (9.63" x 12") |
Package
The board is packaged into a box of proprietary design,
Package bundle
- Motherboard
- 1x software & drivers CD
- 1x third-party software CD
- User's Manual in English
- One ATA-133 cable, one ATA-33 cable, FDD cable
- Four SerialATA cables + one power supply adapter (2 connectors)
- A bracket for 2 additional USB 2.0 and two Firewire ports
- 1x bracket for LPT port
- S-ATA bracket (one port for SerialATA)
- ECS corporate logo sticker
- 1x cap for the rear panel
- SLI-connector + enforcement bracket
- 3" panel for the front panel of the housing
- LAN cable
- TopHat Flash module + usage guide
The package bundle is worth the price of the product. In fact, we should note that to make the most of the motherboard's capabilities, SerialATA cables, matching adapters, as well as brackets for USB ports are missing.
Those brackets which are in the bundle allow implementing only a part of the board's capabilities. In particular, the bracket for two Firewire ports fully meets the board's capabilities, but the number of USB ports is evidently not enough - of six 6 additional ports, there are merely two.
This shortcoming has been partly made up for by the bracket for a SerialATA port which allows plugging in external devices. Besides, of interest is the 3" panel for the front panel of the housing, with which two USB 2.0 ports and two Firewire ports can be added (using a bracket which is available in the bundle) Another component is a module for restoring the BIOS (TopHat Flash) which is another BIOS chip:
The last plus of the package bundle is the LAN cable.
The lack of specific bundle items can hardly be regarded as a shortcoming - the price of the board is at the level of the cheapest products made on the base of the nForce4 SLI (135-140$ on the date of running the tests).
To support the SLI, there is a SLI-connector which is meant to connect two video cards, as well as a bracket for additional fixation of two video cards operating in the SLI mode.
The user's manual has nothing to complain about: all is written distinctly and clearly. The format of the booklet is a somehow inconvenient, but on the whole there is nothing big about that.
Finally, in the box we found an ECS logo sticker, as well as a CD with third-party software (InterVideo WinDVD Suite: WinDVD, WinDVD Creator, etc.), as well as Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0, Data Processing Utility,I'm InTouch, MediaRing, ProMagic, ShowShifter. As regards the regular disk with drivers, there is a kit of ECS proprietary utilities. Besides, on the disk there is the nVidia nTune utility.
In the end, the package bundle deserved a 10/10 mark.
Next
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Content: |
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- Specifications
- Board layout
- Expansion capabilities
- BIOS, monitoring
- Overclocking and stability
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Performance and conclusions
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