Gigabyte 73UM-S2H and 73PVM-S2H

Late in 2007, NVIDIA started its expansion over the market of integrated graphics for the Intel platform. To achieve that goal, a new line of GeForce 7000 series chipsets based on the G73 chip was released. It includes the following products: GeForce 7150+nForce 630i, GeForce 7100+nForce 630i, GeForce 7050+nForce 630i, and GeForce 7050+nForce 610i. Here are their technical specifications.

To begin with, we note the major advantages. First, the chipsets support all the existing Intel processors with FSB both 266 MHz and 333 MHz. Secondly, the integrated video core offers a really powerful functionality and support for HDMI with HDCP. Combined with the well polished graphic drivers, motherboards based on GeForce 7000 family chipsets appear to be a good alternative to systems with discrete low-end video cards. Besides, all the chipset (except GeForce 7050+nForce 610i) support plugging in two monitors.

Now, the shortcomings. The only shortcoming is the single-channel memory controller for GeForce 7000 series chipsets. However, as the performance test has shown, this technical solution has almost not affected the operating speed of the system equipped with a discrete video card. We'll be talking about the speed of the integrated video card a bit later.

Discrete video cards are supported by new chipsets due to the sufficient number of PCI Express bus lanes. In particular, the two of the reviewed boards offer a PCI Express x16 slot and one PCI Express x1 slot each. By the way, these are 73UM-S2H and 73PVM-S2H made by Gigabyte, which are based on GeForce 7150 and GeForce 7100, respectively.

As regards the expansion options, the GeForce 7000 series has not brought anything new: the GeForce 7150, 7100, and 7050 offer the integrated south bridge nForce 630i which supports a Gigabit network connection, four SerialATA II lines (with support for RAID), one ParallelATA line, integrated High Definition Audio 7.1, and ten USB 2.0 ports. In NVIDIA's assortment, there is also a super-value combination of GeForce 7050 and the south bridge nForce 610i which supports only eight USB 2.0 ports and does not support Gigabit Ethernet. The number of lines to plug in storage has not been reduced, whereas the RAID functionality has been cut down: only arrays of levels 0 and 1 are supported.

Specifications

Retail boxes

Package bundle:

The package bundles of both the motherboards is almost identical

The only difference is in that the board based on 7150 has an additional CD with drivers for MS Vista.

On the whole, we had nothing to claim about the package bundles of the boards. However, the retail price is still unknown, so we can't rate the package bundle.

Layout and Features

Both the motherboards are built on the Micro-ATX form factor, so they are of compact size.

Let's start with the essential: both the boards are based on the same PCB design and offer a minimum of distinctions.

Both the offer the integrated GeForce 7150/7100 graphic core and allow for use of an external video card which is installed into the PCI Express x16 slot.

The configuration of the remaining slots is identical for both the motherboards: each uses two PCI slots and one PCI Express x16 slot.

To cool the chipset, both the motherboards use only an aluminum radiator.

Both the motherboards have two 240-pin DIMM slots each for DDR2 memory modules, with the overall supported memory capacity being 4 GB.

The basic expansion options of motherboards based on GeForce 7150 and 7100 chipsets are absolutely identical because of the same nForce 630i south bridge. In particular, the chipset supports four SerialATA II lines, with the option to arrange RAID arrays of levels 0, 1, 0+1, and 5. At the same time, there is support for one ParallelATA line.

Three SerialATA ports are installed near the DIMM slots, with the fourth one brought over to the rear panel.

Then the boards support ten USB2.0 port. Four of them are on the rear panel, with 6 more plugged in via brackets (missing in the bundle). Besides, both the boards use the FireWire controller - a TSB43AB23 chip made by Texas Instruments. This chip supports two Firewire ports: one mounted on the rear panel, with the other one being additional (no bracket in the package bundle).

Also, the two boards implement the High Definition Audio subsystem, and the ALC889A chip is used as the codec.

Now a few words on the network support: both the motherboards use a high-speed (Gigabit Ethernet) RTL8211B LAN controller made by Realtek:

The board's rear panel is of the following configuration:

Of note is that the boards lack both COM ports and the one LPT port: the LPT and one COM ports are implemented with a bracket (missing in the package bundle). On the other hand, the panel uses VGA, DVI, and HDMI outputs, one FireWire, and External SerialATA ports. Near tem, there is an optical SP-DIF output.

Here is the traditional layout of the board:

Now on to the BIOS settings.

BIOS

The BIOS of Gigabyte 73UM-S2H and Gigabyte 73PVM-S2H is absolutely identical and is based on the Award BIOS version.

The memory frequency is set in the "MB Intelligent Tweaker/FSB & Memory Config" section:

In the "Memory Timing Settings" subsection, the user can set the required memory latency timings:

What is really convenient is that the right-hand column displays the current timings. Now look at the system monitoring section.

Both the motherboards display the current temperatures for the CPU and the system, rotational speeds of the two fans (the boards use two 4-pin connectors), as well as the voltage levels. The Smart Fan which allows for a dynamic adjustment of the CPU cooler rotation depending on the CPU temperature, and the cooler plugged in to the SYS_FAN - depending on the system temperature.

Besides, the boards allow the user to leverage all the technologies implemented in Intel's latest processors:

Finally, we note the feature for controlling the memory capacity allocated for the needs of the graphic core:

Overclocking and stability

Despite the identical PCB, the boards Gigabyte 73UM-S2H and Gigabyte 73PVM-S2H stand out with a kit of capacitors of the power converter. Both implement a 4-line scheme, but 73PVM-S2H uses nine 820 mkF as well as four 471 mkF capacitors. On 73UM-S2H, we can see nine 820 mkF and four 470 mkF capacitors.

Now on to the overclocking features.

We also note that there are few overclocking tools. But the most needs are there: the adjustment of FSB within 100 to 650 MHz.

The memory frequency can be set both dependent and independent of the FSB speed:

The second main function is one to adjust voltage on the CPU (Vcore) within 0.5 V to 1.6 V in 0.00625 V increments.

In theory, these two features allow to overclock the CPU up the bus (FSB) speed = 400 MHz. Further overclocking would require the features for raising voltage on the memory, the chipset, and the FSB, which are missing on the test motherboards.

Now let's look at the practical results of overclocking. The maximum stable FSB speed for both the motherboards is 380 MHz, with both the integrated video core and with an external video card:

In fact, this value is quite sufficient for value CPUs of the E2xxx series or Celeron (based on the Conroe-L core).

As regards the integrated video core, it can also be overclocked. For that, there is the "VGA Core Clock" feature that allows raising the core speed by 50%.

In practice, the system preserves stability at only 10% frequency rise, with the performance gain in 3D applications is extremely small.

Performance tests

When determining the starting FSB speed, it turned out that the boards overstated it by 0.7 MHz.

In our test setup, we used the following hardware:

First, let's look as the results of synthetic tests (MSI G965M is based on Intel G965, and Foxconn G33M-S - on Intel G33).

Now on to the gaming benchmarks.

Another test - WinRar (Kb/s.; the more, the better).

Recently, we compared two integrated MSI motherboards for the Intel platform (based on G33) and one for the AMD platform (GeForce 7050). In fact, the conclusions regarding the performance in 3D applications have remained unchanged. First, the G33 chipset with Intel's latest drivers offers an advantage at simple tasks. But the NVIDIA GeForce 7??? family of chipsets is functionally superior to any Intel's graphic solutions and supports all 3D applications which we have ever tried so far. But the Intel chipset has a number of incompatibilities: the outdated Comanche does not work (Intel Gxxx does not support T&L ), nor works GunMetal (problems with the drivers), and at X2-Threat the Intel chipset won due to the worse and more simplified details in the 3D image. Moreover, the functional superiority NVIDIA's graphic core provides a relatively high speed in modern 3D games like Doom 3, Far Cry, and Half Life 2.

One more note to add: the 30 MHz (5%) difference in the speed of the graphic chip in GeForce 7150 and GeForce 7100 almost does not affect the operating speed in 3D applications and is seen solely on test graphs.

Final Words

First, we make conclusions regarding the GeForce 7000 series chipsets. To start with, the chipsets impressed us with their abundant functionality and high operating speed. Nor the use of the single-channel memory controller has almost affected the overall system performance. As it turned out, even a technical solution like this one is enough to beat Intel's products.

As regards the reviewed Gigabyte 73UM-S2H and Gigabyte 73PVM-S2H, we have found no shortcomings. The expansion options are good indeed, and the developers have improved them through installation of an additional FireWire chip. The only thing that is not cleat to us: why has Gigabyte released two identical models but named differently? Such minor trifles like the difference in frequencies of the graphic core by 5% can be disregarded. The possible explanation is in that NVIDIA is positioning the 7150 chipset in the "Discrete GPU Replacement" sector, while 7100 - in the "Best-In-Class Mainstream PC" sector. These are extremely complicated marketing games, so we are not spending time for them. Our advice tot he reader: if there is a choice between Gigabyte 73UM-S2H and Gigabyte 73PVM-S2H, but the cheaper one!

Conclusion