Core 2 Duo and Crossfire
Taiwanese manufacturer MSI has released a motherboard today, the MSI P965 Platinum, which is the first based on the Intel P965 Express chipset to support Crossfire, ATI's dual graphics card setup.
The P965 is designed for dual core processors and while it supports Pentium D is clearly intended for use with Core 2 Duo. The 965 family was launched in June and there are two other variations, the Q965 and G965 which form part of Intel's vPro and Viiv platforms respectively.
This MSI board has two PCI Express x16 slots and supports Crossfire directly. Gamers looking for maximum performance will look towards an Intel Core 2 Extreme as processor and those who favour ATI will now have the opportunity configure a dream system.
Posted by Marc Delehanty on September 19, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
VIA annouce new Intel chipset
VIA have released details of their latest chipset for Intel Processors; the P4M890 IGP. The new chipset supports 1066,800, 533 and 400MHz FSB Pentium 4 and Celeron CPUs and provides both DDR1 and DDR2 support up to a maximum of 4GB.
The P4M890 also supports up to two x16 PCI-E ports as well as x1 PCI-E ports and Integrated graphic support is also available, based on VIA’s UniChrome Pro graphics core with a 200MHz engine clock.
The chipset supports up to four SATA devices, which can be set up in RAID 0, 1, 0+1, or JBOD arrays thanks to the integrated V-RAID technology.
Posted by Simon Crisp on February 9, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
ECS unveils its first Intel SLI board
ECS have unveiled its first Intel based motherboard that supports SLI technology.
The C-19-A SLI is based around nVidia’s nForce4 XE chipset and also incorporated ECS’s own S.D.G.E. (Scalable Dual Graphic Engines) technology.
All of the rest of the usual goodies are there; FSB 1066, Intel Pentium processor Extreme Edition support, dual DDR2 667 memory up to 16GB, four SATA II slots supporting RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5, Gigabit LAN, and eight channel high definition audio.
All this for a remarkable RRP of £55 and available from mid Feb.
Posted by Simon Crisp on February 7, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Abit asks customers to help shape its products
Abit wants to know what you think of its motherboards and is asking its customers and PC enthusiasts to take part in its online survey.
Anyone who fills it in is automatically entered into a competition with $10,000 of prizes. It is, says Abit, your chance to influence their products.
The survey comes in three sections, and for each section you complete, you'll get a raffle ticket, plus there are three additional sections, with a top prize worth $500. If you are motivated by the thought of free products, be warned the prizes range from the rubbish (ATI pens, Intel magnets) to decent stuff like Abit's motherboards.
The survey closes on 10th February, so if you're interested, get cracking.
Posted by Rob Jones on January 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
ECS unveil world's first 955X Crossfire board
ECS have announced the PF22 motherboard which supports both Intel’s advanced i955X chipset and ATI’s CrossFire technology.
It features ECS’ Scalable D.G.E (Dual Graphic Engines) architecture as well as an overclocking feature called Instant Overclocking Controller (I.O.C.).
The PF22 should be available from November with a RRP price of around £140 ex VAT.
Posted by Simon Crisp on November 2, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Two new boards from ASUS
ASUS has just announced two new SLI motherboards which provide dual true X16 PCI Express graphics support and use an 8-Phase power design to lower heat generation and fan-less cooling to provide quieter running and better overclocking stability.
The A8N32-SLI is the AMD based board supporting Athlon 64FX/Athlon 64 X2/Athlon 64 and Sempron CPUs, using the nVidia nForce 4 SLI X16 chipset and will be available in two models, the A8N32-SLI Deluxe and the A8N32-SLI Deluxe/WiFi. The P5N32-SLI is based around nVidia's Intel SLI solution chipset, the nForce4 SLI Intel Edition. It supports Intel's Pentium EE, Pentium D, Pentium 4 and Celeron CPUs and like the A8N32-SLI will come in two versions the Deluxe and WiFi.
A8N32-SLI
Posted by Simon Crisp on October 24, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack
ECS launch new card for the PF88 Extreme
ECS has announced a new converter card for their PF88 Extreme Hybrid motherboard.
The A4S SIMA card features AMD’s Socket 754 and is it aimed at users who want to run the latest AMD Turion 64 mobile CPUs in a desktop PC. The card comes with a SIS756 North Bridge, up to 1600MT/s HyperTransport speeds, and two DIMM slots which can take up to a maximum of 2GB of DDR400 memory.
The A4S SIMA is priced at £27.99 (ex VAT) and is available from http://www.pcnextday.co.uk/
Posted by Simon Crisp on September 19, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
ECS announce CrossFire ready motherboards
ECS have announced two motherboards that support the upcoming CrossFire technology from ATI
The KA1 Extreme is the AMD based board, supporting Socket 939 Athlon64 FX and Athlon 64 CPUs while the PA1 Extreme is the board for Intel processors, supporting Socket 775 Pentium 4 and Pentium D CPUs with FSB speeds up to 1066MHz.
The PA1 Extreme (pictured) should be available from the end of September with the KA1 Extreme coming a month later.
Posted by Simon Crisp on September 13, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Pentium 4 Successor Announced
At the fall Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Intel announced plans to release a series of new processors and micro architectures due for arrival in 2006. First on the agenda was news of the Woodcrest, Conroe, and Napa platforms for Server, Desktop and Notebook platforms. Conroe chips are the successor to Presler Pentium D processors, and are inspired by the current Pentium M platform used in many notebook PCs. The new architectures de-emphasise clock speeds and instead focus on the amount of performance that can be extracted per watt. According to Intel, Conroe chips will give up to 5x better performance per watt than Northwood CPUs used in Pentium 4 processors, but the firm refused to reveal details of final product implementation. In true PCW style, we plied several key Intel representatives with drink and managed to extract unconfirmed reports that the initial batch of Conroe chips will run between 2.8GHz and 3.4GHz. All Conroe chips will be fabricated using a 65 nanometre process and are expected to utilise far less power than current Pentium 4s. Most will use two cores on a single die, but single-core implementations are being planned to replace mainstream Prescott CPUs.
Posted by Rory Reid on August 24, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
More SLI boards from Gigabyte
In view of nVidia’s announcement that they want to bring SLI technology into the mainstream arena, there are going to be a lot more SLI capable motherboards hitting the market.
Gigabyte has announced another three new additions to their current line-up:
The GA-K8N Pro SLI and GA-K8N Ultra SLI support AMD’s Socket 939 processors while the
GA-8N-SLI Pro brings SLI support for Intel processors with the latest nVidia nForce4 SLI Intel Edition Chipset.
Look out for forthcoming reviews and performance figures of all three boards.
Posted by Simon Crisp on July 22, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Dual core motherboard from Foxconn
The first retail motherboard we have seen with support for Intel's dual core 840 CPU has landed on the labs bench.
Foxconn's 955X7AA board is feature rich board with integrated dual Gigabit Ethernet, SATA I and II support and 8 channel audio.
Click here for benchmark results.
Posted by Simon Crisp on May 17, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
SLI reaches Intel platform
Nvidia has recently began shipping its NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition MCPs for the Intel platform to manufacturers. Designed for desktop PCs and motherboards based on Intel Pentium 4 processors for Socket 775, dual-core Intel Pentium processor Extreme Edition and Pentium D processors. We're havent heard anything from manufacturers on when we're likely to see one in the labs, but we will keep you informed.
Posted by Alex Arias on April 6, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Another first from ECS
Hot on the heals of their dual graphic engines range of motherboards, ECS have just announced the ECS PF88, a converter card that enables AMD and Intel technologies to be used on the same platform.
The first ECS motherboard designed to be compatible with the new PF88 is based around the Intel P4 LGA775 socket and includes 4 slots of DDR2 667 memory, a 1066FSB, SATA2, GigaLAN, 1394a Firewire, and makes use of the SiS656 Northbridge and a SiS965 Southbridge.
The SiS965 Southbridge is shared with the converter card, which is based around the AMD socket 939, and has its own dedicated SiS756 Northbridge, 2 slots of DDR400, power management circuits and a FSB2000T, which are required to run AMD K8 technology. PF88 and the motherboard support the latest dual core technology from Intel and AMD.
Look out for a review as soon as we lay our hands on the board.
Posted by Simon Crisp on March 14, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
MSI's tarnished Diamond (update)
MSI seems to have caused a bit of an unwanted stir with the European launch of its flagship K8N Diamond SLI motherboard, according to its dedicated user forum. The problem is MSI's 'Dual Net' adapter, a combined 802.11g/Bluetooth PCI card that was supposed to be bundled with the £150 motherboard.
Except, it seems, in Europe. So all the European punters who stumped up the cash for pre-orders are more than a little peeved.
We've contacted MSI UK about this and they've promised us an answer, so stay tuned.
Oh, and we received a review sample of the board a few days ago, and yes, it has no Dual Net adapter. But it did have the word 'optional' in brackets next to the picture of the adapter on the box..
Update: MSI has just replied to our questions, and asked us to state that any UK customer with a complaint about this product should email MSI customer services for a resolution. All registered UK forum users have apparently been contacted, and correctly labelled products are being shipped to UK resellers.
Posted by on February 2, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBack
VIA unveils new Pentium 4 chipsets
VIA Technologies have announced a new range of chipsets for Intel’s Pentium 4. The PT series brings PCI-E and DDR2 support, but the most interesting member of the family is the PT894 Pro which offers support for dual PCI-E graphics cards by using the VIA’s DualGFX Express techonolgy which offers a total of twenty PCI-E lanes.
The other chipsets in the line up are:-
PT880 Pro – PCI-E and DDR2 with the ability to support both AGP and PCI-E graphics cards on the same board through VIA’s Universal Graphics Interface (UGI).
PT894 Aimed at the mainstream performance market, it offers support for 1066MHz FSB processors.
Posted by Simon Crisp on February 1, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)
New Pentium M desktop board from AOpen
AOpen have announced another Pentium M desktop motherboard to partner the i855GMEm-LFS board released recently. Unlike its sibling that uses Intel’s notebook i855 chipset, the i915GMm is based on Intel’s 915GM chipset and supports Socket 479 Pentium M processors, dual-channel DDR/DDR2, PCI-E graphics and dual Gigabit Ethernet.
Retail versions of the board should be available from early March.
Posted by Simon Crisp on January 31, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
ECS annouce Dual Graphics motherboards
ECS have announced a range of motherboards offering both AGP and PCI-E graphics card slots on the same board. The range includes support for both Intel and AMD processors using Sockets 775, 748, 939, 754 and Socket A and is offered with a wide range of chipset options from Intel, ATI and SIS.
Posted by Simon Crisp on January 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
