µATX Overview: Prelude to a Roundup
by Gary Key on August 7, 2007 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Enter the Mobo
Last but certainly not least is our selection of motherboards that will be part of our µATX roundup. We looked at several different ways of presenting the information and determined that we will separate each roundup article by chipset manufacturer. As an example, all of the NVIDIA chipset boards will be compared against each other and then we will move to the AMD 690G chipsets and then finally the Intel chipset based boards. We will have a separate chipset and budget CPU comparison article shortly that focuses on the pure performance of the chipsets with various CPUs. We will go into additional details in each roundup article but for now here are the motherboards we have spent more time with than our families over the past few months.
AMD 690G
Jetway M2A692-GHG
ASUS M2A-VM HDMI
MSI K9AGM2-FIH
Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H
Biostar TA690G
Sapphire Pure Innovation PI-AM2RS690M
NVIDIA 7050
Biostar TForce TF7050-M2
ASRock AliveNF7G-HD
Abit AN-M2HD
NVIDIA 6100/6150
abit NF-M2 nView
ASUS M2NPV-VM
DFI C51PV-M2/G Infinity
ASRock AliveNF6G-VSTA
Intel ATI Radeon Express 1250
abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD
ASRock 4Core1333-FullHD
Intel G965
Intel BLKDG965OTMKR
Gigabyte GA-965GM-S2
ASUS P5B-VM
Intel G33
MSI G33M-FI
Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R
ASUS P5K-VM
Intel DG33TLM
There you have it, approximately 22 boards are planned to be covered utilizing seven different IGP chipsets. Our primary focus (Ed: That got lost somewhere on page 2, didn't it?) in this roundup will be on the features and reliability of each motherboard, but we will also look at performance on an individual basis. We will then perform a platform comparison that will not only compare the performance of our top µATX selections against each other in our individual categories (HTPC, Gaming, Home/Office) but also against platforms based on the more expensive and/or larger ATX cousins. Scattered in between each roundup article will be our side-bar coverage of various components utilized in our platform buildups. Over the course of the next couple of months we will also provide analysis and reviews of several components that caught our interest during the course of testing.
Oh, we almost forgot: we get to do this all over again with the P35 motherboards when we're done with the µATX segment. Where did we put the coffee maker?
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AMD 690G
Jetway M2A692-GHG
ASUS M2A-VM HDMI
MSI K9AGM2-FIH
Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H
Biostar TA690G
Sapphire Pure Innovation PI-AM2RS690M
NVIDIA 7050
Biostar TForce TF7050-M2
ASRock AliveNF7G-HD
Abit AN-M2HD
NVIDIA 6100/6150
abit NF-M2 nView
ASUS M2NPV-VM
DFI C51PV-M2/G Infinity
ASRock AliveNF6G-VSTA
Intel ATI Radeon Express 1250
abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD
ASRock 4Core1333-FullHD
Intel G965
Intel BLKDG965OTMKR
Gigabyte GA-965GM-S2
ASUS P5B-VM
Intel G33
MSI G33M-FI
Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R
ASUS P5K-VM
Intel DG33TLM
There you have it, approximately 22 boards are planned to be covered utilizing seven different IGP chipsets. Our primary focus (Ed: That got lost somewhere on page 2, didn't it?) in this roundup will be on the features and reliability of each motherboard, but we will also look at performance on an individual basis. We will then perform a platform comparison that will not only compare the performance of our top µATX selections against each other in our individual categories (HTPC, Gaming, Home/Office) but also against platforms based on the more expensive and/or larger ATX cousins. Scattered in between each roundup article will be our side-bar coverage of various components utilized in our platform buildups. Over the course of the next couple of months we will also provide analysis and reviews of several components that caught our interest during the course of testing.
Oh, we almost forgot: we get to do this all over again with the P35 motherboards when we're done with the µATX segment. Where did we put the coffee maker?
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yyrkoon - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
Well you see . . . I often take reviews from *any* review site with a grain of salt anyhow (personally). There are many reasons why, but one of the major reasons is that most reviewers only test a single board. I like to read user reviews from sites like newegg to get a broader 'idea' of how the board works in use, and potential problems that may crop up. Granted, you need to weed out the 'weenies' and their reviews to get at the heart of the matter. This is one factor why I choose ABIT boards, they have a very active forum, and if there are problems with a board, you can bet it will be plastered all over ABITs forums. That, and often times you can get your problem solved very quickly there, and I have seen Anandtech staff there helping ABIT make their boards the best they can be. However, I really do wish ABIT would do away with their current replacement policy, but I guess it is to be expected (replacing bad parts with remanufactuered/recertified parts, would be nice to get a new part, for a new part). Thankfully, I have rarely had the need to replace any motherboard from ABIT.Alyx - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
I must agree, it is their choice. Personally I skip most articles too, I read the first and last pages and maybe glance at charts. Its mostly just to keep me informed.If I'm buying though I read every word. Devil's in the details.
ATWindsor - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
"While performance is important, does a few tenths of second or an additional two frames per second in a benchmark really mean that much when you cannot get a USB port working due to a crappy BIOS release or your system does not properly recover from S3 sleep state when you are set to record the last episode of the Sopranos? "I couldn't agreee more, the main thing is that the board works, miniscule performance-differnces comes far behind in importance.
AtW
Mazen - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
The timing of this article couldn't be better. I really look forward to see what you guys have to say. Question is, how long do we have to wait before we can read it (yes, impatient!). I'll contribute coffee!JarredWalton - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
Word on the street is Gary will have the first part posted within the next week. Beyond that... guess we'll see.Mazen - Thursday, August 9, 2007 - link
Woooo Hoooo! Can hardly wait for next weekAlyx - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
Where in the world did you find these? I see newegg has the lower end Swan stuff but I couldn't seem to find any retailers that sold these speakers.Must be to new?
Alyx - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
nvm. Looks like The Audio Insider is the only place to carry them that I can find. Didn't realize that they sold speakers (Based on the name I thought they did reviews).http://www.theaudioinsider.com/product_info.php?pr...">http://www.theaudioinsider.com/product_info.php?pr...
Bozo Galora - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
OMG!! Reviews that reflect actual "in use" reality??
Reviews that dont fear to tread on alienating a manufacturer that ADVERTISES on AT??
Articles where the reviewer is not terrified that the vendor will cut them off from free samples and insider info??
No more hand selected or engineering sample salivating previews????
Are you saying after 8 years of "we are sure the next bios release (due out in 2 days) will fix everything", you are finally breaking free???
This is unprecedented.
Who woulda thunk it.
Will wonders never cease.
It may even start a trend - ha
sprockkets - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
Do any of the tuner cards you tested allow you to record Xvid and mp3? My leadtek did but some other programs for other tuner cards didn't allow you to use the direct show codecs directly.Also, does vista in general not allow you to use the CDROM/AUX input on the sound card? I have a Foxconn nForce 4 board with onboard audio, and when using Vista on it, it decided I didn't need the cdrom audio input anymore, but kept all the others. I can't use the Leadtek tuner card because that is how it outputs audio. Thanks Microsoft!