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Review: AMD Athlon 64 3200 , VIA K8T800, nForce3 150

by Tarinder Sandhu on 6 October 2003, 00:00

Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD), VIA Technologies (TPE:2388), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaty

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Shuttle AN50R (nForce3) Specs.

Processors

  • Supports 754-pin Clawhammer-based CPUs

Chipset

  • NVIDIA nForce3 150

System Memory

  • 3 x 184-pin DDR SDRAM
  • DDR200 / DDR266 / DDR333/ DDR400 support @ 2.50v - 2.60v
  • 3GB maximum system RAM

Slots

  • AGP slot, 8x AGP3.0 compliant
  • 5 x 32-bit PCI 33MHz slots

On-board peripherals - I/O

  • 1 Serial port
  • 1 Parallel port
  • 3 Audio Jacks for ALC650 CODEC (6-speaker support)
  • 2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports (Intel RC8254OEM Gigabit Ethernet and Realtek RTK8201BL PHY + NVIDIA MAC)
  • 4 x USB 2.0 connectors on the back panel
  • 1 x FireWire 1394a
  • Optical S/PDIF-Out
  • PS/2 ports

On-board storage

  • An IDE controller on the nForce3 150 provides IDE HDD/CD-ROM with PIO, Bus Master and Ultra DMA133/100/66/33 operation modes
  • Silicon Image Sil3112A provides 2 x ATA150 Serial ports (1 drive per port). Can be configured for independent, RAID0 and RAID1

Integrated Components

  • Intel RC8254OEM single-chip Gigabit Ethernet
  • Realtek RTL8201BL 10/100 PHY powered from NVIDIA on-chip MAC
  • ALC650 AC'97 v2.2 5.1 sound CODEC through AC'97 on-chip sound
  • Headers for another 4 USB2.0 ports
  • 3 usable fan headers
  • IrDA, CD-In, Aux-In connectors

BIOS & Voltages

  • Phoenix AwardBIOS
  • CPU clock speeds of 200Mhz - 300Mhz
  • 0.8v - 1.70v Vcore. Voltage in 0.025v increments
  • 2.7v - 2.9v Vmem adjustable in 0.05v increments (differing asynchronous speeds available)
  • 1.6v - 1.9v chipset voltage
  • 1.5v - 1.8v VAGP voltage
  • 1.2v - 1.5v HyperTransport voltage

Form Factor

  • 305mm x 245mm ATX size.

Bundle

Shuttle's bundles are more functional than eccentric. A well-written manual is the cornerstone to any decent bundle and Shuttle does not disappoint. It's informative, clear and easy to understand A second RAID manual is also included. The full complement of FireWire ports can be taken up with the use of the supplied bracket housing dual 6-pin FireWire ports. Similarly, the nForce3's 6 USB2.0 ports can be used immediately, thanks to a similar bracket. 2 standard ATA150 SATA cables and accompanying SATA-to-MOLEX connectors are thoughtfully included. IDE cables, a driver CD and a custom I/O shield round it off. You won't find the kitchen sink in here, a la MSI, but you won't be searching around for necessary cables either.