An High End average mobo
Written: Aug 13 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Stable, with onboard video, sound, networking, this is allinone.
Cons: Nforce drivers have to be researched.
The Bottom Line: Buy it, but don't build a whole brand new sys on this board.
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| demonrammstein's Full Review: ASUS NVIDIA nForce Chipset A7N266-VM (A7N266-VM W/... |
This little board, for being under a $100 serves its purpose and serves it quite well. I have fallen back to using the onboard video because my main card blew (see my Visiontek9200SE) review. The motherboard has been running for a year and I haven't had to replace a piece of it.
Front Side Bus
266 / 200 MHz
Memory
2 x 184-pin DIMM Sockets support max. 1.0GB PC2100/PC1600 non-ECC DDR SDRAM memory
Expansion Slots
1 x AGP 4X (1.5V only)
3 x PCI
VGA
Integrated GeForce 2 GPU (Graphics Processor Unit)
IDE
2 x UltraDMA 100 / 66 / 33
Audio
Integrated APU (Audio Processor Unit) in MCP-D
built-in Dolby Digital (AC-3) Encoder
Realtek ALC650
LAN (Optional)
Integrated MAC in MCP-D
RealTek 8201L PHY
This is what the motherboard boasts and after about a year and a half it is considered old and outdated. For my gaming uses and audio uses, it serves up quite an awesome array of options. Being Nforce and having an onboard 32mb of video, I can still pack quite a punch with games. Again being NForce, you have Nvidia's options of graphics cards updates. I would recommmend getting the Gforce drivers since they perform the best. Also this board supports Dolby Digital 5.1. You have to get the sound drivers included in the latest Nforce drivers. There is also a seperate program called NVswap that allows you to use the other two ports for your surround speakers. Nvidia sound is comparable to the Sound Blaster series. With 256 2d voices and 64 3d voices the sound is still quite amazing.
People need to keep updated on drivers because one user stated he had a problem with the included network. Computers don't recognize most of the onboard hardware until you download the driver set.
Overall it is a well built motherboard with a lot of features, but people looking for the fastest gaming possible should consider newer models. The newer models using the Nforce 3 system Average desktop users should have no problem with this motherboard other than finding all the Nvidia drivers.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): less than100
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Epinions.com ID:
demonrammstein
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Reviews written: 9
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