Battle of AMD64 PCI-Express Chipsets
Author: Mike Pengelly
Date: June 21, 2005
Supplied By: Albatron
Supplied By: Chaintech
Price: $92 USD Chaintech VNF4 Ultra, $117 USD Albatron K8X890 ProII
Conclusions and Final Thoughts
Despite some of the issues that we ran into with each board, they both ran well at stock settings. It appears that we have two good chipset offerings for the AMD64 in the nForce4 and K8T890 that will give the user PCI-Express options. At this time we have to say that the nForce4 chipset appears to be the best for overclocking based on our experience with the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra VE and the DFI Lanparty UT Ultra-D. While it appears that VIA is still struggling to really put a good chipset for the AMD64 platform they have come up with something in the K8T890 that at least provides performance at stock that will rival the nForce4.
Final Thoughts Albatron K8X890 ProII
Not to beat a dead horse, but this board with the most recent release BIOS seems to be a poor enthusiast choice. We really couldn’t do any overclocking with it because with each reboot it would return back to stock settings on us. This was the only really annoying aspect of the board. With it’s list of features and it’s performance at stock this board certainly proved to be a good board for the non-enthusiast. There were no board layout issues and the addition of 4 phase power is a real bonus for stability. We were a little disappointed by the limited amount of SATA headers on the board, only 2. Most of the competitors are offering at least 4. While this may seem like a minor point it’s still a consideration for upgradeability. The inclusion of the Envy24PT audio chip gives this board a little more appeal for those audiophiles out there who like good quality sound. We still give this board a recommendation for those who want a good board for a stock system that performs well and sounds great.
Pros
Working AGP/PCI locks.
Envy24PT Audio.
CPU, RAM, Chipset voltage options.
mPower 4 Phase Power addon.
Nice set of features and accessories.
Good performance at stock.
Cons
Only 2 SATA headers on the board.
Lack of overclocking ability with latest bios.
Final Thoughts Chaintech VNF4 Ultra VE
With the exception of the chipset cooler issue that we ran into, this board performed great and overclocked even better. We were very impressed with our ability to bring this board up to the same overclock as our DFI motherboard and possibly higher. The features and included accessories are on par with a board of this budget range. The only downside to our experience with this board was having to mess around with the chipset fan in order to be able to mount our video card. Chipset placement seems to be a sticky area for board manufacturer’s using the nForce4 chip. On our DFI board we end up with our video card right over the chipset which requires a low profile cooler and with the Chaintech board, we aren’t knocking the cooler chosen but the fact that the chipset is placed so close to the video card that it makes it difficult to mount it. Still, for a budget motherboard it’s still one of the best we have come across in a while and it’s performance in overclocking makes it highly recommended by us for the enthusiast.
Pros
Great overclocking performance.
Good set of overclocking options.
Good stock performance.
Nice set of features and accessories.
Cons
Chipset cooler location and size.
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