| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme Mainboard
|
ECS is a familiar name to many as a company that has been manufacturing low cost motherboards since 1987. Since their inception, ECS has expanded from just motherboards into offering barebone and complete systems, laptops, and even servers.
Although they still have strong a focus on motherboards, they have not always received praise from the computer enthusiast segment. ECS is trying to change that with the release of their new flagship motherboard, the KN1 SLI Extreme. On paper it has the makings of a very solid motherboard that could help you move into a SLI configuration at a lower cost than the bulk of the competition. This review will take a closer look at the KN1 SLI Extreme and see whether it has the ability to compete with other mainstream enthusiast motherboards.
Specifications (taken from the ECS website):
CPU:
Socket 939 for AMD Athlon 64/ Athlon 64 FX processor.
High-performance Hyper Transport CPU interface.
Support transfer rate of 2000/1600/1200/800/400 mega-transfers per second.
Chipset: NVIDIA nForce4 SLI
Memory:
Dual-channel DDR memory architecture
4 x184-pin DDR SDRAM DIMM socket support up to 4 GB
Support DDR400/333/266 DDR SDRAM
Expansion Slot:
2 x PCI Express x16 slot ( SLI mode: x8, x8 )
1 x PCI Express x1 slot
3 x PCI slots
Storage:
Supported by nForce4 SLI
4 x Ultra DMA133/100/66 devices
4 x Serial ATA2 devices
RAID0, RAID1& RAID 0+1 configuration
Supported by SiI3132
2 x Serial ATA2 devices
RAID0, RAID1, PM and eSATA support
Audio:
Realtek ALC850 supports Intel 8 channel audio
Compliant with AC'97 2.3 specification
IEEE 1394a: TI TSB43AB22A support 2 x IEEE1394a
Dual LAN:
Realtek 8100C 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet controller
Marvell 88E1111 Giga LAN PHY
Rear Panel I/O:
1 x PS/2 keyboard & PS/2 mouse connectors
4 x USB ports
2 x RJ45 LAN connectors
2 x Digital SPDIF (Optical & Coaxial) out
1 x Serial port (COM1)
1 x Audio port (Line-in,4x Line-out, Mic_in)
Internal I/O Connectors and Headers:
1 x 24-pin ATX Power Supply connector
1 x 4-pin ATX 12V connector
1 x Auxiliary 4-pin +12V connector
1 x FDD connector supports two 360K~2.88MB FDDs
2 x IDE connectors
6 x Serial ATA connectors
1 x IrDA for SIR header
2 x 1394a headers
3 x USB 2.0 headers support additional 6 USB ports
1 x Front panel switch/LED header
1 x Front panel audio header
1 x 26-pin LPT header
CD in header
CPUFAN/NB_FAN1/CASFAN1~2 connectors
System BIOS:
Award BIOS with 4Mb Flash ROM
Supports Plug and Play 1.0A, APM 1.2, Multi Boot, DMI
Supports ACPI revision 1.0 specification
Form Factor: ATX, Size 305mm*244mm
|
|
|
|
