Showing posts with label fail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fail. Show all posts

Friday, April 6, 2012

Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe Green nVIDIA Socket Am2 ATX Motherboard Review

Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe Green nVIDIA Socket Am2 ATX Motherboard
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Everything went together and powered up the first time without a hitch. The diagnostic tool is very easy to use and the monitor watches CPU, memory and motherboard temp as well as fan(s) speed and isn't at all buggy like the Epoch board I was using. I've never tried overclocking but it looks like there's a lot that can be done with the BIOS in that regard. I'm really glad I picked this board!!

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The Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP comes from the AI Lifestyles Series line of motherboards that is designed to bring lifestyle and personal computing together. This motherboard provides better system performance for graphics-intensive applications, such as 3D games, and delivers cutting edge audio features that dramatically enhances the quality of voice signal. Thoughtful design further allows quick and easy setup, and to create a peaceful environment, several innovations are included to reduce noise and temperature.
The Power of NVIDIA nForce For high-performance gaming, the M2N-SLI is built with the NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP (media and communication processors). This MCP features AMD Socket AM2 processor support, 1 GHz HyperTransport link, and revolutionary NVIDIA SLI (Scalable Link Interface). Together with six Serial ATA ports--enabled through the SATA 3 Gbps RAID controller, Dual Gigabit LAN controllers, and High Definition Audio Interface--the NVIDIA MCP delivers exceptional performance and satisfies all your gaming graphic's demands. SLI takes advantage of the increased bandwidth of the PCI Express bus architecture, and features intelligent hardware and software that allows two GPUs (Graphics Processor Units) to efficiently work together to deliver earth-shattering, scalable performance. For some applications you'll get nearly double the performance.
Performance, Noise, and Cooling Features To balance both system performance and quietness, this motherboard features AI Gear that allows you to choose from profiles to adjust CPU frequency and CPU core voltage to minimize system noise and power consumption. You can even change the mode in real-time under your operating system to suit your needs. The motherboard is also built with AI Nap that instantly snoozes the PC without terminating the tasks. The system will continue operating at minimum power and noise whenever you're temporarily away. However, it keeps downloading files or running applications in it's quietest state possible to minimize unwanted noise and distractions. Simply click the keyboard or mouse and you can swiftly wake up the system in just a few seconds.
The M2N-SLI also includes an Asus array mic. The bundled Superbeam Array Microphone only receives the sound coming from the reception cone, and ignores the sound coming from other directions. This mechanism eliminates a large number of interferences including neighboring speakers and reverberations. It also uses advanced de-reverberation techniques to reduce echo and minimize its effect on the speech engine. This feature, along with Asus's Crystal Sound, can enhance speed-centric applications, such as Skype, online gaming, video conferences, and recordings. In addition, this motherboard can detect repetitive and stationary noises, such as computer fans, air conditioners, and other background distractions, then eliminate this white noise from the incoming audio stream to deliver the best possible sound recording.
Lastly, this motherboard features a fanless design that provides a cool environment without all the noisy baggage. Cooling fans, though a popular thermal solution, also come with noise pollution and a higher malfunction likelihood. Asus has devoted special efforts to address the thermal issues across the motherboard, and, most notably, the areas where the CPU, power, VGA, and chipsets reside. The heat pipe and heat sinks were tailor made to dissipate heat in the most efficient manner.
CPU Features The M2N-SLI Deluxe supports AMD socket AM2 single core Athlon 64/Sempron and dual-care Athlon 64 X2/Athlon 64 FX processors with 2MB, 1MB, and 512KB L2 cache, which is based on 64-bit architecture. The advanced processing technology contains two physical CPU cores with individually dedicated L2 caches to satisfy the rising demand for more powerful processing capability. It features 2000/1600 MTs HyperTransport Bus, dual-channel unbuffered DDR2 800 memory support, and AMD Cool 'n' Quiet Technology. DDR2 is the next generation memory technology to replace the current DDR, and with the highest speeds clocking at up to 800 MHz, DDR2 memory provides great performance for 3D graphics and other memory demanding applications.
The Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP Motherboard is loaded with great features, functions, and connectivity. It is designed to maximize gaming performance, improve graphic viewing, and deliver the best possible audio quality. This motherboard is easy to install on your own, and is packed with interface features, such as dual gigabit LAN, high-definition audio, IEEE 1394a, plenty of back panel ports, and much more.
What's in the Box One SLI bridge, one ASUS Q-Connector Kit, one ASUS Array Mic, one UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable, one Floppy disk drive cable, six SATA cables, three SATA power cable for six devices, one 2-port USB 2.0 module, one IEEE1394a port module, one x I/O Shield, an InterVideo Media Launcher (OEM version only), and a user's manual.

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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Zotac IONITX-A-U Atom N330 Dual Core 90-Watt PSU WiFi ITX Intel Motherboard Review

Zotac IONITX-A-U Atom N330 Dual Core 90-Watt PSU WiFi ITX Intel Motherboard
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I've been waiting for this motherboard for a long time; finally a MythTV frontend which can quietly play high definition video and sip electricity while doing so. And one with so many ports on the back: HDMI, DVI and VGA for video; TOSLink Coax, SPDIF optical, HDMI and analog for audio. Gigabit Ethernet. Plenty of USB ports and one eSATA port. A feast of port flexibility.
While people have been talking about the Wake on USB function of recent revisions of this board; I find the Wake on LAN BIOS option more interesting. You can get an iPhone or other smartphone app which can wake the device via WiFi, making it easy to keep the computer in a low power state and only pulling Watts when needed.
My setup:
I've installed the 64-bit version of Mythbuntu 9.10 on a 60 GB Seagate Momentus laptop drive I had lying around.
2GB of PNY brand RAM allow me to allocate half a GB to the video card (BIOS setting); recommended for maximum video performance.
And a small Mini-ITX case complete the very simple hardware assembly.
I also installed XBMC, and that seems responsive and beautiful.
I first used the VGA connector for video, and the coax port for digital audio, but in the end, I ended up using an HDMI switch and getting both audio and video over that port which worked well.
I removed the included WiFi card, as I will be using hard wired Ethernet and would prefer to not include whatever minor Wattage the little card draws in standby.
I would not run this board fanless. I played a 1080i MPEG2 over the air video on it without a case and my infrared thermometer read the GPU temperature at 60°C, which is fairly toasty. Still it should get by with minimal slow fans. There are a large number of suggestions on the Internet to lower the voltage of the included fan via the purchase of a third party fan controller. I was unable to use Linux utilities to monitor the temperature, but the NVDIA control panel does give the temperature of the GPU: when playing 720p video with a fan on, the GPU was at 49°C, which is not bad. When using VDPAU decoding in the GPU, the CPU is showing only about 15% utilization regardless of content.
I measured the electrical usage of the system as a whole with a Kill-A-Watt. Hibernate: 2W, Sleep: 3W, Idle: 25W, playing DVD image: 26W, playing 720p MPEG2 video: 28W, playing 1080i MPEG2 video: 31W.
I have not tried Flash 10.1 yet, but have hopes the hardware acceleration will be there for watching Hulu videos. Also, have not tried Hulu desktop yet.
[Update: Because I was given a comparably spec'd Zotac MAG Intel Atom N330, NVIDIA ION, 2 GB DDR2, 160 GB HD, eSATA, HDMI HD-ND01-U Mini PC - No OS as a HTPC, I repurposed this motherboard in a larger case, MI-008 Tower Black P4 Chassis with 250W Itx Psu+sata Power Supply, as a home server, a function for which it is adequate given a case with room for an optical drive and a large desktop hard drive. With the limitation that the power supply limits you to 3 SATA internal devices;any further storage expansion will have to be done via the one remaining eSATA connector. Also, it would be nice to have a PCI slot of some sort (and no the mini-PCIe slot does not count as it is reputed to only work with the included wireless card). Still even with two fans keeping the case cool, it makes for a reasonably quiet and energy efficient server, certainly more cost efficient than the noisy Pentium 4 desktop it is replacing. I would not have bought this for a server and would have gone with a cheaper board without a power supply. As it is, I had to remove and shelve an unused power supply out of the new case. The new server is now busy recording TV shows (via networked HDHomerun tuners), serving files, hosting a Subversion server, and occasionally serving as a desktop computer when I find myself in the laundry room.
]

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ZOTAC IONITX-A-U Atom N330 1.6GHz Dual-Core 90 Watt PSU Mini ITX Intel Motherboard

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