the newest revsion of this motherboard, dated at may 2005 on the packaging, includes more features than on previous versions of the same model. first and foremost on this list is the tv-out that is supplied with the board. in earlier versions, the card had to be bought at an extra 15 pounds, but in the newest retail package it is included for free. the card connects to an inbuilt tv out linked to the geforce 4 460 on board graphics. installation is a slight pain, as the pins which connect to the card are bent to "protect the board while in transit" according to asus. however, the pins can be bent into shape with a flat bladed screwdriver, or if your feeling careful, a cpu lifting lever. once the board is installed, some users may run into another problem. the drivers included with the board are very unstable under windows xp, and under 98 and 98 se i couldnt get them to function at all. however, on the upside, nortom internet sucurity 2005 is inluded with the disk, which usually retails at around 25-30 pounds. the in built usb 2.0 won't function unless sp1 is installed, and the display drivers are prone to making the computer sporadicaly freeze on the bootup screen. this can be overcome by simply downloading the newest drivers from nvidia.com.
support: the motherboard supports socket a amd processors up to 3000+ and the athlon xp is recomended. sempron cpu's are supported, but you may have to flash the bios using the built in utility first. the board supports 266/333/400 ddr ram, and can use dual channel ram to overcome the problem of its limited ram slots. however, the boards micro atx form makes it very easy to install, and due to the sensible layout typicle of asus, you can attach an enourmous cpu cooler without gettign in the way of the chipset, ram slots etc.
performance: the board this model has been tested against is the pc chips equivalent, m863g 1.5. both boards have built in gpu's and sound, but the difference in quality is apparant imediatly. when tested on the microsoft game advisor for graphics power on needfor speed underground 2 the pc chips board failed to meet the minimum requirments to run the game, where as the asus board was in the far green of the performance bar for most modern games including doom 3. so.
conclusion. when looking for a high performing board at an affordable price, choose asus over the cheaper companys. the pc chips equivelent may cost half as much at 20 pounds, but it performs like a 20 pound too, whereas, the asus board peforms better than some boards that cost well over 100. a very solid board, quite nice looking, very impressive performance, whos only let down is bad driver support, a surprise for an nforce 2 board.
support: the motherboard supports socket a amd processors up to 3000+ and the athlon xp is recomended. sempron cpu's are supported, but you may have to flash the bios using the built in utility first. the board supports 266/333/400 ddr ram, and can use dual channel ram to overcome the problem of its limited ram slots. however, the boards micro atx form makes it very easy to install, and due to the sensible layout typicle of asus, you can attach an enourmous cpu cooler without gettign in the way of the chipset, ram slots etc.
performance: the board this model has been tested against is the pc chips equivalent, m863g 1.5. both boards have built in gpu's and sound, but the difference in quality is apparant imediatly. when tested on the microsoft game advisor for graphics power on needfor speed underground 2 the pc chips board failed to meet the minimum requirments to run the game, where as the asus board was in the far green of the performance bar for most modern games including doom 3. so.
conclusion. when looking for a high performing board at an affordable price, choose asus over the cheaper companys. the pc chips equivelent may cost half as much at 20 pounds, but it performs like a 20 pound too, whereas, the asus board peforms better than some boards that cost well over 100. a very solid board, quite nice looking, very impressive performance, whos only let down is bad driver support, a surprise for an nforce 2 board.
