*Official* AMD Socket AM2 (DDR2) mATX motherboard resource thread.

[REMF]

(Part 1 - Introduction)
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Preamble:
Dear all,

This is just a suggestion, but given the imminent release of AMD's AM2 socket format, along with the parallel release of new new nVidia and ATI chipsets to support the format, it seems like a good idea to create a single thread where all the new mATX motherboards for AM2 can be listed and compared.

This thread will hopefully coallesce into an invaluable resource for power hungry mATX enthusiasts who will of course be interested in the new format, especially given that AMD is now creating two low power lines of AM2 CPU's (35W TDP & 65W TDP) to sit alongside the standard AM2 CPU's (89W TDP).

This thread will become invaluable through the contributions of You, as I cannot know of every interesting development as it occurs, but I will attempt to aggregate information within the following five thread posts. If this thread becomes as useful as the nVidia 6150/430 thread I will be delighted.

Bring on the 23rd of May 2006!

Kind regards

R3MF
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Table of Contents:
Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Desirable features to be found in a mATX motherboards
Part 3 - nVidia chipset motherboards
Part 4 - ATI chipset motherboards
Part 5 - Other chipset motherboards
Part 6 - SFF-Tech user recommended mATX AM2 motherboards

[REMF]

(Part 2 - Desirable features to be found in a mATX motherboards)
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"Hey motherboard manufacturers, this is what we want from a mATX motherboard, are you listening?"
I am happy to take suggestions from one and all here, but i'll get the ball going.

01) Low Power CPU support (hoorah for the 35W TDP socket AM2 3800+ X2).
02) Passive cooling for the motherboard
03) Chipset standard drivers rather than manufacturer proprietry ones. (yes you, Asus!)
04) DVI rather than VGA out where chipset uses onboard graphics.
05) Hi-Def sound rather than AC97.
06) Gigbit Lan rather than 10/100.
07) Multiple USB and Firewire support.
08) Yes, mATX users want SLI/Crossfire dual-GPU support too.
09) PCi-Express 4x/8x expansion slots rather than 1x.
10) Chipsets with good linux drivers.
11) ECC memory support so we can run our media servers 24x7 w/ our web/app/file servers on the same box grin
12) HDMI output because we supposedly won’t be able to display hi-def content w/o the stupid copy protection that lives on the HDMI connector
13) Dual Gigabit Lan

[REMF]

(Part 3 - nVidia chipset motherboards)
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MCP 51 (61x0 + 4x0) chipsets
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NF-M2 nView
http://www2.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=NF-M2+nView&fMTYPE=Socket+AM2&DEFTITLE=Y
Chipset = 6150 + 4x0
Video Primary = DVI
Video Auxilliary = VGA + Spdif
Audio = HD 7.1
Cooling = Passive - high quality
Expansion = 16x/1x/PCI/PCI
SATA = 4x
Memory = 4x
Lan = Gig
Firewire = 2
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Albatron KM51PV-AM2 -
http://www.albatron.com.tw/english/news/news_detail_al.asp?news_id=216
Chipset = 6150 + 4x0(?)
Video Primary = DVI + VGA
Video Auxilliary = Tv-Out + HDTV (?)
Audio = ?
Cooling = Passive
Expansion = 1x/16x/PCI/PCI
SATA = 4x
Memory = 4x
Lan = ?
Firewire = ?
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ASUS M2NPV-VM -
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=101&l3=0&model=1138&modelmenu=1
Chipset = 6150 + 430
Video Primary = DVI + VGA
Video Auxilliary = Tv-Out + HDTV (?)
Audio = HD Soundmax
Cooling = Passive
Expansion = 16x/1x/PCI/PCI
SATA = 4x
Memory = 4
Lan = gigabit
Other = Firewire
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Gigabyte GA-M51GM-S2G -
http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/Motherboard/Products_List.aspx?VenderType=AMD&CPUType=socket+am2
Chipset = 6150 + 430
 Video Primary = VGA
 Video Auxilliary =
 Audio = HD
 Cooling = Passive
 Expansion = 1x/16x/PCI/PCI
 SATA = 4x
 Memory = 4
 Lan = gigabit
 Other = Firewire
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DFI INFINITY C51PV-M2/G -
http://us.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?PRODUCT_ID=4718&CATEGORY_TYPE=INFINITY&SITE=NA
Chipset = 6150 + 430
 Video Primary = DVI + VGA
 Video Auxilliary =
 Audio = AC97
 Cooling = Passive
 Expansion = 1x/16x/PCI/PCI
 SATA = 4x
 Memory = 4
 Lan = gigabit
 Other = Firewire
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MSI K9NGM -
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=734
Chipset = 6100 + 430
 Video Primary = VGA
 Video Auxilliary =
 Audio = HD
 Cooling = Passive
 Expansion = 1x/16x/PCI/PCI
 SATA = 4x
 Memory = 4
 Lan = ?
 Other =
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MSI K9NGM2 -
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=735
Chipset = 6150 + 430
 Video Primary = DVI + VGA
 Video Auxilliary =
 Audio = HD
 Cooling = Passive
 Expansion = 1x/16x/PCI/PCI
 SATA = 4x
 Memory = 4
 Lan = gigabit
 Other = Firewire
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Biostar TForce 6100 AM2 -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138027
Chipset = 6100 + 410
 Video Primary = VGA
 Video Auxilliary =
 Audio = AC97
 Cooling = Passive
 Expansion = 16x/1x/PCI/PCI
 SATA = 2x
 Memory = 4
 Lan = gigabit
 Other =
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Epox EP-MGF6100-M -
http://www.epox.com.tw/eng/products_content.php?ps=427
Chipset = 6100 + 410
 Video Primary = VGA
 Video Auxilliary =
 Audio = AC97/HD ? (410 chipset with HD realtek PHY weirdness?)
 Cooling = Passive
 Expansion = 1x/16x/PCI/PCI
 SATA = 2x
 Memory = 4
 Lan = 10/100
 Other =
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Asrock AM2NF4G-SATA2
http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2770&p=18
Chipset = 6100 + 410
 Video Primary = VGA
 Video Auxilliary =
 Audio = AC97
 Cooling = Passive
 Expansion = 16x/PCI/PCI/1x
 SATA = 2x
 Memory = 4
 Lan = 10-100
 Other =
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MCP 61 (single chip integrated video) chipset
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Epox MCP61S-M
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2654
Chipset = MCP61-S
 Video Primary = VGA
 Video Auxilliary =
 Audio = HD  (Realtek 883)
 Cooling = Passive
 Expansion = 16x/1x/PCI/PCI
 SATA = 2x
 Memory = 4
 Lan = 10/100
 Other =
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[REMF]

(Part 4 - ATI chipset motherboards)
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ECS RS485M-M -
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/NewsRoom/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=591&MENUID=14&LanID=9
Chipset = RS485/SB460
Video Primary = VGA
Video Auxilliary =
Audio = Realtek 655 (HD?)
Cooling = Passive
Expansion = 16x/1x/PCI/PCI
SATA = 4x
Memory = 2x
Lan = ?
Other =
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MSI K9AGM -
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=736
ECS RS485M-M
Chipset = RS485/SB600
Video Primary = VGA (optional DVI)
Video Auxilliary =
Audio = Realtek 883  HD
Cooling = Passive
Expansion = 16x/1x/PCI/PCI
SATA = 4x
Memory = 4x
Lan = 10/100 (optional gigabit)
Other = (optional Firewire)

[REMF]

(Part 5 - Other chipset motherboards)
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MSI K9VGM -
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=738
Chipset = Via K8M890 and VT8237A
 Video Primary = VGA
 Video Auxilliary =
 Audio = HD
 Cooling = Passive
 Expansion = 1x/16x/PCI/PCI
 SATA = 2x
 Memory = 2
 Lan = 10/100
 Other =
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MSI K9SGM -
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=740
Chipset = SiS� 761GX and 966/L
 Video Primary = VGA
 Video Auxilliary =
 Audio = AC97
 Cooling = Passive
 Expansion = 1x/16x/PCI/PCI
 SATA = 4x
 Memory = 2
 Lan = 10/100
 Other =
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PC CHIPS A33G -
Chipset = SiS 761 GX North/SiS 965L South
Video Primary = VGA (?)
Video Secondary =
Audio = AC97 ALC655
Memory = 2
Expansion = 16x/1x/PCI/PCI (?)
1 - CNR slot (whatever that is)
SATA = 2x SATA 1.5
Lan = 10/100
Other =

[REMF]

(Part 6 - SFF-Tech user recommended mATX AM2 motherboards)
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Explantion of Requirements:

What constitutes a recommended mATX motherboard?
This is up to you the people to decide, and I am sure it will be thrashed out in exquisite detail after the 23rd of May, but here are a few to get going:

1) Where onboard graphics exist there must be a digital output.
2) Onboard sound should at least be Azalia HD compliant.
3) Chipset cooling must be Passive and of good quality
4) Use of non vendor proprietry drivers in order that generic nVidia/ATI linux drivers may be used
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SFF-Tech Recommendations:

NF-M2 nView
http://www2.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=NF-M2+nView&fMTYPE=Socket+AM2&DEFTITLE=Y

MSI K9NGM2 -
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=735

[mm2587]

08) Minimal use of PCI expansion slots.

I disagree wholeheartedly. I love my foxy with its 3 pci slots, all of which I use. pvr-150/audigy/wireless card. As we all know matx boards are very limited in space, and until pcie becomes more then just a slot people don't mind blocking with dual slot gfx cards it has no place on any motherboard I'll be purchasing.

[REMF]

removed.

[kenyee]

11) ECC memory support so we can run our media servers 24x7 w/ our web/app/file servers on the same box :-)
12) HDMI output because we supposedly won't be able to display hi-def content w/o the stupid copy protection that lives on the HDMI connector
13) a hackable way to defeat the stupid hi-def copy protection on HDMI ;-)

FWIW, I've heard nothing about a successor to nVidia's C51 chipset.  Even their roadmap says the HTPC market will use that chipset until the end of the year.  I was really hoping for a chipset that would be able to do 1080p H.264 video :-(

[REMF]

hi Kenyee, here are a couple of Links:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1821
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2205

[kenyee]

I can't find the chart now, but nVidia had one showing the C61P being used for budget desktops while HTPCs would still use the C51 (6150/430).  I got the impression the C61P was slower than the C51 because of that.  We'll have to see when it comes out, but if it's just the same speed as the C51, I'd be disappointed :-P

[rpsgc]

I can't find the chart now, but nVidia had one showing the C61P being used for budget desktops while HTPCs would still use the C51 (6150/430).  I got the impression the C61P was slower than the C51 because of that.  We'll have to see when it comes out, but if it's just the same speed as the C51, I'd be disappointed :-P

You mean this one?

[kenyee]

rpsgc: thanks.  Yep.  That's the one!  Funny how they don't think the ATI RS482/485 is a competitor to the C51.  I think it is, albeit slower and lacking Linux support ;-)
I don't know how nVidia can think the HTPC market will be happy w/ the C51 through the end of the year for the HTPC world when I see so many complaints about no HDMI/H.264/1080p support (1080i doesn't even really work right...it uses a 540p overlay)...

[REMF]

My own ideal mATX motherboard would be as follows:

> nForce 570 SLI chipset
> Passive cooling with Hi-End Heat-pipe solution
> HD audio with Dolby Encoding/Decoding
> Dual nVidia Gigabit Lan
> PCI-E expansion slot configuration = 16/1/16/8 physical (8/1/8/8 electrical in SLI mode vs 16/1/1/8 in non-SLI mode)
> Six  SATA II ports (one e-SATA)
> Four rear USB 2
> Four addin USB2

[REMF]

*EDITED*

The arrival of the NT-06 cooler has given me second thoughts about my idealmATX case.

Basically a Sugo chassis.
> One 5.25" drive bay with a stealthed door like the LC-11 Silverstone case.
> One 3.5" drive bay with an identical stealthed door much how the Shuttle G5 series does things
> This should allow room for a 3 bay harddrive mount with an attached 92mm intake fan.
> Use a 92mm exhaust fan mounted above the expansion slots as is currently done.
> Provide a removable 3.5" insert panel containing USB/Audio/SD slot etc

that would be ace.

[CrystalCowboy]

especially given that AMD is now creating two low power lines of AM2 CPU's (35W TDP & 65W TDP) to sit alongside the standard AM2 CPU's (89W TDP).

Yes, which is why I would like to see a couple mini-ITX mobos as well. 35W is little enough heat to use in a situation where one might otherwise consider a Pentium-M or Turion.

[REMF]

I think it would be great to add Mini ITX boards to this thread as well.

i always liked the tiny ST cases.

[CrystalCowboy]

Albatron jumps the gun on AM2 board
KM51PV-AM2

Albatron KM51PV-AM2 with new AMD AM2 socket doubles memory bandwidth

[REMF]

cheers CC, first mATX AM2 board added to the list.

[CrystalCowboy]

Oops, I'm not sure if these are micro-ATX or not.


Epox MF570
nForce 570 SLI
dual gigabit LAN (Marvell 88E1116)
7.1 Realtek ALC883 audio
8 - SATA 3Gbps ports

It looks like they hit most of your wish list with the SLI and the dual network.

Epox will follow up the MF570 SLI launch with an ATI Xpress 3200 board, the RD580 XR, and an nForce 590 SLI motherboard, the MF590 SLI2.  A knockdown version of the MF570 SLI will launch later this summer as the MF570-VP, which lacks SLI capabilities.
...
Three more middle of the pack nForce 570 and 550 SKUs will show up in the fall, primarily targetted for the sub $100 market.

ASUS M2N32-SLI DeLuxe
nForce 590 SLI MCP
Two full x16 PCI-express slots
8 - SATA including two eSATA
Dual gigabit LAN
ADI AD1988B-CH (HD)/DTS Connect

[CrystalCowboy]

MSI lists 4 boards right off the bat:

K9N Diamond
nForce 590 SLI

K9N SLI Platinum
nForce 570 SLI

K9N Platinum
nForce 570 Ultra

K9N Neo-F
nForce 550

The detailed pages with specs were not up yet. These may not be micro-ATX boards.

[CrystalCowboy]

Gigabyte offers an AM2 micro-ATX board

GA-M51GM-S2G
GeForce 6100 + nForce 430
4 - SATA
FireWire
4 USB on the back panel
8 channel audio

This doesn't look like anything new or exciting.

[REMF]

Oops, I'm not sure if these are micro-ATX or not.


Epox MF570
nForce 570 SLI
dual gigabit LAN (Marvell 88E1116)
7.1 Realtek ALC883 audio
8 - SATA 3Gbps ports

It looks like they hit most of your wish list with the SLI and the dual network.

Epox will follow up the MF570 SLI launch with an ATI Xpress 3200 board, the RD580 XR, and an nForce 590 SLI motherboard, the MF590 SLI2.  A knockdown version of the MF570 SLI will launch later this summer as the MF570-VP, which lacks SLI capabilities.
...
Three more middle of the pack nForce 570 and 550 SKUs will show up in the fall, primarily targetted for the sub $100 market.

ASUS M2N32-SLI DeLuxe
nForce 590 SLI MCP
Two full x16 PCI-express slots
8 - SATA including two eSATA
Dual gigabit LAN
ADI AD1988B-CH (HD)/DTS Connect

mATX ?

[CrystalCowboy]

This one looks like micro-ATX: ASUS M2NPV-VM
GeForce 6150 + nForce 430
bundled HDTV output module
1 - gigabit LAN
1 - PCI-e x16
1 - PCI-e x1
2 - PCI
4 - SATA ports with RAID
FireWire
DVI and VGA ports

[CrystalCowboy]

First ATI Xpress 1100 Motherboard Announced
ECS RS485M-M
ATI Xpress 1100 chipset
4 - SATA II
5.1 sound
1 - PCI-e x16
1 - PCI-e x1
2 - PCI
only two RAM slots
1 - LAN (speed unspecified)

press release at ECS site