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ECS nForce4-A939 Socket 939 motherboard

Monday, November 21st, 2005 | Motherboard Reviews, Reviews

This board is strictly aimed at the budget oriented buyer looking for new stuff at a low price. It manages to get all the new parts you would need for an Athlon 64 system, without having to resort to old stuff to get that value.

It is not a board aimed at the rigorous hardcore overclocker, but with an nForce4 chipset it does offer new technology for good performance.

Beside a few features which are ommitted or slightly toned down, it provides most of what you could need at a wallet friendly price.

Main features include…

• nVidia nForce4 chipset (not Ultra)
• SATA with RAID
• Ethernet, USB 2.0 and built-in audio
• Dual-channel DDR

This board sports the nForce4 chipset, which is the chipset of choice for most gamers using this platform. Although it is not the Ultra version of the chipset, you don’t lose too much for that, which is fine for a board not particularly aimed at overclocking.

It has the usual compliment of extras. 4 DDR slots in dual-channel configuration allow up to 4GB or memory to be installed into the system. There are 4 SATA headers for support of new hard drives and some DVD writers.

In the graphics department, the ECS nForce4-A939 comes with a single PCIe 16x slot, which again, considering the price range, makes sense. You can install a good single card, which with the latest 7800 series graphics cards from nVidia wouldn’t be lacking at all.

Firewire is not included in the system, which might be missed by those with digital video cameras and the like. For other expansion cards there are a few PCI and PCIe 1x slots.

Tuning of the BIOS is limited and there is little opportunity for overclocking due to a lack or options to control the system voltages and speeds.

So overall, the board is a budget buy. You do get a lot for your money, but nothing extra. It would make a good choice if matched with an Athlon 64 3000+ or similar which is a great budget processor. Both offer the latest technology but with the best money savings.

Pros

• Well-priced
• Full compliment of features
• nForce4 chipset

Cons

• No firewire
• Limited overclocking