nForce4 Ultra Roundup: Charting the Mainstream

Winfast NF4UK8AA (Foxconn): Features and Layout

Specification	Winfast NF4UK8AA
CPU Interface	Socket 939 Athlon 64
Chipset	nForce4 Ultra (single chip)
BUS Speeds	200MHz to 300MHz (in 1MHz increments)
PCI/AGP Speeds	Asynchronous (Fixed)
PCI Express	100MHz to 145MHz in 1MHz increments
Core Voltage	Default, 1.20V to 1.80V in 0.025V increments
DRAM Voltage	2.5V, Default, 2.7V, 2.8V
Chipset Voltage	Default, 1.6V, 1.7V, 1.8V
LDT Bus Transfer	16/16, 16/8, 8/16, 8/8
Hyper Transport	1x to 5x in 1x Intervals
LDT Voltage	Default, 1.3V, 1.4V, 1.5V
CPU Ratios	NONE
DRAM Speeds	Auto, 100, 133, 166, 200
Memory Command Rate	Auto, 1T, 2T
Memory Slots	Four 184-pin DDR Dual-Channel Slots Unbuffered ECC or non-ECC Memory to 4GB Total
Expansion Slots	1 x16 PCIe Slots 2 x1 PCIe 4 PCI Slots
Onboard SATA	4-Drive SATA 2 by nF4
Onboard IDE	Two Standard NVIDIA ATA133/100/66 (4 drives)
SATA/IDE RAID	4-Drive SATA 2 PLUS 4-Drive IDE (8 total) Can be combined in RAID 0, 1
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394	10 USB 2.0 ports supported nF4 2 1394A FireWire ports by Agere FW3226-100
Onboard LAN	Gigabit Ethernet PCIe by Vitesse VSC8201 PHY
Onboard Audio	Realtek ALC850 8-Channel codec with 5 UAJ audio jacks, CD-in, front audio, and coaxial SPDIF Out
Other Features	AMD X2 Support with NF4UK8AA (6/29/05) or higher BIOS
BIOS	Phoenix Award Shipping BIOS

Foxconn may not be well-known to some readers, but Foxconn is the manufacturer of almost every connector that you will find on almost every motherboard on the market. In addition, Foxconn is one of the world's largest motherboard manufacturers. Foxconn makes motherboards for many companies, and counts Intel to be among their clients. The quality of Foxconn boards is well-established, so it should come as no surprise that Foxconn is now interested in marketing their own branded motherboards.

The Winfast NF4UK8AA is another nForce4 Ultra motherboard that is long on built-in features, but is sold at a modest street price of $97. Foxconn includes two Firewire ports, 8-channel audio, a Phoenix Award BIOS with AMD x2 support, Gigabit PCIe Ethernet, and the full implementation of the NVIDIA nForce4 chipset features.

The BIOS feature set also is reasonably attractive with a full range of options for CPU voltage, memory voltage, chipset voltage and HT voltage. There is also a wide range of CPU speed selections from 200 to 300. Frankly, 2.8V is not enough on memory voltage with top memory now going to 3.5V and higher, and 300 looks low when other boards are running at over 300 at a 9X multiplier, but the controls that the enthusiast wants are all here. That is all except CPU ratios or multipliers. The AMD Athlon 64 features unlocked multipliers on all processors downwards, and unlocks up and down with FX CPUs. This is an important feature that differentiates AMD from the competition. However, an unlocked CPU is virtually useless if the multiplier adjustments are not available in BIOS. If Foxconn intends to sell to AMD enthusiasts, then they need to quickly make the same options available to buyers that competitors routinely provide.

Click image to enlarge.

Board layouts are improving, and the Foxconn Winfast is another board with a decent layout. The nForce4 Ultra chipset is actively cooled. One area that did present a problem during testing was the location of the SATA ports on the right edge behind the PCIe slot. SATA connectors are stiff and stand high, and NVIDIA PCIe cards are very long. We had to be careful which SATA ports we used with our NVIDIA test card, an issue that would go away if more thought was given to placement of the SATA ports.

The IDE connectors, 24-pin ATX power connector, and DIMM slots were all in near ideal locations and presented no issues.

Foxconn has placed the 4-pin 12V power connector between the CPU and the rear panel connectors, which can present some cabling challenges in some case designs. It works better at a board edge, but Foxconn Winfast is not alone in using the center of the board location for the 12V connector. The floppy is at the bottom right of the motherboard - a difficult reach in tall cases.

Additional connectors are well located along board edges and out of the way of the slot area. Foxconn also provides a rear coaxial SPDIF connector, which proves that you don't have to give up SPDIF connectors on a $100 motherboard.

While there are certainly several areas that can be improved upon in the layout of the NF4UK8AA, it is a pretty easy board to work with overall. The board is also built with obvious care and quality components, which is not a surprise when you consider the quality reputation that Foxconn enjoys in the motherboard market.

Like every other board in this roundup, Foxconn uses the ALC850 audio codec. Realtek appears to be doing a very good job of convincing Asian manufacturers of the features and value represented by the ALC850.