nForce4 Ultra Roundup: Charting the Mainstream

Chaintech VNF4-Ultra: Features and Layout

Specification	Chaintech VNF4-Ultra
CPU Interface	Socket 939 Athlon 64
Chipset	nForce4 Ultra (single chip)
BUS Speeds	200MHz to 400MHz (in 1MHz increments)
PCI/AGP Speeds	Asynchronous (Fixed)
PCI Express	100MHz to 145MHz in 1MHz increments
Core Voltage	Auto, 0.90V to 1.70V in 0.025V increments
DRAM Voltage	Default, 2.7V, 2.8V, 2.9V
Chipset Voltage	Default, 1.6V, 1.65V, 1.7V
Hyper Transport Ratios	1x to 5x in 1x increments
LDT Bus Transfer	16/16, 16/8, 8/16, 8/8
LDT Voltage	Normal, +0.1V, +0.2V, +0.3V
CPU Ratios	Auto, 4x to 25x in 1x increments
DRAM Speeds	Auto, 100, 133, 166, 200
Memory Command Rate	Auto, 1T, 2T
Memory Slots	Four 184-pin DDR Dual-Channel Slots Unbuffered Memory to 4GB Total
Expansion Slots	1 x16 PCIe Slots 2 x1 PCIe 3 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 No Firewire
Onboard LAN	Gigabit PCIe Ethernet by Vitesse VSC8201 PHY
Onboard Audio	Realtek ALC850 8-Channel codec with 6 UAJ audio jacks, CD-in, front audio, and optical SPDIF
Other Features	AMD Dual-Core (X2) Support with 5/18 Beta BIOS
BIOS	Award 6/03/2005

The Chaintech was one of the motherboards that we had looked forward to testing. It is very inexpensive, and the last Chaintech that we tested, the Socket 754 VNF3-250, was an Editors Choice for value. Chaintech has repeated an outstanding selection of useful overclocking adjustments in the VNF4-Ultra BIOS. The features are also first rate for an Ultra board selling for $89 street price, with Firewire being the only missing feature of importance to some buyers. Even the excellent NVIDIA "any-drive" RAID for SATA 2 and IDE is fully supported, along with the standard NVIDIA chipset-based Firewall and LAN features. Chaintech has also implemented a really nice boot screen option. When selected in the BIOS, the boot screen shows post codes during boot so that you can see exactly what is going on and where problems might be.

Click image to enlarge.

While a little smaller than the other nF4 Ultra boards, Chaintech has compensated with a different layout that works very well in most cases. The 4 DIMM slots move to the top, with the Socket 939 moved towards the center of the board. This allows Chaintech to place almost all the storage connectors on the right edge of the board where they usually work best. SATA and IDE are well clear of the PCIe slot. The nF4 floppy connector is at the lower right of the board - not the best location, but much better than at the bottom of the board.

The only real compromise that Chaintech made with the smaller board was placing the 24-pin ATX and the 4-pin 12V between the CPU and rear panel connectors. No matter how you run the bulky 24-pin cable, it gets in the way of something - memory or CPU or IDE/SATA connections - and none of the routing options is really a great choice. Chaintech builds to a price point, and if this is the concession that had to be made for performance, we will find a way to live with it. That doesn't mean that we have to like it though.

At first, we thought that Chaintech had omitted an optical or coaxial SPDIF port, but looking closer, we found that the top left audio port (the blue connector) does double-duty as an optical SPDIF out port.

When we first received the Chaintech for evaluation, it was supplied with a passive heatsink for the single-chip nForce4 Ultra chipset. Chaintech sent an announcement that they had updated the design for active chipset cooling due to high temperatures with the nF34 chipset. Soon thereafter, we received an active cooling kit for the VNF4-Ultra that was a very easy installation. Chaintech tells us that current boards should be equipped with active cooling for the chipset.