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Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/322
With Intel's 810 chipset stealing most of the lime light when it comes to motherboards, the market seems to have forgotten about the new, highly integrated solution from VIA technologies that actually made its first appearance before the 810 was even named. The chipset is the MVP4, and the first boards based on VIA's low cost attempt at the integrated motherboard chipset market are on the verge of shipping. Among those manufacturers with boards ready to shoot out the door, Freetech, a company rarely associated with "high-quality products" is aiming to make their presence known with their MVP4 based offering, the P5F110.
Armed with VIA's latest, albeit not necessarily their greatest, chipset, how far can Freetech go to gain some positive recognition for themselves and remove the cheap branding that has plagued their existence thus far? Let's find out as AnandTech takes a look at one of the first retail MVP4 motherboards...
CPU Interface | Super Socket-7 |
Chipset | VIA MVP4 |
On-Board Video | Trident Blade 3D |
L2 Cache | 1MB |
Form Factor | ATX |
Bus Speeds | 60/66/70/75/80/83/95 100/105/110/115/120/124 |
Clock Multipliers | 1.5x - 5.5x |
Voltages Supported | 2.1v - 3.5v (0.1v increments) |
Memory Slots | 3 168pin DIMM Slots |
Expansion Slots | 0 AGP Slot 1 AMR Slot 5 PCI Slots (4 Full Length) 2 ISA Slots (0 Full Length) |
BIOS | Award BIOS |
The Good
First of all, if you're not familiar with the MVP4 chipset, take a look at AnandTech's review of the MVP4 chipset from last February. After you have a basic understanding of the target market for the MVP4, and the technology behind the chipset you can start looking at motherboards based on the offering. The Freetech P5F110 fits the mold of what will probably become one of the more rarer types of MVP4 boards. The standard ATX layout features a 5/2/0 expansion slot configuration (PCI/ISA/AGP) with a single AMR slot for an add-on soft modem card. | |
The on-board audio
codec is taken advantage of by the on-board audio input/output ports that are conveniently
stacked next to the parallel port with the rest of the ATX I/O backpanel. The purpose of the MVP4 chipset was to keep costs low while producing a highly integrated motherboard solution, not a high-end offering, making the standard ATX layout and expansion slot configuration of the P5F110 a bit off the mark for the chipset's target audience. Most MVP4 boards you'll see will be available in MicroATX versions and those will probably be more attractive to users interested in the MVP4 chipset. |
Keep in mind that unlike most 810 based boards, the MVP4 probably won't be used on boards that are PCI-only solutions. The reasons being that the MVP4 chipset still requires the inclusion of a PCI-to-PCI bridge for the addition of more PCI slots and that a large portion of Super7 users are upgraders that do not wish to throw away their old peripherals (some that may be ISA) just yet. These reasons help make the 5/2/0 expansion slot configuration of the P5F110 a sensible decision on Freetech's part. From Freetech's point of view, the design for a 5/2/1 ATX motherboard is not that much (physically) different from the design for the 5/2/0 layout of the P5F110, keeping costs low, a trend you'll notice with most Freetech motherboards.
The board features a total of 3 DIMM slots with a rated maximum of 768MB of SDRAM, however AnandTech's tests revealed that the board would not function properly with many brands of 256MB memory modules, including the Corsair SEC DIMMs. This brings the realistic maximum down to 384MB for the time being, until 256MB modules become more mainstream and are properly tested by motherboard manufacturers. Chances are that a user looking for the P5F110 will probably not be interested in using 256MB SDRAM DIMMs, so this problem is most likely one that can slide without penalty in the minds of most users. The cacheable memory region of the P5F110 is defined by the 5ns EliteMT L2 cache that is present on the board in the form of two 512KB chips, forming a total of a 1MB on-board L2 cache. The actual cacheable memory region of the motherboard is 254MB, meaning that if any memory is accessed above the 254MB limit, it will result in degraded performance during the accessing of the data stored within that memory space. This, of course, does not apply to K6-3 systems, whose on-chip L2 cache takes care of the cacheable memory area of the system.
As with most Super7 motherboards, the P5F110 features a fully jumper driven CPU setup. The documented settings include clock multipliers ranging from 1.5 to 5.5x and voltages ranging from 2.1v to 3.5v in 0.2v increments, meaning that the 2.4v required by the K6-3 is supported. The clock generator aboard the P5F110 supports a unique variety of FSB settings most unofficially, the list is composed of the 60/66/70/75/80/83/95/100/105/110/115/120/124MHz settings, with the 95/105MHz settings coming in handy for use with the K6-2 333 and the K6-2 475 processors. The overclocking potential of the P5F110 is above average with the amount of voltage tweaking and FSB tweaking that is possible.
As far as hardware monitoring features go, the P5F110 falls pretty short. With only one on-board thermistor, placed in the middle of the Socket-7 CPU interface, monitoring the temperature of your system as a whole isn't too possible. The hardware monitoring controller aboard the P5F110 does allow for both on-board fans to be monitored, as well as the standard set of voltages which can come in handy if you're diagnosing potential problems regarding voltage supplied to your CPU for example. Provided with the P5F110 is a hardware monitoring interface for Win9x. Along with that disk, the on-chip Trident Blade 3D is supported via two drivers disks, one for Windows 9x, and the other for Windows NT/2000. The inclusion of a working Windows 2000 driver is an interesting addition to an otherwise seemingly unsupported VGA adapter. Freetech also includes a copy of VIA's Bus Mastering drivers, their AGP GART drivers, and the Award Flash Utility. Not a bad handful there.
The stability of the P5F110 wasn't an issue at all, actually the board performed quite well and exceeded all expectations as the setup and configuration of the board was a breeze as was the burn-in testing process. Kudos to Freetech on a job well done in designing the motherboard, it's too bad that not more "high-end" Super7 motherboards aren't designed with the same reliability as this integrated MVP4 solution was designed with. Although the board is a far cry from being a rock solid server solution, it is definitely a decent offering, much more than you'd expect from a company like Freetech.
The Bad
Although the P5F110 makes use of the VIA 686A Super South Bridge controller which supports Ultra ATA/66 hard drives, Freetech failed to include the 40-pin 80-conductor IDE cable necessary for Ultra ATA/66 operation, leaving you with the obligation to buy the cable on your own if you wish to use an Ultra ATA/66 hard drive. If you don't plan on using an Ultra ATA/66 drive, then Freetech's decision is more of a money saver for you.
Freetech's decision to include only a quick start guide, rather than a full fledged user's manual is a bit disappointing, and is unfortunately a money saving move many motherboard manufacturers are implementing. For the user that already knows just about everything there is to know about installing/setting up a motherboard, this is another welcome money saver, otherwise, it is stripping you of a potentially helpful tool.
The general configuration and layout of the P5F110 will keep it among the more expensive MVP4 based motherboards, simply because it features a larger PCB footprint and will cost more to make than most MicroATX MVP4 boards. While Freetech's prices are usually considerably lower than those of the competition, the P5F110 could've been better targeted towards potential MVP4 users had it been based on a MicroATX design instead of the standard ATX layout.
Another bone to pick with the P5F110 exists with the intrusting BIOS setup Freetech chose for use with the motherboard. The otherwise familiar Award BIOS setup featured very few options for memory configuration, and the actual columns in the BIOS menu were reversed from their normal positions. The BIOS setup isn't too incredibly helpful and probably won't please too many tweakers, however hard core hardware enthusiasts will probably be staying away from a MVP4 solution in the first place.
The lack of a heatsink on the MVP4's North Bridge controller is a bit disconcerting as well. The job of the North Bridge of the MVP4 chipset is much more complex than that of its predecessor with the MVP3, as the North Bridge now houses an actual graphics accelerator. In AnandTech's first experiences with the MVP4 chipset revealed that heat could potentially be an issue that contributes to long term stability/reliability, so to be on the safe side, you may want to stick a small 486 heatsink on the surface of the MVP4 North Bridge controller.
The support Freetech has been known to offer for their motherboards hasn't always been the greatest, when you buy a Freetech motherboard you're usually not buying it for their first class marks in support and service. You get what you pay for, and with the Freetech P5F110, you aren't buying first class service and support, you're buying a motherboard, that's all.
USB Compatibility
Number of Front Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 0
Number of Rear Universal Serial Bus Root Ports: 2
USB IRQ Enable/Disable in BIOS: Yes
USB Keyboard Support in BIOS: Yes
Recommended SDRAM
Recommended SDRAM:
Mushkin SEC -GH PC100 SDRAM; Memory Man SEC -GH PC100 SDRAM
SDRAM Tested: 1 x 128MB Mushkin PC100 SDRAM; 1 x 128MB Memory-Man PC100 SDRAM; 1 x 256MB
Corsair PC100 SDRAM DIMM (for compatibility testing only)
Manufacturer: The
Memory Man
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.memory-man.com
Manufacturer: Mushkin
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.mushkin.com
The Test
In recent times, choosing a motherboard cannot be completely determined by a Winstone score. Now, many boards come within one Winstone point of each other and therefore the need to benchmark boards against each other falls. Therefore you shouldn't base your decision entirely on the benchmarks you see here, but also on the technical features and advantages of this particular board, seeing as that will probably make the greatest difference in your overall experience.
AnandTech Motherboard Testing Methodology
Test Configuration |
|
Processor(s): | AMD K6-2 400 (CXT) AMD K6-3 400 |
RAM: | 1 - 128MB Mushkin PC100 SDRAM 1 - 128MB Memory Man PC100 SDRAM DIMM |
Hard Drive(s): | Western Digital Caviar AC35100 - UltraATA |
Video Card(s): | Trident Blade 3D |
Video Drivers: | Trident v6.50.5476 |
Operation System(s): | Windows 98 SE |
Motherboard Revision: | Freetech P5F110 Revision 0.1 |
Windows NT Performance |
||
Winstone 99 | Quake 2 demo1.dm2 | |
Business | ||
AMD K6-2 400 | 18.4 | 14.3 |
AMD K6-3 400 | 21.6 | 15.9 |
As a MVP4 motherboard, the Freetech P5F110 exceeded AnandTech's expectations. As a product however, the P5F110 has a very niche target market, so the final buying decision is left up to those remote few users that are interested in such a unique product.
Most interested in the MVP4 chipset will probably want to wait and grab something in a cheaper, MicroATX design rather than spend more on the plain old design Freetech used with the P5F110.
AnandTech Motherboard Rating |
|
Business | |
Performance | 85% |
Price | 85% |
Ease of Use | 70% |
Overclocked Stability | 88% |
General Stability | 88% |
Quality | 83% |
Documentation | 65% |
Reliability | 83% |
Overall Rating | 81% |
Click Here to learn about AnandTech's Motherboard Testing Methodology.