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LOSTCIRCUITS	SHORTCUTS: A Reference Production Chipset Overview At One Glance What You Get / Layout VRM and Layout Integrated Peripherals Test Configuration / Compatibility Memory Performance 3DRendering Gaming Performance Final Thoughts
Foxconn C51XEM2AA The Way nVidia was Meant to Be Built
(Review by MS, July 17, 2006)

Every motherboard is bundled with some more or less useful apparel and accessories. Sometimes, the bundle only comprises the bare minimum of what is needed to get things up and running, the extra connectors need to be purchased separately. Often the software bundle is a conglomerate of more or less useless trial versions of dubious software with the sole purpose of adding garbage to the hard drive and registry. Some notable exceptions have been ASUS, DFI and Shuttle Computers, but in a nutshell, Foxconn is setting new superlatives for both hardware and software bundles in terms of completeness and quality. The IDE and even floppy cables are of the rounded, twisted pair variety, every add-on connector is RoHS compliant and the SATA data cables feature the "non-standard", angled connectors that are an order of magnitude more convenient for daily use than the standard straight connectors. All in all the hardware bundle is exactly what is needed without going into redundant features that would inflate the price of the board.

   

The hardware bundle features everything from a serial port bracket to quad USB 2.0 and dual Firewire, along with the necessary SATA and PATA cables and power adapters.

The one oddball is the IEEE 1394a dual firewire port bracket, since there is only a single header on the mainboard but there are two ports with their own cables and connectors each. Which leaves the user having to make the choice which one to hook up during installation of the hardware. This is certainly not a big omission, however, it is a bit confusing to look for the second header on the motherboard - when it is not there.

The software comprises essentially the driver CD with the latest iteration of Forceware and nForce-specific utilities in a sleek, sexy interface, which allows the "one click" installation of all drivers.

The manual of the C51XEM2AA is semi-ok, containing most of the background information on the technical capabilities of the nVidia chipset but with a few holes. For example, it would have been nice to see a list of the contents of the shipping box and, for example, a brief mentioning of the above mentioning of only a single Firewire port vs. two connectors on the bracket. The BIOS section could be better, some of the explanations are very good, particularly those that are dealing with features that have been around for a long time, others, particularly those dealing with overclocking and tweaking are marginal at best. Still, to give credit where credit is due, at least there are no blatantly wrong explanations that just sound fancy and have nothing to do with the feature at hand, and that have become very trendy with many other manufacturers.

The section concerning the software installation and configuration of the different utilities from nTune4 over RAID and SLI all the way to the RealTek audio mixer is excellent.

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