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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)

To put things into perspective, we are using dual and single core configurations for comparison along with a dual processor Opteron system. The point is not to say that one is better than the other, rather it is to give some idea where a given system would currently be, and whether there is really any need for upgrading or not. Every processor and every system has its own strengths and weaknesses and depending on one's preferences, some of the issues will be irrelevant whereas others may influence a purchasing decision -- or not.

I/O Connector Block: mini-DIN (PS2 ports), IEEE 1394b, 2 x USB 2.0 + IEEE 1394a, analog + S/PDIF audio connectors, 2 x USB 2.0 + Gigabit Ethernet (two)

Compatibility Issues

The main focus of this article is the difference in performance between the ASUS M2N32-SLI board and the Foxconn "C51" but some of this also relates to compatibility issues. For example, the ASUS board was extremely finicky with all different types of memory, whereas the Foxconn board ran with everything we threw at it without the slightest problem. Likewise, the ASUS board did not run certain applications, for example Call of Duty2 launched but the benchmark did not execute at all. In addition, there were apparent problems with the SATA interfacing, essentially each installation of WindowsXP Pro lasted a day or two until things got corrupted. In all fairness, we were dealing with a preproduction sample and things have probably improved in the final production even though memory compatibility issues appear to persist. In the case of the C51, the only issue we ran into was that no matter what we tried, 3dsmax 8.0 trial version did not launch. The installation on a freshly formatted drive went without problem but no matter what, the application did not launch since the "lincense file was deleted".

We contacted Autodesk, nVidia and Foxconn regarding this issue and curiously, nobody was able to replicate the problem. In our test configuration, though, the issues persisted throughout more than a dozen fresh installations of the OS and 3dsmax, which could be some weird interaction with the firewall or even the ISP .. who knows.

Otherwise, the "C51" was rock-solid and had no issues whatsoever.

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