Gigabyte Brings Value Back With AM2: GA-M55plus-S3G Motherboard Review- Page 2/5
November 15, 2006
By
Thomas Soderstrom
Layout and Features
Based on nVidia's GeForce 6100 chipset, the GA-M55plus-S3G offers both onboard 6100 graphics and discrete PCI Express x16 graphics card support. Performance enthusiast should listen very carefully: Onboard graphics are easily disabled when not desired, and integrated graphics support doesn't hinder the performance of a discrete graphics card. On the other hand, those who would like to use the onboard graphics for basic tasks should be very pleased with 6100 performance -- a win-win situation for flexibility.
The use of all seven expansion slot positions adds even more flexibility: An amazing four PCI slots will support the greatest number of typical expansion cards we've seen to date, and two x1 slots will support the new cards that replace them. Though the Northbridge sink is actually a bit taller than the x1 slot next to it, PCI Express cards are usually "kicked up" past the slot far enough to avoid any collision.
The good, the bad, and the not-ugly: Board layout includes a front-panel audio connector located behind the rear panel audio ports for easy reach (good), a floppy cable header at the lower rear corner of the board (bad), and color-coded connectors to simplify component installation (pretty). The 24-pin ATX connector is 20-pin power supply capable and includes a black guide plug for the smaller connector, and is located out of the way at the board's front edge. On the other hand, the 4-pin ATX12V connector is located opposite the CPU socket, forcing builders to route this cable over or around the CPU cooler.
Other features include Realtek's ALC883 7.1-channel codec tied to nForce 430 Southbridge HD audio support, Marvell's 88E1116-NNC1 Gigabit LAN controller, and Texas Instrument's TSB43AB23 IEEE-1394 FireWire controller.
What's special about this BIOS chip? It seems odd that any board high-class enough to contain a FireWire controller would use unsocketed BIOS. Then again, perhaps this is just a minor concession toward major cost savings!
Rear panel connectors include PS/2, parallel and serial ports, a VGA output, four USB ports, FireWire and Gigabit Network connections, and six analog audio jacks -- four outputs and two inputs to support eight audio channels (7.1 sound) without losing microphone or line-level inputs.
The installation kit includes a motherboard installation guide, motherboard manual, driver and application CD, two Serial ATA cables, one 80-conductor Ultra ATA cable, a floppy cable, port cover plate, and two Gigabyte case badges to show it off.
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