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Chipset MCP61(Gf 6100 /nF 405), uATX, Socket AM2 Athlon64/FX/X2 Sempron, GfX IntVGA+PCI-Ex16(x8 mode),Int VGA (share up to 256MB), FSB2000, DDR2 800 or 667MH, MAX MEM 16GB, LAN 10/100, SATAII(RAID), ROHS, Virtual Dual BIOS, 8-ch audio, 8 USB
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Technical Details
- Supports Socket AM2; AMD Athlon 64 FX, Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core, Athlon 64, Sempron processors- 2 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets, supporting up to 8GB DDR2 800/667/533/400 MHz
- Dual channel memory architecture
- 1 x IDE connector
- 2 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
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By W. KALAW (NY)
Although I encountered a few glitches such as SATA drive was not immediately recognized, no front audio, and few minor issues, the GA-M61SME-S2 appears to be a pretty stable motherboard.
Simply connecting the cable apparently was not good enough. I had to carefully play around with the sata cable by plugging it in one of the 2 sata connectors. It took 2 or 3 tries, alternating between the 2 sata connectors until I hit "the sweet spot". Thereafter, the hard drive was recognized by the motherboard. Another minor fault is the ram sockets. They look deeper than most ram slots. I have a pair of 1-gig corsair rams with heat spreaders. Again, I had to push these modules hard to a point where the board flexed against the standoffs just to close the plastic clips of the dimm sockets. Fortunately,my Micro Fly SX6 Micro-ATX Case has a removable motherboard plate tray which favorably made the installation less cumbersome.
I downloaded and installed the most recent audio drivers from the Gigabyte Download Support site. Now, the tricky part: To enable the front ac97 audio, DISABLE the front panel jack detection. This seems to fix the "no front audio sound problem".
The integrated video (nForce 405) supports PCI Express x8 video card. What happened to the x16 product description? On the positive note, the integrated chipsets did okay on DVD playback. I did not see any image flicker. The video resolution is excellent. I cranked the volume all the way up using my old Harmon Kardon 2-speaker & powered subwoofer and at the same time, monitoring the case LCD temperature display panel. The readings were consistent within the 29-35 degrees centigrade, while the front and rear case fans kept the internal case well ventilated. The AMD Athlon 64 x2 dual core processors on the other hand, were running cool on a stock AMD heatsink fan @ 30-36c depending on system load.
The one test I haven't done is the video-editing or rendering. There is no question adding a video card will considerably enhance the graphics processing power needed to sustain the memory-hungry gaming/video operation. Nevertheless, it shouldn't be a surprise if there is a slack in performance since the on-board video card utilizes shared main system ram. Ironically, the 256 MB pci express x16 video card was part of my wish list. On the second thought, why should I buy a 16x card? Would I be able to harness its uttermost potential in view of the fact that the slot runs at 8x speed? I don't know the true disparity between the two speeds or how it impacts the performance of the motherboard unless a benchmark test is performed.
Performance test on Vista Ultimate: The lowest sub score was gaming graphics @ 3.0, Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 405 score @ 3.4, The memory ram score @ 5.9, Hard disk @ 5.9, Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+ @ 5.0.
This basic motherboard may not have the bells and whistles compared to others which cost hundreds more. However, the overall performance of the GA-M61SME-S2 is surprisingly better than I expected for a mere $50 price tag. Moreover, I would have given this review an extra half a star if this board had 2 extra memory slots, a firewire, or a dvi port. In any case, these were all wishful thinking on my part. You get what you pay for!
Final note: I recommend updating the bios. If you want to update the latest bios online, a bios utility from Gigabyte website is available.
The following Award BIOS beep code descriptions may help you identify possible computer problems.
(For reference only.)
1 short: System boots successfully
2 short: CMOS setting error
1 long, 1 short: Memory or motherboard error
1 long, 2 short: Monitor or graphics card error
1 long, 3 short: Keyboard error
1 long, 9 short: BIOS ROM error
Continuous long beeps: Graphics card not inserted properly
Continuous short beeps: Power error
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