Nvidia nForce4 Ultra Mobo Shootout --- TheThirdMedia Hardware

Report Card

The time has come to rate the boards according to their merits and value in the following table. The table is used as a tool to help easily identify key points which may interest different user groups. Each of the seven categories carries different weight in our final ratings, with the most important aspects being performance, compatibility and stability. Note that the pricing quoted in this table was retrieved from online merchants such as PriceWatch and should be used only as a general guide though they are correct at time of publication.

Motherboard Report Card

	Performance	Features	Layout	Cables/ Accessories	Overclocking	Compatibility/ Stability	Price(USD)
ABITFatal1ty AN8	4.5	3	3.5	4.5	4.5	3.5	$189
ChaintechVNF4 Ultra	4	2.5	4	4	3.5	3.5	$87
DFILANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D	4.5	4	4.5	4.5	5	5	$136
ECSKN1 Extreme	4	3.5	3.5	4.5	3.5	4	$105
EPoXEP-9NPA+ Ultra	4	3	3.5	4.5	4.5	3	$112
GigabyteGA-K8NXP-9	5	5	3.5	4.5	4	4.5	$174
GigabyteGA-K8N Ultra-9	4.5	4.5	3.5	5	4.5	4.5	$137
MSIK8N Neo4 Platinum	4	4.5	4.5	4	4	5	$143

(Note: 5 = Good, 1 = Bad)
If you are in the market for a decent motherboard that performs well and will not burn a hole in your pocket, the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra is the perfect choice. With its sub $90 price tag, the board is very inexpensive and offers similar performance comparable with enthusiast boards twice as expensive. However, the catch is that as an entry-level 'value' motherboard, you must be prepared to compromise additional features. The Chaintech VNF4 Ultra is basically the nForce4 Ultra chipset on a bare PCB. On the other hand, let us look at the ECS KN1 Extreme. The board is roughly US$20 more expensive than the Chaintech, but it is by all means a fully featured motherboard with a mean component list that rivals the top-tier manufacturer offerings. Due to these considerations, our Most Value For Money award goes to the ECS KN1 Extreme.

The most overclockable product is obviously open to harsh debate as half of the boards in this shootout were able to achieve the same top FSB of 290MHz. They were also able to overclock effortlessly with no complications along the way. So how do we choose the best from the rest? Let us take a good look at the features available. Of the four boards mentioned, three of them are by design, enthusiast oriented. The ABIT Fatal1ty AN8, DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D and EpoX's EP-9NPA+ Ultra. The last board was Gigabyte's GA-K8N Ultra-9, a mainstream motherboard with fairly limited overclocking options. After much deliberation, we felt that the Most Overclockable Product award should go to the DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D. This decision was made in light of the board's superior overclocking options and tweaker friendly design. The board not only had the most extensive optimization and voltage controls, but it also had troubleshooting, protection and stability testing facilities all built right into the BIOS.

Compared to the rest of the boards in this shootout, the DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D also wins our Most Innovative Product award. Its multiple PCI Express configuration with Dual Xpress Graphics is a great way to have two graphics cards installed and setup an entertainment unit with up to a four display units. While MSI's K8N Neo4 Platinum does offer an open ended PCIe x4 slot that can be utilized with different PCIe combinations, only the nF4 Ultra-D is pre-built with SLI compliance. Even though NVIDIA may block future nForce4 Ultra chipsets from being modified, current owners of the nF4 Ultra-D can still reap the benefits.

It has come to the time to decide the overall winner of our nForce4 Ultra motherboard shootout. Such a board must have a balance between all aspects and be able to deliver on each front. Three boards actually vie for the title, DFI's LANPArty UT nF4 Ultra-D and both of Gigabyte's entries, the GA-K8NXP-9 and GA-K8N Ultra-9. The GA-K8NXP-9 topped our benchmarking charts with excellent numbers. It also represents the most complete board in terms of features, at a premium price of course. Gigabyte's GA-K8N Ultra-9 however, overclocks extremely well, has better accessories and costs US$30 less. However, if you've followed through our shootout and soaked in the pros and cons of each board, we believe that the answer is quite obvious. The DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D is somewhat a cross between the two Gigabyte models, excelling in performance with superb overclocking in a competitively priced package. What tipped our scales was that the nF4 Ultra-D has a much better board design and it delivered rock solid stability throughout our testing.

Already awarded with our Most Overclockable Product and Most Innovative Product awards, the DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D has everything going for it, including the 'Longest Named Product' award (if there was one), so it gives us great pleasure to declare it as the Winner of our nForce4 Ultra motherboard shootout.



	TheThirdMedia Hardware → Mainboard Guide → Mainboard Article > Nvidia nForce4 Ultra Mobo Shootout