X-bit labs

Second Generation of Integrated Graphics from NVIDIA: GeForce 6150 and GeForce 6100 (page 10)

Category: Chipsets

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 10/27/2005 | 01:41 PM ]

Foxconn WinFast 6100K8MA-RS

Besides the WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS, Foxconn offered us another mainboard, the WinFast 6100K8MA-RS model. While the former mainboard is a top-end product, the WinFast 6100K8MA-RS is, on the contrary, a cheapest solution. In other words, it is based on the combination of a GeForce 6100 IGP and an nForce 410 MCP.

The different IGPs and MCPs described in this review are pin-compatible, so the Foxconn WinFast 6100K8MA-RS is based on the same PCB as the above-described WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS. It means many functional units of these two products are designed in exactly the same way. So, we won’t describe the 6100K8MA-RS as such, but rather focus on where it differs from its more expensive analog.

So, the main features of the Foxconn WinFast 6100K8MA-RS mainboard and its differences from the WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS are all due to the use of a GeForce 6100 North Bridge in conjunction with an nForce 410 South Bridge.

It’s not so easy to see, however, that the massive aluminum heatsink on this mainboard covers a GeForce 6100, not a 6150. The difference can only be discovered by the frequency of the graphics core. As for the South Bridge (nForce 410), it gives itself away immediately, unlike the North one.

First of all you note the fact that only two Serial ATA ports are soldered to the Foxconn WinFast 6100K8MA-RS since the nForce 410 MCP doesn’t support more. The simpler mainboard model also carries a different network PHY controller – a 10/100Mbps Realtek RTL8201BL instead of a Gigabit Ethernet chip. The audio section is different, too. The mainboard with the nForce 6100 IGP is equipped with a six-channel AC’97 Realtek ALC655 codec rather than an eight-channel one.

Trying to reduce the cost of the product, the Foxconn engineers stripped the WinFast 6100K8MA-RS of a FireWire controller, too. There’s empty space on the PCB where it should have been.

The mainboard’s rear panel looks desolate, too. There is no FireWire port and half the audio connectors that you saw on the WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS.

Otherwise, the two mainboards from Foxconn, on GeForce 6150 and GeForce 6100 chipsets, are absolutely identical. By the way, these two models not only share the same PCB but also the same BIOS. Thus, the features and problems of the WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS apply to the WinFast 6100K8MA-RS in the same measure.