nForce Based mATX Mainboard from Biostar

by Anton Shilov
12/04/2002 | 08:47 PM

Biostar, who makes its comeback this year, decided to launch its nForce2 SPP powered mainboard. Despite of the popular tradition, Biostar developed a mATX form-factor solution, not ATX, like most of the rivals. Moreover, the M7NCD is not something extraordinary and more resembles a cost-effective device, than a mainboard powered by the fastest core-logic for the Socket A processors for the moment.

The M7NCD’s brief features look as follows:

• Supports all contemporary Socket A Athlon XP/Athlon/Duron CPUs with 200, 266 or 333MHz FSB;
• NVIDIA nForce2 SPP chipset with NVIDIA MCP-family I/O controller;
• 3 DIMM slots for up to 3GB of PC2100 and PC2700 or DDR400 memory. Dual-channel memory bus support: the memory modules should be identical and installed in pairs;
• 3 PCI, 1 CNR and 1 AGP 8x slot;
• 2-channel integrated ATA-33/66/100/133 controller;
• 10/100/Mbit/s Ethernet;
• USB ports;
• Integrated AC'97 6-channel audio solution from Realtek;
• Hardware monitoring functions;
• mATX form-factor.

A picture for your reference may be found here. As for the pricing, keeping in mind that the newcomer is not a feature-rich one, the solutions will be a bit less expensive than its analogues from other mainboard makers. Availability timeframes are not known.