HIGH-DEFINITION
AUDIO
High-Definition Audio bumps
maximum audio resolution from
AC-97’s 20 bits up to 32 bits, while
sampling rates are boosted from
AC-97’s 48kHz max up to 192kHz. HD
Audio supports up to eight analog
channels, where AC-97 supported
only six. PCs outfitted with HD Audio
will also support a host of Dolby
technologies, including Dolby Head-
phone, Dolby Virtual Speaker, Dolby
Digital Live, and Dolby Pro Logic
IIx. Dolby Pro Logic IIx might be the
most interesting. This technology
can encode a stereo or 5.1-chan-
nel audio stream—including game
audio—into 6.1 or even 7.1 channels
in real time.
So what’s the catch? Most au-
dio experts we’ve talked to contend
that it will be all but impossible for
HD Audio to match the fidelity of
even a three-year-old PCI sound-
card because of all the electrical
noise motherboards generate.
SLI
If one is good, two must be better, right? nVidia’s
propeller heads set out to answer that question when
they began researching the scalable link interface
(SLI). SLI allows two videocards to process graphics in
tandem, via a special card connector, and display the
results on a single monitor. It requires a motherboard
that supports two physical x16 PCI Express slots, but
that doesn’t mean you’ll get x16 bandwidth from each.
Current consumer chipsets top out at a combined
bandwidth of x20. Interestingly, nVidia says SLI tech-
nology performs best with both slots configured for x8,
as opposed to running one at x16 and the second at x4.
On current SLI motherboards, you must flip a
special card or throw a set of jumpers to configure the
motherboard for either SLI mode or non-SLImode. (Turn to In the Lab on page 66 for more
information on SLI configuration modes.) Both the SLI
configuration card and the connector that fits into SLI-
capable graphics cards should be included with the
motherboard. As with all good things, there’s a catch:
SLI won’t deliver an instant performance boost with
every game, but all future games are likely to run faster
with the technology.
SLI has been a surprising success, but there are
some grumblings of discontent within the industry. ATI,
VIA, and Intel don’t seem too happy with nVidia’s lock
on SLI, and they could very well attempt an end-run
with technology of their own. We’ll know more in the
coming months. For now, SLI is a must-have if graphics
performance is your primary concern.FEBRUARY 2005 MA XIMUMPC1
CHOOSE YOUR CPU Before
you buy a motherboard, you
must first decide if you’re going
to recycle your old CPU or upgrade
to something new. If you’re keeping
your old proc, make sure it will work
with your new mobo. If you’re going
new, will it be AMD’s Athlon 64 FX
uber chip, Intel’s 3.7 3GHz Pentium
4 Extreme Edition with a phat 2MB
of cache, or something in between?
Haven’t kept up with the latest de-
velopments in CPU technology? Flip
to page 38 for a quick primer on the
subject.
2
PICK YOUR CHIPSET
Choosing a core-logic chipset
is equally as important as your
CPU choice. If you need help with this
choice, we rate and compare the top
chipsets on page 39.
3
COMPILE A “GOTTA
HAVE IT” LIST Now it’s time to
decide which features you wanton your mobo. In the old days (well, if
you consider 1999 the old days), mother-
boards were about as stripped as a Chevy
Impala left parked on a Bronx side street.
These days, motherboards come with
everything you need, save a videocard,
CPU, and RAM. What are you looking for?
Dual Gigabit Ethernet? HD Audio? Enough
SATA ports to feed a rack of hard drives?
Make your list.4
READ THE FRACKIN’
MANUAL! Once you find a moth-
erboard that tickles your fancy, read
the owner’s manual before you plop down
your dough. Most motherboard vendors
offer their manuals as free download-
able PDFs on their websites. The manual
will reveal any of the board’s limitations
(such as the types of memory and CPUs it
supports), and it will let you know if a PSU
upgrade is necessary.5
LOOK FOR OTHER OPINIONS
If the motherboard has been
out for a few months, visit theforums on the manufacturer’s website
and see what buyers are saying.
But remember to keep everything in
perspective: People don’t go to the fo-
rums to wax poetic about their Socket
939 board, they go there to bitch. It’s
all but impossible to determine if the
person complaining is a fried cus-
tomer or one of the manufacturer’s
competitors looking to sow fear,
uncertainty, and doubt. Always take
forum comments with a grain of salt,
but if you see a pattern emerging, it
could be a warning sign.6
BUY THE LATEST REV
It’s not at all uncommon for moth-
erboard manufacturers to revise
their designs without going so far as to
introduce an entirely new model. Newer
revisions are almost always better than
older boards, so try to purchase the
latest version of the motherboard that’s
available. You’ll find the rev numbers
silk-screened on the board.Buying the Right Motherboard, in Six Easy Steps
Making the right choice doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, we’ve distilled the process into six easy steps.