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[nextpage title=”Introduction”]
KN1 SLI Extreme is a high-end motherboard from ECS for socket 939 CPUs (Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX, Athlon 64 X2 and Opteron) based on NVIDIA nForce4 SLI chipset. This is the first SLI-based motherboard from ECS that we reviewed, so let’s see how it performed.
Figure 1: ECS KN1 SLI Extreme Rev 1.0 motherboard.
Its design follows the same standard used on other motherboards from ECS Extreme series. Its metallic purple color really catches the eye and ECS decided to eliminate almost all silk-screen from the board (that small letters and coded printed on the motherboard), what gave a clear and even sophisticated look to this motherboard.
We have some criticism to this motherboard layout, however: its extra SATA ports can be blocked when two video cards are used and it is necessary to remove the main video card whenever you need to install or remove memory modules, what can be really annoying if your PC is already built.
On the positive side, ECS has finally used a quieter fan to cool down the chipset.
Figure 2: nForce4 SLI chipset active heatsink.
As all motherboard from ECS Extreme series, KN1 SLI Extreme also has some high-brightness blue LEDs next to the PCI slots. These LEDs, called Doctor LED, indicate if the PCI slots are working correctly or not.
Another interesting feature from this motherboard is a duct with a fan inside installed on its back, which cools down the voltage regulator transistors and also removes hot air from the voltage regulator area. The only thing missing to make this system perfect was the installation of heatsinks on top of those transistors.
Figure 3: Back duct that helps on the motherboard cooling.
No special procedure is required to activate SLI mode on KN1 SLI Extreme. Just connect two compatible video cards and the SLI mode will be activated. It is necessary, however, to connect an extra power supply cable when SLI mode is used, and we recommend you to use a good quality power supply with at least true 450 watts.
Figure 4: PCI Express slots.
As you can see in Figure 4, on this motherboard there is more room between the two x16 slots compared to older SLI motherboards. This helps the installation of bigger video cards and the system ventilation.
KN1 SLI Extreme has four DDR-DIMM sockets, supporting up to 4 GB RAM DDR266/333/400. ECS used blue color on sockets 1 and 2 and yellow color on sockets 3 and 4. To use DDR Dual Channel mode just install each module on sockets with the same color.
[nextpage title=”More Features”]
Now talking about its storage capacity, it has two ATA-133 ports and four Serial ATA II ports controlled by nForce4 SLI chipset. These ports support NCQ (Native Command Queuing) and NVIDIA RAID feature, which allows the use of up to eight hard disk drives (four Serial ATA and four ATA-133) under RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 or JBOD.
The reviewed motherboard also has two extra Serial ATA II ports controlled by Silicon Image SiI3132, supporting RAID0 or RAID1.It comes with four orange Serial ATA cables, one power adapter for up to two Serial ATA devices, two IDE cable (one 40-wire and one 80-wire) and one floppy disk cable, all black.
ECS also has included an adapter for installing a Serial ATA device outside the computer case, however the motherboard doesn’t come with any external Serial ATA power adapter, so you need to use an external power supply for this external Serial ATA device, which may not seem very practical.
Figure 5: Six Serial ATA-300 ports, four controlled by the chipset and two controlled by SiI3132 chip.
Figure 6: Cables and accessories.
On its networking side KN1 SLI Extreme has two LAN ports. One is Gigabit Ethernet (1,000 Mbps), controlled by the nForce4 SLI chipset supporting hardware-base firewall by NVIDIA and needing only one small chip for making the physical layer interface (in the case of this motherboard Marvell 88E1111 was used). The other one is Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps), controlled by Realtek RTL8100C chip.
This motherboard comes with a crossover networking cable, which can be used to connect KN1 SLI Extreme to other PC without using a hub, switch or home router.
Its on-board audio features eight channels (7.1 format) and is produced by nForce4 SLI chipset together with Realtek ALC650 codec, which has a signal-to-noise ratio of 100 dB.
As you can see in Figure 7, it has coaxial and optical SPDIF outputs and individual center, side, rear and subwoofer outputs soldered directly on the motherboard.
Figure 7: KN1 SLI Extreme back connectors.
KN1 SLI Extreme also carries 10 USB 2.0 ports, four soldered on the motherboard and six through the use of I/O brackets (this motherboard comes with just one adapter for two USB ports, so four ports are left unavailable) and two FireWire (IEEE 1394a) ports, controlled by Texas Instruments TSB43AB22A chip.
The motherboard comes with I/O brackets for two USB power and two FireWire ports (see Figure 8), one regular-sized and another miniature-sized. The FireWire bracket can be installed on the back of the computer or on its front, using a 3.5” bay adapter.
Because of the ventilation duct located on the back of the motherboard, there wasn’t room for the installation of the 25-pin parallel port connector on the motherboard. This connector, however, is available on an I/O bracket.
Figure 8: More KN1 SLI Extreme accessories.
ECS also has included a BIOS protection copy called Top-Hat Flash. Its use is very simple. If the motherboard doesn’t turn on after a bad BIOS upgrade or a CIH/Chernobyl-like virus attack, just install Top-Hat on top of the original BIOS (which is soldered on the motherboard), turn
the PC on, remove Top-Hat and then perform a BIOS upgrade. After the BIOS is correctly upgraded the motherboard will work just fine again.
Figure 9: Top-Hat flash.
[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]
ECS KN1 SLI Extreme main features are:
- Socket: 939.
- Chipset: NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI.
- Super I/O: ITE IT8712F.
- Parallel IDE: Two ATA-133 ports.Serial IDE: Four SATA-300 ports controlled by nForce 4 SLI chipset (RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD) and two SATA-300 ports controlled by Silicon Image SiI3132 chip (RAID 0 and 1).
- USB: 10 USB 2.0 ports (four soldered on the motherboard and two available on one I/O bracket that comes with the motherboard; four ports are left over).
- FireWire (IEEE 1394a): Two ports controlled by Texas Instruments TSB43AB22A chip, available through an I/O bracket that comes with the motherboard (one regular sized and one miniature).
- On-board audio: Produced by the chipset together with Realtek ALC850 codec (eight channels, 16-bit resolution, 100 dB signal-to-noise ratio) with optical and coaxial outputs soldered on the motherboard.
- On-board video: No.
- On-board LAN: Yes, two, one Gigabit Ethernet port (1,000 Mbps), controlled by nForce 4 SLI chipset together with Marvell 88E1111 PHY chip and one Fast Ethernet port (100 Mbps) controlled by Realtek RTL8100C chip.
- Buzzer: No.
- Power supply: ATX12V v2.x (24-pin).
- Slots: Two x16 PCI Express slots, one x1 PCI Express slot and three PCI slots.
- Memory: Four DDR-DIMM sockets (up to 4 GB up to DDR400/PC3200).
- Number of CDs that come with this motherboard: 2 CDs.
- Programs included: Drivers and utilities.
- Extra features: Backup BIOS module.
- More Information: www.ecsusa.com.
- Average price in the US*: US$ 127,00.
*Researched on Pricewatch.com on the day we published this review.
[nextpage title=”How We Tested”]
During our benchmarking sessions, we used the configuration listed below. Between our benchmarking sessions the only variable was the motherboard being tested. Hardware Configuration
- BIOS version: 1.1B, January 4th, 2006.
- Motherboard revision: 1.1.
- Processor (performance benchmarking): Athlon 64 3800+ (2.4 GHz) with 512 KB L2 cache, NewCastle core.
- Processor (overclocking): Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2 GHz) with 512KB L2 cache, Venice core.
- Cooler: Gigabyte 3D Rocket Cooler Pro.
- Memory: Two Corsair PC4000 TWINX1024-4000PRO modules with 512 MB each, installed on DDR Dual Channel configuration (3-4-4-8 1T timings).
- Hard Drive: Samsung SpinPoint SP0411N (7,200 rpm, 40 GB, ATA-133).
- Video Card (main): NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128 MB PCI Express.
- Video Card (secondary, SLI): NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT 128 MB PCI Express.
- Video Card (AGP): NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT.
- Video resolution: 1024x768x32 75Hz.
- Power Supply: Seventeam ST420BKV-03F.
Software Configuration
- Windows XP Professional installed using NTFS
- Service Pack 2
- DirectX 9.0c
Driver Versions
- NVIDIA video driver version : 71.89 WHQL
- NVIDIA nForce driver version: 6.53 WHQL Stand Alone Kit
- NVIDIA video driver version: 81.98 WHQL (nForce4 X16)
- NVIDIA nForce driver version: 6.85 (nForce4 X16)
- ULi driver version: Integrated 2.10.
- ATI driver version: 1.0.
- High Definition Audio driver version: Realtek 1.21.
- Creative audio driver version: 5.12.01.506.
Used Software
- SYSmark2004 – Patch 2
- PCMark04 Business 1.3.0
- 3DMark2001 SE 3.3.0
- 3DMark03 Pro 3.6.0
- 3DMark05 Pro 1.2.0
- Doom 3
- Quake III Arena 1.32
We adopted a 3% error margin; thus, differences below 3% cannot be considered relevant. In other words, products with a performance difference below 3% should be considered as having similar performance.
[nextpage title=”Overall Performance”]
We measured the overall performance of this motherboard using SYSmark2004, which is a software that simulates the use of real-world applications. Thus, we consider this the best software to measure, in practical terms, the system performance.
The benchmarks are divided into two groups:
- Internet Content Creation: Simulates the authoring of a website containing text, images, videos and animations. The following programs are used: Adobe After Effects 5.5, Adobe Photoshop 7.01, Adobe Premiere 6.5, Discreet 3ds Max 5.1, Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, Macromedia Flash MX, Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9, McAfee VirusScan 7.0 and Winzip 8.1.
- Office Productivity: Simulates the use of an office suite, i.e., simulates sending e-mails, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. The following programs are used: Adobe Acrobat 5.05, Microsoft Office XP SP2, Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1, NaturallySpeaking 6, McAfee VirusScan 7.0 and Winzip 8.1.
The software delivers specific results for each batch and also an overall performance result, all in a specific SYSmark2004 unit.
We selected the following motherboards to compare to ECS KN1 SLI Extreme:
- Albatron K8SLI (nForce4 SLI)
- ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI)
- DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI)
- ECS KN1 Extreme (nForce4 Ultra)
- Foxconn WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS (nForce4 Ultra)
- MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16)
- Sapphire PI-A9RX480 (ATI Xpress 200P)
- ULi AP9567A (ULi M1695 chipset reference board)
- ULi AP970A (ULi M1697 chipset reference board)
You can see the results on the chart below.
| Motherboard | SYSmark 2004 – Score |
% |
| Sapphire PI-A9RX480 (ATI Xpress 200P) | 188 | 0 |
| Albatron K8SLI (nForce4 SLI) | 188 | 0 |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) | 188 | |
| MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16) | 187 | -0.53 |
| ULi AP970A (ULi M1697) | 187 | -0.53 |
| DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI) | 186 | -1.08 |
| Foxconn WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS (nForce4 Ultra) | 185 | -1.62 |
| ULi AP9567A (ULi M1695) | 184 | -2.17 |
| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) | 183 | -2.73 |
| ECS KN1 Extreme (nForce4 Ultra) | 181 | -3.87 |
On this test ECS KN1 SLI Extreme achieved a performance similar to the majority of motherboards we tested, being a little bit faster than ECS KN1 Extreme (nForce4 Ultra).
[nextpage title=”Processing Performance”]
We measured processing performance using PCMark04 program. You can see the results below.
| Motherboard | PCMark04 (Build 1.3.0) |
% |
| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) | 4683 | +0.28 |
| DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI) | 4677 | +0.15 |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) | 4670 | |
| Foxconn WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS (nForce4 Ultra) | 4669 | -0.02 |
| ECS KN1 Extreme (nForce4 Ultra) | 4653 | -0.37 |
| Albatron K8SLI (nForce4 SLI) | 4656 | -0.52 |
| MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16) | 4638 | -0.69 |
| ULi AP970A (ULi M1697) | 4609 | -1.32 |
| Sapphire PI-A9RX480 (ATI Xpress 200P) | 4598 | -1.57 |
| ULi AP9567A (ULi M1695) | 4595 | -2.30 |
All motherboards achieved a similar performance on this test.
[nextpage title=”3D Performance: 3DMark2001 SE”]
One of the best ways to measure the performance of a PC is through 3D games, since they usually pull the maximum power from the motherboard, memory, CPU, video card and hard disk drive. We chose five programs for measuring the 3D performance of the motherboard being reviewed: 3DMark2001 SE, 3DMark03, 3DMark05, Doom 3 and Quake III Arena. The motherboards with SLI feature were tested twice, one with SLI enabled and another without SLI configuration.
3DMark2001 SE simulates DirectX 8.1 games. We used this program to see how the motherboard being reviewed acts running games from this generation. You can find the results below.
| Motherboard | 3DMark2001 SE (Build 3.3.0) |
% |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) | 20573 | +5.47 |
| Albatron K8SLI (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 19637 | +0.67 |
| Foxconn WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS (nForce4 Ultra) | 19580 | +0.38 |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 19506 | |
| ULi AP970A (ULi M1697) | 19328 | -0.92 |
| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 19314 | -0.99 |
| ECS KN1 Extreme (nForce4 Ultra) | 19302 | -1.06 |
| DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 19284 | -1.15 |
| MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16) Normal | 19265 | -1.25 |
| ULi AP9567A (ULi M1695) | 19115 | -2.05 |
| Sapphire PI-A9RX480 (ATI Xpress 200P) | 19054 | -2.37 |
| ULi AP9567A (ULi M1695) – AGP | 18988 | -2.73 |
All motherboards achieved a similar performance without using SLI configuration.
We included ECS KN1 SLI Extreme results with SLI for you to compare the performance difference you may expect when enabling SLI on this motherboard. As you can see, the performance increased just a little bit on 3DMark 2001 SE when we activated SLI. This result was expected, since older games aren’t optimized to use SLI.
Comparing the results among SLI-enabled motherboards (see table below), ECS KN1 SLI Extreme achieved a performance similar to the majority of motherboards we tested, being faster than MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16), which used a newer driver that isn’t optimized for 3DMark2001 SE.
| Motherboard | 3DMark2001 SE (Build 3.3.0) |
% |
| DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI) | 20853 | +1.36 |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) | 20573 | |
| Albatron K8SLI (nForce4 SLI) | 20545 | -0.14 |
| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) | 20004 | -2.84 |
| MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16) | 19668 | -4.60 |
[nextpage title=”3D Performance: 3DMark03″]
3DMark03 simulates DirectX 9 games, which are the games available today on the market. So we used this software to see how the motherboard being reviewed acts running DirectX 9.0 games. You can check the results below.
| Motherboard | 3Dmark03 (Build 3.6.0 |
% |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) | 13831 | +65.96 |
| DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 8364 | +0.36 |
| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 8353 | +0.23 |
| Foxconn WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS (nForce4 Ultra) | 8348 | +0.17 |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 8334 | |
| ECS KN1 Extreme (nForce4 Ultra) | 8327 | -0.08 |
| Albatron K8SLI (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 8322 | -0.14 |
| MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16) Normal | 8312 | -0.26 |
| ULi AP970A (ULi M1697) | 8283 | -0.62 |
| ULi AP9567A (ULi M1695) | 8239 | -1.15 |
| ULi AP9567A (ULi M1695) – AGP | 8167 | -2.04 |
All motherboards achieved a similar performance without using SLI configuration.
We included ECS KN1 SLI Extreme results with SLI for you to compare the performance difference you may expect when enabling SLI on this motherboard. Enabling SLI we had a 65.96% performance increase on this test.
Comparing the results among SLI-enabled motherboards (see table below), ECS KN1 SLI Extreme achieved a performance similar to other motherboards we tested.
| Motherboard | 3Dmark03 (Build 3.6.0 |
% |
| MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16) | 14075 | +1.76 |
| DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI) | 13835 | +0.03 |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) | 13831 | |
| Albatron K8SLI (nForce4 SLI) | 13820 | -0.08 |
| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) | 13801 | -0.22 |
[nextpage title=”3D Performance: 3DMark05″]
3DMark05 measures performance by simulating DirectX 9.0c games, i.e., using Shader 3.0 model. This programming model is used by games like Far Cry. This programming model is used by GeForce series 6 and 7 from NVIDIA and Radeon X1000 series from ATI. You can find the results below.
| Motherboard | 3Dmark05 (Build 1.2.0) |
% |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) | 6354 | +79.75 |
| Foxconn WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS (nForce4 Ultra) | 3600 | +1.84 |
| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 3597 | +1.75 |
| ECS KN1 Extreme (nForce4 Ultra) | 3595 | +1.70 |
| DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 3589 | +1.53 |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 3535 | |
| Albatron K8SLI (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 3529 | -0.17 |
| MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16) Normal | 3509 | -0.74 |
| Sapphire PI-A9RX480 (ATI Xpress 200P) | 3427 | -3.15 |
| ULi AP970A (ULi M1697) | 3317 | -6.57 |
| ULi AP9567A (ULi M1695) | 3276 | -7.91 |
| ULi AP9567A (ULi M1695) – AGP | 3111 | -10.09 |
On this test ECS KN1 SLI Extreme achieved a performance similar to the majority of motherboards we tested, being faster than Sapphire PI-A9RX480 (ATI Xpress 200P) and all motherboards based on ULi chipset.
We included ECS KN1 SLI Extreme results with SLI for you to compare the performance difference you may expect when enabling SLI on this motherboard. Enabling SLI we had an 79.75% performance increase on this test.
Comparing the results among SLI-enabled motherboards (see table below), ECS KN1 SLI Extreme achieved a performance similar to other motherboards we tested.
| Motherboard | 3Dmark05 (Build 1.2.0) |
% |
| Albatron K8SLI (nForce4 SLI) | 6397 | +0.68 |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) | 6354 | |
| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) | 6346 | -0.13 |
| MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16) | 6339 | -0.24 |
| DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI) | 6262 | -1.47 |
[nextpage title=”3D Performance: Doom 3″]
Doom 3 is one of the heaviest games available today. We run this game at 1024x768x32 resolution at high quality. We run demo1 four times and wrote the obtained number of frames per second. The first result we discarded at once, since it is far inferior than the other results. This happens because at the first time we run the demo the game must load all textures to video memory, fact that doesn’t happen from the second time we run the demo on. From the three results left, we consider as our official result the middle result, i.e., we discard the highest and the lowest values. Curiously almost all times the values obtained at the second round on were the same.
A very important detail that we must mention is that Doom 3 has an internal FPS lock: it is only capable of generating 60 frames per second, even if your PC is able to produce more frames per second than that. This is done in order to make the game to have the same “playability” sensation independently from the video card installed on the PC. This lock, however, is disabled in the game benchmarking mode.
For further details on how to measure 3D performance with Doom 3, read our tutorial on this subject.
| Motherboard | FPS | % |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) | 101.3 | +21.46 |
| Foxconn WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS (nForce4 Ultra) | 83.7 | +0.36 |
| DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 83.6 | +0.24 |
| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 83.5 | +0.12 |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 83.4 | |
| Albatron K8SLI (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 83 | -0.48 |
| MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16) Normal | 82.1 | -1.58 |
| Sapphire PI-A9RX480 (ATI Xpress 200P) | 81.4 | -2.46 |
| ECS KN1 Extreme (nForce4 Ultra) | 81.3 | -2.58 |
| ULi AP970A (ULi M1697) | 79.5 | -4.91 |
| ULi AP9567A (Uli M1695) | 78.3 | -6.51 |
| ULi AP9567A (Uli M1695) – AGP | 77.6 | -7.47 |
On this test ECS KN1 SLI Extreme achieved a performance similar to the majority of motherboards we tested, being faster than all motherboards based on ULi chipset.
We included ECS KN1 SLI Extreme results with SLI for you to compare the performance difference you may expect when enabling SLI on this motherboard. Enabling SLI we had a 21.46% performance increase on this test.
Comparing the results among SLI-enabled motherboards (see table below), ECS KN1 SLI Extreme achieved a performance similar to other motherboards we tested.
| Motherboard | FPS | % |
| Albatron K8SLI (nForce4 SLI) | 101.9 | +0.59 |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) | 101.3 | |
| DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI) | 100.6 | -0.70 |
| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) | 100.1 | -1.20 |
| MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16) | 100 | -1.30 |
[nextpage title=”3D Performance: Quake III”]
Even though this is an old game its importance comes from the fact its engine is used by several other games, like Jedi Knight II and Medal of Honor, and also because this game is very sensitive to any changes on the hardware configuration. So we used this game to check how the reviewed motherboard acted running old but popular games.
We used the demo four available on version 1.32 of Quake III to make our benchmarking with this game. We ran this demo three times at 1024x768x32 resolution and all image quality settings on their default configuration and we picked the middle value for our comparisons, i.e., we discarded the highest and the lowest values.
Check the results below.
| Motherboard | FPS | % |
| MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16) Normal | 357.5 | +9.26 |
| DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 345.6 | +5.62 |
| Albatron K8SLI (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 330.2 | +0.92 |
| ULi AP970A (ULi M1697) | 329.2 | +0.61 |
| Foxconn WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS (nForce4 Ultra) | 328.5 | +0.40 |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 327.2 | |
| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) Normal | 326.2 | -0.31 |
| Sapphire PI-A9RX480 (ATI Xpress 200P) | 325.2 | -0.62 |
| ULi AP9567A (ULi M1695) | 324.4 | -0.86 |
| ULi AP9567A (ULi M1695) – AGP | 321.2 | -1.87 |
| ECS KN1 Extreme (nForce4 Ultra) | 315.5 | -3.71 |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) | 279.8 | -16.94 |
On Quake III under normal mode ECS KN1 SLI Extreme was beaten by DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI) and by MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16), this one using a newer video driver and because of this achieved a better performance than other motherboards. ECS KN1 SLI Extreme achieved a performance similar to the other motherboards we reviewed, being a little bit faster than KN1 Extreme (nForce4 Ultra).
On MSI K8N Diamond Plus we had to use a newer driver because nForce4 SLI X16 chipset only works with newer video drivers. The ideal scenario would be benchmarking all the motherboards with the same newer video driver, but several of the motherboards included on our tests weren’t available anymore.
Under SLI mode, excluding MSI K8N Diamond Plus that was using a newer video driver, ECS KN1 SLI Extreme was beaten only by DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI).
But keep in mind that on Quake III SLI decreases the system performance instead of increasing it (see previous table).
| Motherboard | FPS | % |
| MSI K8N Diamond Plus (nForce4 SLI X16) | 335.2 | +19.80 |
| DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-D (nForce4 SLI) | 294.3 | +5.18 |
|
Albatron K8SLI (nForce4 SLI) Normal |
281.3 | +0.54 |
| ECS KN1 SLI Extreme (nForce4 SLI) | 279.8 | |
| ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) | 276.8 | -1.08 |
[nextpage title=”Overclocking”]
For our overclocking tests we used an Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2 GHz) with 512 KB L2 memory cache based on Venice core, which has a better overclocking capability than our Athlon 64 3800+ used on our benchmarking.
ECS KN1 SLI Extreme BIOS V.1.12 overclocking options:
- External frequency: Can be adjusted from 200 to 400 MHz in 1 MHz steps.
- Clock multiplier: Can be set from 4x to 25x in 0.5x steps.
- HTT bus multiplier: Can be set from 1x to 5x in 1x steps.
- CPU voltage: +25 mV to +375 mV in 25 mV steps.
- Memory voltage: Can be set from 2.55 V to 3.11 V.
KN1 SLI Extreme has very basic overclocking options. Its clock multiplier with 0.5x steps called our attention, however this option is hidden under “Power Management” menu.
Figure 10: Overclocking options on KN1 SLI Extreme.
Figure 11: Its clock multiplier is hidden on Power Management menu.
Figure 12: Basic memory timings settings.
On Figures 13 and 14 you can check the overclocking we could achieve with this motherboard.
Figure 13: HTT configured at 367 MHz, an excellent result.
Figure 14: Our 2.2 GHz CPU running at 2,868 MHz (286 MHz x 10).
With KN1 SLI Extreme we could put our CPU running stable at 2,868 MHz (286 MHz x 10), an increase of almost 30% on its internal clock rate, an excellent result.
To achieve this overclocking we had to change the HyperTransport bus multiplier to 3x, the memory voltage to 2.80 V, the CPU voltage to 1.5 V and keeping the memory clock always below 250 MHz.
[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
As you can notice by reading our results there is almost no performance difference between socket 939 motherboards. This occurs because Athlon 64 has an embedded memory controller, so the chipset doesn’t play any drastic role on performance on this platform. The decision on what socket 939 motherboard one should buy must be based on extra features, price and overclocking.
The main KN1 SLI Extreme advantage over competition is its excellent cost/benefit ratio, since it has the same performance and the same features of more expensive motherboards based on the same chipset, but costing less.
Contrary to other ECS motherboards we have tested, KN1 SLI Extreme was very good on overclocking, surpassing models from brands with more reputation on overclocking than ECS.
Of course ECS KN1 SLI Extreme isn’t targeted to radical overclockers, but from the evolution we saw on Extreme series we can say that ECS is on the right track.
If you don’t mind having a motherboard from a non-traditional high-end maker but at the same time want a board with a different look, great features and good overclocking, ECS KN1 SLI Extreme won’t let you down.