Foxconn C51XEM2AA AM2 SLI Mainboard 

Manufactured by: Foxconn
Supplied by: Foxconn
Street Price: $220.00

by Dean Barker (7/30/2006)

Introduction

Foxconn has been pushing further and further into the enthusiast’s market and their new nForce 590 based mainboard, the C51XEM2AA, represents a major thrust.  The nForce 590 brings lots of new features to the table and as such, makes a nice platform for Foxconn to hang their performance hat on.  Introducing DDR2 to an AMD platform coupled with true 16x SLI support, six SATA II ports, dual Gigabit LAN and RAID just start the show off, are practical features that will attract a lot of attention. 

This is the first AM2 based board we've had here in the shop, so for this review we are going to focus more on what you get and what these features can do for you in the absence of an apples to apples comparison product.  We want to extend our thanks to Foxconn for making this review possible.  Since we only gave you a partial listing of features/specs so far, let's start things off with the official white paper list.

Specifications:

• Application: AMD Socket AM2

• Chipset: NVidia nForce 590 (SLI)

• Memory: Dual channel, unbuffered, 1.8V DDR2-800/667/533, (4) 240-pin DIMM sockets, max 8GB

• Expansion slots: Two PCI Express x16, One PCI Express x4, One PCI Express x1, Two PCI slots

• Audio: Integrated: 7.1 + 2 channel, high definition (Realtek ALC882D)

• LAN: Dual Integrated Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000) controller (Marvell)

• USB: Up to ten; six in rear I/O area plus two internal 2-port headers; ver. USB 2.0

• IDE/SATA: One ATA/133, Six SATA II/300 with support for RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5

• Firewire: One 1394a and one 1394b in rear I/O area; one internal IEEE-1394a/b header

• Rear I/O: one PS/2 keyboard; one PS/2 mouse; two RJ45 (LAN); six USB 2.0; one set 7.1 + 2 channel audio (five jacks); one S/PDIF (optical out); one 1394a port; one 1394b port

• Internal Connections: floppy disk drive; Front audio header; two USB 2-port headers; 1394a/b header

• BIOS: 4Mb, ACPI 2.0b, APM 1.2, PnP 1.0a, SMBIOS 2.3, USB 2.0, WfM 2.0

• ATX Form Factor (12" x 9")

What you get

Foxconn has learned that end users like stuff.  Not just any stuff but stuff that makes the most out of the original product.  With Foxconn's C51XEM2AA mainboard you get six black SATA cables, one black rounded ATA133 cable, one black rounded floppy cable, three SATA power adapters with two SATA plugs on each, a four port USB rear bracket, IEEE1394a/IEEE1394b combo bracket, COM port add in bracket, SLI crossover connector, I/O plate, driver/utility CD, quick reference poster and a full detail owners manual.  Foxconn is one of a small number of manufacturers that include everything needed to take complete control of every feature of their products without a trip to Best Buy.  That is what I call good stuff.

NEXT

Pg 1 - Introduction / What you get
Pg 2 - Layout
Pg 3 - Layout / BIOS
Pg 4 - BIOS / Performance
Pg 5 - Performance / Fox Liveupdate / NVidia nTune
Pg 6 - Overclocking / Conclusion