Overclocker Cafe - KT400 Mainboard Roundup

VIA KT400 Based Mainboard Roundup

Tyan Trinity S2495

Layout:

The expected six PCI / one AGP ports here with the AGP being 8x compatible. The HDD and FDD IDE connectors are situated in the lower right if you are holding the board up with the CPU socket being at the top. The interesting thing about the placement of the FDD port and the control connector panel is that they are switched. Meaning the FDD is where the connector panel normally is and vice versa. Three 184-pin DIMM sockets are immediately right of the CPU socket. Unfortunately, DIMM one’s lower most clip is blocked in the closed position with an AGP video card installed.

The Northbridge heatsink is anodized blue with Tyan marked on top. Passive Northbridge cooling seems to be the cooling method of choice with most manufacturers. The fins are situated so that the air blowing through and out of 99% of all heatsinks will blow through the Northbridge fins making passive cooling possible. Something to consider, is if you really put the jack on your board heating up the KT400 chipset AND your CPU is water-cooled. No air will be coming in with this configuration. No big deal because the Northbridge sink is affixed by two push pins allowing you to change it to an active sink if the need arises later.

Three fan headers are placed on the middle left at the top, middle, and bottom of the board. I would have preferred to see the lowest fan header placed more toward the middle. The 20-pin ATX power connector is smack dab behind and perpendicular to the I/O plate.

The Trinity has all the major features we have thus far seen and talked about with the KT400 platforms. The two biggest ones that will be of most use are the onboard LAN and onboard audio. Audio is 6-channel AC97 that provides high quality 5.1 sound. The integrated Ethernet controller is the standard 10/100 mbps. We checked the transfer rates with SiSoft Sandra 2003’s network benchmark that reported a transfer rate of 10.5 mbps on our network here.

Four of the six USB 2.0 ports are mounted on the rear I/O plate which is the only way to go in my mind. In addition to these are two Serial ATA ports. Serial ATA drives are coming out more and more. This feature will be more appreciated in the near future.