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A
hardware tech site for the rest of us.
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Shuttle AN51R (Athlon 64) nForce3 250 Mainboard On the left below we see the lone Firewire plug. The Shuttle AN51R uses the VIA VT6307 chip for IEEE1394 and with one port on the rear I/O we are left with the single header for an additional connection. On the right pic, we see the third and forth SATA plugs. Their placement just above the AGP slot seems odd but didn't present any difficulties.
The Broadcom 5788 Ethernet controller and VIA VT6307 chip respectively. The Broadcom controller brings Gigabit LAN performance to the AN51R. Most folks aren't running Gigabit yet, but this like all things will change in time. Always smart to be ready.
The rear I/O panel sports the usuals along with four USB 2.0 ports, 5.1 audio jacks, a Sony/Phillips Digital Interface (SPDIF) and a bonus. Just like on the Shuttle SFF barebones we've reviewed here, the AN51R comes with a clear CMOS button on the back. Nice to see Shuttle provides for overclocking like this.
BIOS Shuttle has gone with the Phoenix - AwardBIOS for the AN51R board. This is the standard BIOS most of us are familiar and quite comfortable with. I like the way the IDE channels and SATA channels are all displayed right within the standard CMOS screen.
Moving right to the Advanced Chipset Feature screen we see that Shuttle has taken a straightforward approach to overclocking and manual control. Skipping over the DRAM config for a second, we find the CPU and AGP frequencies are next begging to be jacked up. The available CPU frequencies range from 200MHz all the way up to 280MHz in 1MHz increments. AGP is open from 66MHz through 100MHz in 1MHz increments. Both provide an excellent range to the point I seriously doubt anyone will ever hit their limits.
The DRAM configuration screen offers individual adjustments that should suit most folks. Below are the ranges offered for each.
Pg 1 - Introduction
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