Leadtek K7NCR18D-Pro (NVIDIA nForce2) Mainboard

NVIDIA nForce2 chipset

This is one more trial of strength of this big company in a little bit different sphere, though it's still tightly bound with NVIDIA. Well, the Leadtek's solution deserves your attention and can be recommended for a certain range of users.

Accessories:

Package of a standard design;
Documentation: user manual in English;
Cables: 1 ATA66/100/133 and FDD;
Bracket with 2 USB ports;
Bracket with an SPDIF connector;

ACR extension card with an IEEE 1394 controller;

3 CDs containing:

drivers;
DirectX 8.1;
Award Winflash;
Adobe Acrobat Reader;
Leadtek Speed Gear;
Cool 3D 3.0 SE;
Ulead Video Studio 6.0.

The layout is not deprived of typical drawbacks, i.e. the positions of the IDE and FDD, power supply and audio connectors are not convenient. It can be difficult to reach some jumpers when the board is already installed. Their functions are shown on the textolite.

The 3-channel switching voltage regulator incorporates 8 capacitors of 2200 uF and 2 of 1500 uF.

The following controllers are integrated:

audio controller based on the chipset's capabilities and Avance Logic ALC650 AC'97 codec supporting 5.1 audio systems and having connectors for front audio inputs/outputs;
network controller based on the chipset's capabilities and supporting 10BaseT/100BaseTX.

Thanks to the Winbond W83627SF-AW Smart I/O controller the board supports (and have a connector) a reader for smart cards.

Non-unsoldered connectors: TV-Out (it will probably be available in the model with an integrated video adapter).

The system monitoring is supported by the Winbond W83627HF-AW chip. What is controlled:

processor voltage, AGP bus, memory, +3.3, +5 V;
speed of 3 fans;
temperatures of the processor (a built-in sensor) and the board (a built-in sensor).

There are 3 connectors for adjustable connection of fans.

Brief characteristics of the board: memory slots - 3 DDR SDRAM; expansion slots - AGP/ 4 PCI/ ACR; I/O ports - 2 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 6 USB 2.0; dimensions - 305x245 mm.

Adjustment can be carried out with:

jumpers and switches	Jumper to clear up the CMOS
	Jumper to set a mode of the 6th USB port ACR/Onboard
	Jumper to fix the FSB frequency		100/133 or 166 MHz
	Jumper to set the memory voltage		2.5, 2.6, 2.7 V
BIOS based on the AwardBIOS 6.00PG of Phoenix	Setup of memory timings	+	CAS Latency, T (RAS), T (RCD), T (RP).
	Setup of memory frequency	+	By SPD, Sync, 50%, 60%, 66%, 75%, 80%, 83%, 120%, 125%, 133%, 150%, 166% and 200% of FSB
	Setup of AGP bus	-
	Setup of PCI bus	-
	Changeable scaler of AGP and PCI buses	+	AGP (PCIx2) = Auto, 50, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 90, 93, 95, 97 and 100 MHz
	Manual assignment of interrupts	-
	Changeable FSB frequency	+	100-200 MHz in 1, 2, 3 and 5 MHz steps
	Changeable CPU multiplier	-
	Changeable core voltage	+	1.1-2.0 V in 0.025V steps
	Changeable memory voltage	-
	Changeable chipset voltage	-
	Changeable AGP bus voltage	+	Default, +0.1, +0.2 V

We used the BIOS of 06.11.2002 as the latest available version.

Like the EPoX's model, this one doesn't impress with its accessories or functions, but it's one of the best overclockable samples. We have got a good solution on the most up-to-date chipset at a quite attractive price, though such boards are, unfortunately, not widely available yet.

Test results:

Six NVIDIA nForce2 Based Mainboards Roundup

Dmitry Mayorov (destrax@ixbt.com)