Asus A8N-VM CSM: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Finally Arrives

Basic Features: Asus A8N-VM CSM

With the feature list for the GeForce 6150/nForce 430 chipset, you will get a pretty good idea of the features and capabilities of the Asus A8N-VM CSM. The only significant addition to the feature set is the welcomed addition of Firewire ports with the VIA 6307 chipset.

Asus A8N-VM CSM
CPU Interface	Socket 939 Athlon 64 Supports AMD Cool'n'Quiet
Form Factor	Micro ATX
Chipset	NVIDIA GeForce6150 Northbridge - NVIDIA nForce 430 MCP Southbridge
Integrated Graphics	NVIDIA 6150 GPU Dual VGA Output: DVI-D and RGB Maximum Resolution 1920x1440 Note: DVI-D only supports digital output and cannot be converted to output RGB signal to a CRT display
Bus Speeds	200 to 240MHz in 1MHz Increments
PCIe Speeds	Fixed
PCI	Fixed at 33
Expansion Slots	1 x16 PCIe 1 x1 PCIe 2 PCI
OnBoard GPU	Auto, Always Enable
Frame Buffer (UMA)	16M, 32M, 64M, 128M, Disabled (64M Default)
Core Voltage	Not Adjustable
CPU Clock Multiplier	Not Adjustable
HyperTransport Frequency	1000MHz (1GHz) Supports AMD Cool'n'Quiet
HyperTransport Multiplier	Auto, 1X, 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X
DRAM Voltage	Not Adjustable
Memory Slots	Four 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration ECC/non ECC Regular Unbuffered Memory to 4GB Total
Onboard SATA/RAID	2 SATA II Drives by nForce 410 (RAID 0, 1, JBOD)
Onboard IDE/IDE RAID	Two Standard ATA133/100/66 (4 drives)
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394	8 USB 2.0 ports supported by nF430 2 IEEE 1394 by VIA 6307
Onboard LAN	Gigabit Ethernet by Marvell 88E1111 PHY
Onboard Audio	High Definition ADI Soundmax AD1986A 6-channel, auto jack sensing, SPDIF out
BIOS	AMI 0506 (11/18/2005)

This is also the first NVIDIA chipset board that we have tested to support High Definition Azalia audio. Asus has used the same ADI AD1986A chipset used on the recently reviewed Asus A8R-MVP motherboard. However, the SPDIF connection is only provided by an optional bracket. TV out is another feature that requires an optional bracket. Since HTPC/Multimedia buyers will be looking for these features, the optional brackets will be a huge disappointment for many buyers.

Click to enlarge.

As is the norm in Integrated Graphics boards, the Asus A8N-VM CSM is micro ATX. There is still an x16 PCIe slot for a graphics card should you choose to upgrade in the future, along with 2 PCI slots and an x1 PCIe slot. Since so much is integrated into the motherboard, there isn't as much concern about layout as there would be in a full-size board. Almost all micro boards require some layout compromises, and the larger question is whether cable connections and IO make sense.

Asus does a great job with placement of power connectors. Even on this micro ATX board, the 24-pin ATX and 4-pin 12V are both near board edges where they work best. Both single and dual-core Socket 939 AMD processors work well on the Asus.

The nForce 430 Southbridge did not have any cooling, but it does get quite warm during operation. It is interesting that NVIDIA has another name for the 430 - the MCP51. As we typically see with recent Asus designs, cooling is completely passive with no active fans.