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     This story was printed from CdrInfo.com,

     located at http://www.cdrinfo.com.

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1. Introduction

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EQS is one of the biggest OEM motherboard manufacturers in Hong Kong. With a wide range of solutions for each socket type and excellent user support, EQS Computers appears to have a very bright and promising future ahead of it.

EQS was among the first to support ATi's solutions for motherboard chipsets. In the A44P8-MLF model we tested a while ago, EQS used the ATi 9100IGP and IXP300 chipsets.

With the introduction of ATi's latest chipsets, the Xpress 200G/P and IXP400, EQS is now releasing a new series of PCI-Express motherboards for the 939 socket AMD processors. One of these products is the M56K9-MLF that we'll be reviewing here.

EQS M56K9-MLF

Packaging

The M56K9 ships in a standard EQS package, with 2 stickers on it indicating the motherboard model and the software bundled inside.

Here's a full list of the accessories and software you'll find inside the package:

Accessories:
1 x Serial ATA cable
1 x Video Out extension for the IGP
2 x USB 2.0 extensions
1 x COM Port module
2 x IDE ATA100/133 cables
1 x IDE ATA66 cable
1 x Motherboard Manual
1 x I/O Metal plate

Software included:
Trend Micro Internet Security

Unfortunately the accessories included in the package might not completely cover everyone's needs. There's only one Serial ATA cable and not even one SATA power connector.

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2. Features

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Model	M56K9-MLF
Socket	939
Form Factor	Micro ATX
Northbridge	ATi Xpress 200G (RS480)
Southbridge	ATi IXP400
Bus Speed (FSB/BSB)	1000 MHz (2000 MT/s Upstream and Downstream)
Hyper Technology	Hypertransport Technology with one 16-bit link supporting speeds up to 1GHz (2000MT/s) or 4GB/s in each direction. ATi HyperMemory Technology
Memory	4 x Dual Channel DDR400 (up to 4GB)
IDE Controller	2 x ATA-133 (UDMA 33/66/100/133)
Serial ATA Controller	4 x SATA-150 (Hardware RAID)
RAID Controller	RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0 + 1 (Silicon Image)
Floppy Controller	1 x FDD
PCI Slot	2
PCI EXpress 16X	PCI Express 16X Slot for graphics card
PCI EXpress 1X	PCI Express 1X Slots for Add-on card
VGA	ATi Radeon X300 PCI Express Technology (9600 core)
TV-out	TV-Out via RCA/S-Video port NTSC / PAL - Support Dual Display
Ethernet	Realtek 81xx Series 10/100 Mbps LAN
USB Port	8 x USB 2.0 (4 on rear panel and 4 via connector)
FireWire	3 X IEEE1394 FireWire (VIA VT6307)
Sound	5.1 Audio Realtek ALC 55 Chipset
System Protection	Hardware Monitoring with CPU and System Overheat Protection Trend Micro ChipAway BIOS Virus Protection
I/O Ports	1 x D-sub VGA Port 1 x ECP/EPP Parallel port / 1 x Serial Com ports (via cable) 1 x PS/2 Mouse port / 1 x PS/2 Keyboard port 1 x Speaker / 1 x Line-in / 1 x Mic-in ports / 1 x SPDIF Out 1 x RJ-45 / 4 x USB 2.0
Board Size	244 mm x 244 mm

MicroATX

The first thing you need to know about the M56K9 is that it's a MicroATX form factor motherboard. That means that it's smaller than regular ATX motherboards (24.4x24.4cm against 30.5x24.5cm ) and square in shape. However the board has no problem and can be easily installed, even in Mid-tower cases.

CPU Socket

The CPU socket follows the standard 939 design. To install the CPU you have to raise the small lever, plug in the processor and close the lever again. After that, apply thermal transfer paste on the processor and position the cooling set on it. The cooler requires no tools to install on the motherboard as you only have to fasten down another lever so that it hooks on the black plastic retention mechanism.

Northbridge

The ATi 200G located on the Northbridge is the heart of the EQS M56K9-MLF. It is the first chipset with an integrated DirectX 9.0 graphics core, but it's also responsible for some other features on the motherboard such as the AC97 sound, SATA, USB and of course, PCI-Express support.

The graphics core embedded in the 200G is a two pipeline version of the GPU powering the X300 graphics cards. However, as in all IGP's, in this case too, the graphics core needs memory to operate.

To solve this problem, ATi utilized its new technology, Hypermemory, which takes advantage of the bandwidth the PCI-Express bus offers to directly access physical memory. Through the BIOS, you can choose whether the memory will be dynamically allocated or a predefined amount of your memory will be used exclusively by the graphics core.

No dedicated memory on-board

Unfortunately, this architecture can cause some loss in performance as the memory controller will have to operate for both regular system usage and as a frame buffer to store the image that will be displayed on your screen. To minimize this loss, the reference board is designed with a small square located next to the 200G chipset, for an optional memory component to be used as dedicated frame buffer memory. However, EQS has not equipped the M56K9-MLF with any extra memory as you can see in the picture above.

Southbridge

The chipset located on the Southbridge of the M56K9-MLK is the ATi IXP400. A small black heatsink is responsible for its cooling, contributing to the motherboards fanless design.

 

Memory Banks

The M56K9-MLF motherboard offers Dual Channel memory support, but unlike other motherboards, in order to enable it you have to install two same-capacity memories in slots 1-2, or 3-4 instead of 1-3 and 2-4. Each slot can handle up to 1GB of physical memory resulting in a maximum memory size of 4GB.

Back Panel

The rear panel input / output provides the following connections, from left to right and top to bottom:

• the mouse (PS/2) connection
• the keyboard (PS2) connection
• one firewire IEEE 1394a and two USB 2.0 ports
• one parallel connection
• one SPDIF-out and a VGA connection
• one gigabit ethernet lan port and two USB 2.0
• Line In/Line Out/Mic In audio
• Wireless LAN led and Antenna connection

Slots

The EQS M56K9-MLF being a Micro-ATX motherboard, cannot offer as many PCI/PCI-E slots as regular ATX motherboards. Be it so, there is one PCI-E x16 for a graphics card, one PCI-E x1 and two more PCI slots for extension cards.

 

VIA VT6307 FireWire Controller

 

ITE IT8712F offering H/W Monitor and Fan Speed Controller

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3. 3DMark03

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3D Mark is a widely used and accepted benchmark that stresses the DirectX performance of a VGA card. A very strong point of 3DMark is that its VGA card measuring does not require any CPU power. So the resulting fps are a good reference of a VGA card's rendering performance. For testing the performance of each card we used the 4 game benchmarks 3DMark has.

3Dmark03 also includes sound and CPU tests as well as some other feature tests.

- Game Test 1 - Wings of Fury (DX7)

This test is a combat flight simulator written for older hardware (DirectX 7). Particles are used a lot in this test - smoke and vapor trails, flak and gunfire, and explosions are produced using point sprites and quads.

- Game Test 2 - Battle of Proxycon (DX8)

This test is a simulation of first person shooter game types. 1.1 and 1.4 Vertex shaders are widely used since all character models are skinned using vertex shaders. This makes this test a good vertex shader comparison for VGA cards.

- Game Test 3 - Trolls' Lair (DX8)

This test should be the favorite of all RPG lovers. It is a cut scene of a female warrior facing two malicious trolls. Again the same vertex and pixel processing is used as in game test 2.

This test also uses post-processing effects, such as Depth of Field and Bloom effects which are widely used in today's game cut scene sequences.

- Game Test 4 - Mother Nature (DX9)

Mother nature represents the level of effects and realism that are possible using 2.0 vertex and pixel shaders, plus some other features that DirectX 9 offers.

In 3DMark03, we can see that the 200G chipset is outperformed by a factor of about 3 to 1 by the X600XT we installed on the motherboard. Also, comparing the X600XT's performance against the two PCI-Express motherboards, the Asus P5GD2 Premium seemed to provide a little better performance.

- 3DMark Official score

If you test your machine with 3DMark, you can post the results at 3DMark's online result browser. For more information visit futuremark.com.

The difference between the X600XT and the on-board integrated graphics controller is much clearer in the final 3DMarks chart. The EQS M56K9-MLF cannot take advantage of the X600XT as efficiently as the Asus board does and falls short by 128 3dmarks behind the latter.

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4. Performance Part 2

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5. Half Life 2

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Half life 2 is no doubt the most anticipated pc game of all time. Gamers, having the excellence of Half Life 1 in the back of their mind as well as the remarkable E3 demo preview, have been anxiously waiting for the much delayed release of HL2.

Regarding the storyline, the player again picks up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman, who finds himself on an alien-infested Earth being picked to the bone, its resources depleted, its populace dwindling. Freeman is thrust into the unenviable role of rescuing the world from the wrong he unleashed back at Black Mesa. And a lot of people he cares about are counting on him.

To measure performance, we used the Video Stress Test (VST) that is available in the CounterStrike:Source beta available through Steam. We set all the details to the highest level and each time changed the resolution starting from 800x600 and going up to 1600x1200.

In the Half Life 2 Video Stress Test, the EQS board starts off at a slightly higher frame rate than the Asus board. However, as we move along through the higher resolutions, the P5GD2 takes over with a lead of 2-4fps.

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6. Ground Control II

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Ground Control 2 is an action-oriented game of tactics and warfare. As Captain Jacob Angelus of the Northern Star Alliance, you will command squads of infantry, artillery, and air power against the might of the Empire of Terra. Base building and resource-collecting are replaced with unit control and combat tactics where your knowledge of the battlefield maneuvers will make the difference in your fight against a ruthless enemy. Position your troops on hilltops for better aim or inside buildings and forests for protection as you'll need to use every inch of terrain to your advantage. Call in air strikes or assault pods to bring the battle behind enemy lines. Send out scouts to locate the enemy and use spotters for your artillery with the 360° free-roaming camera. Experience the total immersion of futuristic warfare as you lead your forces to victory!

For our benchmarks, we used the highest possible settings on the first mission of the single player game.

Ground Control II offers really impressive graphics without requiring much GPU power. Click on the picture above to view a screenshot from the game. Check out these excellent water effects!

A difference of 1-3fps is once again visible in Ground Control II. The X600XT seems to generally perform a little better on the Asus board, even if the EQS is equipped with a much better processor.

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7. Bios & Overclocking

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8. Bundled Software

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The included CD-ROM, apart from the drivers, also contains a full version of Trend Micro Internet Security 2004 which is a Firewall-Antivirus hybrid.

However, what's missing from the included CD-ROM is the EQS HardWare Monitor Version 1.0 that has been recently moved from beta to final. This program is a tool allowing you to view the CPU temperature, voltage and fan speed through the Windows environment without having to enter the BIOS.

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9. Conclusion

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