Product Reviews

Foxconn's WinFast N570SM2AA is the first motherboard we've seen that uses Nvidia's nForce 570 chipset, the mid-range version of the AM2 chipset. The 570 chipset doesn't support DualNet, for combining two Gigabit Ethernet ports into one pipe. Nor does it have Max Overclocking, which lets you adjust a host of system settings in the BIOS, and its two PCI-E x16 slots run at only x8 speed in SLI mode. If you don't need these features, though, you'll save around £20 buying the N570SM2AA rather than the higher-end 590-based motherboards.

The N570SM2AA is certainly not lacking. The motherboard's rear panel has dual Gigabit Ethernet, four USB2, optical and coaxial S/PDIF, 7.1 analogue and eSata ports. This gives you plenty of scope for connecting any peripheral you like. As if that wasn't enough, the motherboard has three USB2 and one FireWire header for adding more ports, such as front-mounted ones on a case. Foxconn doesn't supply any expansion brackets to use with these ports, though.

Storage won't be a

ADVERTISEMENT

problem with seven SATA2 and two IDE ports. You can use the SATA2 ports to configure RAID, although you'll have to create your own driver floppy disk if you intend to install Windows on an array. There are also two PCI-E x16 slots. As noted earlier, these run at only x8 speed in SLI mode. This doesn't have a huge impact on performance, though - the type of graphics cards you install and the games you play will make a bigger difference. For general expansion cards, there are two PCI-E x1 slots and two PCI slots. The PCI-E slots are likely to be blocked by graphics cards, but this won't be much of a problem, as few cards are available for this interface and PCI is still more popular.

The motherboard is neatly designed and there's plenty of room around the AM2 socket to install a processor and fit the heatsink and fan. The four memory slots are just as easy to reach and support 800MHz DDR2 memory in dual-channel configuration. We'd have preferred the motherboard to be passively cooled, but the small fan next to the graphics card slots isn't loud. We tested the board using an AMD Athlon FX-62 dual-core processor. Its scores were impressive, a little behind the score of 183 we got from an Nvidia 590 motherboard, but not enough that you'd be hugely disappointed.

If you're after a standard AM2 system and will use only a single graphics card with an option to use SLI later, the N570SM2AA is a good choice and £20 cheaper than 590-based motherboards. If you want SLI with high-end cards, advanced overclocking options and DualNet network support, a higher-end 590-based board is a better choice.