Chaintech ZNF3-250 Motherboard Review - The Included Daughterboard
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The ZNF3-250 Zenith is based on the nVIDIA nForce3 250 chipset, which includes a PCI/AGP clock lock. That is the first of many improvements this chipset makes over its predecessor, the nForce3 150. The chip also integrates numerous pieces that previously had to be hung out on the PCI bus.
In this case, Chaintech declined the use of the integrated serial ATA ports, the onboard sound, and the onboard Ethernet. Instead, replacing all of those are a Broadcom GBe controller, a Silicon Image SiL3114 four-port SATA RAID controller, and a Via Envy 24 audio chip, strung out on its own daughterboard. (This was completely brilliant on the part of Chaintech.)
Unlike other motherboards which also use this solution, Chaintech has gone through to make sure the daughterboard actually gets fully utilized. For the first time in recent memory, a board with a CNR slot came with the card meant to be put in there. This daughterboard includes the Firewire ports as well.
What does this mean to users? Well, that daughterboard performs essentially the same function as an M-Audio Revolution. [Author’s Note: If you've tried to price one of those out, you can see why I'm jumping for joy over what Chaintech has done. It sounds phenomenal, especially piped through the optical SPDIF cable into my home theatre.]
For the other additions, it would have been better if Chaintech had used the options built into the chipset itself. The 3114 controller has two more SATA ports than anyone currently needs. There aren’t many people that link up four hard drives in an array, or even install four drives to begin with. If there were more optical drives out using SATA, and the chip properly supported them (so far only Intel's ICH5/6 Southbridge seems up to that task), then it would be a different scenario. As it is, using four drives in a striped set would clog the entire PCI bus. (This doesn’t take into account the GBe, either.) These features can all be found on the nForce3 250GB chip, which makes us question why the board’s design team would have chosen to use those PCI based solutions instead. Considering the opulence of the board, cost doesn't seem to be the inhibiting factor.
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