nForce 590 SLI: Foxconn C51XEM2AA

Rounding things up...

There are some layout niggles with Foxconn's C51XEM2AA motherboard that do concern us quite a bit, but there are also many things to like about the C51XEM2AA, too. Lets refresh what we liked and what we didn't like about the Foxconn nForce 590 SLI implementation.

The BIOS is one of the most comprehensive that we've seen, but many overclockers would like to see finer adjustments available. Front side bus adjustment and DRAM voltage are two options where we feel that Foxconn could have improved this board's capabilities, at least where overclocking is concerned. With many of Foxconn's competitors offering front side bus adjustment in 1MHz steps, it seems like a large oversight if this board was targetted towards enthusiasts looking to get the most out of their systems.

The other issue is that DRAM voltage adjustment steps are not as fine as they could be. With the likes of DFI offering almost 0.01V increments across a massive range of voltage on its CFX3200-DR, we have come to expect other motherboard manufacturers to offer the same if they're going to compete in the high end enthusiast arena. This particular issue isn't quite as big as the issue with front side bus adjustment, but it certainly could help make this board a better overclocker and is definitely something worth bearing in mind.

Positioning of the memory slots is very close to the CPU socket, meaning that larger heatsinks may not fit with memory modules installed in the blue DIMM1 slot. The stock heatsink is a very tight fit with standard modules and larger modules like the Corsair PRO-series are an even tighter fit.

There are some issues with the locations of the power connectors on the board, too. It would have been good to see the eight-pin 12V connector at the top of the board, but it is easily reachable. The other more important glitch is the position of the four-pin molex connector for supplementary power to the PCI-Express x16 slots. It's out of the way and difficult to get to with a power connector when the board is installed in an ATX case. It would have been better see this nearer to the top PCI-Express slot.

Disk connectivity on Foxconn's C51XEM2AA is incredibly well thought out - all six SATA 3Gbps connectors are useable when the board has a pair of GeForce 7900 GTX OC video cards installed. However, we would have liked to see Foxconn use the newer clip-lock connectors to hold the SATA cables in with a bit more security.

Stability was awesome during our stress test. Along with that, we never experienced any stability problems with the C51XEM2AA during extended use. The on-board feature mix was just about right too, but we would have liked to see a completely passive cooling solution used. In saying that though, the board was not overly loud during use, even when under heavy load.

Value:

Foxconn's C51XEM2AA is available from Aria in the UK and it is listed for £137.48 including VAT. This isn't much more expensive than ASUS' M2N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard, which is selling for £136.09 including VAT on Ebuyer.

We will be looking at the M2N32-SLI Deluxe in the near future, so we will reserve our judgements on which is better until we've looked at that board in more detail. It's also worth noting that Foxconn and ASUS are the only two manufacturers with nForce 590 SLI implementations on the market in the UK - we are expecting more nForce 590 SLI implementations from the likes of Abit, DFI, ECS, Gigabyte and MSI to arrive in the next couple of weeks, though.

Final Thoughts...

NVIDIA's nForce 590 SLI chipset has a lot of cool features that are going to help novices and enthusiasts enjoy the overclocking and overall DIY computing experience even more than before. Foxconn's implementation of the chipset is a good one and it unlocks all of the embedded features of the board in both software and hardware. This is due to the fact that Foxconn was so happy with NVIDIA's reference design that it decided to bring that to market.

However, there are some layout changes that we would have made before bringing NVIDIA's reference design to market. We would have expected the area around the CPU socket to be more spacious and we also highlighted some improvements for an otherwise impressive BIOS. These changes would make Foxconn's C51XEM2AA motherboard appeal to a wider range of enthusiasts. If you can live with the highlighted weaknesses (or they will not affect you), we are certain that this board will serve you well.