Quick Look (Review) at XFX 630i nvidia 7150 - Motherboard for a Budget yet performance Quad Core system
One of the major factor for which AMD rules the budget PC market with their lower range X2 processors, such as X2 3600 upto 4400 is because the availability of cheap yet powerful, performance motherboards for lower range Intel Core 2 or Dual Core processors….
Though Intel do have a great low budget performance processor, which is Intel Dual Core E2140 available at Rs. 2450/- + 4% VAT (USD 75), however the only cheap but performance solution is XFX 650i Ultra with a cheap Graphics card… The lowest performance (Allowing OC too) onboard solution is ASUS P5B-VM (GMA x3000 with G965) or the recent ASUS P5K-VM (GMA x3100 with G33) both are well over Rs. 7500/- or USD 150….
We have lacked the balance in which a Low budget Intel system could come without sacrificing the performance…
Now with the recent launch of a budget Motherboard by XFX, it may all change !!!
I have got my hands to one of the brand new XFX 630i (7150), so let us take a quick look at the board.
Details about the Product
Product
XFX 630i (MG-630I-7159)
Price
Rs. 3450/- + 4% VAT (USA / Europe)
Product URL
Specifications
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Supporting any Intel LGA 775 desktop range including Pentium 4 (FSB 533 / FSB 800) / Pentium D / Intel Dual Core (E2xxx) / Core 2 Duo (FSB 1066 / FSB 1333) / Core 2 Quadro (FSB 1066 / FSB 1333) / Core 2 Extreme
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Onboard Nvidia Geforce 7150 GPU with 650 MHz Core Clock / upto 256 MB
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HDMI / DVI / HDCP
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Two 240pin DDR-II 800 MHz Slot supporting upto 4 GB (Single channel only)
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4 SATA-II Ports
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3.5″ Flopy
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1 PATA (IDE) Port
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PCI Express x16
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Nvidia Raid
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Gigabyte LAN
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8 Channel (7.1) HD Autio with SPDIF
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4 USB (MAX 10) 2.0
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Onboard Rest and power Switch
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Onboard 2 Digit LED for troubleshooting
The Product at a Glance
One nifty little tool is the Onboard Reset and Power Switch and also the Onboard 2 Digit LED for troubleshooting purpose…
Test Setup
As the title have pointed out, its a board which i considered to be a board, which would allow us to build up a budget quad core system, so let us see how the board would perform with a Quad Core processor…
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
2 GB Single Stick
160 GB SATA-II 7200.10
450 Watts Local Lowest end PSU
Liteon DVD RW 20x IDE
View Sonic vx1945wm (19″ HD TFT) and LG 700E (17″ CRT)
PS2 Mouse and Keyboard (Logitech Combo)
Will you face any problem in Assembling ??
All these new boards are really well managed, every port is well placed though out the board, so its quite easy to assemble with this board… Nothing special to point in this manner…
The BIOS
It comes with Phoenix - AwardBIOS … Easy to navigate and understand…
Real world Application Performance
Yes, the big question….
This motherboard by native comes with support for Windows XP and Vista, both x64 and x86 platform… However neither the driver and support CD nor the web support contains any official information about iether Linux Compatibility or about support for Server 2003 / 2008 !!!
Having said that, one must understand that, this one is meant to work with best under Windows Vista….
So, how is the Windows Vista performing ??
Nvidia Geforce 7150 is fully compatible with Vista Aero Interface… Also the board is good at supporting any platform under Windows Vista or XP, both x64 and x86… I have tested it with View Sonic 1945wm running at 1440×900 under DVI Interface…
The 7150 is smoth as it should be… I have also tested the 7150 by playing High Defination contents under 720p and 1080p… They run absolutelly fine…
The BIOS allows user to select amount of shared VGA RAM from 16mb to 256mb….
With 256 MB share, games like Fear runs at 1024×768 resolution under lower medium settings… NFS Most Wanted runs at 1024 with fairly high settings !!! Certainly, don’t expect onboard 7150 would allow you to play BIO Shock at high resolution and medium settings…
Take a look at the Performance Index Rating with Q6600 + 2 GB + 128 MB Share for VGA,
The DirectX Diagnostic Tool for Windows Vista SP1 x64
The DirectX Diagnostic Tool for Windows XP SP2 x86
Few points to note with the choice of platform, whether to go for x64 or x86… Now if you are running 4 GB under this board, then go for x64 platform as with 2 GB RAM there are no huge difference between x64 and x86 platform when running onboard video… You may read more the issue of which platform to choose here….
This is a platform in which you build your system, as I have said in the title, this one would allow a budget quad core, so I am using the Q6600 for testing…
As with Q6600, Video Editing and Encoding is a charm… 2.4 GHz Quad Core with 8 MB L2 is running blazing fast as I am Ripping a DVD5 (4.3GB) to a 700 MB xvid RIP using AutoGK…. So actual performance may differ when some one many buy this one with Intel Dual Core E2140… Therefore I am not going in to any discussion which would be effected by processor performance…
Some Bench Markings…
PC Mark 2005 Total Score 4972 running Q6600 @ 2.4 GHz / 2 GB Single Channel Kingstone Single Stick DDR-2 667 MHz / 160 GB SATA-II (8MB) 7200.10
What about Temperatures ??
Its a mATX board so many folks would try to find a small and good looking casing / cabinet for their home or office system, so the temperature is a really big factor to consider…
Under default CPU / RAM value, it runs just as cool as XFX 650i ultra or ASUS P5N-E SLi !!! Take a look at few Stress testing details,
4 instance Super Pi Running at 4 different core, thus pushing the CPU (Intel Q6600) working at 100% to calculate the value of Pi upto 1 million digit…
2 Instance of Orthos running at 2×2 format for Processor load testing
As its Winter time at my place, so the idle temp for the CPU is 29c-31c where as at Load testing all though th individual Cores went up to 60c but the CPU it self is stable at MAX 55c….
Over Clocking
The real beauty of the Core2 range of Intel is their ability to run beyond their original clock speed which in terms is known as Over Clocking, those who are new to Over Clocking idea, please read some basic TIPs about Over Clocking a processor here….
The setup I am using is identical to a common home or Office user setup, so lets see how far the Q6600 can go with just Default Intel Air Cooling…
1st Attempt is 2.6 GHz which is the running value for Intel Q6700 (Rs. 17550/- + TAX) which is quite expensive for just a 200 MHz gain…
This Motherboard doesn’t support nTunes, though it is said at their web site I would support nTunes, but the package in which it comes, clearly suggests that, there are no support of nTunes for 630i or 610i boards… So all Over Clocking tricks need to be done from BIOS it self…
XFX 630i 7150 is quite a over clocking friendly board… certainly it is not a board which any pro Over Clocker would like, but it does come with all needed features for a good over clocker…
Limit for CPU vcore is 1.575 which is more than enough for those who plans to stay under Air Cooling including pro solutions such as ThermalRight Untra 120 Extreme to push an enrty level Quad Core to 3.6 Ghz ….
Just like any other nvidia Over Clocker, this one too comes with feature to use Unlinked Memory FSB…
With 1st try I reached 2.6 Ghz (running value of Q6700) with ease and without touching the vcore..
Over Clocking just wont depend on the Board it self, the processor is also greatly responsible for a good over clocking result, and this board do have all needed feature for Over Clocking, which may help an user who would be buying E2140 along with this XFX 630i 7150….
What are the negatives ??
So far I just went over the positives, so that doesn’t mean that, it doesn’t have any negative points… Lets quickly go through the negative ones…
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No Dual Channel support… This is a big let down which in terms may and will harm the system’s over all performance…
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Only 2 RAM Slot…. With ever increasing hunger of applications for RAMs, just 2 slot is certainly not enough !!!
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No Official Linux or Server 2003 / 2008 support…
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Driver CD not coming with PDF of manual…
Verdict Time
I already have pointed out at the start of the guide, the importance of a lower end performance board for Intel Core2 range processors to compete with AMD X2 solutions…
Though there are quite a few negatives, but still the features and the price makes its a board to recommend to any Budget PC buyer !!!
Edburg said
am January 20 2008 @ 4:39 pm
nice review choto….
but i wanted more info on overclocking as to what is the max overclock you were able to attain on Q6600 and also on E2140…..
also how much % performance will lack for non-dual channel config…..may be 5% ?? i need this…
for the rest the board seems very good
j1n M@tt said
am January 20 2008 @ 5:30 pm
Hey cool guy, its a nice review…..just d one I ws looking for.
aXXo said
am January 20 2008 @ 6:10 pm
The review is detailed and well explained. Thx.
ravi said
am January 20 2008 @ 6:46 pm
written so nicely…… great review buddy
Ankur Gupta said
am January 20 2008 @ 7:07 pm
Excellent review!
Covers every aspect of the board one can expect.
keep up the good work
Anindya said
am January 20 2008 @ 7:29 pm
Nice, very informative,very innovative review bro!!
Carry onnnnnnnnn……..
sabret00the said
am January 20 2008 @ 9:16 pm
nice review Choto…
Budget mobo for C2D?? - Page 2 - TechEnclave said
am January 21 2008 @ 12:11 pm
[...] they have a big down side which is lack of Dual Channel support… How ever recently I tested a XFX 630i nvidia 7150 and found to be a OK over clocker at Rs. 3450/- + TAX (Kolkata street [...]
Suggest a GeForce 7050/7100 Based Mobo... - TechEnclave said
am January 21 2008 @ 12:55 pm
[...] How about the XFX 630i with 7150 onboard , it costs 3.5k read the review here Quick Look (Review) at XFX 630i (7150) - Motherboard for a Budget yes performance Quad Core system |… I dont think performance loss will be significant specially if you buy 800 Mhz ram if i were you [...]
Satyam said
am January 21 2008 @ 7:08 pm
Very Nice Review
AmR said
am January 25 2008 @ 5:06 pm
Very nice review,
the mobo is perfect only lacks the extra 2 ram slots.
Mukesh said
am February 4 2008 @ 12:27 pm
very good review
i will go to check this mobo.
Teh Masterer said
am February 4 2008 @ 11:02 pm
I have a computer with the 7150, with vista home premium, but my weird version of bios only allows 128mb of dedicated vram to be allocated. How do I get 256? What version of bios did you use in the 64…128….256..disabled screen? should I kill myself for buying vista?
skghosh44 said
am February 10 2008 @ 8:10 am
Very Good review. I am deciding to change my mind to this board from Intel G33 based board. But people have a faith on Intel Chipset. But what about XFX ? Can we trust and faith on XFX chipset also ?
Choto Cheeta said
am February 10 2008 @ 11:08 am
the board comes with nvidia 630i chipset… The onboard GPU is 7150 which is better than GMA x3100 anyday
Quick look (Review) at performance motherboard ABiT IP35-Pro with Q6600 | Choto Cheeta Online said
am February 10 2008 @ 6:24 pm
[...] I tested and reviewed one of the lowest end budget solution for Intel LGA775, the XFX 630i 7150 which was Rs. 3450/- which gave us option to plan for a Budget Quad [...]
skghosh44 said
am February 17 2008 @ 4:32 pm
Is the product reviewd by you is same with thisone
http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product/listConfigurationDetails.jspa?series=XFX+nForce+630i&productConfigurationId=1698868#openLarger
If same then there is 2 PATA PORT mentioned in that URL. I am in confusion. will u please clarify me.
Choto Cheeta said
am February 17 2008 @ 6:46 pm
Model is same, it comes with 1 PATA port
how ever as you know you may run 2 PATA drive as master slave with it 
amro said
am February 21 2008 @ 2:44 pm
does 630i support 45nm woldfale e8200 ?
Choto Cheeta said
am February 21 2008 @ 5:21 pm
630i does have support for 45 nm CPU by native BIOS !!!
Simon said
am February 22 2008 @ 7:02 am
great review!
i have a question though:
im thinking about building a system around the E2140… i like synchronous operation between FSB, RAM and the effective CPU-Clock which is why i prefer this model from its bigger brothers. im thinking about raising the FSB from 800mhz to 1600mhz (for a 100% increase) and buy some really cheap “DDR2-800mhz RAM” (but with good CAS/timings) and use them in dual-channel mode… however, if it turns out i will need a intel “P35″ board the project will become 33% more expensive, and then i would perhaps rather go for a “XFX 630i” instead…
so now to the question…
do u know if i really will have to get a expensive P35 board to do a overclock to 1600mhz bus… do i have to get a P35 or are there any other overclock friendly chipsets that support “dual-channel ram” and can be overclocked to 1600mhz fsb? which ones should do? any of these: nvidia 630i, intel G31, G33, G35, P31 or ati RS600?
p.s. im a little scared of mb’s with integrated graphics because ive heard that some of them r very limited in how much they overclock, and i dont know how to identify which ones r OC sensitive and which ones r not…
ill check back here since u seem to know your stuff!
Choto Cheeta said
am February 22 2008 @ 3:51 pm
Hello Simon,
Please dont get confuse with BUS and FSB
I mean BUS is the external Clock where as FSB is BUSx4 (4 times of BUS)…
Any Nvidia 6xx chipset (630i / 650 / 680) comes with unlinked CPU / DRAM FSB support, which means you can increase the CPU FSB without touching the RAM FSB
So you get the chance to manually set the RAM frequency to 800 MHz FSB (or DRAM Ext clock of 400 MHz)
Now, lets talk about P35, please give ABiT IP35-E a look
which should not going to burn a whole in your pocket but is a great over clocker… Only down side is, you must have a external grfx card as this board doesnt have any onboard GPU as the 630i ultra 
Simon said
am February 22 2008 @ 7:25 pm
thanks! good advice!… i checked up on that board now and it really was one of the least expensive P35’s.
i think i’ll go for that board if i cant find something cheaper that will work at 1600mhz “FSB”
ive calculated this far that i’ll have to pay about $70 (US dollar) for 2GB of 800mhz DDR2 (CL4) ram… $85 for the E2140 cpu… and $140 for that Abit P35 mb…
the reason im hesitating is because i can get a G31/G33/G965 with integrated graphics at almost half the price of any P35 board (without graphics) and the reason im doing this whole project is to keep every component at such a low cost that the total price of this powerhorse will be ridiculously low…
but like i said before… the goal is to reach 1600mhz FSB and run it with a pair of 800mhz ram in dualchannel mode, but if P35 is the only board that can handle a boost to 1600mhz FSB it will then be worth the extra $60 (and sacrificing the integrated graphics) for getting that Abit P35 board…
getting the FSB to 1600mhz will be the real accomplishment of this project
Choto Cheeta said
am February 22 2008 @ 8:58 pm
@Simon
Sorry for this next words, but just to ask, is this the 1st time your over clocking ?? As FSB 1600 is not a big deal with Core2 Intel processors at all…
XFX 630i can take the Core 2 Qaud Q6600 at FSB 1600 with a good CPU cooler like thermalright ultra 120 eXtreme and a high speed 120 mm fan..
Then again, its External Clock (External Clock or FSB is BUS*4) * the multiple which makes out the CPU speed…
So increase the FSB while one can get the multiple lower to stay at a lower CPU speed…
but anyway comming back to your project, with ABiT IP35-E, just add a cheap grfx card such as XFX 8400 GS 256 MB :), as that would complete a low end system
Simon said
am February 22 2008 @ 11:28 pm
i c… the whole idea is that i’ll get a serious hardware upgrade that will speedwise surpass systems more than twice as expensive (at their stockspeed)… the internal graphics is just something i want to have to get a better 2nd hand value if i decide to sell the computer within 3 years… if i pair this computer with gfx card it would probably be a “geforce 8 gts 512mb” or something from the GF 9600/9800 series, to keep the computer at mainstream level, still being bought at a bargain price… im tired of spending thousands of dollars (crowns) every few years on getting a high end computer that will last (when they anyway never do, for more than a year perhaps)… a cheap overclocked “low end” system really doesnt differ that much (performance-wise) compared to higher end systems costing 10 times more…
anyways… if the system doesn’t get good value for the money, i should wait another year or so and grab a entry-level octacore system instead once they become available at reasonable prices and hope it overclocks like a dream…
Choto Cheeta said
am February 23 2008 @ 5:23 am
Hello Simon,
There is no PCI-E 2.0 / Dual Channel support / Just 2 RAM Slot with XFX 630i 7150
so after 2 years I really doubt whether you would get good value for this board 
as by the nehalem would be in market with Socket LGA 1366 or LGA 1066 
Anyway both these boards are real value for money (The ABiT IP35-E and XFX 630i 7150) so now upto you to get which you like the most
Simon said
am February 23 2008 @ 1:38 pm
ok thanks for the advices again…
when i sell it in 2 or 3 years i mean i will sell it to someone who only needs it for office / surfing kind of uses… and yes, anyone else who is performance-oriented wouldnt be interrested… right now im selling a almost 6 year old computer: P4-2800mhz system with 120gb hdd, 1gb ram, gf2 mx, but no optical drives:
http://kopochsalj.eniro.se/query/what/gti_info/ax/eallan/category_id/7060000/direction/full_search/id/A17153160/category_name/Station%E4ra%20datorer/dir_code//parent_district//ordernr/25/stq/0/stq_val/0/hpp/3
plenty of people want to buy it right now so i guess i have put the price a bit low, and still with the current selling price i will be able to get everything i need for the upgrade (cpu, mb, ram and hopefully graphics… but no computercase, powersupply or hdd)…
the whole idea is that i will keep doing this… every 2 years i will sell the office-sufficient computer i have at a “cheap” price (=lower than any price will be for the cheapest new computers) but still enough so that it will almost cover the complete cost of the new system… if i would sell the P4 system right now i would only have to spend another $250 to get the cheapest computercase/ps and a gf 9600 gt, and i already have some hdd’s lying around + the next “hdd” upgrade i do will be the samsungs superfast 64GB SSD drive (of the new model) and i will keep that one for a long time to come since it will only be used as a system/application-disk
Simon said
am February 23 2008 @ 1:43 pm
btw… one other thing… can the XFX 630i handle the FSB boost to 1600mhz?
ive read somewhere that some nvidia chipsets overheats when the bus is raised above 1333 mhz but that may have been for some older chipsets… and the reason im asking u, is because u seem to know this stuff better (=having a more serious approach than many others)
Choto Cheeta said
am February 24 2008 @ 4:35 pm
630i would go up at 1600 MHz, then fun with nvidia chipset is their unlinked FSB support, it allows you to just touch the processor settings leaving all value as it is…
if a Q6600 can run at 1600 MHz with Thermalright ultra 120 eXtreme and a 120mm intake fan, it is expected that the board can take the E2140 up to 1600 MHz…
Then again, more then that board, main thing is with E2140 processor… Every single chip is unique…
I have few same model C2D, for example, an E6600 bougth at the time of realease can reach 3.9 GHz on air (ThermalRight) where as another cant cross 3.5 GHz mark as it becomes really unstable even though temps are well under control on same configuration..
Simon said
am February 24 2008 @ 10:49 pm
it sounds like the xfx 630i board will be a good choice price/feature-wise then, since i dont want to overclock anything else but the cpu, and like u said if it handles c2q cpu’s at 1600mhz it should work with the e2140 as well.
…i just hope then that im lucky (or rather not unlucky) and will get a good sample of the e2140.
thanks again!
jsun said
am March 9 2008 @ 9:19 am
No offence. But why comment on server 2003 or 2008. ITs a budget board, its not designed to be in a server.
Krishnendu said
am March 21 2008 @ 8:08 am
i bought this board 2 days back.. when i tried to assemble the system, i found that the CPU power connectors in the board are of 8 pin connectors.. normally its 4 pin only i think.. choto, can you pls tell me for what the extra 4 pins used??
Babar Asghar said
am March 29 2008 @ 9:50 am
i have this xfx board all im worried about is its SINGLE CHANNEL support … i have e4500 n 2gb ddr value ram at 667mhz .. how much performance boost ill feel if it had dual channel support … does a dual channel support matters that much …
Babar Asghar said
am March 29 2008 @ 10:16 am
one more thing .. here in pakistan this board is being sold for 5300 rupees … isnt it way too high …
Choto Cheeta said
am March 29 2008 @ 4:22 pm
Hello Mr. Babar Asghar,
Please note, in real world application you wont feel too much of a difference with Dual Channel or without dual channel !!!
Also I think Indian curency and Pakisthani currency has some difference !! So please calculate according to that
The board doesnt seems to be over priced in India at-least !!!
thank you..
Babar Asghar said
am March 29 2008 @ 5:10 pm
well ist of all im not Indian … ur neighbor .. from pakistan .. 2ndly i have all praises for this board … just now i have overclocked my rig to 3.0ghz … im posting links to my crystalmarks … read n comment … awsome board … 4stars
well here is my UPDATE i gues its final .. cause system started in to safe mode when i changed upto 3.2ghz … well i got to say xfx 630i is a very cool board .. i achieved this at stock cooler …
kash i had some graphics card
Cheetah said
am March 31 2008 @ 1:43 pm
I am buying the XFX 630i motherboard and a little confused about the single channel memory support and i have intel P4 2.66 Ghz does the motherboard support it?PLz help
Cheetah said
am March 31 2008 @ 1:45 pm
And 1 more thing does the motherboard support PCI-e 2.0 what is it .I have nvidia GF8500 does this effect it
Cheetah said
am March 31 2008 @ 3:02 pm
Help Choto! i m waiting
Choto Cheeta said
am March 31 2008 @ 4:27 pm
Hello Sir,
If your processor is a LGA775 version Pentium 4, then it would work with XFX 630i 7150 motherboard.
If you have Nvidia 8500 Card already, then its better to think for boards like ABiT IP35-E, which would be best deal and future proof. This board comes with onboard vidio there it would be waste of money if you buy it when you already have a better graphics card !!
Thank you.,
Cheetah said
am March 31 2008 @ 4:35 pm
What about Asus P5KPL-VM Motherboard ?I also want PCI-e 2.0 support.I want the best motherboard in a budget of PaKRs 6000.Thanks
Cheetah said
am March 31 2008 @ 4:53 pm
Keep in mind that I am Upgrading from Intel 915 GAV.
Choto Cheeta said
am March 31 2008 @ 4:54 pm
Yes please, that board seems to be real steal in that price. as In india its around Rs. 8k INR
So certainly got that that model if you can afford it
Cheetah said
am March 31 2008 @ 5:00 pm
It cost PKR 5100 here!So do you think its the best option?
Babar Asghar said
am March 31 2008 @ 5:06 pm
P5E-VMDO INTEL G33+ICH9(775PINS- APG+SND+GIGALAN)PCX SLOT rs 7600 PAK go for this … a much better option .. or try any p35 chipset board
Cheetah said
am March 31 2008 @ 5:11 pm
picked up the prices from galaxy I have checked it thousand time.
Babar Asghar said
am March 31 2008 @ 5:15 pm
the name is written wrongly at http://www.galaxy.com.pk i guess its p5e-vm .. a g35 chipset board n ur 915 chip p4 is not i think an LGA775 processor .. ull have to buy altogether a new processor .. i GUESS
Babar Asghar said
am March 31 2008 @ 5:17 pm
nope ur processor is i guess a lga775 .. so better is to get what u said earlier .. but i doubt it supports pci e 2.0
Babar Asghar said
am March 31 2008 @ 5:18 pm
but again ull have to change ur ram too to ddr2 .. so better is invest few more thousnads keep ur graphics card n change ur procesor mobo and ram ..
Cheetah said
am March 31 2008 @ 5:20 pm
I have 1.5 GB of DDR ram which will be exchanged for 2 GB DDR-2 >I Have Asked it
Babar Asghar said
am March 31 2008 @ 5:34 pm
then enjoy man .. just buy the board ..
Cheetah said
am April 2 2008 @ 10:24 am
I bought it!ITS GREAT .Windows Vista Ultimate rocks on it with aero turned on and i also boght intel dual core CPU as my od processor wont work with it !
Choto Cheeta said
am April 2 2008 @ 12:38 pm
Congrats on your purchase, enjoy your new system
Cheeta said
am April 9 2008 @ 10:16 am
Its been a long time ….I was busy playing CRYSIS on it.
john DiVirgilio said
am April 15 2008 @ 2:35 am
OKay I stuck. . . just finished building everythink with the GeForve 7150 motherboard but don’t know what key to press to get into the bios setup. I have tried f1 through f12, ESC, and the delete key with no results.
Nothing in the maunal that came with the board. . . .
john
Dustu Hasi said
am April 28 2008 @ 7:37 pm
bro,called u a lot after going through dis review… failed to catch up with you… purchased this very board and still now am using it with great satisfaction… thnx for the xclnt review!
tor dustu
topgear said
am May 5 2008 @ 1:35 pm
WOW! great Review choto aka saurav - cheers
senthildent said
am May 5 2008 @ 7:25 pm
Choto Cheeta i bought the board(7109) and will be getting it completly done tomorrow evening with dual core 2ghz(E2180)and 667mhz 1GB Ram will post the opinion tomorrow night. by the way the price of the board is 3900rs in tamilnadu with tax. Too late to ask the doubt what the difference between 7150&7109 i read the brochures but cant find any. Can u add info.?
Thanks
senthil
senthildent said
am May 6 2008 @ 5:44 pm
hello choto am facing problem which u have forgotton to mention about the PSU the board which i bought is 7109 unlike the board reviewed here the power connector other than the 24-pin connector requires another 8-pin connector (the one that is near the processor), i dont know what PSU to connect that , kindly help. Unable to boot the sys because of that.
Tigger said
am June 7 2008 @ 12:09 am
I have a question about playing HD content. Does this motherboard/GPU have H.264 hardware decoding support?
I see in the review 1080p was mentioned as no problem. I’m curious about this point. I’m evaluating this board for an HTPC, but I have yet to see any conclusive statement that it can do full 1080p HD/H.264/Blu-ray decoding, independent of having a high end CPU.
I can’t tell from the review how the video was handled. GeForce 7 and 8 series GPU’s (and I assume 9 as well) can handle up to 100% of H.264 decoding with “Pure Video HD” technology, but this feature, if available, has to be turned on. In theory, a much cheaper CPU could be used with the right GPU and still get good HD playback.
I haven’t found any statement that the 7100 or 7150 GPU’s on 630i motherboards includes this technology. A Quad core CPU can handle 1080p (or so I have read), but the real question is can the motherboard GPU handle it instead. These 630i uATX boards seem really well suited to HTPC use if the decoding capability is there. In theory, a cheap CPU with this inexpensive motherboard could make for a great HTPC at a very low cost. The inclusion of HDMI with HDCP suggests the boards were intended for this purpose. Also, these boards often claim they are capable of full rate Blu-ray audio, but what about the video?
If an upgraded graphics card or high end CPU is required, it spoils an otherwise great value for a HTPC.
So, does this motherboard/GPU have hardware decoding support for H.264? If so, was it turned on during the 1080p playback test? What was the CPU load with decoding support turned on/off? CPU Temperature while on/off?
Any help with information on these questions would be appreciated.
Cheers
T
Tigger said
am June 10 2008 @ 10:28 pm
Bump.
HD decoding experience with this motherboard? Anyone?
Eager said
am June 15 2008 @ 3:56 pm
Can I ask somethin’. does this mobo supports Core 2 Quad “Q9300″ processor which has the 45nm technology? if not so, is there a way it can work? anyone, thanks.
Nixkaze said
am June 18 2008 @ 10:06 pm
I bought a laptop with an AMD turion dual core built on the board. I am looking to upgrade its graphics, but don’t know if I have to buy a new board or if I can just buy a graphic card. Can anyone help me find anyway to get my graphic up?
Aashir said
am July 23 2008 @ 11:58 am
Hey…
I jus want to know that where is the 1eee 1394a port??? i have not find it..can some body tells me that this board have onboard 1394a port or not ? and where it is…
Thnx
Aashir said
am July 23 2008 @ 7:04 pm
help chotoo…please tell me where is the 1eee 1394a port plzz choto help..
Aashir said
am July 23 2008 @ 7:06 pm
help chotoo…please tell me where is the 1394a port plzz tell…
Saahil said
am July 25 2008 @ 5:41 pm
excellent review!
i was looking forwrd to buying this motherboard.
Now i’ll definately buy this one.
but i am also going for a NVIDIA 8600GT 512 mb graphics card.
so should i buy this motherboard or should i go for another one because the onboard graphics is a waste for me.
my budget is Rs.5000
thanks.
Aashir said
am July 26 2008 @ 11:30 am
Hey Sahil…
Do you know?? where is 1eee 1394a port??
Saahil said
am July 26 2008 @ 3:03 pm
it depends on the motherboard you have
it can be at the backpanel or the frontpanel itself
its more like a usb port but bigger in size
Aashir said
am July 27 2008 @ 7:28 pm
HEy..
Sahil..I was asking bcoz in the rewiew,Choto cheeta has said that this board have onboard 1eee 1394a port….I tried hard to find it but i can’t…do you know That This board I mean Xfx nforce 630i have onboard 1eee 1394a port??…plz reply
Thnx!
Saahil said
am July 27 2008 @ 9:02 pm
chota cheetah must be mistaken then
This motherboard DOES “NOT” HAVE a 1394a port
You’ll have to go for a high-end motherboard if you want a 1394a port(also known as firewire port)
Aashir said
am July 28 2008 @ 8:53 am
Hi..
YeaH!…choto cheeta has mistaken…sahil This board is also high end mobo cuz discreet Graphic Card Will allow you to play any game…The performance of this is really gud..!
Thnx
Saahil said
am July 28 2008 @ 1:34 pm
oh that’s cool
so i don’t need an extra graphics card with this mobo?
are the onboard graphics really that good?
Aashir said
am July 28 2008 @ 6:30 pm
Hi sahil!
With the onboard Graphic Card ,You can play nfs prostreet,carbon,call of duty 4 at high resolution by pushing the onboard Gc to 256 mb from the bios…
Thnx!
Saahil said
am July 29 2008 @ 3:50 am
oh alrite..so i will consider this mobo then.
thnx!
Aashir said
am August 2 2008 @ 7:26 pm
Huh…The onboard lan is totally sucks…diconnects again and again..otherwise, the board is best for gaming but the the onboard lan is my only complaint….
Babar Khan said
am September 26 2008 @ 3:14 pm
well ppl post ur system specs .. GAMER users only who r using this board for games and also ur gaming experience … im planing to get a 9600gso with this or 4850 … just wana know will it be able to handle that gpu