The Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-9 is a Micro-ATX Socket 939 motherboard that supports your Athlon 64 processor with an Nvidia GeForce 6100 chipset with Nforce 430 Southbridge.

This chipset includes graphics which are based on the GeForce 6200 graphics core, which is perfectly adequate for regular desktop duties such as e-mail and surfing the net, and it is effectively silent in operation as both parts of the chipset use passive heatsinks. Should you decide you want to play 3D games the Gigabyte has a PCI Express x16 slot all ready for a graphics card.

The Nforce 430 Southbridge supports a full range of RAID levels with up to four SATA II hard drives in 0, 1, 5 and 10 configuration. However, the RAID 5 mode uses software rather than a dedicated RAID chip and as a result it demands a great amount of your processor's time. You also get the ActiveArmor Secure Networking Firewall, so in essence this chipset offers the features of an Nforce4 Ultra chipset with the addition of integrated graphics.

The real strength of this motherboard - besides the low price - is the list of integrated features. There are legacy ports on the I/O panel, a VGA port for the graphics, four USB 2.0 connectors, a Firewire port, Vitesse Gigabit LAN and six mini jacks for the Realtek ALC880 audio. Although the audio chip is a High Definition device you don't get any digital connections.

Despite its small size the GA-K8N51GMF-9 is laid out neatly, which is significant as Gigabyte has limited space to work with, yet the power connectors are accessible and the other connectors are spaced out which makes it really easy to plug everything together.

The four memory slots are colour-coded and support up to 4GB of PC3200 memory in dual channel mode and there are a couple of small touches that will help when you come to build your new PC. Gigabyte has clearly labelled the front panel header pins with HD, PW, RES and SPEAK, and it also clearly labels the CMOS header which has no jumper installed in normal operation, and requires a jumper to clear the Bios.

Within the Award Bios you'll find that each item has explanatory notes that remove a lot of uncertainty and this means that you are unlikely to need to use the manual as you configure your PC.

Verdict
This Micro-ATX motherboard provides all of the features that most PC users will ever need, and all at a low price. If you intend to play intensive games then it's probably not for you but if you're building a PC for your mum then the Gigabyte board may well be ideal.

Company: Gigabyte

Contact: 01908 362700

Tags: pci express universal serial bus serial ata geforce microatx intel corporation hardware sandy bridge