ULi M1695 PCIe/AGP for Athlon 64 – Part 2 with SLI

Final Words

In Part 1 of our ULi M1695 Reference Board review, we concluded that the ULi competes very well against NVIDIA, and is a performance drop-in to the NVIDIA performance levels. The further testing that we have done here in Part 2 only strengthens that conclusion. This is very good news for those shopping for Athlon 64 Socket 939 boards. The ULi chipset is a solid choice featuring excellent performance.

The initial ULi review also confirmed the unique AGP capabilities of the M1695/M1567 on a PCI Express motherboard. This ULi chipset is the only one that we have seen on PCIe that provides AGP 8X without compromises. As we found, those of you who want to take your high-end AGP card to a new PCIe board will be ecstatic over the performance of your AGP video card on the ULi board. The conclusion was simple - if you want to use AGP and have PCI Express for the future, the ULi M1695/M1567 is your only real choice.

Reference Board 2 tests provided another new twist for ULi because we also found that the Riser card and dual x8 PCIe options in BIOS do support NVIDIA SLI. Two 6800 Ultra video cards were recognized as SLI and properly initialized. While we did have some issues with 3D performance using the modified 71.24 drivers, this appears to the result of an early Reference Board. We fully expect the driver issue to be resolved before vendors start talking about NVIDIA SLI on the ULi chipset. Dual PCIe video also worked, adding some very unique capabilities to the boards ability to run PCIe, AGP, and PCI graphics all at the same time on the same motherboard.

With our positive opinion reinforced, we will revisit the question of where ULi may be positioned in the market place. While we still don't have solid answers, manufacturers like Abit, Gigabyte, Foxconn, and ECS are said to be readying ULi-chipset motherboards. If this is the case, you will likely be able to find a great rendition of this unique chipset in the market in the near future. We have too often seen decent chipsets left to languish in the bargain bin because no manufacturer will support them - SiS comes to mind. However, the higher level manufacturer support, the partnership with ATI, and the south bridge options for other chipsets all bode well for ULi's future. And so do the unique and top-performing chipsets that ULi is producing. A lot of people tried to do AGP on PCIe, but ULi actually has it working - and working extremely well. ULi is producing flexibility and performance, and both should sell well.

Last, but certainly not least, there is the overclocking potential. What can you say, but "Wow!" to a board that actually can run the Athlon 64 at 400 clock speed - double the normal 200. The sizzle is certainly there, and if ULi can finish the job with working and rational memory voltage overclock ranges, a much enhanced selection of vCore adjustments, and a more extensive selection of BIOS tweaking options, then they could definitely have one of the best Enthusiast chipsets that you can buy for Athlon 64. It's not there yet, but it certainly could be.

There's much to like with the ULi M1695/M1567 Reference Board 2, and the coming south bridge options look to be even better. ULi belongs on your short list for a new Athlon 64 mainboard, alongside ATI Radeon Xpress 200 and NVIDIA nForce4. Isn't competition wonderful?