Computers are getting more and more powerful. Back in the '90s most of them were used for serious stuff, the computer was not a friendly machine able to help even the most skeptical individual. Beside the high cost of a decent computer, most software applications were ugly enough to scare a lot of potential interested people. In the last years most manufacturers have entered a chase to provide the best, most affordable, user friendly computer. This computer has to be easy to use, quite powerful to handle 3D and able to interface with domestic products. In order to use the magnificent hardware capabilities someone must be able to provide the software interface. The competition on the software market is far from being too powerful, especially on home users' market segment. But on the hardware market several companies fight for the ultimate solution. Intel is the biggest player and it's not a surprise that they recently introduced other platforms able to compete on the low cost market. The new chipsets presented in May, 845E, 845G and 845GL brought several new improvements which will be discussed later in this review. First I want to take a look to a 845G motherboard from DFI, the NB76-EA.

First look

The DFI NB76-EA motherboard revision A00 is shipped in a box together with a lot of gadgets. Being targeted to the low cost market DFI wanted to provide a lot of stuff for users in the home market segment. So, beside the usual motherboard, IDE and floppy cables we can also find an AGP card with DVI video out, SVideo and composite outputs, a bracket with digital audio inputs and outputs and surprise: a universal card reader. Mountable in the front part of the case in a 3.5" bay, the card reader is able to work with a Memory Stick interface and with Secure Digital Memory Card interface. We will talk about these features later because they deserve to be discussed. The motherboard's manual is multilingual, but the information included is quite limited (there are no installation instructions).

There are six PCI slots, one AGP (the card is based on 845G, that's why it has an AGP slot), one CNR and two DIMM slots. The motherboard has onboard sound, video and LAN which is quite usual for a home targeted product. Unlike the chipset based video, the LAN motherboard features are powered by a RTL8100BL chip and the audio is driven by ALC650. Both chips are known and compatible with most operating systems. In the motherboard's rear there are four USB ports (that's one of the reasons why DFI shipped a custom ATX shield). There are other two USB ports available on an USB bracket, but DFI didn't include this in the package.
Regarding the motherboard's organization there are several interesting things to say. First, the motherboard is quite large, but that's understandable because there are a lot of devices available for the end user. You can not use a small box for this mobo because the ATX power supply header is placed in the front edge. Take a look at the board's picture below:

DFI NB76-EA product picture

The 845G chipset is covered by a large heatsink quite frequently meet on Intel boards. The fan headers are close to the CPU socket, but the ATX power supply connectors are not in the best possible positions, one of the auxiliary connectors is placed far away from the power supply. Fortunately it's easy to insert most of the auxiliary devices connectors, but long PCI cards can be "disturbed" by several connectors which are placed near the ICH4.

As expected it's not possible to insert DRAM modules while the AGP card is installed. On board there are quite a few jumpers: CPU FSB Set, USB6 location and various Wake-ups. It's the first time when I saw a DFI motherboard with diagnostic features. Basically there are four jumpers on board which render 16 error possibilities. There's a long way to go until DFI will be able to reach other companies' diagnostic features level, but for the beginning it's a nice try.