Conclusion
This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.
The Chaintech 7NJS motherboard is not a performance jockey – but as of yet, no motherboard based on the nForce2 chipset is able to stand out from the others. What we do know is that the any motherboard based on the nForce2 chipset is going to have a considerable advantage over the competing chipsets that are out from SiS and VIA. The fact that Chaintech’s Zenith branded board wasn’t able to topple all the benchmarks of the Asus and Leadtek boards shouldn’t be a strong factor in a purchasing decision because in the end the results were close enough to overlook them.The BIOS of the 7NJS, especially with this latest installment, is a great advantage for overclockers and tweakers. Having nearly every options that one could want for their motherboard, including the ability to change the multipliers of processors that are factory locked without any modifications. This feature, that was akin to only the KT400 chipset for a couple of months, is now one of the more sought after features in the DIY market.
Speaking of features, the Chaintech 7NJS doesn’t disappoint there either. Combining the likes of Serial ATA, RAID, Firewire, USB 2.0, networking and 6-channel audio, the nForce2 MCP-T south bridge is really starting to shows its true colors in the market. Chaintech took it one step further including rounded IDE cables, SATA cables and the Cbox2 kit that allows you to have front-mounted I/O ports and hardware monitoring. While the lack of a fourth parallel standard IDE port will keep the use of the RAID features downplayed, the 7NJS has as much if not more to offer than any other nForce2 board on the market.
While to me this is becoming a recurring trend, the Chaintech motherboard is another that I would easily recommend to someone who can take advantage of all the features they have to offer. While the price of this motherboard is rather high, coming it at $175 or so at the time of this writing, the A7N8X Deluxe model with a similar feature set is also above $150 or so. You need to gauge which board will fit you and your styles best and go for it! I would put the Chaintech 7NJS on the same level as the A7N8X motherboard and thus it will get the same rating: 9 out of 10.
Be sure to check out the Amdmb.Pricegrabber.com entry for the Chaintech Zenith 7NJS!!
