Review: Shuttle AN35N nForce2 Ultra

Specifications and bundle

Processors

• Supports Socket A (Socket 462) for AMD® Athlon™ / Athlon XP / Duron™ processor
• Supports up to XP3200+ processor and higher (Thoroughbred and Barton compatible)
• Support for 200 / 266FSB / 333FSB / 400FSB processors.

• Northbridge: NVIDIA nForce2 SPP (Ultra 400)
• Southbridge: NVIDIA nForce2 MCP

• 3 x 184pin DDR DIMM slots
• DDR200 / DDR266 / DDR333 / DDR400 support @ 2.5v
• 3GB maximum system RAM (non-ECC), 2GB for DDR400
• Dual DDR architecture combines 2 independent 64-bit memory controllers
• Dual DDR provides up to 6.4GB/s of buffered system bandwidth

• One AGP 3.0 8x/4x slot
• 5x 32-bit PCI 33MHz slots

• 1 Floppy port supports 2 FDD
• 1 Parallel port
• 1 Game port
• 2 Serial ports
• 10/100 LAN Port
• 1 iRDA connector
• PS/2 Keyboard
• PS/2 Mouse
• 3 Audio Jacks (NVIDIA APU via Realtek ALC650)
• 6 x USB 2.0 connectors from MCP SB (2 on-board + 4 by an additional bracket, not supplied)
• Headers for 4 USB2.0 ports

• An IDE controller on the NForce2 MCP chipset provides IDE HDD/CD-ROM with PIO, Bus Master and Ultra DMA133/100/66/ operation modes
• Can connect up to 4 IDE devices

• NVIDIA 6-channel sound via ALC650 6-channel CODEC.
• Supports S/PDIF-Out (Bracket not supplied)

• NVIDIA 10/100 LAN via Realtek RTL8201LB physical interface.

• AWARD BIOS
• FSB speeds of 100MHz - 250MHz in 1MHz stepless increments
• 1.1v - 2.0v VCore adjustable in 0.025v increments
• 2.5v - 2.7v DDR voltage adjustment in 0.1v increments
• 1.5v- 1.60v AGP adjustment in 0.05v increments

• AN35N Ultra motherboard (305mm*244mm)
• Custom I/O shield
• Instruction manual
• Driver and utility CD
• 1 x ATA133 cable
• 1 x Floppy drive cable

About as lean as an nForce2 motherboard can become. There's none of the usual featured extras in the form of S-ATA RAID or FireWire support. FireWire PCB marking are present but they're silk-screened out. That's slightly strange given that this is Shuttle's highest specified S462 board. We'd normally include a separate page detailing the bundle, however with the lack of extras, most notably brackets to make full use of the features, there's little need for it. The bundle, as you can see, is also a very lean affair. We're given just enough to get us started. It's painfully obvious that Shuttle intend to compete on the basis of cost and not features. We'd have expected a little more overall substance to the whole package, though. We've been spoilt by manufacturers trying to supply everything but the kitchen sink.