Recent issue (24/06) of the german printed magazine c't tested the following mainboards:

Asrock AM2NF6G-VSTA (Geforce 6100, 4-pin fan control down to 80%)
Asus M2NPV-VM (Geforce 6150, DVI, 3/4-pin fan control down to 30%)
Elitegroup RS485M-M (ATI 1150, S3 not working, 4-pin fan control manual/automatic)
Gigabyte GBT GA-M61PM-S2 (Geforce 6100, long booting time, 3/4-pin fan control, boxed fan 2800>1000 upm)
MSI K9NGM2-FID (Geforce 6150, DVI, 3/4-pin fan control down to 40%)

The USB transfer rate on all boards was only 15-20 MiByte, better boards are reaching >30 MiByte.

system:
Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Seagate ST3250620AS
2x1 GiByte RAM
PSU not specified, but should be a recent ATX

Update: Sharkoon Silentstorm SHA480-9A for AM2 and Core 2 Duo tests
the efficiency at 220V was tested by the C't as follows:
at 20/50/100% load
79%/83%/80%

Did they mention anything about the bios? On the Asrock site they mention overclocking. Does this mean undervolting aswell?

They have the same mobo but as 754 that I'm very interested in.

Thanks

Issue 22/06 of C't did also test Core 2 Duo mainboards with integrated graphic cards:

(Intel Core 2 Duo E6400, SATA-II Seagate ST3250620AS, 2x1Gb Crucial PC2-6400U-555)

Interesting to see that AM2 systems do consume less than Core 2 Duo systems. Could this be because the memory controller is already integrated in the Athlon cpu?

One should also note that they even didn't use an EE version of the cpu in the AM2 comparison

@CnQ and idle Amd chips are really nice. On load C2D shines.

I'm looking for a cpu for my new server. The server will sometimes be very busy (reason I need a dual core), but mostly idle. It seems the AMD will be the more cost consious choice with these specs. Sounds like an interesting article.

The Asrock AM2NF6G-DVI supports undervolting down to 0.8V, and underclocking too (I have one). I think it's a safe bet that the -VSTA version will too.

What a pleasant surprise! You wouldn't expect ASRock to pioneer mATX undervolting would you?

From the manual pages of both ALiveNF6G-DVI & AM2NF6G-VSTA:

It's says the same thing for the 754 version that I might use to my mobile sempron.

Yeah Asrock's bios is often amazingly great for the price. (which you won't get from a low priced Asus).

The support for Linux and other BSD on Amd chipsets is quite thin though, I've noticed.

Was CnQ and EiST active in those tests btw?

Yes.

Perhaps the PSU was changed. But of course we all know that the C2D is less efficient at idle.

EDIT:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/vi ... hp?t=33425

I emailed the author about the PSU, it's an:

Sharkoon Silentstorm SHA480-9A

For both tests: am2 & core 2 duo?

Yes, the efficiency at 220V was tested by the C't as follows:
at 20/50/100% load
79%/83%/80%

But that does not help much since 20% is way to high for estimating the power draw of the motherboards here.

I would like to know where the K8M890 chipset fits in. There aren't many reviews of AMD boards with that chipset. Maybe the Via-S3 chipset is cooler or maybe not. Would be nice to know.

IMO there's probably not much in it; they're both very cool chipsets. I have a s754 K8v-vm which uses the K8M890, barely gets warm w/ only a tiny heatsink on it.

I don't know who CT is but

I'd rather an Epox 6100 or the best IMO the Abit Nview

I've been tempted for that board for my mobile sempron. Are you happy with it? It's either that one or the Asrock with Nf6100 for me.

The one downside to the K8V-VM is no undervolting/multiplier options in BIOS; that's a feature I really miss. So if it was my choice I would choose the Asrock.