Glavne zamjerke koje imamo na WinFastovu ploču idu na računa problematičnog BIOS-a, posebice funkcionalnosti dijela za konfiguraciju memorije, ali i niskog overclocka procesora čiji puni potencijal na ovoj ploči nismo mogli izvući. Opcije za konfiguraciju memorije su dosta loše organizirane, neke nedostaju, a neke ne funkcioniraju kako treba. Maksimalni takt HTT sabirnice koji smo uspjeli postići je solidnih 300 MHz, no bili smo prisiljeni držati memoriju na maksimalnom množitelju budući da ručno podešavanje množitelja uključilo Command Rate 1T (opciju koju inače nije moguće konfigurirati ručno) što bi pak izazvalo nestabilnost sistema. Testni procesor, Athlon 64 X2 5000+ uspjeli smo overclockati za samo 100 MHz (s 2,6 na 2,7 GHz), premda smo iz istog procesora na nekim drugim pločama uspjevali izvući preko 2,9 GHz.

Ako izuzmemo overclockanje iz cijele priče, WinFast N570SM2AA-8EKRS2H je dosta dobar proizvod. Sam nForce 570 SLI čipset je jako dobro opremljen, a na ovoj je ploči mu još pripomažu dodatni SATA/IDE RAID kontroler i Firewire kontroler. Bundle nije ništa posebno, ali osnovna oprema je na mjestu.

Premda WinFast N570SM2AA-8EKRS2H na nas nije ostavila dojam kakav smo priželjkivali, ne može se reći da se radi o lošoj ploči. Ne možemo je baš bezrezervno preporučiti overclockerima zbog razno raznih mušica u BIOS-u, no držimo da neće iznevjeriti korisnike koji jednostavno žele solidno opremljenu ploču po prihvatljivoj cijeni.

Conclusion in english

Major problems we encountered while testing WinFast’s motherboard are related to somewhat problematic BIOS, especially in regards to memory configuration options. Substandard CPU overclock was also a problem. We just couldn’t push frequency of our reference CPU like on majority of Socket AM2 motheboards we reviewed in the past. On N570SM2AA-8EKRS2H our reference Athlon 64 X2 5000+ achieved only 2,7 GHz while on other motherboards its maximal clock was between 2,9 and 2,95 GHz. Options for configuring memory are badly organized, some are missing, and some don’t function as intended. Maximum HTT clock we achieved was pretty solid, about 300 MHz, but we were forced to use highest memory multiplier because setting this mutiplier manually would set Command Rate latency to 1T (manual tuning of this value is not offered in BIOS) which in turn would result in system instability. Keeping memory multiplier on automatic value (DDR2 800) allowed us to use Command Rate 2T.

If we take overclocking out of the whole picture, WinFast N570SM2AA-8EKRS2H is a pretty nice motherboard. nForce 570 SLI alone offers lots of features which are further enhanced by Jmicron SATA/IDE RAID controller and VIA Firewire controller. Bundled equipment is not extraordinary but sufficient considering the price of the motherboard.

Altough WinFast N570SM2AA-8EKRS2H did not fulfill all our expectations, we can’t say it’s a bad motherboard. We can’t wholeheartedly recommend it to users who are interested in art of overclocking but we think it won’t dissapoint people who are just looking for a moderately equipped motheboard with a decent price.