Everything seemed to go in smooth, but I noticed that there was a slight problem. While I’m not going to be using a video card this time around, I found that with the Transformer 6 in place there is going to be very little space between a PCI-e video card and the heatsink. And while the Transformer is bigger than many heatsinks on the market today, it is not much bigger than many of the ones that are coming out. Heatsinks have hit an all time high when it comes to size, and they just keep getting bigger. So if you are planning on sticking a large ‘sink in this thing, I would think twice. I would say a nice Zalman would be a better choice.
For any speed and benchmarking I’m going to use SiSoftware Sandra. I swear by it’s ability to push a PC to its limit and see what it is really made of. For this review I am going to do various testing both at stock speeds and overclocked to see what it is capable of. For temperature readings I am going to be using SpeedFan. It’s free and it gets the job done. So first, let’s do a few quick tests to see what happens at stock settings.
I admit, the chipset surprised me a little. Most Nvidia chipsets offer little to nothing by the way of power and bandwith, but this one offers over 7GB/s of bandwith. I find that impressive compared to my experience with other Nvidia-based motherboards. The memory controller offered Dual Channel with up to 4GB of RAM on 32-bit systems and 16GB of RAM on 64-bit systems. And while the movement toward 1000Mhz DDR3 is slowly mobilizing, the 800Mhz DDR2 availability on this motherboard at over 12GB/s of bandwith is still very worthy of the average gamer.
Now it’s time to see what overclocking capabilities this thing has. After much tinkering, I came to a couple of conclusions that led to one big one. First, there is no way to adjust the voltage for the processor in the Soft Menu. The CMOS menu for this motherboard offers only one way to overclock, and that is to adjust the Bus Speed and multiplier.
But since the multiplier is already maxed out at 5X, that really only leaves the Bus settings. So I started off by adjusting from stock 200Mhz to 210Mhz. This gave me a very stable 2.1Ghz processing speed. Then I went to 2.2Ghz, which proved to be just as stable. But at 2.24, I began to have longer booting times and it would hang at the boot screen about half the time. Without access to the core voltage, overclocking beyond 2.2Ghz just isn’t worth it.
31 comments
Hi guys, just want to ask because when I try to install Windows 7 Ultimate using IDE HDD, it failed. Any suggestions?
It works OK so long as you have the BIOS set to boot from the HD (I'm not talking about the boot sequence).
It'd not as easy, I'm finding, to get it to boot with RAID enabled. :-/
I personally didn't like this motherboard combined with a CPU over 60 watts. The caps didn't seem very stable. Otherwise it would have been an alright motherboard
Hey, no problem. I try to write me reviews so those with no previous experience will get something out of it.
was very helpful..As i am new to new builds.. thanks for info on geforce6100 sm-m2 mobo..
Any Athlon64-based motherboard can support a 64-bit OS because the memory controller is on the CPU, not the motherboard chipset. Intel motherboards needs 965 or better chipset.
i have a question though it seem silly to you still i need to know,,i have thgis very motherboard and my question is, does it support the vista 64 bit os? the sooner i get an answer the sooner i will install my windows 64 bit so i eagerly await your reply.
yes 64bit os is supported
I have this motherboard paired with a Sempron LE-1200@2800 mhz + Supertalent DDR2 800@932 mhz. That's a 33 of overclock. Everything works perfect, very stable and fast. I was wondering if a new Bios can make run a Phenom II
That's strange. And everything still runs okay when it's on? OS, everything?
Argenteam, according to specs for this mobo, it is capable of running the original Phenoms. As for the new breed that are just coming out, there is no telling unless you are willing to try it.
IF I TURN OFF SYSTEM POWER FAN& CPU FAN IS RUNS (MODEL:ECS EliteGroup GeForce 6100PM-M2 V2.0 Motherboard)
great review man! i learned a lot. tnx!=)
My installation disk cracked and is useless. Am unable to get a replacement from ECS. There download drivers don't do the job. Coud someone please email me a copy of the original installation disk for the GEFORCE6100PM-M2 motherboard? Thanks, Harold
hey… my friend may i know were you gonna download the driver of this GEFORCE6100PM-M2 motherboard? Thanks, jonathan
looking to now upgrade the processor to a 6000+ at 2 gb of ram i seem to have enough ram but the processor i am using now is really incapable ( 4200+ )when rendering an d previewing while i am editing, also need to upgrade the sound card, ect.
your processor isn't the prob, you need to upgrade your videocard, most video editing sofware using GPU not CPU to preview your work,
why am i having trouble installing OS in my GEFORCE6100PM-M2 i just bought it today XD and im really get annoid
harold did u manage to get a copy of the installation disk for the mother board let me know malcolm
good review! i think i will buy this board :)
This seems an allright board if you are poor like me, i wanna pair it up with an Athlon II X2 250. Thanks a lot for the review!
Is it ok to put an Inno3D 9400GT 1gb ddr3 128bit hdmi video card here? It is PCI Express..!
i put 9600gt in that board, and its running fine
Please send me a copy of the original disk for the installation for GEFORCE6100PM-M2 motherboard..Thanks a lot, Prime
how to download all driver GEFORCE6100PM-M2 board motherboard driver, from lan, display adaptor, chipset,ect
hey coud u tell me please how to permanently disable on board chipset nvidia.
we hate this mother board.We cant get this drivers after format can u give correct download link.
Will my AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ work with this board, mine has the 512kb cache. And will my Inno3D Geforce GTS250 1gb work, it needs a PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot to work at its full potential.
I run this motherboard with a AM3 Athlon II X3 435 and a ATI 5770 without any problems at all. Just remember that the motherboard only supports a TDP of max 95w.
I'm able to play BC2 (in 1920×1080), COD:BO and Metro 2033 without any problems with this setup. Talk about longevity!
I have this mobo, V7.0, and I don't know how to overclock CPU on it. Help me please!
There is a way to increase the core voltage, ive located it in the bios,
It isn't placed where you would normaly look for it and the bandwith is only 0.05 but still….it's possible
It stands under CPU Feature and then you click on NPT Vid Control, the core voltage of my processor runs on 1.325 the max. i can set it is 1.375