Basic Features: ULi M1697 Single Chip

 ULi M1697
CPU Interface Socket 939 Athlon 64
Chipset ULi M1697 Single-Chip
Bus Speeds 200 to 400MHz in 1MHz Increments
PCIe Speeds 100-125MHz in 1MHz Increments
PCI/AGP Fixed at 33/66
AMD K8 Cool'n'Quiet Auto, Disable
Core Voltage Startup, 0.825V to 1.55V in 0.025V increments
CPU Clock Multiplier Startup, 4x-25x in 1X increments
HyperTransport Frequency 1000MHz (1GHz)
HyperTransport Multiplier 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, Auto
DRAM Voltage Provision for 2.62V, 2.72V (Not implemented)
HyperTransport Voltage 1.20, 1.25, 1.30, 1.35, 1.40V by DIP Switch
Chipset Voltage 1.80 to 2.2V in .05V increments by DIP Switch
PCIe Voltage 1.80 to 2.0V in .05V increments by DIP Switch
M1697 Resume Power 1.70, 1.80, 1.85, 1.90, 2.02V by DIP Switch
Memory Slots Four 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots
Dual-Channel Configuration
Regular Unbuffered Memory to 4GB Total
Expansion Slots 1 PCIe x16 (or 2 PCIe x8)
1 x1 PCIe
1 x2 PCIe
1 x4 PCIe
3 PCI Slots
1 CNR Slot
1 LPC slot
Onboard SATA/RAID 4 SATA2 3Gb/s Drives by ULi M1597
(RAID 0,1,0+1,5,JBOD)
Onboard IDE/IDE RAID Two Standard ATA133/100/66 (4 drives)
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 8 USB 2.0 ports supported by ULi M1597
No Firewire (Optional)
Onboard LAN 10/100 Ethernet by Realtek PNY
Onboard Audio HD Azalia 7.1 by Realtek ALC883
BIOS Revision Award OCAP1130 Evaluation ROM

The ULi Award BIOS provides a typical range of BIOS control options for a Reference Board used to qualify a chipset. The wide 200 to 400 range for CPU clock was a pleasant surprise, but it is somewhat academic with no memory voltage controls present in the BIOS. The memory tweaking adjustments were extensive, but of limited use without some means of controlling memory voltage. Reference Boards demonstrate chipset features and capabilities to manufacturers, and ULi clearly shows that the M1697 is capable of supporting whatever range of BIOS control or Voltage control features that the manufacturer might wish to implement.


Click to enlarge.

The M1697 is not a board that will be mistaken for a production motherboard. You can see CNR and other risers in odd locations, 4 USB 2.0 ports on the bottom, and a range of PCIe slots that can be turned on or off to test various configurations. Reference Boards are distributed by chipset makers for qualification and not for production. It would therefore be a mistake to dwell on the Reference Board layout, except to say that Reference Boards often influence layout of production boards. IDE, SATA, video slots and bottom edge headers all work fine where they are located. However, we hope that production boards will take a different approach to the location of the 24-pin ATX power connector. Located in about the center of the board between the CPU and rear IO ports, there is really no good way to route the heavy cable. In the center of the board, you have to be careful not to interfere with air flow or operation of the CPU and memory.

The location of the floppy connector at the bottom of the board will be a long reach for floppy users. Many buyers don’t care about floppies any more, but if you still use them, the bottom of the board is an inconvenient and hard to reach location.



ULi M1697 Chipset Overclocking & Memory Stress Testing: ULi M1697
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  • Scarceas - Thursday, December 15, 2005 - link

    I presumed that ULI provided Anandtech with the sample to review... if you think about it, there are some wierd angles on that... A big deal like that isn't hammered out in a couple of days. ULI "brass" knew the sale was coming.

    It's kind of wierd, IMO, to send out stuff for reviews as you're going under.

    I suspect that nVidia will sit on any tech they acquire, and not implement it. I was sorely disappointed that they sat on the GigaPixel technology a few years back, and there was of course more from the 3dfx acquisition that they never implemented.
  • IRQ Conflict - Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - link

    Too bad this chipset is doomed before it even gets implemented LOL!http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_28250.html">Link
  • Puddleglum - Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - link

    https://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_28250.html">https://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_28250.html
  • Torched - Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - link

    Bad link on above post. You can read about Nvidia buying out ULi http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28333">here
  • IRQ Conflict - Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - link

    wierd, it was working yesterday? Oh well nVidia's following M$'s lead again. I can still smell the embers of the 3dfx acquasition.
  • Peter - Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - link

    And yet again, we're seeing Anandtech experts (?) evaluate the RAM controller properties of an AMD64 chipset.

    Hello?

    The RAM controller is in the CPU, folks. Time to acknowledge that and skip that step in a chipset review.
  • Puddleglum - Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - link

    Peter, this is what you were referencing:
    quote:

    While the M1697 has basic voltage adjustments and an excellent range of memory adjustments, there are no memory voltage adjustments at all on this board revision. As a result, we decided that it was not reasonable to do any overclocking tests on this Reference board, since we could not use our standard test methods to evaluate OC capabilities.
    I don't see the words "controller" or "chipset" in there, and yet you say that the article evaluates the RAM controller properties of the chipsets. What he said about the lack of memory voltage adjustments was not referencing the chipset, but the method that Anandtech uses to overclock their boards.

    How did you come to think that the article mentioned the RAM controller?
  • Peter - Thursday, December 15, 2005 - link

    I'm referring to the following statements on page 4:

    >Memory Stress Testing: Since this is a new chipset, the best setting for tRAS was first determined.

    >This means that any setting from 6 to 11 tRAS will work well with this chipset.

    >*7T was determined by MemTest86 benchmarks to deliver the widest bandwidth with the ULi M1697 chipset.

    For anyone who's looked at the block diagram on page 2, it should be bleeding obvious that the RAM isn't the chipset's business at all.
  • Cygni - Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - link

    Uhhhhh... havent used many A64 boards lately? ;) The ability to run low latency timings is very highly regulated by the board and chipset. You cant just drop any stick of ram in any board and get identical timings.

    The memory controller may be on the chip itself, but this doesnt eliminate the board and chipset from the equation whatsoever.
  • Peter - Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - link

    AMD64 architecture totally eliminates the chipset from anything that is even remotely to do with the RAM bus. That's the point, and you're not getting it either.

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