Chaintech ZNF3-150 Zenith (nForce3)

Company: Chaintech
Product: ZNF3-150 Zenith
Street Price: $210
Date Reviewed: November 20, 2003
Reviewed By: Joey Chao

Chaintech ZNF3-150 Zenith Bundled Accessories:

Along with the mainboard, Chaintech provides a floppy cable, IDE cable, a color coded I/O shield plate, two serial ATA drive cables, two SATA power cables (up to 4 devices), manual, thermal compound, and drivers and utilities software. The manual is much larger than most because it is written in English, German, Chinese, French, Russian, and Korean.

Not only does Chaintech provide all of the components to get a system running, but they even supply a 4-in-1 pen screwdriver set. Now users do not have to fish around for tools to install the system.

The Chaintech Multimedia Card has connections for two IEEE 1394 FireWire devices, audio, and SPDIF out. The card connects to the motherboard by inserting it into the CMR located at the bottom of the board below the PCI slots. The bracket is also gold plated like the rear I/O connections. An optical cable is also provided for the SPDIF out.

The major feature that is provided with the ZNF3-150 Zenith is the CBOX3. CBOX3 brings many connections into a nice panel that fits in a drive bay. The expansion has two USB ports, a FireWire port, audio connections, a card reader, LED debug display, and supports a remote control. A major benefit to having CBOX3 is the multimedia support. The remote control allows the system to serve as a multimedia center since many operations can be done with the remote. The LED debug display allows users to quickly diagnose system troubles by displaying a code. All of the codes are provided on a quick reference sheet.