• i848P chipset

The board is based on the budget-level chipset, that is why neither functionality nor components used look impressive. This is a top model in the i848P line from this company (originally named PX865PE Lite instead of PX848P). It's equipped with 3Com's network controller, while the other board in the line, Albatron PX865PE Lite, has only an audio codec in addition. However, the i848P supports Serial ATA and delivers pretty good performance.

The layout is not user-friendly: some connectors placed near the left edge (including the FDD) are not easy to reach, the IDE are behind the PCI slots (it makes difficult to install long expansion cards), and a video card may lock memory modules. It's not difficult to reach the only jumper when the board is already installed. Its functions are indicated on the PCB. The 3-phase switching voltage regulator incorporates 7 capacitors of 3300 uF and 3 of 1500 uF. There are also voltage regulators of the AGP bus (2 1000 uF) and of the memory (3 of 1000 uF and several less capacious ones).  +5V Standby is indicated with a red LED. The board measures 305x220 mm (narrow ATX, 6 fastening screws, the front edge may hang loose). System monitoring is supported by Winbond W83627HF-AW chip. It controls: 

• processor, battery voltages: +3.3, +5 and +/-12 V, +5 V Standby 
• rotation speed of 3 fans; 
• temperatures of the processor (built-in sensor) and the board (built-in sensor). 

Ports & connectors onboard

• CPU socket (Socket 478); 
• 3 slots for DDR SDRAM DIMM (the chipset supports up to 2GB, the 2nd and 3d slots can have only single-bank modules installed); 
• AGP slot (with a retention clip); 
• 5 PCI slots (32bit, 33MHz); 
• Standard power supply connectors (ATX, 4pin for 12V); 
• FDD; 
• 2 IDE slots (Parallel ATA) - on chipset; 
• 2 Serial ATA slots - on chipset;
• 2 Connectors for a bracket with 4 USB ports; 
• IR module connector;
• Connector for audio-out from CD/DVD drive; 
• Connectors for a bracket with audio-outs and S/PDIF; 
• Case Open sensor;
• 3 connectors for fans (2 with fan rotation control). 

Rear panel (left to right, units)

• PS/2 ports for keyboard & mouse; 
• 2 USB (2.0) and 1 RJ-45 (Ethernet); 
• 1 LPT, 2 COM;
• 3 Audio and Game port.

This is an absolutely standard rear panel, even an I/O shield is not needed. 

Accessories

• Package of the standard design; 
• Documentation: a user manual in 4 languages, a poster with a brief description of the board's installation in English;
• SATA cable (with a power supply adapter), 2 ATA66/100/133 and FDD cables
• Bracket with 4 USB ports; 
• CD with software: 
• drivers;
• Adobe Acrobat Reader;
• DirectX 9.0;
• PC-cillin 2002.

Integrated controllers

• audio controller based on the Avance Logic ALC650 AC'97 codec; 5.1 audio system supported, front audio I/Os and S/PDIF connector provided; 
• network controller based on the 3Com 910-A01 chip with the support of 10/100 Mbit/s Base-T (Fast Ethernet).

Technologies

• AGP Protection (protection from +3.3V video cards).

Settings

We used the BIOS R1.04 as the latest available version. 

Performance

This model runs slower than the other i848P based boards tested in our lab. The Albatron PX865PE Lite Pro demonstrates low scores in 7-Zip archiving at the maximum compression degree (in the i848P Boards Roundup we will try to find out why). But in the other real applications it falls behind the leaders only by 4-5%. The future owners of this board should wait for a new BIOS version as Albatron's solutions are usually as fast as industry-leading boards.
 

Write a comment below. No registration needed!