• i865PE chipset 

The board is the top in the line and has perfect functionality and a good accessory pack. 

Accessories: 

• Package of a new design with an insect drawn on it (though I noticed no bugs during the tests:); 
• Documentation: user manual, IDE RAID installation manual and poster with brief installation steps - all in English; 
• Cables: FDD, 1 SATA, 3 ATA66/100/133; 
• Bracket with Com and Game ports; 
• Bracket with Mic-In, Earphone-Out and S/PDIF In/Out (Coaxial and TosLink); 





• Bracket with 4 USB 2.0 ports; 
• Bracket with 2 FireWire ports; 
• Bracket for the rear computer panel; 
• 2 CDs containing: 
• drivers; 
• PC-cillin 2000; 
• InterVideo WinDVD; 
• InterVideo WinRip; 
• InterVideo WinCinema. 

The layout has some downsides: IDE RAID are behind PCI connectors, it can be hard to plug in cables into some connectors along the left side of the board, especially to the FDD. Multiple connectors around the memory slots and a video card inserted may lock access to the memory modules. It's not difficult to reach the jumper and switches when the board is already installed. Their functions are shown on the textolite. 

The 3-channel switching voltage regulator incorporates 3 capacitors of 2200 uF and 3 of 1500uF. There are also voltage regulators for the AGP bus (3 capacitors of 1000 uF) and for the memory (1 of 1000 uF). 

Integrated controllers: 

• audio controller based on the VIA Envy24PT chip; 7.1 audio system supported, front audio inputs/outputs and SPDIF connectors provided; 





• network controller based on the Intel 82547EI (Kenai II CSA), 10BaseT/100BaseTX/1000BaseT (Gigabit Ethernet) supported; 
• IDE RAID controller based on the Promise PDC20276 chip supporting RAID 0 and 1 on the ATA133 protocol; 
• FireWire bus controller based on the VIA VT6307 chip. 

Technologies supported: 

• BIOS Mirror (Flash EEPROM backup chip soldered out); 
• Voice Genie (voice alert in case of problems during booting). 

The red LED indicates +5 V supplied in the StandBy mode. The board is protected from video cards which do not support 1.5 V. 

Non-unsoldered connectors: none. 

System monitoring is supported by Winbond W83627HF-AW chip. It controls: 

• processor voltage, +3.3, +5 and +-12 V, VBAT and +5 V Standby; 
• speed of 3 fans; 
• temperatures of the processor (built-in sensor) and the board (built-in sensor). 

There are 3 connectors for adjustable connection of fans (one of them is connected to a fan on the north bridge's heatsink). 
 

Brief board's characteristics: memory slots - 4 DDR SDRAM; expansion slots - AGP/ 5 PCI; I/O ports - 2 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 8 USB 2.0 / 2 FireWire; dimensions - 305x245 mm. 
 

Settings: 
 

We used the BIOS R1.00 as the latest available version. 

The board sports rich changeable settings, a good overclocking potential, good functions and an excellent though not unique accessory pack - this board could be the best on this chipset if it didn't yield to the leader. Anyway, this is one of the best boards, and its performance will rise even more with the new BIOS versions. 

Test results: 

• i865 Family (Springdale) replaces i875P 

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