• i875P chipset

The board coming from a not very famous manufacturer has a quite impressive functionality to correspond Intel's top chipset. Although Canyon's models are not considered to belong to the team of leaders, it would be strange to see a board positioned for the top market sector with scarce budget features. 

The layout has some downsides: IDE RAID and FDD connectors are behind the PCI slots, while the audio ports are in front of them, though in general, the arrangement is not that bad. Still, it can be difficult to reach some jumpers when the board is already installed. Their functions are not indicated on the PCB. The 3-phase switching voltage regulator incorporates 8 capacitors of 2200 uF and 4 of 1500 uF. There are also voltage regulators of the AGP bus (1 of 2200 uF and several less capacious ones) and of the memory (2 of 1500 uF). 

The board measures 305x245 mm ("wide ATX", 9 screws fastens it). 

No wasted space for components that didn't get included in the final design (probably, the company doesn't plan on variations of this model). +5 V supplied in the StandBy mode is indicated with the red LED. Four more LEDs indicate the POST procedure, and there are power and reset buttons right onboard. System monitoring is supported by Winbond W83627HF-AW chip. It controls: 

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

Ports & connectors onboard

• Socket 478 with preinstalled CPU cooler holder;
• 4 slots for DDR SDRAM DIMM;
• AGP slot (not Pro, with a retention clip);
• 5 PCI slots (32bit, 33MHz);
• Power supply connectors: standard ATX and 4pin for 12V;
• FDD;
• 4 IDE (Parallel ATA): 2 on chipset, plus 2 at the expense of an integrated IDE RAID controller;
• 2 Serial ATA - on chipset;
• 2 connectors for brackets with 2 USB ports;
• Connector for Game port;
• Connector for bracket with S/PDIF;
• Connector for audio-out from CD/DVD drive;
• Connector for AUX-IN audio source;
• Wake-On-LAN;
• Connector for a standard IR module;
• 3 connectors for fans, 1 supporting rotation control.

Rear panel (left to right, in units)

• PS/2 ports for keyboard & mouse;
• COM port (2) & LPT ports;
• 2 USB (2.0);
• 2 USB (2.0) & 1 RJ-45 (Ethernet);
• 3 audio connectors (Line In/Out & Microphone).

Accessories

• Package of the standard design (common for all Canyon products); 
• Documentation: user manual in 5 languages, description of IDE RAID (in English);
• Cables: 1 SATA (without power supply adapters), 2 ATA66/100/133 and FDD;
• Bracket with S/PDIF-In/Out (Coaxial);
• Bracket with Game port;
• I/O Shield;
• 2 diskettes with drivers for IDE and SATA RAID;
• CD with software:
• drivers;
• user manual in PDF;
• several system monitoring utilities;
• Adobe Acrobat Reader;
• McAfee VirusScan Online.

Integrated controllers

• audio controller based on the C-Media CMI9739A AC'97 codec; 5.1 audio system supported, front audio-outs and S/PDIF connector provided;
• network controller based on the Intel 82547EI (PRO/1000 CT), 10/100/1000 Base-T (CSA Gigabit Ethernet) supported;
• IDE RAID on the Highpoint HPT372N chip, RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 1.5 supported on the ATA133 protocol.

Settings

We used the BIOS of 05.06.03 as the latest available version. 

Summary

The speed is not impressive (the board works slower than many other i865PE based models with the PAT enabled), as well as the accessory pack. However, its pleasant functionality in combination with some overclocking tools may outweigh. 

Test results: 

• 11 motherboards on the Intel 865 and 1 on the Intel 875P: Part 2

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