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Chaintech 9EJL2 (Apogee series) i845PE Based Mainboard



This is one more board of the Apogee series with typical accessories, an altered layout (as compared with the i845E based model) and good tools for overclocking and tweaking. 

Accessories: 

  • Package of a stylish design with a handle; 
  • Documentation: user manual in English; 
  • Cables: 2 ATA66/100/133 and FDD - they are covered with green cambric to improve ventilation inside the case;




  • CBOX2 panel with 4 USB 2.0 ports and Audio-In/Out; 
  • Bracket with Rear and Bass/Center connectors; 
  • Body Theater headphones with emulation of 4.1 audio system; 
  • Thermo grease; 
  • 4 : 
    • drivers;
    • user guide; 
    • Apogee Overclocking Utility; 
    • Norton Internet Security 2002; 
    • Norton Antivirus 2002; 
    • Adobe ActiveShare; 
    • Adobe Acrobat Reader; 
    • Adobe eBook Reader; 
    • ImageMore; 
    • ThizLinux 6.0 (Asian & European version). 

There are the following shortcomings in the layout: audio-ins are too close to the back panel and too many connectors between the DIMM slots and the board's edge (it makes difficult to handle the memory modules). It can be difficult to reach some jumpers when the board is already installed. Their functions are shown on the textolite. 

The 3-channel switching voltage regulator incorporates 8 capacitors of 3300 uF and 3 of 1800 uF. 

The following controllers are integrated: 

  • audio controller based on the C-Media CMI8738/PCI-6ch-LX chip supporting 5.1 audio systems and having connectors for front audio outputs and for SPDIF; 
  • network controller based on the Realtek RTL8100B chip supporting 10BaseT/100BaseTX; 

Thanks to the ITE IT8712F-A I/O controller the board supports (and have connectors) a SmartCard Reader. 

Non-unsoldered connectors: IDE RAID controller and its connectors, FireWire controller and its connectors, AC'97 codec, serial port, POST controller. 

The system monitoring is supported by the ITE IT8712F-A chip. What is controlled: 

  • processor voltage, memory, 1.5, +3.3, +5 and +-12 V, VBAT and +5 V Standby
  • speed of 2 fans; 
  • temperatures of the processor (a built-in sensor) and the board (a built-in sensor) . 

There are 2 connectors for adjustable and 1 for unadjustable connection of fans. 

Brief characteristics of the board: memory slots - 2 DDR SDRAM; expansion slots - AGP/ 6 PCI/ CNR; I/O ports - 2 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 6 USB 2.0; dimensions - 305x230 mm. 




Adjustment can be carried out with:
 

jumpers and switches Jumper to clear up the CMOS  
Jumper to set a FSB frequency Auto/100/133 MHz
Jumper for starting up computer from a PS/2 keyboard  
Jumper for starting up computer from USB keyboard  
Jumper turning the audio controller on/off  
Jumper turning the network controller on/off  
BIOS based on the AwardBIOS 6.00PG from Phoenix Setup of memory timings + CAS Latency, Active To Precharge Delay, RAS to CAS Delay, RAS Precharge
Setup of memory frequency + Auto, DDR266, DDR333
Setup of AGP bus -  
Setup of PCI bus -  
Changeable scaler of AGP and PCI buses + AGP(PCIx2) = Synch., 66, 75, 88 MHz
Manual assignment of interrupts -  
Changeable FSB frequency + 100-200 MHz in 1MHz steps
Changeable CPU multiplier + x8-x50
Changeable core voltage + 1.1-1.85 in 0.025 V steps
Changeable memory voltage + Default, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9, 3.0, 3.1 V
Changeable chipset voltage -  
Changeable AGP bus voltage + Default, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 2.0, 2.1 V

We used the BIOS of 01.11.2002 as the latest available version. 

The board offers a nice accessory pack and overclocking and tweaking settings together with the base set of peripherals' controllers. If you need a full-featured solution, then look at the model of the Zenith series

Test results: 

 

Dmitry Mayorov (destrax@ixbt.com
 


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