Foxconn 925A01-8EKRS Mainboard Based on Intel 925X

Intel 925X chipset

This model can be literally called "a mainboard based on the top chipset for those who are interested in nothing but the chipset". What concerns additional controllers, there is only a FireWire port and Ethernet, which is traditional for practically all modern mainboards. Though it's a Gigabit one – but don't you agree that a regular 10/100 controller would have been strange on a 925X mainboard. As for the rest, the mainboard looks a masterpiece of minimalism, especially among top solutions. Which theoretically must involve an appropriate price.

The PCB layout is standard – one should note an inconvenient placement of the audio-in jack and the density of memory slots. Access to jumpers is not hampered, when the mainboard is in a case, their brief descriptions are provided on the PCB. The 4-phase switching voltage regulator of the processor incorporates three 1800 uF capacitors and eight 560 uF capacitors. The PCB also contains voltage regulators for the PCI-E x16 bus (2x1000 uF) and for memory (4x1000 uF).

The PCB lacks the following elements, which seats are provided by the layout: WOM connector. Mainboard dimensions – 305x245 mm (full-sized ATX, ten-screw mount, all mainboard edges are firmly fixed). The ITE IT8712F-A chip is used to monitor:

CPU and memory voltage, +3.3 +5 and +12 V
RPM of 2 fans
CPU temperature (by the embedded CPU sensor)
Board temperature (by the on-board sensor)

Onboard ports, sockets, and connectors

CPU socket (Socket 775)
4 x DDR2 SDRAM DIMM (colored, grouped in pairs)
1 x PCI-E x16 (with a latch)
3 x PCI-E x1
2 x PCI (32bit, 33MHz)
Power connectors: standard EPS12V (24 pins) and 4-pin connector for 12 V
1 x FDD
1 x IDE (Parallel ATA) – in the chipset
4 x SATA (Serial ATA) – all in the chipset
2 connectors for brackets with additional USB (2.0) ports
Connector for the bracket with an additional FireWire port
1 x CD/DVD audio connector
1 x standard IrDA connector
Connector for a chassis intrusion sensor
WOL connector (Wake-On-LAN)
TPM connector (Trusted Platform Module)
Headers for additional Audio-Outs and S/PDIF
2 x fan connectors (both with RPM control)

Back panel (left to right, blockwise)

PS/2 mouse and keyboard
LPT, 2 x COM-port
2 x USB and FireWire
2 x USB and 1 x RJ-45 (Gigabit Ethernet)
6 x Audio (Mic-In, Line-In, Front, Center/Sub, Rear, Side)

Package Contents

Standard design box
Documentation (in English):
- user's guide
- SATA RAID setup guide
Cables:
- 1 x ATA66/100/133
- 1 x FDD
- 2 x SerialATA (with a SATA power converter)
Rear I/O shield
Rear panel bracket with 2 x USB
Rear panel bracket with Coaxial S/PDIF-Out
Floppy with SATA RAID drivers
CD with software:
- mainboard drivers
- Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Norton Internet Security 2004
- Foxconn SuperUtilities
- DirectX 9.0b

We can note the SATA power converter (useful accessory for the owners of power units without Serial ATA power connectors) and Norton Internet Security 2004 – fairly good personal firewall (the latest version). Foxconn SuperUtilites is a set of utilities, which functionality can be easily guessed from their titles: SuperBoot, SuperBIOS-Protect, SuperStep (overclocking), SuperLogo, SuperUpdate.

Integrated Controllers

Avance Logic ALC880 HD Audio Codec supporting 7.1 surround sound audio, with front line-in/out and S/PDIF jacks
Network controller based on the Realtek RTL8110S-32 chip supporting 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T
FireWire based on the VIA VT6307 chip supporting two FireWire ports

The integrated audio quality was tested in 16bit, 44 kHz using the RightMark Audio Analyzer 5.1 test application and the Terratec DMX 6fire sound card:

FR passband ripple (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB:	+0.14, -0.23	Very good
Noise level, dB (A):	-90.7	Very good
Dynamic range, dB (A):	90.2	Very good
THD, %:	0.0039	Very good
Intermodulation distortions, %:	0.012	Very good
Channel crosstalk, dB:	-88.6	Excellent

General performance: Very good.

Settings

Jumpers and switches	Clear CMOS jumper
Jumpers and switches	Flash recovery jumper (to block Boot Block BIOS flashing)
In Award BIOS v6.00PG	Memory timings	+	CAS Latency, RAS Precharge, RAS to CAS Delay, RAS Act. To Precharge Delay
	Memory frequency selection	+	Auto, DDR2-400, DDR2-533
	PCI-E bus setup	+
	PCI bus setup	-
	PCI/PCI-E frequency divider setup	+	PCI-E=100-200 MHz at 1 MHz steps; PCI=33.33, 36.36, 40 MHz
	PCI IRQ manual assignment	+
	FSB frequency setup	+	200–350 MHz at 1 MHz steps
	CPU multiplier	+	x4-x50
	CPU core voltage control	+	-0.0375 - +0.3875 at 0.0125 V steps
	Memory voltage control	+	Default, +0.03, +0.06, +0.1 V
	Chipset voltage control	+	Default, +0.03, +0.06, +0.1 V
	PCI-E bus voltage control	-

We used BIOS dated 28.08.2004, the latest available BIOS version at the time of our tests.

Preliminary test results

	Foxconn 925A01-8EKRS	Intel D925XCV
Return to Castle Wolfenstein, 800x600x32	233	235
Adobe Photoshop 7.0, script execution	00:08:20	00:08:21
DivX 5.1 Pro encoding	00:07:21	00:07:21
7-zip archiving	00:07:31	00:07:32

References

Foxconn Motherboard (official site)
The mainboard page on the official site
The mainboard page on the Russian site: N/A
Benchmarks including this mainboard: N/A so far

Dmitry Majorov (destrax@ixbt.com)
October 29, 2004

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