Gigabyte
8INXP (Intel E7205) Based Mainboard
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This is a preproduction sample, but its quality is excellent and it comes with
all necessary accessories except only a printed manual. Accessories:
The layout has typical drawbacks: the audio-ins and the additional power supply
connector are in front of the AGP slot and the north bridge, and the IDE RAID
and SATA RAID connectors are behind the PCI slots, the memory modules are not
easy to handle as some connectors are placed too close to them. It's not difficult
to reach the only jumper when the board is already installed. Its functions are
shown on the textolite. The 3-channel switching voltage regulator incorporates
4 capacitors of 3300 uF and several less capacious ones. With the external DPS
module enabled we get a 6-channel voltage stabilizer which uses 6 capacitors of
3300 uF and several less capacious ones. The following controllers are
integrated: - audio controller based on the chipset's capabilities
and Avance Logic ALC650 AC'97 codec supporting 5.1 audio systems and having connectors
for front audio inputs/outputs and for SPDIF-In/Out;
- network controller
based on the Intel RC82540EM chip and supporting 10BaseT/100BaseTX/1000BaseT (Gigabit
Ethernet);
- IDE RAID controller based on the Promise PDC20276 chip
supporting RAID 0 and 1 on the protocols up to ATA133;
- Serial
ATA RAID controller based on the Silicon Image Sil3112ACT144 chip supporting RAID
0 and 1 on the SATA150 protocol.
Thanks to the ITE IT8712F-A I/O
controller the board supports (and has a connector) a SmartCard Reader.
The board incorporates the following technologies: - DualBIOS
(the board has a backup Flash EEPROM chip with a copy of the BIOS);
-
DPS - an external VRM module that provides more stable operation of the processor
and operability of future processors, with increased power consumption.
+2.5
V supplied to the memory modules in the StandBy mode is indicated with the LED;
and when a 3.3V card is inserted into the AGP slot you will see the red LED going
on which means that the card is incompatible. Non-unsoldered connectors:
none. The system monitoring is supported by the ITE IT8712F-A chip. What is
controlled: - processor voltage, AGP bus, +3.3, +5 and +12 V;
-
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 2 for unadjustable connection of fans (one of them is connected to a fan on
the heatsink of the chipset's north bridge). Brief characteristics
of the board: memory slots - 4 DDR SDRAM; expansion slots - AGP/ 5 PCI; I/O
ports - 2 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 6 USB 2.0; dimensions - 305x245 mm.
Adjustment
can be carried out with:
| jumpers and switches |
Jumper to clear up the CMOS |
|
| BIOS based on the Award Modular 6.00PG |
Setup of memory timings |
+ |
CAS Latency, RAS to CAS Delay, RAS Precharge, Active to Precharge
Delay |
| Setup of memory frequency |
- |
|
| Setup of AGP bus |
- |
|
| Setup of PCI bus |
- |
|
| Changeable scaler of AGP and PCI buses |
+ |
AGP(PCIx2) = 66-97 MHz in 1MHz steps |
| Manual assignment of interrupts |
+ |
|
| Changeable FSB frequency |
+ |
100-200 MHz in 1MHz steps |
| Changeable CPU multiplier |
- |
|
| Changeable core voltage |
+ |
1.5-1.775 V in 0.025V steps |
| Changeable memory voltage |
+ |
Normal, +0.1, +0.2, +0.3 V |
| Changeable chipset voltage |
- |
|
| Changeable AGP bus voltage |
+ |
Normal, +0.1, +0.2, +0.3 V |
We used the BIOS of 08.11.2002 as the latest
available version. This is the most "desktop-type" board on this chipset
as it's the only one which has an AGP slot instead of AGP Pro, and its wide overclocking
capabilities do not match an image of a good solid base for a workstation. But
except the AGP (which is not a very bad downside) and no support for FireWire
devices, this board has no disadvantages, and its unique features like the DPS
module and two RAID controllers must attract much attention to the solution.
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