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Gigabyte 8PE667 Ultra i845PE Based Mainboard



For a long time (until the Ultra2 version) this board topped the Gigabyte's line on the i845PE chipset, that is why its functions and accessories are on a very high level. 

Accessories: 

  • Package of the standard design which is laminated with plastic with a some holographic effect; 
  • Documentation: user manual, installation manual for IDE RAID, poster with brief installation steps - in English
  • Cables: FDD, 2 ATA66/100/133; 
  • Bracket with 2 USB ports; 
  • Bracket with Rear, Center/Sub and S/PDIF-Out connectors (Coaxial and TosLink); 
  • Bracket for the rear computer panel; 
  • CD containing: 
    • drivers; 
    • DirectX 8.1; 
    • Adobe Acrobat Reader; 
    • Norton Internet Security 2002; 
    • Gigabyte EasyTune 4; 
    • Gigabyte IA Panel; 
    • Gigabyte Face Wizard; 
    • Gigabyte Windows Utility Manager; 
    • Gigabyte Management Tools; 
    • Gigabyte BIOS Writer. 

Surely, such a highly integrated board has some shortcomings in the layout: audio-ins are in front of the PCI, and the IDE RAID are behind them, and when a video card is installed it's difficult to handle the memory modules. No switches or jumpers. 

The 3-channel switching voltage regulator incorporates 10 capacitors of 1500 uF. 

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; 
  • network controller based on the Intel i82562EZ chip supporting 10BaseT/100BaseTX; 
  • IDE RAID controller based on the Promise PDC20276 chip supporting RAID 0 and 1 on the protocols up to ATA133; 
  • USB 2.0 bus controller based on the NEC D720100AS1 chip supporting 4 ports

Thanks to the Winbond W83L518D Smart I/O controller the board supports (and have connectors) Secure Digital and Memory Stick Readers. 

The board supports the DualBIOS technology (there is a backup Flash EEPROM chip with BIOS copy). 

+2.5 V supplied to the memory modules is indicated with the LED. 

Non-unsoldered connectors: COM port (it's used in the board based on the i845GE chipset). 

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

  • processor voltage, 1.5, +3.3, +5 and +12 V; 
  • speed of 3 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 - 3 DDR SDRAM; expansion slots - AGP/ 6 PCI/ CNR; I/O ports - 2 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 10 USB 2.0; dimensions - 305x245 mm. 




Adjustment can be carried out with:
 

BIOS based on Award Modular 6.00PG Setup of memory timings + CAS Latency, Active to Precharge, RAS to CAS Delay, RAS Precharge
Setup of memory frequency + Auto, DRAM/Host = 2, 2.5
Setup of AGP bus -  
Setup of PCI bus -  
Changeable scaler of AGP and PCI buses -  
Manual assignment of interrupts +  
Changeable FSB frequency + 100-355 MHz in 1MHz steps
Changeable CPU multiplier -  
Changeable core voltage + 1.5-1.775 in 0.025 V steps
Changeable memory voltage + Normal, +0.1, +0.2 V
Changeable chipset voltage -  
Changeable AGP bus voltage + Normal, +0.1, +0.2, +0.3 V

We used the BIOS F3 as the latest available version. 

This is one of the fastest boards on this chipset, but not the most productive; it possesses good but not outstanding functions and overclocking settings and accessories - this model will attract many but it won't be a bestseller because of lacking unique parameters. 

Test results: 

 

Dmitry Mayorov (destrax@ixbt.com
 


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