865PE/875P Motherboard Roundup June 2003 - Part 1: 20-way Shootout
by Evan Lieb on June 12, 2003 10:57 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Albatron PX865PE Pro II
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Motherboard Specifications |
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CPU
Interface
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Socket-478
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Chipset
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Intel
82865PE MCH (North Bridge)
Intel 82801ER ICH5R (South Bridge) |
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Bus
Speeds
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up
to 333MHz (in 1MHz increments)
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Core
Voltages Supported
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up
to 1.60V (in 0.0250V increments)
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I/O
Voltages Supported
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N/A
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DRAM
Voltages Supported
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up
to 2.85V (in 0.1V increments)
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Memory Slots
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4 184-pin
DDR DIMM Slots
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Expansion Slots
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1 AGP
8X Slot
5 PCI Slots |
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Onboard IDE RAID
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Promise
PDC20276 (RAID 0 & RAID 1 only)
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Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394
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Eight
USB 2.0 ports supported through South Bridge (only six ports available
in our revision)
VIA VT6307 IEEE-1394 FireWire Controller (up to 2 ports total) |
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Onboard LAN
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Intel
PRO/1000CT Gigabit LAN (CSA bus)
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Onboard Audio
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8-channel
VIA Envy VT1720 audio (VIA VT1616 Codec)
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Onboard Serial ATA
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Two
SATA connectors via ICH5R (RAID 0 & RAID 1 only)
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BIOS
Revision
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4/17/2003
BIOS date (first release)
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The PX865PE Pro II brings some fairly interesting BIOS features to the table. The FSB ceiling of 333MHz is lower than most boards, we would have preferred 400MHz FSB. Even though no one will be able to hit this high of a FSB in the near future, it's possible that the upcoming Socket 478 Prescott or Tejas processors will eventually have a 1000MHz FSB, meaning PX865PE Pro II users won't be forced to upgrade their motherboard if they want to engage in some extreme overclocking assuming the FSB BIOS maximum were 400MHz instead of 333MHz. The VDIMM options up to 2.85V are a nice touch for the PX865PE Pro II, but we're disappointed that the Vcore still remains at 1.60V.
The most notable feature the PX865PE Pro II brings to the table is support for VIA's new Envy chip, the VT1720, with the VIA VT1616 as the codec. The PX865PE Pro II integrates two VIA Audio chips; the VIA Envy24PT PCI Audio controller and the VIA Vinyl Six-TRAC (Codec), so spec wise the PX865PE Pro II is the first motherboard that features 7.1 support and 24/96 digital outputs. The VIA Envy24PT while having a reduced feature specification is still based on the original Envy core, designed to pass audio with the same bit-for-bit accuracy as solutions based on the Envy24/HT controllers featured in soundcards like the Terratec DMX6fire and the M-Audio Revolution 7.1.
Like all motherboards with an 875P/ICH5(R) chipset combination, there are two Serial ATA connectors located next to the ICH5(R) South Bridge. Albatron decided to add just two onboard Serial ATA connectors instead of four like some other motherboard makers. This isn't a terrible loss considering Albatron added a Promise PDC20276 controller which means there are now two additional IDE connectors available via the Promise controller, and therefore you can still connect more than two Serial ATA drives by simply purchasing a parallel-to-serial adapter. In case you've forgotten, the new ICH5 South Bridge has its own link that allows a stream of 266MB/s of data to each of the two Serial ATA connectors, which is certainly better than the PCI bus constrained 133MB/s. This is good for users that have many devices running over the PCI bus, which makes native SATA support a plus.
There aren't too many negative things to say about the PX865PE Pro II. Some people may say it's too expensive, but the high quality onboard sound, FireWire, robost IDE and SATA support, and good overclocking features and performance could warrent this motherboard $190 or so price tag. There aren't any other features we think Albatron could have added to the PX865PE Pro II that would have made it significantly better.
UPDATE We have been aware of a newly released PX865PE Pro/Pro II BIOS for a couple days now but never found the time to properly benchmark the PX865PE Pro/Pro II in time for this roundup. However, our sources tell us that the performance improment is significant and that the PX865PE Pro/Pro II should be able to rival ABIT and ASUS' 865PE motherboards. We will be able to confirm these claims in Part II of our 865PE/875P motherboard coverage.
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18 Comments
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Zak - Sunday, January 18, 2004 - link
I bought IS7 after reading this article and I've been having problems. Random resets, then BSOD after changing XP recovery settings. Over the past few months it worsened. In the begining it like once a week maybe. I wasn't concerned, bad driver I thought. Now it won't run more than an hour without BSOD. I have Corsair XMS DDR400 in it. I've played with memory settings for weeks, timings and voltages as well, reinstalled XPPro several times, updated BIOS, got all newest drivers and run out of ideas... I've put a stick of DDR333 because that's all have to test and I still get the same random BSOD, even durnig XP installation. I have no PCI cards in this box. Mushkin calls this board problematic and attributes the memory problems to forced implementation of PAT that is not normally present in 865. I may try getting it replaced by NewEgg but I don't suppose it'll help. I'm thinking about getting a 875 board instead. Zak.Anonymous User - Friday, October 24, 2003 - link
I would like to see part II of the roundup of the 865 chipset. I wonder what is the delay?Anonymous User - Monday, October 13, 2003 - link
I thought Part 2 would be out by now at least... There are good new boards out there I'd like to see... Shuttle AB60R (cheap and full featured) and Abit IC7-MAX3 (OTES for mobo power area). I am still looking forward to seeing this, eventually, right guys?Anonymous User - Tuesday, October 7, 2003 - link
Any comments on newer motherboards? Why hasn't supermicro been tested since 2000?Looking to compare supermicro
Intel s875wp1-e and Super P4SCE (SuperServer 5013C-I (SYS-5013-CI)) for a $50k cluster
Thanks
syzygyus@yahoo.com
Anonymous User - Friday, August 29, 2003 - link
Evan, how in the world is #4 going to research your statement when the articles/review comments forum gets purged/is gone now ?Anonymous User - Saturday, August 23, 2003 - link
Any word on Revision 2 of the Gigabyte 8knxp ultra board yet?Anonymous User - Sunday, August 10, 2003 - link
I bought the is7 after I read this article. It had many problems. I ended up having to ram this board twice. If you read the abit forum boards you will see alot of problems I am fairly surprised after all the tests this board was put through nothing ever went wrong. I will not buy another abit product period. I will stick to gigabye i've built 6 systems with Gigabyte and yet to have any problems with them. Save for the chipset fans having a low life.Anonymous User - Friday, August 8, 2003 - link
I bought the Abit IS7 and am completely pleased. One note is that many of the IS7's appear to be getting shipped with the gigabit lan as opposed to the sales brochure stated 10/100. (mine has the gigabit)Anonymous User - Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - link
How could it be that the Asus p4c 800 de luxe is more expensive then the asus p4p deluxe but in the testresults it is slower?I would think i am misinformed by the computershop?
And the p4c deluxe got a gigabit lan on board, despite mentioning in the summary of this Mb it has not.
PixelDoc - Sunday, July 27, 2003 - link
Error Re: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP MoBoThis MoBo has 4, not 2 SATA connectors, 2 controlled by ICH5R and 2 more contolled by the SIL3112 chip.