FIRST LOOK: Foxconn 755-A01 for Athlon 64
by Wesley Fink on May 10, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Our Take
We still don't have the killer SiS 755 board that we have been searching for, but the Foxconn can hardly be faulted on the solid performance it delivered. Across the board, performance was competitive with the top Athlon 64 boards that we have tested and it was generally a "top-half" board. When you consider the majority of our tested motherboards are top-of-the-line, the Foxconn performance has to be considered outstanding.Where the Foxconn particularly stands out is in value. While most every top-end board has Gigabit LAN, Firewire, and SATA RAID, it isn't often that you find a board that costs less than $90 that includes all theses features. Not only is SATA RAID present on the 755-A01, but the Foxconn even has a second Silicon Image controller and supports up to 4 total SATA drives. The layout was also excellent, and did not suffer from the sloppy connector placement that we see too often in less than full-size boards.
The area that was particularly weak on the Foxconn was overclocking controls, as in there really aren't any. You can do some modest overclocking with the limited FSB controls, but that's it. This is really a shame, because the 755-A01 has decent Dram timing adjustments that would make it ideal for using fast memory. However, with no vDIMM adjustments at all, you won't be able to do much with high-end memory. We do hope Foxconn will add more of the types of adjustments that overclockers like to see on motherboards. The 755-A01 is too good to be hampered by no voltage controls.
If you are looking for a Socket 754 board, the Foxconn provides a great list of standard features at a bargain price. You get a lot of board for less than $90. If you are not an overclocker or you only want to try your hand at very modest overclocking, then you will not be disappointed in the Foxconn. It competes well at stock speeds with the best Athlon 64 boards that we have tested. However, if you have any interest in overclocking your Athlon 64, you need to look elsewhere. The 755-A01 is not the board to combine with a low cost 2800+ or 3000+ if your goal is to reach the performance levels of a 3400+ or higher. The Foxconn would also be a disappointment for those trying to run memory at the higher speeds possible. With no vDIMM adjustments at all, you would be limited with some of the better high-end memory that wants 2.8V or 3.0V to reach best performance at high-speed.
The Foxconn 755-A01 is an excellent value and it will fit the needs of many. It will not meet the needs of the Enthusiast, but it shows great promise for the future of Foxconn boards.
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tOiRb - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
Yes, it does not come with a frame, but lots of aftermarket hsf's come with one, I actually complained to Foxconn...they sent me one (probably a fluke) I got it 10 days later and I was already up and running with a Thermaltake Venus 7. (Not enough oomph to cool that beast, but it sufficed for the time).I actually thought this mobo sucked at first, but here are my findings after having it for a couple of months. Be advised that while I was doing all this testing on this board, I also purchased a Gigabye K8NS Pro (a big audience on Anandtech). I RMA'd one and am now on my second. Believe me, these boards have problems.
1) It only likes 1 stick of memory. I'm using Kingmax PC3500 running at 2-4-4-7 (512)
2) Send email to Foxconn and get a beta bios (the one I'm using is dated in May 2004). It allows lock of AGP, PCI and etc. The bios they publish does not have this function.
3)Put some other kind of cooler on the bridge. I stuck a Zalman silent on.
4) Set max mem at 166
5) I overclock the CPU to 2.25 running an Athlon 64 2800+. Beats FX53, 51.
6)Probably leaving something out, but this works for me. Have upgraded to a Thermaltake Venus 12. Provides better cooling, Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro. Great Marks. Stable as Sh*t. Thinking about replacing the gigabye which seems very buggy and runs much hotter than this mobo.
tOiRb - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
Asmo79 - Monday, May 24, 2004 - link
I purchased this MB for a friend after reading this review, and because of all of the on board features, it's a bang for the buck. Unfortunatly it does not come with a heatsink retention frame, and after purchasing a Thermaltake Silentboost, I had no way of mounting the thing. So unless you know how to get a retention frame, as I couldn't find one anywhere, you might want to consider a different solution. I RMA,d the board and am going with the Asus K8V SE Delux. The only downside is the price difference, $97 vs. $124. Too bad for Foxconn, for just a minor but major issue.plonk420 - Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - link
it would be nice to see Xvid added to video encoding (in both 64 and P4 tests and XPs, if they're still being developed) since it's becoming a pretty widely used standard (does ANYONE use Divx5 anymore?) and it's skewed towards Athy platforms, or at least the XPs compared to P4s... or are Tom/Anand waiting for a 1.0 release?LoneWolf15 - Monday, May 10, 2004 - link
It'd be nice to have seen some USB performance tests. I've been reading that the SiS 755 chipset has very poor USB performance, so this board would be great for people who don't use USB mass storage devices, but a poor choice for those who do.Odeen - Monday, May 10, 2004 - link
Only the NF3-250gb and Intel i848 /i865 / i875 chipsets support Gigabit Lan - anything mentioning Realtek means it's on the PCI bus.Unless it's an RTL8201, of course, which is just a PHY for another MAC (usually a chipset-level 10/100 MAC)
KillaKilla - Monday, May 10, 2004 - link
Damned lack of 'edit'. Regardless, what bus is the Gb LAN on?KillaKilla - Monday, May 10, 2004 - link
Just to let you know, typo on p2. Memory should be DDDR400/333/266, not DDR44/333/266.FluffyTapeworm - Monday, May 10, 2004 - link
Interesting that you were able to do 2x512MB at (presumably) ddr400. Maybe foxconn knew they had a problem like ECS, but waited until they had a fixed revision before sending a board to anyone for review? Was it tested with memtest?(Background info: I have a 755a01 from about a month ago, it won't pass memtest86+ with 2x512MB at ddr400. Tested with 2xkingston valueram and OCZ EL dual kit. Individual dimms would work at ddr400, but not a pair.)