Specifications and discussion
Specification
| Foxconn P9657AA-8EKRS2H | |
|---|---|
| Item | Specification |
| Processor Support | All Intel LGA775 processors, including Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Extreme |
| Northbridge | Intel P965 |
| Southbridge | Intel ICH8R |
| Memory Support | 4 DIMMs, DDR2, 533/667/800, 8GiB max |
| Graphics | 1 x PCI Express Graphics 16x |
| PCI Express | 1 x PCIe 1x, 1 x PCIe 4x, both from P965 |
| PCI Conventional | 3 slots; PCI2.2 |
| ATA | 1 port, JMicron JMB361 PCIe to ICH8R |
| SATA | 6 ports SATA2 AHCI, ICH8R 1 port eSATA; JMicron JMB361 |
| RAID | 0/1/5/10, ICH8R |
| LAN | 1 x 10/100/1000, Marvell 88E8056, PCIe to ICH8R |
| Audio | HD Audio, 8-channel, Realtek ALC883 CODEC, ICH8R |
| Floppy | 1 port, Winbond W83627EHG |
| FireWire | 2-port VIA VT6308P 1394a |
| USB | 10 ports, USB2.0, ICH8R |
| I/O ports | PS/2, Serial, Parallel, eSATA, 4 x USB2.0, 1 x FireWire400, RJ45, audio, optical S/PDIF-out |
| Monitoring ASIC | Fox One |
| Form factor | ATX - 12in x 9.6in |
| Street price as at 20/11/06 | £78 inc. VAT |
Discussion
Intel's P965 chipset is aimed at the user who requires the full range of current Intel CPU compatibility but doesn't care for every high-end feature to be tacked on the board, a la Intel 975X.Most partners' P965 motherboards feature a single x16 PCIe slot, which takes away the possibility of multi-GPU CrossFire support. Along with a new MCH, P965 brings in the ICH8(R), integrating an additional couple of extra SATA-II and USB2.0 ports into the southbridge, but does away with PATA support altogether.
Foxconn's P9657AA-8EKRS2H is a straightforward implementation of P965, and it uses JMicron's JMB361 ASIC to add a two ATA133 channels and an external SATA connector located on the I/O section. PCIe-based Gigabit LAN and integrated High-Definition Audio are expected inclusions at around the £80 mark for an Intel LGA775-based motherboard. Foxconn also sensibly includes a trio of conventional PCI slots and a further three devoted to varying speeds of PCIe. This SKU takes in Intel's RAID-capable ICH8R southbridge. Foxconn also offers an ICH8-equipped (non-RAID version) that's known as P9657AA-8KS2H and which also misses out on FireWire support.
Foxconn's hardware monitoring/tweaking Fox One ASIC, which allows decent control of voltages and speeds from within an OS environment, is also present on both models.
A decent, if unspectacular, specification that's geared more towards a competitive price than a fully-laden feature-set.