Intel 945P Motherboards: Going from Hopeless to Enthusiastic

FOXCONN 945P7AA-8EKRS2: Features

Foxconn designed an acceptable board layout with all major connections easily reached. The board is lacking most clearance issues and was very easy to install in a mid-size ATX case. Foxconn did a very good job with the color coordination of the various peripheral slots and connectors.

The DIMM module slots' color coordination is correct for dual channel setup. The memory modules can easily be changed with a full size video card installed in the first PCI Express x16 slot. The power plug placement favors standard ATX case designs and the power cable management is very good. The floppy drive port is conveniently located on the upper edge of the board along with the 24-pin ATX power connector.

The Intel ICH7R IDE port connector is located in between the Intel SATA II and ITE 8211F IDE port connectors. Cable management was an issue in this area as a typical IDE ribbon cable created partial access to the SATA II ports.

The Intel SATA II ports are located between the ICH7R chipset and Intel ICH7R IDE connector. The SATA II ports do not feature the new clamp and latch design. Foxconn should have included the new design as it enhances the security of the SATA connections. Twice in our testing, we had a SATA cable come loose and cause an issue.

The ITE 8211F IDE port connectors are located to the left of the Intel ICH7R IDE port and could create cable clutter in certain case designs.

The Intel USB connectors are located above the Intel SATA II ports and in between the ICH7R chipset and Intel IDE port connector. The USB connectors sit on either side of the capacitors and are truly located in a cluttered area. The IEEE 1394a connector is located between the x16 PCI Express slot and the first 32bit PCI slot. The CMOS reset is a traditional jumper design located conveniently along the edge of the board.

The board comes with (1) physical PCI Express x16 slots, (3) 32bit PCI slots, and (2) PCI Express x1 slots. The layout of this design offers a very good balance of slots and allows for numerous add-in peripheral cards.

However, in between the x16 PCI Express slot and first 32bit PCI slot are two x1 PCI Express slots. This configuration could potentially render the first x1 PCI Express slot useless when utilizing the x16 PCI Express slot. We did not have any issues utilizing this slot with video cards containing single slot cooling systems, but we were unable to install a network card upon installation of a NVIDIA 6800 Ultra in the x16 PCI Express slot.

Returning to the CPU socket area, we find ample amount of room for certain alternative cooling solutions. We utilized the stock Intel heat sink, but also verified if several aftermarket cooling systems would fit in this area during our tests. However, due to the very large MCH heatsink, installation of certain cooling solutions could be problematic.

The Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets are passively cooled with large heatsinks that do not interfere with any installed peripherals. In fact, this system, like the other two boards, kept the chipsets cool enough so that additional chipset voltage was not a factor in our overclocking tests. Foxconn places the four-pin 12V auxiliary power connector to the left of the CPU socket area, which could cause cable management issues.

The rear panel contains the standard PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, parallel port, COM1 serial port, 2 LAN (RJ-45) ports, and 4 USB ports. Located below the parallel port and to the right of the COM1 serial are the Coaxial S/PDIF and IEEE 1394a ports. The audio panel consists of 6 ports that can be configured for 2, 4, 6, and 8-channel audio connections.

The BIOS options are limited on the Foxconn 945P7AA-8EKRS2, with memory voltage to 1.9V, and a limited range of chipset, bus, and vCore voltage adjustments. Memory ratios are limited compared to the nForce4 Intel Edition boards and the 945P boards that were reviewed. The board fully supports manual memory timing adjustments or allows for an Auto setting that will set the memory to the SPD settings.