915 Motherboard Roundup: Socket 775 for the Rest of Us
by Wesley Fink on December 7, 2004 12:25 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Albatron PX915P Pro: Features and Layout
| Albatron PX915P Pro Motherboard Specifications | |
| CPU Interface | Socket 775 Pentium 4 (Prescott) |
| Chipset | Intel 915P/ICH6 |
| BUS Speeds | 200MHz to 333MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| DDR2 Speeds | Auto, 333, 400 |
| PCI Speeds | 33.33, 36.36, 40.00 |
| Core Voltage | 0.8375 to 1.60V in 0.0125V increments plus 1.6 to 1.9V in 0.1V increments |
| DRAM Voltage | Default, +.1V, +.2V, +.3V, +.4V |
| NB (Northbridge) Voltage | Default, +.1V, +.2V, +.3V |
| Memory Slots | Four 184-pin DDR 400 Slots Dual-Channel Unbuffered Memory to 4GB |
| Expansion Slots | 1 PCIe x16 Slot 3 PCIe x1 slot 2 PCI Slots |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 4 SATA 150 drives by ICH6 |
| Onboard IDE/RAID | One Standard ATA100/66 (2 drives) plus ITE IT8281 (4 drives) ITE can be combined as RAID 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 8 USB 2.0 ports No FireWire Ports |
| Onboard LAN | Gigabit PCI Ethernet by Marvell MV8001 10/100 Ethernet by VIA VT6105 |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC880 (HD Audio) 8-Channel with SPDIF in/out |
| Tested BIOS | 1.19 Award |
Albatron has been very aggressive in their marketing of 915/925X solutions. The PX915P Pro represents the top 915 board aimed at the enthusiast. There are other boards in the Albatron 915 lineup, most notably, thePX915G Pro, which is the same board based on the integrated graphics G version of the 915 chipset. Albatron also offers both the P and G 915 boards without the Pro designation. These non-Pro boards are cheaper and don't have firewire.
None of the Albatron 915 boards are offered with the ICH6R chipset - they all use the non-RAID ICH6 south bridge. Albatron does, however, include Intel High-Definition audio (Azalia) in even the cheapest 915 board that they offer. Interestingly, all 4 boards also offer support for 4 additional IDE drives to supplement the limited 2 IDE drives provided by the 915 chipset. The point is that Albatron made some smart decisions on cost reduction in our opinion. HD audio and additional IDE ports are features that we like to see on all the boards. You will be disappointed that to get Intel Matrix RAID, you will need to choose the Albatron 925X.
As the 915 flagship, the PX915P Pro offers a very wide range of options in the Award BIOS. Noteworthy is the incredible CPU voltage range to a dangerous 1.9V for a 1.3875V Socket T CPU. However, water-cooling and phase change overclockers will like to see such a wide range in a stock BIOS. Other BIOS options are also generous for tweaking with memory voltage reaching to 3.0V and the north bridge voltage selectable to +0.3V.
Layout of the PX915P Pro is very good. It's good to see the floppy connector in a usable upper right edge location. The 24-pin ATX is also at the board's right edge and the IDE is located on the edge as well. It is located a little lower than what we like, just below mid-line, but the location still works well in most case designs. The 4-pin connector is a little less accessible, located about mid-board between the CPU and IO backplane. You have to be careful when you route the 4-pin 12V cable, but it is also pretty easy to get a 4-pin cable of the way of cooling. With 4 SATA connectors and 2 additional IDE ports on the lower right edge behind the slots, you have a busy board, but you rarely see full-length cards any more. The PCIe x16 slot is still clear to handle even the biggest video card.
Albatron uses the capable Realtek ALC880 codec for High Definition 8-channel audio. This is the same High-Definition audio codec that we saw used in most motherboards in the 925X roundup, so it speaks well of Albatron's HD choice. Realtek says that their 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio features four 24-bit two-channel DACs and three stereo 20-bit ADCs. "The ALC880(D) also achieves 100dB sound quality; easily meeting PC2001 requirements and also bringing PC sound quality closer to consumer electronic devices." You can find more information on the features and specifications of the Realtek 880 at the Realtek website.
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krelian - Wednesday, December 8, 2004 - link
I been a Intel user since the first Pentium 3 came out now I have a Intel P4 3.0C I refused to spend more money on things I had already bought so I stayed with the 478 socket, seeing as Intel wants me to move to an expensive platform, I say I'll ditch Intel head with the AMD crowd, I'm sure I won't be the only one, maybe legions of intel campers will leave.ChineseDemocracyGNR - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
About the config I put together in the previous post; does anyone know if the overclock lock on the 915P chipsets apply to lower FSB's too? Could I overclock the 133MHz Celeron D to 200MHz on any 915P motherboard?ChineseDemocracyGNR - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
The 915P chipset provides good value for the money. For example:ECS 915P-A $79
Intel Celeron D 325J 2.53GHz $88
Albatron GeForce 6600 128MB $120.50
or
Albatron GeForce 6600GT 128MB $190.50
(newegg prices)
The processor can be overclocked to 3.6+GHz very easily, much like the Athlon Mobiles.
That makes a good budget gaming rig, better than anything you could put together with an AMD processor for the same money. So, at least in my opinion, AMD has a better mainstream/high-end processor, and Intel wins the value segment. Who would say?
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I have now read the entire article, and oh boy! Though I prefer to read about socket 754/939 motherboards, this has to be the best motherboard roundup I ever read. Ever. Well done.
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#22,
thank your fixing it. The typo I wrote about on page 10:
"The fact that Asus manages a higher OC than more recognized OC boards like DFI and Asus "
Don't you mean ABIT in the last word there?
ocyl - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Wesley > Thank you for paying attention to the audio features/components of these motherboards, particularly Dolby Digital Live :)Wesley Fink - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#21 - The Foxconn results have been corrected on p.20. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.ChineseDemocracyGNR - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
A few typos:"The fact that Asus manages a higher OC than more recognized OC boards like DFI and Asus "
page 10.
On page 20, the "Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed" table is probably wrong.
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Good article.
LeadFrog - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Why does only the socket 915 get a 16mb cache Hard Drive?danidentity - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Wes, I said thanks before but I'll say it again, great roundup. We appreciate your hard work, always.danidentity - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Live -The P5GD2 is expensive compared to most boards, but it includes a ton of stuff, like 8 SATA ports, dual gigabit LAN, on-board 802.11g/b, and on-board hi-def audio with Dolby Digital Live (realtime encoding, like SoundStorm).
Most 915P boards aren't as close to as expensive as the Asus. The Abit AG8 is ~ $130, equal or cheaper in price than the K8N Neo2.
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#16 - After I did the price analysis today I changed "outstanding value" to "good value". Thanks for the comment about the review being good reading. It is appreciated as a huge amount of work went into this roundup.