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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Live - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Sorry Didn't see your reply before I posted Wesley.Sure there is some value to be had but not "outstanding". I still don't agree with you but I guess my mind is made up. Intel needs to come out with something new before I go back.
As a roundup it was very good reading tough. I can't wait for the next AMD roundup to hit AnandTech.
Live - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#12"The P5GD2 is an expensive motherboard, at about $240 on the web, but you can get almost all the same features in the P5GD2 Deluxe for about $50 less."
Thats expensive to me. Compare that to the 134.99 for the 939 Gold Editors Choice winner "MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum"
But thats not the point. If the 915P was substantially cheaper then a 939 system you might call it value for money but is it not. Mind you a 939 board is generally not cheap either but at least it delivers in comparison.
The CPU used in the review that hardly beat the much cheaper 3500+ had a max overclock of 14% and I bet you would find it hard to reach that high without the CPU overheating and start throttling http://www.anandtech.com/news/shownews.aspx?i=2345...
LGA775 CPUs does not offer great overclocking headroom compared to the much cheaper earlier Intel platforms or AMD for that matter. Sure they still overclock but nothing that we haven't seen before at higher cost and temperature. Again not what I would call outstanding.
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#11 - We just ran the 3500+ benchmarks in the same configuration this morning, and we do agree that the 3500+ is a particularly good value in performance for the dollar. However, the larger picture of prices of AMD CPUs compared to Intel show the Intel processors are a good, if not outstanding, value.Our conclusion was based on Anand's value analysis in the 3.46EE/1066 launch review at http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?... There he compared the 3800+ at over $600 to a Intel 560 3.6GHz at about $450 and found the 3800+ the winner but probably not a big enough winner to justify the price premium for the 3800+. At that time, there was no 570 (3.8GHz) and the 3.6 was the fastest Intel CPU unless you considered the $1000+ Xeon-based EE processors. Price changes continue, and with them the value relationships do change.
A quick check of prices today shows
Intel 520(2.8GHz)- $160 AMD 2800+(754) - $128
Intel 530(3.0GHz)- $180 AMD A64 3000+ - $152
Intel 540(3.2GHz)- $220 AMD A64 3200+ - $194
Intel 550(3.4GHz)- $282 AMD A64 3400+ - $269
Intel 560(3.6GHz)- $455 AMD A64 3500+ - $270
Intel 570(3.8GHz)- $795 AMD A64 3800+ - $630
AMD A64 4000+ - $716
AMD A64 FX55 - $812
With current prices we would have to agree that there is really no great value advantage to Intel any more. But there is good value in the Intel processors from 2.8GHz (520) to 3.6GHz (560). Certainly the 4000+, at $80 less than the 570 and faster performance, and the FX55 at about the same price as 570 and significantly faster in most benchmarks, are better value at the top. But we still stand by Intel being good value in the middle.
deathwalker - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
"outstanding value and performance for your buying dollar" ?????????? at $240 for a Mobo?..I guess I need to retake Economics 101...Bah...Intel just continues to shot themselves in the foot. A side note not related to this review..Dell must be deep inside of Intel's pocketbook with there contiued refusal to market AMD based products.danidentity - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#11 - 915P motherboards are not expensive. They are equal or cheaper in price than socket 939 A64 motherboards.LGA775 CPUs offer great overclocking headroom if paired with the right board. Intel CPUs have traditionally have had more OCing headroom than AMD chips. That still holds true, for the most part, today. Especially when talking about the low-end chips, like the 2.8GHz.
Live - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
I'm sorry but I don't see the "outstanding value and performance for your buying dollar"Expensive Motherboards and CPUs with little overclocking headroom compared to the Athlon 64 competition. How does that translate to excellent value and performance? even the much cheaper 3500 comes out on top on most benchmarks.
Sure there are niche markets where the Intel platform excels but for the big majority of us AMD is where its at right now.
I don't think this review is in sync with your conclusion so either list some valid arguments for your point (Since its not there in the benchmarks) or edit the conclusion.
danidentity - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Wesley, thanks for including tests from a more comparable AMD CPU. Listening to your readers is always appreciated.Wesley Fink - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#4,#5,#6 - The Athlon 64 results with the FX55 were included for Reference, and not direct comparison. However you do make a good point.The closest A64 we had in the lab to a 3.6GHz 560 was the 3500+ based on the 90nm process. This should provide an advantage to the Intel 560. Since there are complaints here the FX55 is too high end, these new tests tilted toward Intel should balance the playing field. The 3500+ costs about $265 and the Intel 560 (3.6GHz) is about $455, so the 560 is about 70% more expensive than the 3500+.
The added 3500+ benchmarks were also an opportunity to test with the SAME ATI X800XT PCIe we used in benchmarking the 915 boards. Enjoy!
Color codes have been updated and there are now 3500+ results on the Gigabyte nForce4 with the ATI X800XT PCIe in all benchmarks.
Original plans were to include the Intel 570 in this roundup, but much of the testing was already done when the Intel 3.8GHz CPU was launched. This Intel 3.8 is priced at around $800, which is very close to the FX55. You can see how it compares to the FX55 in performance in Anand's launch article at http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?...
CrystalBay - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
It's a pity that all these 4 dimm slot, dual channelMB's have such a rough time doing it. Imagine trying
to run 4 1GB dimms in DC, this goes for ddr1 as well 2.
Glassmaster - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Now that Northwood and 865/875 are on the way out, only a fool would buy Intel.Glassmaster.