EPoX EP-5P945 PRO: Budget 945P Performance
by Gary Key on September 11, 2006 4:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Basic Features
The BIOS layout and configurable options are representative of a budget performance system. We would like to note that if the second X16 PCI Express slot is not utilized for a GPU in an X4 configuration then it will operate as a standard X1 PCI Express capable slot. Again, note that the two X1 PCI Express slots must be disabled via jumpers in order for the secondary X16 PCI Express connector to work in X4 mode. This slot can also be used for other PCI Express peripherals in X4 mode. While the EPoX EP-5P945 PRO does not offer the BIOS configurability of enthusiast level boards it certainly does contain enough settings to ensure the user has the ability to moderately overclock the board.
The board ships with a standard accessory package along with several BIOS and software features such as Ghost BIOS (BIOS rescue program via a bootable CD), EZ-Boot (ability to choose bootable devices at boot-up), EPTP (EPoX Thunder Probe software based monitoring utility), Magic Flash (Windows based BIOS update program that does not require a DOS flash utility or bootable diskette), and Magic Screen (Windows utility for personal bootup screen design). The board also features a CP80P post port debug LED.
| EPoX EP-5P945 PRO Specifications | |
| Market Segment: | Budget Performance |
| CPU Interface: | Socket T (Socket 775) |
| CPU Support: | LGA775-based Pentium 4, Celeron D, Pentium D, Core 2 Duo |
| Chipset: | Intel 945P + ICH7 |
| Bus Speeds: | 200 to 350 in 1MHz Increments (800/1066MHz FSB) 133 to 199 in 1MHz Increments (533MHz FSB) |
| Memory Speeds: | Auto, 400, 533, 667 |
| PCIe Speeds: | Auto, 100MHz~150MHz |
| PCI: | Sync., Fixed at 33.33. 37.5, or 40.00MHz |
| Core Voltage: | Default CPU, +.0000V ~ +.4000V in 0.0125V increments |
| CPU Clock Multiplier: | Default, 6x-11x for Core 2 Duo, Locked to CPU |
| DRAM Voltage: | 1.80V, +.05V ~ +.37V in various increments |
| DRAM Timing Control: | SPD, tCAS, tRCD, tRP, tRAS |
| NB Voltage: | 1.50V ~ 1.80V in .10V increments |
| Memory Slots: | Four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered Memory to 4GB Total |
| Expansion Slots: | 2 - PCIe X16 (1x16, 1x4 operation in multi-GPU setup) 2 - PCIe X1 (must be disabled for secondary x16 slot to operate at x4 operation) 3 - PCI Slot 2.3 |
| Onboard SATA: | 4 SATA 3Gbps Ports - Intel ICH7 |
| Onboard IDE: | 1 ATA100/66/33 Port (2 drives) - Intel ICH7 |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394: | 8 USB 2.0 Ports - 4 I/O Panel - 4 via Headers |
| Onboard LAN: | Gigabit Ethernet Controller - PCI Interface Realtek RTL8110SC |
| Onboard Audio: | Realtek ALC883 HD-Audio 6-channel CODEC |
| Power Connectors: | ATX 24-pin, 4-pin EATX 12V |
| I/O Panel: | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x Parallel Port 1 x Serial Port 1 x RJ45 1 x Audio Panel 1 x S/PDIF Coaxial Out 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 |
| BIOS Revision: | AWARD 06.07.27 |
The BIOS layout and configurable options are representative of a budget performance system. We would like to note that if the second X16 PCI Express slot is not utilized for a GPU in an X4 configuration then it will operate as a standard X1 PCI Express capable slot. Again, note that the two X1 PCI Express slots must be disabled via jumpers in order for the secondary X16 PCI Express connector to work in X4 mode. This slot can also be used for other PCI Express peripherals in X4 mode. While the EPoX EP-5P945 PRO does not offer the BIOS configurability of enthusiast level boards it certainly does contain enough settings to ensure the user has the ability to moderately overclock the board.
The board ships with a standard accessory package along with several BIOS and software features such as Ghost BIOS (BIOS rescue program via a bootable CD), EZ-Boot (ability to choose bootable devices at boot-up), EPTP (EPoX Thunder Probe software based monitoring utility), Magic Flash (Windows based BIOS update program that does not require a DOS flash utility or bootable diskette), and Magic Screen (Windows utility for personal bootup screen design). The board also features a CP80P post port debug LED.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
23 Comments
View All Comments
yacoub - Monday, September 11, 2006 - link
I find it... I dunno... strange that you break out a zero-anchor graph for the gaming tests when normally in reviews you guys use a tighter graph that does not start at zero and thus makes the difference between performance seem great.I guess what I find funny is that if you used that type of graph in all of your reviews, many parts reviewed would show their true improvement which is often very very little. This reviews shows how this board barely performs any worse than the other boards charted, yet if you'd used the older method of a graph starting at, say, '60' instead of '0' people would think OMG there's a HUGE difference.
Maybe what I'm trying to say is thanks for finally using a zero-anchored graph to show true performance delta instead of a zoomed in graph where the same charts would appear to have wide difference between part performance when they really don't.
yacoub - Monday, September 11, 2006 - link
Here's what I'm talking about in comparison if anyone is wondering:http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2826&am...">http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2826&am...
Gary Key - Monday, September 11, 2006 - link
Hi,We do listen (sometimes the message takes a while to sink in) and decided to do away with the non-zero based graph or even a zoom in in this case. Although we clearly stated our purpose with the non-zero based graphs and provided one (if clicked) it appeared from comments this offering was not satisfactory either. Hopefully, we will have an updated graphing engine in the near future so this type of information can be presented in a different fashion. Thanks for the comments!
:)