865PE/875P Motherboard Roundup June 2003 - Part 1: 20-way Shootout
by Evan Lieb on June 12, 2003 10:57 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Gigabyte 8KNXP
|
Motherboard Specifications |
|
|
CPU
Interface
|
Socket-478
|
|
Chipset
|
Intel
82875P MCH (North Bridge)
Intel 82801ER ICH5R (South Bridge) |
|
Bus
Speeds
|
up
to 355MHz (in 1MHz increments)
|
|
Core
Voltages Supported
|
up
to 1.600V (in 0.0250V increments)
|
|
I/O
Voltages Supported
|
N/A
|
|
DRAM
Voltages Supported
|
up
to 2.8V (in 0.050V increments)
|
|
Memory Slots
|
6 184-pin
DDR DIMM Slots
|
|
Expansion Slots
|
1 AGP
8X Slot
5 PCI Slots |
|
Onboard IDE RAID
|
ITE
GigaRAID 8212F controller (RAID 0, RAID 1 & RAID 0 + 1)
|
|
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394
|
Eight
USB 2.0 ports supported through South Bridge
TI TSB43AB23 IEEE-1394 FireWire Controller (up to 3 ports total) |
|
Onboard LAN
|
Intel
PRO/1000CT Gigabit LAN (CSA bus)
|
|
Onboard Audio
|
Realtek
ALC655 codec
|
|
Onboard Serial ATA
|
Two
SATA connectors via ICH5R (RAID 0 & RAID 1 only)
|
|
BIOS
Revision
|
Rev.
M4 (6/03/2003)
|
There are usually quite a few unique features to talk about when reviewing a Gigabyte motherboard, and in the 8KNXP's case there are boatloads of features unique to this motherboard.
An interesting feature that Gigabyte has included on such motherboards as the 8INXP (E7205 chipset) and SINXP1394 (SiS 655 chipset) is Dual Power System 2 (DPS 2). This is a separate, add-in card that gives the 8KNXP 6-phase power circuitry instead of 3-phase. Gigabyte claims that, in Parallel mode (versus Backup mode), DPS 2 is able to deliver better system stability (especially while overclocked) in addition to longer onboard components life.
Another
feature unique to Gigabyte motherboards (for the most part) is their dual BIOS
feature. As we mentioned in the AOpen AX4C Max section, having two BIOS chips
can be helpful if you've permanently corrupted your first BIOS chip (through
a flash programming error for example) and instead being forced to RMA your
board or replace the chip yourself your board will simply revert to the second
backup BIOS chip.
The defining feature of the 8KNXP is its leading Serial ATA and IDE support. As usual the Primary and Secondary IDE connectors support two channels each, or up to four IDE devices total. There are also two additional IDE connectors powered by the GigaRAID IT8212F controller. This ATA133 GigaRAID controller was developed by ITE, and is capable of RAID 0 (striping), RAID 1 (mirroring) and RAID 0+1 arrays (read more about this IDE RAID controller here) while also being able to support a total of four drives. What's especially nice about the ITE GigaRAID controller is that it doesn't just support four hard drives but also ATAPI (optical) drives as well. This is a huge advantage over other motherboards with Promise or Silicon Image controllers that are capable of supporting only hard drives. In total you will be able to connect a combination of twelve different Serial ATA or IDE drives to the 8KNXP. This is one of the highest amount of drive support we've ever seen a desktop motherboard.
The most negative aspect of the Gigabyte 8KNXP is its price. Currently this motherboard is selling for between $215 and $225 in the U.S., with barely a handful of vendors offering the 8KNXP for under $220. This is quite a lot for a desktop motherboard, no doubt about that. However when it comes right down to it power users aren't exactly concerned with price when they're building their dream system. So for those types of users the 8KNXP couldn't be a better match.
UPDATE 6/19/2003 We should also mention that you must hold the CTRL key and press F1 to bring up the Advanced Chipset Features section, where you will be able to adjust your memory module's timings.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
18 Comments
View All Comments
Zak - Sunday, January 18, 2004 - link
I bought IS7 after reading this article and I've been having problems. Random resets, then BSOD after changing XP recovery settings. Over the past few months it worsened. In the begining it like once a week maybe. I wasn't concerned, bad driver I thought. Now it won't run more than an hour without BSOD. I have Corsair XMS DDR400 in it. I've played with memory settings for weeks, timings and voltages as well, reinstalled XPPro several times, updated BIOS, got all newest drivers and run out of ideas... I've put a stick of DDR333 because that's all have to test and I still get the same random BSOD, even durnig XP installation. I have no PCI cards in this box. Mushkin calls this board problematic and attributes the memory problems to forced implementation of PAT that is not normally present in 865. I may try getting it replaced by NewEgg but I don't suppose it'll help. I'm thinking about getting a 875 board instead. Zak.Anonymous User - Friday, October 24, 2003 - link
I would like to see part II of the roundup of the 865 chipset. I wonder what is the delay?Anonymous User - Monday, October 13, 2003 - link
I thought Part 2 would be out by now at least... There are good new boards out there I'd like to see... Shuttle AB60R (cheap and full featured) and Abit IC7-MAX3 (OTES for mobo power area). I am still looking forward to seeing this, eventually, right guys?Anonymous User - Tuesday, October 7, 2003 - link
Any comments on newer motherboards? Why hasn't supermicro been tested since 2000?Looking to compare supermicro
Intel s875wp1-e and Super P4SCE (SuperServer 5013C-I (SYS-5013-CI)) for a $50k cluster
Thanks
syzygyus@yahoo.com
Anonymous User - Friday, August 29, 2003 - link
Evan, how in the world is #4 going to research your statement when the articles/review comments forum gets purged/is gone now ?Anonymous User - Saturday, August 23, 2003 - link
Any word on Revision 2 of the Gigabyte 8knxp ultra board yet?Anonymous User - Sunday, August 10, 2003 - link
I bought the is7 after I read this article. It had many problems. I ended up having to ram this board twice. If you read the abit forum boards you will see alot of problems I am fairly surprised after all the tests this board was put through nothing ever went wrong. I will not buy another abit product period. I will stick to gigabye i've built 6 systems with Gigabyte and yet to have any problems with them. Save for the chipset fans having a low life.Anonymous User - Friday, August 8, 2003 - link
I bought the Abit IS7 and am completely pleased. One note is that many of the IS7's appear to be getting shipped with the gigabit lan as opposed to the sales brochure stated 10/100. (mine has the gigabit)Anonymous User - Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - link
How could it be that the Asus p4c 800 de luxe is more expensive then the asus p4p deluxe but in the testresults it is slower?I would think i am misinformed by the computershop?
And the p4c deluxe got a gigabit lan on board, despite mentioning in the summary of this Mb it has not.
PixelDoc - Sunday, July 27, 2003 - link
Error Re: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP MoBoThis MoBo has 4, not 2 SATA connectors, 2 controlled by ICH5R and 2 more contolled by the SIL3112 chip.