Foxconn Black Ops - Raw, Unadulterated Power
by Rajinder Gill on July 30, 2008 11:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Step aside - Foxconn coming through!
Usually we can't wait to get boards off the subzero benching station as the effort required does not justify the end result; not so with the Black Ops. We thoroughly enjoyed using this board at subzero temperatures; it runs insane speeds with relative ease, leading to a truly exhilarating benchmark experience. However, on a more realistic note, there are still plenty of quirks with this board to withhold absolute support across every scenario. These quirks include non-working or hard to use strap/memory divider combinations while higher speed 2GB memory overclocking is almost exclusively limited to Samsung-based modules or those using newer Micron ICs.
That does not mean the Black Ops will not work with older Micron chips in 2GB module designs, but simply that speeds over 1500MHz with 8GB memory may come at timings looser than stock module ratings. This situation will undoubtedly improve with time as the BIOS is tuned. Meanwhile, the balance of success lies in whether users can forgive the current quirks in return for a board that's sick fast, resolute, and does not arrive at the line panting and puffing under strain when pushed to the absolute limits.
As it stands right now, Foxconn's latest toy does require patience to reach its full potential when using conventional cooling methods. While we believe the Black Ops is an admirable choice as an enthusiast level motherboard, there are established boards like the ASUS P5E3 Premium that can provide an easier journey to overclocking in certain situations for the general enthusiast.
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So, although the Black Ops is not "Top Dog" on every front, it is worthy of accolades for being capable of doing things that no other board can out of the box. Yes, it's raw and at times ragged, but let's not forget that it's marketed as being a power product for extreme benchmarking and it delivers on that promise in an impressive manner. For the future, we are sure that Foxconn recognizes (we have reminded them repeatedly) outright sale volumes will likely hinge upon a more modest approach and that there will need to be development of products that are geared more for everyday use. Should the company be able to deliver products on both fronts while maintaining their customized support structure, we are looking at the possibility of a great success story from a company that has been firmly planted in the OEM sector.
To conclude, we are excited to present our Silver Editor's Choice award to Foxconn for the Black Ops X48 motherboard. Their execution and design of the Black Ops product certainly pushes the envelope for current motherboard technology and raises the bar for other players in this niche market. In fact, we are very excited to see what comes next from Foxconn. For now, if extreme benchmarking and power tuning is your thing, your prayers have been answered by the arrival of the Black Ops.
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yyrkoon - Monday, August 11, 2008 - link
You sir have obviously not heard of the term of "being slash-doted", but lets just say many hosts dread having links to their machines being on slash-dot because of the sheer volume of traffic that is caused on the host end.Either way, I never said anything about slash-dot so . . .
DrMrLordX - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link
Seriously:http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/25/...">http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/25/...
Rajinder Gill - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link
And in response,http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php...">http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php...
read post 61.
regards
Raja
DrMrLordX - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link
This matter isn't settled, but it is being argued by others in other forums where such things will be discussed in greater detail than they will here. Don't expect it to go away so easily.whatthehey - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link
In order for it to go away, it just needs to be fixed. That shouldn't be too difficult. And then all the millions of Linux enthusiasts that run top-end $400 motherboards with heavy overclocking can rest easy.Wait! What's that you say? Most home Linux users are running hand-me-down $200 systems? Hmmm.... Can't imagine why they aren't a priority.
DrMrLordX - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link
I put Xubuntu on my X2-3600+ system when it was brand new and pushed the chip to 3.2 ghz (stable) at one point. $200 hand-me-down? Nah.The fact that there are fully-suported flavors of Linux out there that can run on a cheap-as-in-free system from ten years ago is a plus, but it doesn't mean you have to run Linux on a system like that.
yyrkoon - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link
I think you're a bit confused. Nothing like stereotyping whole groups for our own enjoyment though eh ?yyrkoon - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link
Those threads are bogus. There is NOTHING innocent regarding pointing 5 versions of Windows to the right tables, while having the Linux table point to an invalid region of memory, thus causing lock ups and instabilities.yyrkoon - Saturday, August 2, 2008 - link
FOXCONN has seen the error in their ways whether intentional or not. This is a boon for both FOXCONN, and linux users a like.http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=877721">http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=877721
Regardless of whatever OS/Hardware I choose, it is very good to know that a company such as FOXCONN is a company that listens to its customers(eventually).
MamiyaOtaru - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - link
Yeah, they screwed up. But seriously, follow the threads. The one on Ubuntu forums where it all seems to have started lead to someone from the company replying, saying someone screwed up and that they would be fixing it.The initial tech support guy's response was not what one would want to hear, but in the end it was just a lowly tech support guy.
Seriously, it was good to get steamed when it looked like they were deliberately screwing people over, but the need has passed. Keep some pressure on to make sure they actually follow through, but perpetual nerdrage isn't doing any good now that the issue is acknowledged and scheduled for a fix.