abit & Foxconn (Intel G31)
Author:
Date: 20.10.2008 |
|
Layout and Features
The development of the entry product confines the engineers within quite rigid limits, so motherboards of this type are of the same specifications as the competing products. That is well seen from the tested motherboards as well: both the development teams were given an assignment "to create a motherboard based on G31 and priced below $50". The result is that the boards are almost identical:
To cool the "north bridge", there are massive radiators on the boards:
They are also needed because there is the graphic core GMA 3100 integrated into the "north bridge, which increases the overall level of heat emission. It should be noted that the Foxconn's model has a radiator on the "south bridge" as well, while in the abit's model this component is missing.
The motherboards each have two 240-pin DIMM slots for DDR2 memory modules, with the overall supported memory capacity being 4 GB.
On each of the boards, there is one PCI Express x16, one PCI Express x1, and two PCI slots.
Let's now examine the expansion options. Both the boards have four SerialATA II links, but there is no option for building RAID arrays. The thing is, the boards use one of the cheapest versions of the south bridge ICH7.
We also note that the "south bridge" provides operation of one ParallelATA link. Then, both the motherboards support eight USB 2.0 ports each. The configuration of the ports is identical for both the motherboards: 4 on the rear panel and 4 additional ones. Now a few words on the High Definition Audio subsystem. The abit's board uses Realtek ALC662 (5.1), on the Foxconn's - ALC888 (7.1) codec. Both the boards offer high-speed network interfaces - on the abit's board, there is the Realtek RTL8111C controller, and on the Foxconn's - RTL8111B.
Foxconn G31MG-S is equipped with one COM and one LPT ports, while abit I-G31 does not support these interfaces.
 |
Content: |
 |
|
|
Top Stories: |
|
 |
|
MoBo:
|
|
|
|
VGA Card:
|
|
|
|
CPU & Memory:
|
|
|
