Biostar I945P-A7 (Intel 945P)
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Biostar I945P-A7
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| Chipset |
Intel 945P |
| Processor |
LGA775 Pentium 4 FSB 1066800533MHz
Celeron Prescott FSB 533MHz
Dual-Core Pentium4
HyperThreading |
| Memory |
DDR2 400533667 |
| HDD |
1x UltraDMA/100
4x SerialATA II(RAID)
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| Additional |
2 IEEE-1394a
Audio Intel HDA
8 USB 2.0
Gigabit Ethernet |
| Price: |
na |
These days, more and more new motherboards built on the i945P chipset are emerging. Now the turn has come to second-rank manufacturers - a typical example is the Biostar I945P-A7 motherboard which will be the subject of our today's review.
The major feature of the board is in the two PCI Express slots, which in theory allows setting up a system with two video cards running in the nVidia SLI or ATI Crossfire modes. In fact, for high-end systems like that, in my view, in makes sense choosing a motherboard of a more eminent manufacturer. Because every new generation of Intel chipsets imposes increasingly rigid requirements to the compliance with the specifications as well as the thoroughness of the PCB design development. It often happens that second-rank manufacturers have no resources to create a powerful, high-quality and at the same time cheap motherboard.
And I945P-A7 has brought some unpleasant surprises: a complete failure at overclocking capabilities, and partial incompatibility to Intel 6?? processors. In particular, the board was running with a Pentium 4 660 in the "emergency" mode, i.e. the multiplier was set to 14 and could not be changed with any means.
On the other hand, boards on the base of the i945P by second-rank manufacturers are a good alternative to boards based on Intel's previous generation chipsets. So we'll be reviewing the Biostar I945P-A7 board just with this viewpoint in mind.
Biostar I945P-A7 Specifications
| Biostar I945P-A7 |
| Processor |
- Intel Pentium 4 (Prescott (2M)/Gallatin/ Smithfield) with the bus speed 1066/800/533 MHz;
- Dual-core Intel Pentium D (Smithfield) with the bus speed 800 MHz;
- Intel Celeron-D (Prescott) with the bus speed 533 MHz;
- Socket LGA775;
- Support for HyperThreading processors |
| Chipset |
- North bridge Intel® 945P Memory Controller Hub (MCH);
- South bridge Intel® Intel 82801GR Enhanced I/O Controller Hub (ICH7R);
- Interbridge link: DMI |
| System memory |
- Four 240-pin slots for DDR2 SDRAM DIMM
- Maximum memory capacity 4GB
- Supported memory types - DDR2 400533667
- Dual-channel memory access |
| Graphic |
- Two PCI Express x16 slots; |
| Expansion options |
- Three 32-bit PCI Bus Master slots;
- Two PCI Express x1 slots;
- Eight USB 2.0 ports (4 integrated + 4 additional);
- Two IEEE1394 (Firewire; 1 integrated + 1 additional)
- Integrated audio High Definition Audio 7.1;
- LAN controller - Gigabit Ethernet |
| Overclocking options |
- FSB adjustable within 200 to 232 MHz in 1 MHz increments;
- Adjustable voltages on the processor, memory.
- Biostar WarpSpeeder |
| Disk subsystem |
- 1 channel UltraDMA100/66/33 Bus Master IDE (with support for up to 2 ATAPI devices)
- Support for SerialATA II (4 channels - ICH7R, with support for RAID)
- Support for LS-120 / ZIP / ATAPI CD-ROM |
| BIOS |
- 4MBit Flash ROM
- Award BIOS Phoenix with support for Enhanced ACPI, DMI, Green, PnP Features, and Trend Chip Away Virus |
| Miscellaneous |
- One port for FDD, one serial and one parallel ports, ports for PS/2 mouse and keyboard
- STR (Suspend to RAM)
- SPDIF InOut |
| Power management |
- Wake-up on modem, mouse, keyboard, LAN, timer and USB
- Main 24-pin power connector ATX
- Additional 4-pin power connector |
| Monitoring |
- Monitoring the temperature of the processor, voltages, rotation speeds of the three fans
- Smart Fan |
| Dimensions |
- ATX form factor, 245 mm x 305 mm (9.63" x 12") |
Package
We received an engineering sample for tests, so there is nothing to say regarding the package bundle:
Also, the board was packed into an "alien" box, one from a board built on the i945G chipset:
Nor the user's guide (a *.pdf file downloaded from Biostar's web site) promises a great number of components.
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