• Intel 925X

The board tops the Intel-oriented line for the moment and has corresponding package and functionality. Curiously, not being able to announce this model before the official announcement of the i925X chipset, ABIT still managed to release a solution for Socket 775, using an old but quite productive i865 chipset.

The layout is very good: a great number of field transistors is used for the power regulator, the IDE connector is laid to its side, and there is no row of connectors along the lower edge. The only disadvantage is the FDD connector allocated in such a way that its cable may be too short to reach for the floppy drive in a tall case. But then again, there aren't many people who're using this drive now, are there? The space that is freed due to the use of small-size PCIEx1 slots is definitely good for the layout. Access to some of the jumpers can be hampered when the board is installed into the case. The PCB contains no brief description of the jumpers' funtionality. The board features a POST pass indicator made as two semi-segment LEDs. The four-channel CPU voltage regulator has 12 capacitors (7 x 2200 µF, 5 x 1200 µF). The PCIEx16 bus and the memory have their voltage regulators too. The former includes 4x1000µF capacitors and is enhanced with inductive elements. The latter incorporates 6x1000µF capacitators and has inductive elements as well. With the fan installed vertically on the north bridge heatsink, ABIT seems to start implementing some BTX form factor ideas concerning the regulation of air flows inside the case.

It's not completely clear what made ABIT not solder a laid out connector via which additional +12 V could be supplied from the PSU. Maybe the company's experts are sure that each user has a new PSU with a 24-contact base cable for their board. But we think it would be much better for customers if 4-pin connectors would have been soldered. As for the rest, AA8 DuraMAX makes an impression of an excellent complete product. The board measures 305õ245 mm (full-size ATX, nine-screw mount, firm fixation). A Winbond W83L950D chip is used to control:

• CPU, memory, and chipset voltage, +3.3, +5, +12 V, and +5 V Standby;
• rpm of 5 fans;
• temperatures of the CPU (one embedded sensor) and the board (three embedded sensors).

Onboard ports, sockets, and connectors

• CPU Socket 775;
• 4 x DDR2 SDRAM DIMM (up to 4 GB, ECC support, dual-channel mode organisation possible);
• 1 x PCIEx16 (with a clip);
• 3 x PCIEx1;
• 2 x PCI;
• Power: EPS12V (24-pin, fits the connector from a standard ATX PSU), 4-pin 12 V;
• 1 x FDD;
• 1 x IDE (Parallel ATA) in the chipset;
• 4 x SATA (Serial ATA), all in the chipset; connected discs can be combined into separate RAIDs 0, 1 and Matrix RAID (see chipset description for more details);
• 2 x straps for 2 x USB (2.0);
• 2 x straps for 2 x FireWire;
• 1 x CD/DVD Audio;
• 1 x strap for additional Audio Outs;
• 5 x fan (3 enable rpm control, one of which is connected to the north bridge heatsink fan; normal 4-pin output is used for the CPU cooler).

Back panel (left to right, blockwise)

• PS/2 connectors for mouse and keyboard;
• 1 x LPT, 1 x COM, Toslink-type S/PDIF-In/Out;
• 3 x Audio (Center/Sub, Rear, Side);
• 3 x Audio (Mic-In, Line-In, Front).
• 2 x USB, 1 x FireWire;
• 2 x USB, 1 x RJ-45 (Gigabit Ethernet).

It seems that the era of audio connectors is beginning, as the latter comprise almost half of all connectors placed on the back panel.

Bundle

• Package: box with an advertisement of ABIT's proprietary µGURU technology;
• Documentation: user guides on mainboard and the µGURU function (both in English), brief manual on board installation and setup (in 20 languages);
• Cables: 1 x ATA66/100/133, 1 x FDD, both black with company's logos, 4 x Serial ATA;
• PC back panel strap with 2 x USB and 2 x FireWire;
• I/O shield for corresponding connectors;
• Floppy disc with SATA RAID drivers;
• CD with software:
  • necessary drivers;
  • mainboard user manual in PDF;
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader;
  • ABIT FlashMenu;
  • ABIT µGURU;
  • DirectX 9.0b.

Integrated controllers

• Avance Logic ALC880 7.1 HDA codec based audio controller with a connector for front Audio I/Os;
• Realtek RTL8110S-32 based LAN controller supporting 10/100/1000 Mbit/s Base-T (Gigabit Ethernet);
• Texas Instruments TSB43AB23 based FireWire controller supporting 3 ports.

The integrated audio quality was tested in 16 bits, 44 kHz, using the RightMark Audio Analyzer 5.2 test program and the Terratec DMX 6fire sound card:

Frequency response (40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB:	+0.14, -0.17	Very good
Noise level, dB (A):	-88.6	Good
Dynamic range, dB (A):	88.7	Good
THD, %:	0.0031	Very good
IMD, %:	0.010	Very good
Steero crosstalk, dB:	-91.5	Excellent

Total: Very good (details).

Proprietary technologies

• ABIT µGURU (fine-tuning the system's parameters).

Settings

We used BIOS AA8_13.b00, the latest available version for the moment of testing. The mentioned BIOS parameters are available in the version, but the viability of non-standard settings hasn't been tested.

Performance

We have only tested one i925X-based board, so we have no information on whether its performance it typical of this chipset-based representatives.

Test results:

• R-r-revolutionary Intel 915/925 Express Family for Socket 775

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