Frst LGA 775 test in Greece

vaios · Φεβρουάριος 20, 2006

The new Intel processors just came out, with the following codenames

The 560 processor that runs at 3.6Gh has already been announced.

These processors are of course built using the 0.09μ Prescott core. The line 3 generation refers to the Celeron processors and will also be available for the 478 socket. The chipsets that have been designed for this platform (LGA 775) are the 915 and 925.

But Abit has presented an even more revolutionary product, the AS8 motherboard, which is based on Intel’s “old” 865 chipset. This is expected to extend in a way the life expectancy of the AGP and DDR technologies that we almost all are still using nowadays.

Motherboard

<table width="914" border="0"> <tr> <td width="296" height="265"><div align="center"><a href="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/mobo_box_back.jpg"><img src="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/th/th_mobo_box_back.jpg" width="299" height="261" border="0"></a></div></td> <td width="296"><div align="center"><a href="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/mobo_box_front.jpg"><img src="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/th/th_mobo_box_front.jpg" width="292" height="260" border="0"></a></div></td> <td width="308"><div align="center"><a href="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/mobo.jpg"><img src="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/th/th_mobo.jpg" width="306" height="258" border="0"></a></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td>The back package cover</td> <td>The front package cover</td> <td>The motherboard!</td> </tr> </table>

As we can see in the picture above the “sensitive” socket is covered by a plastic lid in order to avoid damaging the pins.

AS8 Technical Features

CPU: It supports Intel Prescott LGA775 (533/800 FSB) and HyperThreading
Chipset: Intel 865PE/ICH5R, Dual Channel DDR400 supporting ACPI and FMB 1.5
Memory: 4 Dimms of 168 pins (DR compatible) up to 4Gb
AGP: 1 AGP port for 2x/4x/8x VGA cards, 1.5V and 0.8V only
SATA Raid: 2 SATA ports that support Raid 0/1
LAN: 10/100 network controller
USB 2.0: 8 USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mb/sec speed)
Firewire: 3 ports (up to 400 Mb/sec speed)
Sound: AC 97 codec supporting 5.1 (Optical in/out)
Dimensions: ATX (305x245mm)

Now let’s have a closer look at this motherboard.

<table width="914" border="0"> <tr> <td width="296" height="265"><div align="center"><a href="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/socket_closed.jpg"><img src="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/th/th_socket_closed.jpg" width="299" height="261" border="0"></a></div></td> <td width="296"><div align="center"><a href="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/socket_open.jpg"><img src="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/th/th_socket_open.jpg" width="292" height="260" border="0"></a></div></td> <td width="308"><div align="center"><a href="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/socket_dimms.jpg"><img src="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/th/th_socket_dimms.jpg" width="306" height="258" border="0"></a></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td>The closed metal socket</td> <td>The LGA 775 socket, open</td>

<td>Socket, dimms and cpu fan</td> </tr> </table>

You may have noticed already the cpu fan connector uses 4 pins and not 3 pins as with most other motherboards. As we did find out for ourselves though, all the regular fans are working.

<table width="914" border="0"> <tr> <td width="296" height="265"><div align="center"><a href="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/northbridge.jpg"><img src="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/th/th_northbridge.jpg" width="299" height="261" border="0"></a></div></td> <td width="296"><div align="center"><a href="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/southbridge.jpg"><img src="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/th/th_southbridge.jpg" width="292" height="260" border="0"></a></div></td> <td width="308"><div align="center"><a href="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/coder.jpg"><img src="http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/images/th/th_coder.jpg" width="306" height="258" border="0"></a></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td>northbridge</td> <td>southbridge</td> <td>Post code reader </td> </tr> </table>

By looking closer on the AS8 one can find that new heat sinks have placed on the Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets to ensure that this motherboard will work flawlessly under any given circumstances as far as heat is concerned. One new feature that this motherboard introduces is the so called Post Code Reader. This will present all bios codes while booting the system, so that troubleshooting is easier for the user when he finds himself against a boot failure.

C.P.U

Now let’s take a closer look at the processor. It’s one of the 530 lines running at 3 GHz. Even on the first glance one can notice that the box is bigger than its predecessor’s 478. On the back there are 2 openings where one can see the apical part of the CPU and fan. Let’s see how this processor behaves out of the box.

</table>

</tr></table>

The cooler is not much bigger than that of a Socket 478 Processor. What makes a difference is the way it is firmed on the motherboard: it is no longer fixed on a plastic base but it goes through the motherboard in order to fasten the cpu in its place. The uninstallation is very easy and can be performed using a standard "T" Philips Screwdriver, following the instructions printed in the manual accompanying the CPU. As you may have already guessed there are no pins on the processor, just contacts that connect to pins located on the socket.

Overclocking

The installation of MS Windows OS and most software that came with the motherboard gave us no problem. The only issue we encountered was with μ Guru that refused to stop freezing even after we installed the latest available version. However after reloading the application, it will work even without rebooting the system.

The temperature readings in idle and full load settings were also pretty decent, perhaps a bit lower than its predecessor Prescott 478.

• Idle Temp: 45C

• Full Load Temp: 55C

As far as overclocking is concerned, this CPU did perform pretty well using both water-cooling and air-cooling. By using the fan and factory heat sink that came with the CPU, the processor reached 3600GHz with 1.3875 voltage. To reach higher frequency values we had to use water-cooling, which gave us an astonishing result of 3950 GHz with 1.5125 voltage. Of course all mentioned values were made while assuring system stability.

Mesurments

Given the fact that the Cpu differences are minor and that the review motherboard uses the 865 chipset, the measurements we did were to no big extent. We simply present you with some figures that were collected using the Sandra 2004 SP2 software with CPU frequencies of 3000 / 3600 / 3900 MHz respectively.

Conclution

Testing the LGA 775 left us with an overall good impression, although we would prefer that we had the brand new 915 and 925 in our hands. As far as overclocking is concerned we do not yet surely know whether these CPUs perform well or we just happened to get our hands on a “good” piece. There is no statistically safe sample to make any claims.

What we did not like was the socket’s sensitivity and especially that if its pins. The motherboard came to us with one of its pins bent which was of course relatively easy to repair. Even so, we do believe that there shouldn’t be any problems with installing the CPU if the user is relatively cautious.

We would finally like to thank SMART SHOP (Solomou 34, tel +302103820100) for providing the motherboard and CPU, and Eleven for providing the waterblock.

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Frst LGA 775 test in Greece

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