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Review: Gigabyte's GA-8AENXP-D Mainboard

by Ryszard Sommefeldt on 17 April 2005, 00:00

Tags: Gigabyte (TPE:2376), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qabcd

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Introduction

Despite our earlier preview unveiling the Pentium 840 Extreme Edition, which was evaluated by all on an Intel desktop board carrying 955X core logic, there's no real word as to when processors and mainboards from other vendors will become generally available. So if you're jonesing, for want of a better word, for some Intel platform loving in the meantime, and you've got a bit of cash, your attention will surely turn to Intel's current high-end core logic offering, i925XE.

Since its launch, paired as it was with the creation of a 3.46GHz Extreme Edition CPU running at the inflated 266MHz base clock that 925XE supports, all the usual suspects have come out of the woodwork with designs based around it. It's been an easy task for them, the MCH chip being a 1210-pin drop-in replacement for an existing 925X design. The ICH processor, ICH6/ICH6R, doesn't change. A tweak of the BIOS here, a verification of electrical correctness there and Intel's board partners are able to slap a new set of products on store shelves and online inventories the world over.

Here at HEXUS, we've had a look at a bunch of 925XE products, and the general consensus is one of praise, should an Intel processor be what warms your cockles. Economies of scale have seen prices drop from astronomical to just-about-sane, so it makes sense to review another few boards to get the bigger picture. Tarinder has done Intel reference and ASUS P5AD2-E Premium and he's got a couple more boards to come, from the likes of EPoX. Now I'm breaking my official 925XE review duck, with a peek at a design from Gigabyte, based on the GA-8ANXP-D.

A quick poke around the web reveals praise aplenty for the donated design, so the hilariously named GA-8AENXP-D should be a belter. Can you see what they did there? Onwards!