Initial Thoughts
My initial positive thoughts on the PF22 'Exterme' are mainly ones of decent performance, great bundle (to be shown), all at a competetive ECS-style price (to be revealed). However, there are also significant downsides as well that I'm considering, not least in the areas of Crossfire, future platform movements on the Intel side of the fence, and stability. This mini article is slightly late to be published, as the HEXUS.high-ups will testify, and stability is the reason why. The 18th November 2005 BIOS, as shipped with the sample, was fairly unstable with the 6xx-sequence P4. Swapping in Prescott-1M (5xx sequence) cures the ailments, so there's BIOS work to be done at this point, to tidy some stuff up.Carrying on, I'm drawn to thinking of further platform shifts, current Crossfire limitations and future movements, and P4 gaming performance (it's a gamer's board, first and foremost). The result of those thoughts mean I really don't jive well with the purchase of an i955X board right now, for Crossfire or not, unless already invested heavily with DDR2 and a P4 on something like i925X and the like.
Lots to consider before we make our final value judgement. Let us know what you think about the board, before we conclude it, in the HEXUS.community, to see if your thoughts jive with our own.
A nice stand-up product in isolation and performance initially, but with some stability problems and future-looking clouds over its head. Stay tuned for the full HEXUS.review next week.
