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Review: TriGem KLOSS KL-I915A

by Ryszard Sommefeldt on 4 February 2005, 00:00

Tags: Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Trigem

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qa64

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TriGem KLOSS KL-I915A Specification

TriGem KLOSS KL-I915A
CPU Support All Intel Pentium 4 LGA775 Processors
Northbridge Intel i915G 'Grantsdale-G'
Memory Support 2 slots, DDR400, 2GB max, dual-channel
AGP None
PEG16X One slot from i915G
Southbridge Intel ICH6
Audio C-Media CMI9880 8-channel HD Audio CODEC from ICH6 feed
Audio Connectivity 6 port backplane speaker, 2 S/PDIF optical input and output, headphone output, microphone input
PCI 1 x 32-bit 33MHz PCI 2.1 slot
PCI Express None
IDE 1 ATA100 compliant ports from ICH6
IDE RAID None
SATA 2 ports from ICH6
SATA RAID None
Networking Marvell Yukon®-EC 88E8050 PCI Express™ Gigabit Ethernet Controller, 10/100/1000Mbit, PCI Express connected on ICH6
USB ICH6, 3 x backplane USB2.0, 2 x front panel I/O USB2.0
FireWire FireWire400, 1 backplane port (powered), 1 x front panel port (unpowered), from VIA VT6307
Other I/O PS/2, 1 x Serial, Floppy, 1 x VGA from GMA900 on i915G MCH
Possible Storage 1 optical and 2 HDD, or 1 optical, 1 HDD and a floppy drive

TriGem use i915G Grantsdale-G for KLOSS and that affords the system on-board VGA from the GMA900 embedded into the MCH, PCI Express for graphics. Pairing i915G with ICH6 means Intel's new disk controller, PCI Express for peripherals to which TriGem attach a native PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller, HD Audio which feeds a CMI9880 8-channel audio CODEC and twin S/PDIF optical ports.

Overall, it's a specification to absolutely kick Shuttle's recently released SB77G5 into touch, the KLOSS better specified in nearly all areas. On-board VGA means KLOSS is useful for those on the PEG16X graphics upgrade path, and it makes it appealing to corporates too (although the facia style negates the GMA900 graphics advantage to that market in some respects as you'll see).

You can fill the chassis with a couple of hard disks, an optical device and a floppy drive, as you can in the SB77G5 XPC and as you'll see, the innovative cooling solution and chassis layout make the KLOSS very appealing on paper. Let's check it out in more detail.