Intel Releases its First Series of "Enthusiast-Class" Motherboards

Insane3D

Elite Member
May 24, 2000
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Excellent review Evan...as usual. ;)

One thing the "enthusiast" in me really likes about the board is the huge northbridge heatsink...very nice.


Looks like a nice motherboard for someone who is looking for a nice, feature packed P4 setup, with no o/c'ing in mind. :)
 

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Lifer
Jun 3, 2002
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Originally posted by: Insane3D
Excellent review Evan...as usual. ;)

One thing the "enthusiast" in me really likes about the board is the huge northbridge heatsink...very nice.


Looks like a nice motherboard for someone who is looking for a nice, feature packed P4 setup, with no o/c'ing in mind. :)

Yup, that pretty much sums it up. Btw, I'm writing this on EpoX's SiS 648 board...;)
 

Insane3D

Elite Member
May 24, 2000
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Yup, that pretty much sums it up. Btw, I'm writing this on EpoX's SiS 648 board...

Lucky. :) I would be more interested had I not just sold my 1.6A / 4G4A+ setup. ;) I'm waiting for HT and dual channel DDR before I move back to the P4. :)

Now, if you have your hands on the Epox 8RDA+(Nforce2), you will have my full attention. :)


I almost snagged a Epox KT400 board to toy with, but with the KT400A coming sometime, and the Nforce 2 boards coming, I thought I would hold off....so I got myself a stick of Corsair PC3200C2 instead. :)
 

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Lifer
Jun 3, 2002
10,518
271
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Originally posted by: Insane3D
Yup, that pretty much sums it up. Btw, I'm writing this on EpoX's SiS 648 board...

Lucky. :) I would be more interested had I not just sold my 1.6A / 4G4A+ setup. ;) I'm waiting for HT and dual channel DDR before I move back to the P4. :)

Now, if you have your hands on the Epox 8RDA+(Nforce2), you will have my full attention. :)


I almost snagged a Epox KT400 board to toy with, but with the KT400A coming sometime, and the Nforce 2 boards coming, I thought I would hold off....so I got myself a stick of Corsair PC3200C2 instead. :)

Yeah, great idea. Corsair has a place in my heart. ;)
 

KF

Golden Member
Dec 3, 1999
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I like the way you do reviews, Evan. You get to the point quickly and you are comparatively consistent from review to review.

At the beginning you delt with what constitutes an enthusiast's board. I never seriously thought about it myself. I guess I'm not an enthusiast. IAC, it does not appear the the Intel board is much of an enthusiast's board by whatever standard. If this is a specially directed mobo to the enthusiast, Intel must usually do some pretty pathetic mobos. (Actually I think it is a pretty normal Intel mobo.) Maybe the price to performance ratio will be a pleasant surprise when we find out what Intel sells this item for, unlike the usual (non-surplus) Intel mobos available to the general public. Without the Intel name (perhaps ECS?) this mobo might attract buyers provided it sold at small premium to a K7S5A. Maybe Intel is counting on someone doing a hacked BIOS, while Intel maintains a solid, unyielding stance against OCing dictated by it's unrivaled, unchallenged marketing department which determines the technical features of every Intel product.

Don't get me wrong, I have a high opinion of Intel's technical prowess (and I stand in awe of Intel's marketing.) I have even owned several Intel products since the 8080 era, in the extremely rare circumstances that it made any sense to do so. On the whole, Intel has aways offered extremely low value to price compared to readily available alternatives, and has depended on other factors to dominate the market.

BTW, I never owned an 8080. I owned a Z80, which had twice the clock speed (as I recall), and sold well below the price of the then current Intel product. Intel sued the maker, Zilog, alleging patentabilty of the instruction set, and lost, setting in place the opportunity for competitors to clone the x86. In todays "digital millenium act" environment, Zilog would be crushed, and had that been the case way back when, we would now no doubt be paying Intel $2000 for 100MHz processors.
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
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Stay tuned for more coverage of Intel's 845PE chipset. Also watch for more coverage of SiS's 648 chipset and NVIDIA's nForce2 solution

Aaaargh! No fair tantalizing the readers in advance like that !!! :p;)
 

RideFree

Diamond Member
Jul 25, 2001
3,433
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Intel packs on some very nice and unique features with the D845PEBT2
Evan,
Except for the FSB think, this would be quite the hot item. Seems like we both agree.:)
 

SuperSix

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
9,873
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Ack.. Intel told me they weren't going to make these, even after they had 2 techs inteview me for an enthusiasts perspective.. Maybe they were talking about abandoning CPU/Mem/Voltage adjustments.

I should at LEAST get a free board! ;)

Seriously, An enthusiast-class INtel board is a formidable competitor for the other mobo manufacturers...
 

RanDum72

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2001
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Honestly, the only thing 'enthusiast' about the board is the looks. Intel boards have always been the most industrial and bland looking boards around and this one seeks to visually enhance them. But functionally, it is still typical Intel. Rock stable but really nothing to play around with. Very dependable but boring.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
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Originally posted by: Insane3D
Excellent review Evan...as usual. ;)

One thing the "enthusiast" in me really likes about the board is the huge northbridge heatsink...very nice.


Looks like a nice motherboard for someone who is looking for a nice, feature packed P4 setup, with no o/c'ing in mind. :)


The heatsink is wasted though...no overclocking so no need for it.