Gigabyte 8KNXP Ultra

Motherboard Specifications

CPU Interface
Socket-478
Chipset
Intel 82875P MCH (North Bridge)
Intel 82801ER ICH5R (South Bridge)
Bus Speeds
up to 355MHz (in 1MHz increments)
Core Voltages Supported
up to 1.760V (in 0.0125V increments)
I/O Voltages Supported
N/A
DRAM Voltages Supported
up to 2.8V (in 0.1V increments)
Memory Slots
6 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots
Expansion Slots
1 AGP 8X Slot
5 PCI Slots
Onboard IDE RAID/SCSI
ITE GigaRAID 8212F controller (RAID 0, RAID 1 & RAID 0 + 1)
Adaptec SCSI Ultra 320 7902W Controller
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394
Eight USB 2.0 ports supported through South Bridge
No IEEE-1394 FireWire
Onboard LAN
Intel PRO/1000CT Gigabit LAN (CSA bus)
Onboard Audio
Realtek ALC655 codec
Onboard Serial ATA
Two SATA connectors via ICH5R (RAID 0 & RAID 1 only)
BIOS Revision
Revision F2c (03/26/2003)

An interesting feature that Gigabyte has included on such motherboards as the 8INXP (E7205 chipset) and SINXP1394 (SiS 655 chipset) is Dual Power System 2 (DPS 2). This is a separate, add-in card that gives the 8KNXP 6-phase power circuitry instead of 3-phase. Gigabyte claims that, in Parallel mode (versus Backup mode), DPS 2 is able to deliver better system stability (especially while overclocked) in addition to longer onboard components life.

It should come as no surprise that Gigabyte continues to incorporate dual BIOS chips even though the 8KNXP Ultra is a workstation/server class motherboard. As we mentioned in the AOpen AX4C Max section, having two BIOS chips can be helpful if you've permanently corrupted your first BIOS chip (through overclocking, overvolting, etc.) and so instead of being forced to RMA your board or replace the chip yourself, your board will simply revert to the second backup BIOS chip during your next bootup.

Quite obviously the defining feature of the 8KNXP Ultra is its SCSI support. The 8KNXP Ultra has an onboard Adaptec SCSI Ultra 320 7902W controller that sits on an independent 32bit 66MHz PCI bus (via 2nd PCI bridge), meaning bandwidth is limited to 266MB/s. Theoretically the full 320MB will not be realized, but since the 320MB transfer is only reached in burst rates (not sustained) and will depend on loading (number of hard drives) it won't make a performance difference, as there are very few system apps that will saturate this bandwidth. Still, it is obviously better than sharing the standard 32bit 33MHz PCI I/O that is limited to 133MB/s. Interestingly enough Gigabyte is going to continue improving the 8KNXP Ultra when they release a revision 2.x 8KNXP Ultra in mid-June, which is to incorporate PCI64 66MHz maxing out at 533MB/s. Gigabyte says there will be availability this week or at least sometime this month, but we'll have to wait and see if that turns out to be true.

UPDATE 6/19/2003 We should also mention that you must hold the CTRL key and press F1 to bring up the Advanced Chipset Features section, where you will be able to adjust your memory module's timings.

Gigabyte 8KNXP Gigabyte 8PENXP
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  • Anonymous User - Thursday, July 24, 2003 - link

    Could anyone clarify if the information for the sound system on the Abit IS7 is correct? The article lists it as being an Analog Devices AD1985. I thought it was Realtek?

    Thanks,
    Harry
  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, July 23, 2003 - link

    What a great article!
    We're waiting for the Part 2... :B
  • Evan Lieb - Monday, July 21, 2003 - link

    I bet that the Part 1 thread would be posted by a certain date, and it was indeed posted on that date. I never anything about Part 2, because I've been thinking of adding more benchmarks and data in general to round out any and all Pentium 4 motherboard testing until Prescott arrives.

    Anonymous User #4, you should always research your recollections if you can't exactly "recall" certain events correctly. ;)
  • Evan Lieb - Monday, July 21, 2003 - link

  • Anonymous User - Friday, July 18, 2003 - link

    As I recall, Evan made a bet on the part 2 being posted a while back.... the thread was mysteriously removed though.
  • Anonymous User - Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - link

    So, what month/year will part 2 be posted?
  • Anonymous User - Sunday, July 6, 2003 - link

    I read that the Epox 4pca3+ could do a 1,85 vcore with a bois update.. If anyone know where to find this bios update, please e-mail me zimen1@msn.com
    I really can't find it.
  • Anonymous User - Sunday, July 6, 2003 - link

    I also fried my MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R when I updated the BIOS from 1.2 to 1.4. I got a replacement board, but have been hesitant to try again based on my prior experience. Based on your experience with 1.5, (and now 1.6 is available), I'm willing to take another chance.

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