Foxconn P9657AA-8EKRS2H Core 2 Duo Motherboard Review @ hardCOREware

**MIG-31** · Sep 16, 2006, 01:54 PM

Review: hardCOREware
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Another week, another motherboard review for the red hot Core 2 Duo processor. This time we're looking at Foxconn's P965-based entry. As we mentioned in our last review involving this chipset, it's intended to be situated somewhere in between the 945P and 975X chipsets in terms of features and performance. However it has a newer southbridge than either of them, which adds up to 6 native SATA-II ports. Intel has finally done away with the PATA interface though, so motherboard makers are left with using a third-party chip to allow the installation of an optical drive (I'm sure most would agree that this is an essential part to a system). Like most, Foxconn has gone with the JMicron JMB363, which also adds some extra SATA-II ports, e-SATA, and even basic software RAID functions.

Sep 16, 2006, 01:54 PM	#1
MIG-31 HardwareHeaven News Mod Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Nottingham,UK Posts: 56,850 Rep Power: 471 System Specs	Foxconn P9657AA-8EKRS2H Core 2 Duo Motherboard Review @ hardCOREware Review: hardCOREware _______________ Another week, another motherboard review for the red hot Core 2 Duo processor. This time we're looking at Foxconn's P965-based entry. As we mentioned in our last review involving this chipset, it's intended to be situated somewhere in between the 945P and 975X chipsets in terms of features and performance. However it has a newer southbridge than either of them, which adds up to 6 native SATA-II ports. Intel has finally done away with the PATA interface though, so motherboard makers are left with using a third-party chip to allow the installation of an optical drive (I'm sure most would agree that this is an essential part to a system). Like most, Foxconn has gone with the JMicron JMB363, which also adds some extra SATA-II ports, e-SATA, and even basic software RAID functions. __________________ Please Post Your News Submissions Here