One Tough Cookie: 10 Boards with Intel i875P Chipset: Part I

Intel D875PBZ: Plain But Sturdy

Packaging of the Intel D875PBZ: the design is far from imaginative.

A look at the Intel D875PBZ: plain, without additional features.

Model candidate: voltage regulator with the SMD construction method and compact capacitors.

The name of the board is reminiscent of the only German motherboard manufacturer: the D875PBZ could also be identified as a candidate from the "Dora" series of the Augsburg Siemens subsidiary. However, Siemens has not sent any boards for THG testing for some time. Instead, Intel has increasingly taken the limelight, vehemently pushing forward into both the OEM and the retail markets. As well as a CSA-LAN interface, an ICH5-RAID controller is integrated on the board. And that's it. This is clearly not enough for ambitious users, a clientele Intel is also targeting. Striking features are the large passive Northbridge cooler and the SMD construction of the four-phase regulator. For OEM customers, there is also a sound chip from Soundmax; our test board came without audio. The ability to conveniently update your BIOS over the Internet under Windows XP is another goodie that should be particularly appealing to PC assemblers.

No additional noise: passive Northbridge cooler.