The End User Pays: 13 Boards With Intel 845GE/PE

Storming The Market: Intel D845PEBT2, Continued

Intel couldn't resist the trend towards color and simply dipped its board in black paint. Unlike Asus, Aopen and Iwill, Intel decided not to integrate the RAID IDE controller and equipped the D845PEBT2 with a RAID module for Serial ATA. After all, the internal directive of this almost-monopolist is this: the future belongs to Serial ATA; we won't even touch Ultra DMA/ 133. Note should be taken of the proprietary of the FireWire chip. For the first time, Intel breaks with tradition by making it possible to adjust the memory and FSB settings. This means that the FSB speed can be increased by up to four percent, rendering any discussions about system stability superfluous. Intel, clearly by no means wanting to draw parallels to classic overclocking, calls this feature "Stability Test." To keep the voltage controls cool even with high processor loads beyond the 80-Watt limit, the manufacturer integrated a four-phase controller.

An interesting: the optional high-quality microphone works extremely well with the sound chip.

The optional stereo microphone is a useful gimmick that works smoothly with the onboard sound chip. There is an option to record using extreme directivity so that no ambient noise interferes with the recording. Updating BIOS is as easy as one, two, three - with a simple keystroke, the latest BIOS version can be automatically downloaded from the Internet and installed. Nostalgics continue to have the option of using the boot diskette method (DOS). Less useful, however, is the CNR slot, for which there are no freely available components on the free market. It may not be official yet, but CNR is already dead. The below-average performance at standard clock speed, with DDR333 memory and CL2, was a bit astonishing. The benchmarks revealed the potential of this board once the four-percent increase had been activated. With this setting, it even outperformed the Asus with a DDR355 memory module. So Intel has entered new frontiers, even when it comes to price: compared to the competing boards, $179 dollars is a steal.

Intel also offers a bit of overclockability by optionally increasing FSB and memory speeds. On leaving the plant, everything runs within specifications.

Convenient BIOS update in Windows.