P45T-A Onboard Devices
Northbridge | Intel P45 Express |
Southbridge | Intel ICH10R |
Voltage Regulator | Four Phases |
BIOS | 080015 (07/22/2008) |
333.3 MHz (FSB1333) | 332.9 MHz (-0.13%) |
Clock Generator | IC2 9LPRS926EGLF |
Connectors and Interfaces | |
Onboard | 2x PCIe 2.0 x16 (Modes : One x16 or Two x8) |
2x PCIe x1 | |
2x PCI | |
3x USB 2.0 (2 ports per connector) | |
1x Floppy | |
1x Ultra ATA (2 drives) | |
6x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s | |
1x Front Panel Audio | |
1x CD-Audio In | |
2x Fan 4 pins (CPU) | |
1x Fan 3 pins (Chassis) | |
1x Internal Power Button | |
1x Internal Reset Button | |
IO panel | 2x PS2 (keyboard + mouse ) |
1x Serial Communications Port | |
1x External SATA | |
6x USB 2.0 | |
1x RJ-45 Network | |
6x Analog Audio Jacks (8-ch out, Mic+Line In) | |
Mass Storage Controllers | |
Intel ICH10R | 6x SATA 3.0Gb/s (RAID 0,1,5,10) |
JMicron JMB361 PCI-E | 1x Ultra ATA-133 (2-drives) |
1x External SATA 3.0Gb/s | |
Network | |
Atheros AR8121 PCI-E | Gigabit LAN Connection |
Audio | |
Realtek ALC883 HD Audio Codec | 7.1 + 2 channel Multi-Streaming Output |
Like the Biostar TP45 HP, the ECS P45T-A uses only four of the chipset’s six PCI Express lanes to support two onboard controllers and two x1 slots. ECS chooses the RAID-capable ICH10R however, getting another leg up on at least one competitor.
ECS’s single eSATA port gives it a lead over Biostar and ASRock products, but lacks the IEEE-1394 FireWire controller and digital audio connectors offered by ASRock. The legacy serial communications port of the P45T-A is out-of-place on any modern motherboard, but the six analog audio connections are still viable.
JMicron’s JMB361 controls the Ultra ATA 133 and eSATA ports, using a PCI Express interface to support up to 250MB/s bi-directionally.
The tiny Atheros AR8121 Gigabit Network controller also uses PCI Express for peak performance.
Realtek’s ALC883 is rated at a reasonable 95db signal-to-noise ratio, and we’ll try to confirm that rating in our audio quality tests.