Mobo Tsunami! 24 Boards with the 865/875P Chipset

QDI P4I875PMA-6AFR: Innovation - ATX Becomes Micro-ATX! Continued

QDI demonstrates its taste for styling. The interesting packaging appeals not only to art students.

There were no problems from the start, and system stability was always constant. QDI is therefore an alternative to boards from Intel or Fujitsu-Siemens. The integration of Gigabit LAN via CSA technology and the release of the ICH5 RAID function virtually goes without saying. QDI dispenses with color emphasis.

The performance of the board was surprising. The memory interface, with a maximum bandwidth of 4.9 GB/s, is especially convincing in view of the field of application. In addition, the board is completely stable even in the case of aggressive memory timings (DDR400, CL2.0-2-2.5). QDI works with a memory voltage of 2.5 Volts, in contrast to most of the test participants in this comparison, the majority of which need 2.65 Volts to be stable.

The product comes with a Serial-ATA cable complete with voltage adapter and a stable ATX panel with reinforcement. Another highlight is the fan control: if the CPU load is low, the fan simply switches off, so that no noise development occurs. A BIOS update is possible in Windows XP. In addition, there is a useful tool that shows stresses, temperatures and fan speeds via Windows.

Connections of the QDI board.

Modern SMD voltage regulator.

Our assessment in brief: QDI mainly operates in the OEM segment. Compared to rivals Fujitsu-Siemens and Intel, the manufacturer has integrated a fast storage interface. The showstopper on the QDI product: the board can be split, so that ATX becomes a Micro ATX. In addition, there is a sophisticated fan control. For OEMs, it's worth considering.