Testing The E-Class: 9 Pentium 4 Motherboards With The 845E Chipset
Features
By
Patrick Schmid
published
Features Table
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| Manufacturer | Abit | Aopen | Asus | Biostar | Gigabyte |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | IT7 | AX4B Pro-533 | P4B533-E | P4TDK | GA-8IEXP |
| Chipset | |||||
| Socket | mPGA478 | mPGA478 | mPGA478 | mPGA478 | mPGA478 |
| Clock (CPU/Bus) | 2271.45 / 133.18 | 2271.82 / 133.64 | 2271.56 / 133.42 | 2260.21 / 132.95 | 2277.61 / 133.98 |
| Northbridge | i845E | i845E | i845E | i845E | i845E |
| Southbridge | i82801DB | i82801DB | i82801DB | i82801DB | i82801DB |
| Northbridge Fan | no | no | no | no | yes |
| Form Factor | ATX | ATX | ATX | ATX | ATX |
| Memory | |||||
| Maximum RAM | 2048 MB | 2048 MB | 2048 MB | 2048 MB | 2048 MB |
| DIMM-Sockets | 3, DDR | 3, DDR | 3, DDR | 4, DDR | 3, DDR |
| Memory Type | DDR-SDRAM, unbuffered | DDR-SDRAM, unbuffered | DDR-SDRAM, unbuffered | DDR-SDRAM, unbuffered | DDR-SDRAM, unbuffered |
| ECC-Support | no | no | no | no | no |
| Standard Components | |||||
| Size (LxH) | 305 x244 mm | 305 x 244 mm | 305 x 244 mm | 305 x 244 mm | 305 x 230 mm |
| PCI Slots | 4x 32 Bit | 6x 32 Bit | 6x 32 Bit | 6x 32 Bit | 6x 32 Bit |
| AGP | 4x | 4x | 4x Pro | 4x | 4x |
| AGP Card Lock | yes | yes | no | yes | yes |
| ACR / AMR / CNR | 0 / 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 / 1 (optional) | 0 / 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 / 1 |
| Parallel Ports | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Serial Ports | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| USB internal/external | 2/6 (USB 2.0 | 4/2 (USB 2.0) | 4/2 (USB 2.0) | 2/4 (USB 2.0) | 2/4 (USB 2.0) |
| Fan Headers | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| IDE Controller | 2x UltraATA/100 | 2x UltraATA/100 | 2x UltraATA/100 | 2x UltraATA/100 | 2x UltraATA/100 |
| Additional Components | |||||
| Piezo Speaker OnBoard | yes | yes | no | yes | no |
| Wake on LAN (WOL) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Wake on Modem (WOM) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| IrDA-Port | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Chassis Intrusion Detection | yes | yes | yes | no | yes |
| Temperature Monitoring | CPU, System | CPU, System | CPU, System | CPU | CPU |
| Fan Status Monitoring | 3 of 5 | all (3) | all (3) | all (2) | all (3) |
| 100 Mbit Network Controller | Realtek RTL-8100B | Realtek RTL-8100BL | Intel 82562ET | no | Intel 82562ET |
| IDE RAID Controller | HighPoint HPT374, 4-Ch. | Promise PDC20275, ATA/133 | Promise PDC20276, ATA/133 | no | Promise PDC20276, ATA/133 |
| Firewire-Controller | Texas Instruments | no | NEC | VIA VT6306 | VIA VT6306 |
| SCSI-Controller | no | no | no | no | no |
| Sound System | |||||
| Type | AC97 | AC97 | PCI | AC97 | PCI |
| Manufacturer / Chip | Realtek ALC650 | Realtek ALC650 | C-Media CMI8738 | C-Media CMI9738 | Creative CT5880 |
| 5.1 Surround | yes | yes | yes | 4-Ch. | yes |
| Internal Connectors | CD-in, AUX-in | CD-in, AUX-in, SPDIF-out | AUX-in, Modem-in, CD-in | CD1-in, CD2-in | CD-in, AUX-in |
| External Connectors | In, Out, Micro, Rear, Subwoofer, SPDIF-Out (opt.) | In, Out, Micro, Gameport | In, Out, Micro, SPDIF-in, SPDIF-out | In, Out, Micro | In, Out, Micro, SPDIF-in, SPDIF-out |
| Setup | |||||
| CPU Config | BIOS | BIOS | BIOS | BIOS / Jumpers | BIOS |
| Selectable Multipliers | auto | auto | auto / manual | auto | auto / manual |
| FSB Range / Increments | 100-250 / 1 | 100-248 / 1 | 100 - 200 / 1 | 133 - 200 / 1 | 100 - 255 / 1 |
| Voltage | |||||
| Vcore Range / Increments | 1.10 - 1.85 / 0.025 | 1.10 - 1.85 / 0.025 | 1.50 - 1.70 / 0.025 | 1.10 - 1.85 / 0.025 | 1.10 - 1.85 / 0.025 |
| Vram / Increments | 2.6 / 2.7 / 2.9 | n/a | 2.6 / 2.7 / 2.9 | 2.5 - 2.9 / 0.1 (Jumpers) | +0.1 / +0.2 / +0.3 |
| Vchipset / Increments | n/a | n/a | Vagp 1.5 / 1.6 / 1.7 | n/a | (AGP) +0.1 / +0.2 / +0.3 |
| Board and BIOS Details | |||||
| Bios | Award | Award | Phoenix | Award | Award |
| Version | 8H | 1.01 | 1004 | 0410V | F4 |
| Date | May 6, 2002 | June 6, 2002 | May 17, 2002 | April 10, 2002 | May 9, 2002 |
| Motherboard Revision | ? | ? | 1.02 | 0.91 | 1 |
| Boot Devices | Floppy, LS120, SCSI, CD, HD 0-3, ZIP100, LAN, USB | Floppy, LS120, SCSI, CD, HD 0-3, ZIP100, LAN, USB | Floppy, LS120, SCSI, CD, HD 0-3, ZIP100, LAN, USB | Floppy, LS120, SCSI, CD, HD 0-3, ZIP100, LAN | Floppy, LS120, SCSI, CD, HD 0-3, ZIP100, LAN, USB |
| Manual Interrupt Assignment | no | no | no | no | yes |
| Special Features | no legacy components: no PS/2, no seriel, no parallel | n/a | n/a | n/a | English, German, Spanish, French, Chinese. No Options to set memory timings, DualBIOS |
| Shared Interrupts | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Clock Generator | Realtek RTM360 | ICS95021BAF | ICS950224AF | ICS950218AS | ICS950223AF |
| Miscellaneous | |||||
| Layout Issues | n/a | See Evaluation | Row 61 - Cell 3 | IDE Connectors | framed connectors |
| Model Variations | Row 62 - Cell 1 | AX4B-533 (w/o ATA/133) | Row 62 - Cell 3 | Row 62 - Cell 4 | Row 62 - Cell 5 |
| Shipment / Utilities | |||||
| Manual / Quality | comprehensive | comprehensive, but lousy english | comprehensive | average | not included with test sample |
| Languages | English | english only | english | english | ? |
| Quick Setup Guide | yes | yes | yes | no | ? |
| Cables | 3x IDE-80, 1x Floppy | 1x IDE-80, 1x IDE-40, 1x Floppy | 2x IDE-80, Floppy | 1x IDE-80, Floppy | USB adapter (3 ports), Firewire adapter (3 ports), SPDIF adapter (optical and coax out) |
| USB Adapter | yes, 2 ports | no | yes, 2 ports plus Firewire adapter w/ 2 ports | no | yes |
| Software | Norton Anti Virus 2002, Adobe Acrobat Reader 5, Hardware Monitor | Norton Anti Virus 2002, Norton Crash Guard, Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0, DocuCom Reader 2.0, AOConfig | Row 69 - Cell 3 | Norton Anti Virus 2002, Norton Ghost | Adobe Acrobat Reader 5, Norton Anti Virus 2001, Windows Utility |
| Miscellaneous | no PS/2, no serial, no parallel | Dr.Voice Debugging System. Online manual also included on CD | Row 70 - Cell 3 | Row 70 - Cell 4 | Easy Tune 4 Overclocking |
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Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)
Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.
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