Eight P35-DDR2 Motherboards Compared

BIOS And Overclocking

The P35A supports a wide range of frequency and voltage adjustments that might have allowed nearly any processor and RAM to be pushed to the limit, except that a few key functions are missing. For example, the BIOS doesn't support a CPU FSB to DRAM clock ratio of 1:1, and the CPU FSB voltage cannot be altered.

The Foxconn P35A pushed our early-stepping Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 to the same 3.46 GHz previously seen on other "good overclocking" motherboards, using the same 1.50 volts at the core, and the stock 10X multiplier. Dropping the CPU multiplier to 6x allowed a stable increase to only 386 MHz FSB clock (FSB1544). The lack of an FSB voltage setting in the BIOS might have been the limiting factor for this bus-speed-resistant core, as it would have otherwise been increased from 1.20 volts to 1.50 volts.

Accessories

The P35A includes only the cables needed for a typical mid-cost build, in addition to a manual, quick setup guide, driver CD, and port shield.

Foxconn applied a thick plastic color-coded ID sticker to its port shield for a better-finished appearance, and put all four USB 2.0 breakout connections on one plate to reduce the number of wasted slots.

Foxconn's P35A comes at a value price of around $135 online.