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The maturation process
has begun with respect to Pentium 4 Motherboard
offerings. The first wave of product from
various major manufacturers is beginning to hit
the streets. The designs are improving and
with them the performance and configurations of
the various models. There is a long road
ahead for the Pentium 4 and what we are seeing now
in support hardware is still in its infancy.
This is our take on
a new Pentium 4 motherboard from Asus, the
P4T. It is based on the only chipset
currently available for the Pentium 4, that being
the Intel i850. The first board based on
this chipset that we tested in our
Pentium 4 Bench Test article, was
Intel's reference design D850GB board.
Things have definitely been improving for the i850
and in the following pages, we'll show you what
Asus can do with this beast.
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| Specifications
of The Asus P4T |
| Bandwidth
with a smile... |
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Processor
Intel Socket 423 Pentium® 4: 1.4GHz ~ 1.5GHz+
400MHz Intel® NetBurstTM Micro-Architecture System Bus
Chipset
Intel® 82850 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
Intel® 82801 I/O Controller Hub 2 (ICH2)
Intel® 82802 AB Firmware Hub (FWH)
Supports 4X AGP, PC800 RDRAM and UltraDMA/100
FSB 400 MHz
Memory
4 x RIMM Sockets
Dual Channel RDRAM Support: Max. 2GB PC800/PC600 ECC/non-ECC RDRAM Memory
Max. Transfer Speed 3.2GB/s
Expansion Slots
1 x AGP Pro/AGP 4X
5 x PCI
IDE Ports
2 x UltraDMA/100/66/33
LAN (Optional)
Chipset Integrated LAN Controller
Special Features
Power Loss Restart, ASUS® JumperFreeTM, CPU Throttle, SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection), Vcore & Vio Adjustable
Back Panel I/O Ports
2 x USB
1 x Parallel
2 x Serial
1 x PS/2 Keyboard
1 x PS/2 Mouse
1 x RJ45 (Optional) |
Onboard I/O Interface
One USB Header Supports 2 Additional USB Ports
20-pin ASUS® Panel
CPU /Main /PCI Fan
ATX 12V Power Connectors
BIOS
4Mb Award® BIOS with PnP, ACPI, SM, BIOS2.3, Green, Boot Block, Trend® ChipAway Virus
(TCAV) & Boot Block BIOS
Industrial Standard PCI 2.2, USB 1.1
Manageability
WfM2.0, DMI2.0, WOL, WOR, Chassis Intrusion, SM Bus
Accessories
Driver CD
Intel® LDCM 6.0
ASUS® PC ProbeTM
UltraDMA/100 & Floppy Cable
2-Port USB Bracket
2x C-RIMM Continuity Models
CPU Retention
1 x Rubber Pad and 1 x Metal Baseboard
4 x Copper Captive Nuts and 4 x Washers
2 x Heatsink Support Bases, 2 x Retaining Clips, and
1 x I/O Bracket
4 x Pan Head Screws
Board Size
ATX Form Factor Size : 24.4cm x 30.5cm (9.6" x 12.0")
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The
AGP Pro Slot on the P4T (above left) is a feature
that most folks will not be taking advantage for
the time being. However, the slot is AGP
2X/4X compatible with all the current cards on the
market and gives you this expandability for the
future. Another interesting note was the pad
location on the PCB with an etch marking of
"Big Bro" in the middle of the
footprint. Could this be an add on feature
to come? Perhaps this is some sort of
monitoring chip allowing system administrators to
peer into your system like "Big
Brother"? Who knows... it's just a
theory. :) 
The
back panel I/O connectors are laid out a little
differently than standard ATX designs of
today. The USB ports have been moved down
from the rest of the block of connectors but Asus
provides a back plate to mate up to your standard
case. In addition Asus provides a metal base
plate with an insulating foam pad in between it
and the motherboard. This plate (bottom
left) adapts the board to any standard ATX chassis
with out the need to modify it to mate up with the
P4 heat sink mounting brackets.
Additionally, the ATX power connector (top right)
is conveniently located at the edge of the board
and out of the way. Finally,
the PLL Clock Generator on this board is an
ICS9250 series. These tend to be very stable
clock sources but sometimes the granularity isn't
there for FSB selections like other chips.
Speaking of the Front Side Bus, let's boot up and
see what we can dial in here with the Asus
P4T
The
P4T's BIOS, Setup and Overclocking |
