X-bit labs

Foxconn 925XE7AA Mainboard: High-End Networking Platform at Your Home

Category: Mainboards

by Platon Scheblykin

[ 08/21/2005 | 09:27 PM ]

We would like to introduce a very interesting platform from Foxconn based on Intel 9256XE Express chipset. This mainboard is an ideal solution for those users who work with networking technologies and try to build a server in their home. The board can support huge amount of disk storage space and offers advanced networking capabilities with wide expansion options. Learn more from our review today!

Table of contents:

• Specification
  
• PCB Design
  
• Functionality
  
• BIOS and Overclocking
  
• Performance
  
• Conclusion
  

Intel’s platform has undergone a series of changes recently like transition to a 64-bit architecture and dual-core processors with appropriate new chipsets, yet older, 5xx processors are viable still. Moreover, following the market laws they have become even more affordable. And if there’s demand for processors, there is also demand for appropriate mainboards.

One such mainboard has come to our test lab. It is the high-end 925XE7AA model from Foxconn. Let me get down to business right away by showing you its specification.

Specification

Here are the basic characteristics of the reviewed mainboard:

A heap of various brackets and cables are enclosed with the mainboard. I found the following in the box:

• Foxconn 925XE7AA mainboard
• CD with drivers
• Three ATA-100 cables and one FDD cable
• Eight Serial ATA cables and four power adapters (with two connectors on each)
• User’s manual
• User’s manual on building and configuring RAID arrays
• Bracket with two FireWire ports
• Bracket with four USB 2.0 ports
• I/O shield
• Three diskettes with drivers for the mainboard’s RAID controllers

So, there’s everything you may need, and my only gripe was about the quality of the ATA-100 and FDD cables. They are made as separate wires in rubber pipes, the so-called aerodynamic version. But the rubber casing is thick, so the cables are too stiff. Moreover, one connector just collapsed in my fingers when I was mounting hard drives. I tend to believe that I just had bad luck having got a defective connector, because Foxconn has always provided excellent accessory quality. Anyway, I hope Foxconn will pay more attention to the quality of accessories they include with their mainboards. I have no complaints other than that one.