X-bit labs

ATI Radeon Xpress 200P for Overclockers: Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480 Mainboard Review (page 18)

Category: Mainboards

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 09/02/2005 | 10:27 AM ]

Conclusion

Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480 left very ambiguous impression. On the one hand, this is the first Socket 939 mainboard for computer enthusiasts based on an ATI chipset. And it is really great that there is finally some competition to NVIDIA in this market, it will make things a lot more interesting. From this standpoint Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480 gets our hand.

On the other hand, we didn’t manage to find any evident advantages of this mainboard over the solutions on NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra: neither in terms of functionality, nor in terms of performance. Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480 doesn’t outperform its rivals. Moreover, it yields to them in a few things. In particular, this mainboard features slower USB 2.0 bus and less efficient Serial ATA RAID controllers, and lacks rich networking capabilities.

At the same time, Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480 boasts one great advantage: outstanding list of CPU overclocking features and great overclocking potential. But even if we disregard the issues we experienced with the CPU voltage regulator, we cannot announce this mainboard a potential hit. It is because of its price.

The mainboard should start selling in September for about $170 a piece. So, as you may see the price is set at a high-end level, although not all the specs can be regarded as high-end, as we have just found out. I don’t think there will be too many people willing to get this pretty interesting solution at such a high price.

Highs:

• Excellent overclocking friendly options and good overclocking potential;
• Very rich memory controller settings;
• Stylish exterior;
• Use of passive heatsinks only;
• High-quality sound solution supporting High Definition Audio.

Lows:

• Too high price;
• No RAID 0+1 support;
• No CPU temperature monitoring;
• No tools for the management of CPU fan rotation speed depending on the CPU temperature;
• Slow USB 2.0;
• Scarce accessories bundle;
• Some design flaws.