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Specification and Package
Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480 mainboard arrived at our lab in a very unusual package. It was packed into a box with a transparent plastic window and a flip-cover. Inside the plastic container there was the mainboard with all the accessories.
I would like to draw your attention to the photo of the mainboard on the inside of the cover. The remarkable thing about this photo is that the mainboard there features a lot of additional controllers. In reality the Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480 mainboard we had doesn’t have all of those chips from the marketing picture. There are empty spots on the white mainboard PCB where these controllers are intended to be.
To specify from the very beginning the features list supported by this mainboard we would like to offer you its official technical briefs:
Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480 | |
CPU | AMD Athlon 64 for Socket 939 |
Chipset | ATI Radeon Xpress 200P (RX482 + SB450) |
HyperTransport bus | 1 GHz |
Clock generator frequency | 200-440MHz (with 1MHz increment) |
Overclocking friendly functions |
|
Memory | 4 DDR DIMM slots for dual-channel DDR400 SDRAM |
PCI Express slots | 1 x PCI Express x16 |
PCI expansion slots | 2 |
USB 2.0 ports | 8 (4 – on the rear panel) |
IEEE1394 ports | 2 (1 – on the rear panel, by VIA VT6307 controller) |
ATA-100/133 | 2 ATA-133 channels (in the chipset) |
Serial ATA | 4 Serial ATA-150 channels (with RAID support in the chipset); |
ATA RAID support | RAID 0, 1 in the chipset; |
Integrated sound | 8-channel AC97 Realtek ALC880 codec |
Integrated LAN | Gigabit Ethernet (in Marvell 88E8052 controller) |
Additional features | None |
BIOS | Phoenix-AwardBIOS v6.00PG |
Form-factor | ATX, 305mm x 244mm |
Besides the components I have just mentioned, the mainboard also have a spot for an additional Serial ATA II controller and for a POST controller. So, I dare assume that one day we will also see more advanced solutions based on the Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480 mainboard we are reviewing today.
As for the accessories bundled with the mainboard, they are not impressively rich, too. Besides the actual mainboard, you also find the following accessories in the box:
- A CD disc with the standard set of drivers and utilities;
- One Serial ATA cable;
- One 80-pin Parallel ATA cable and FDD cable;
- Case bracket with one FireWire port;
- Case bracket with a coaxial SPDIF In and Out;
- I/O shield for the case rear panel;
- User’s guide.
Again, I have to admit that this is not enough for an enthusiastic mainboard. I was especially frustrated about the few cables Sapphire enclosed with the board. Only one Serial ATA cable and the total absence of additional USB brackets will hardly be acceptable for a high-end platform. Anyway, Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480 is not yet shipping in mass quantities, so I think the manufacturer still has time to improve a few things.
