Page 1: Intro, Stuff
<B>Intro</B>:
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The Springdale chipset has been out for some time now, and many board manufacturers have already started making different and varied boards based on the chipset. With Intel locking out PAT type tricks on the newer Springdales, better get a Springdale board fast. You'll be stuck buying Canterwoods soon. The Springdale is a great chipset, so lets see what the <a href="http://www.gigabyte.com.tw">Gigabyte</a> Springdale board has to offer.
<B>Gigabyte</B>:
<i>The success of Giga-Byte Technology has exceeded all expectations. With the commitment to upgrading the IT industry, Giga-Byte Technology built up a solid foundation upon the envisioned industry scale. These efforts have earned Giga-Byte Technology an eminent and widespread reputation, as well as the focus of attention and accomplishment around the world. With the respectable performance of motherboard business and global reputation along with worldwide brand awareness, Giga-Byte Technology is making steady progress to become one of the best total IT product providers in the world.</i> Taken from Gigabyte's Website. We shall see if the statement holds up.
<B>The Box</B>:
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Here we have the front and back of the box. The box is pretty nondescript on what product your actually getting other than the fact that it is a Springdale board (i865PE). The front and back details the features that the board has.
<B>Parts</B>:
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When you open the box, you are greeted with a quick start guide as shown above. It is full color and shows where stuff is on the board and general information about the board. This is much better than a manual alone for new users.
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Above are all the parts that came with the board. Included: Manuals and other documentation, the board, some Sata cables, IDE cables, USB, firewire, Audio extras, and a IO shield. The only thing that was missing from my box was the driver and software CD. This is a minor flaw for me, but for people that need it, it might be a major problem.
<B>The Board</B>:
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Here we see the board in its entirety. As you can see, the motherboard has Dual Bios technology which I'll get to later. You'll also notice that the board is colored... a bit too wacky for my tastes, but I don't care once it is in my system. I'm not one to really notice hardware once it is working. The board itself is pretty well organized, and looks nice and tightly packed.
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The above shows the CPU area. The extra large northbridge heatsink may block some large CPU heatsinks, but for most it should be a problem. The socket area is pretty clear other than that.
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Here is a close up of that Northbridge heatsink. I bet that is larger than most 486 CPU heatsinks. Times have surely changed.
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Here we have the memory and IDE area. The ATX power connector is just above the black floppy port, I guess that is a good enough location. You've got plenty of wires in that area anyway. You'll notice the two Sata connectors to the left as well. The southbridge is also right next to that.
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You get a total of 5 PCI and 1 AGP slot. The AGP slot is not the first slot on a case though, it is the second. There is one less PCI slot than normal. I don't know anyone that uses more than 3 PCI slots anyway.
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Here is a nice shot of the color coded Fpanel. Sometimes the colors don't match up, and sometimes the power connector is three pins instead of two. It always happens that way. Regardless, it is a nice touch.
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Here we see the ports of the board. You'll notice that the layout is not standard, hence the given IO Shield.
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And here are the extra things included. USB and Firewire and some Audio outputs. Good stuff.
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</center>The Springdale chipset has been out for some time now, and many board manufacturers have already started making different and varied boards based on the chipset. With Intel locking out PAT type tricks on the newer Springdales, better get a Springdale board fast. You'll be stuck buying Canterwoods soon. The Springdale is a great chipset, so lets see what the <a href="http://www.gigabyte.com.tw">Gigabyte</a> Springdale board has to offer.
<B>Gigabyte</B>:
<i>The success of Giga-Byte Technology has exceeded all expectations. With the commitment to upgrading the IT industry, Giga-Byte Technology built up a solid foundation upon the envisioned industry scale. These efforts have earned Giga-Byte Technology an eminent and widespread reputation, as well as the focus of attention and accomplishment around the world. With the respectable performance of motherboard business and global reputation along with worldwide brand awareness, Giga-Byte Technology is making steady progress to become one of the best total IT product providers in the world.</i> Taken from Gigabyte's Website. We shall see if the statement holds up.
<B>The Box</B>:
<center>
</center>Here we have the front and back of the box. The box is pretty nondescript on what product your actually getting other than the fact that it is a Springdale board (i865PE). The front and back details the features that the board has.
<B>Parts</B>:
<center>
</center>When you open the box, you are greeted with a quick start guide as shown above. It is full color and shows where stuff is on the board and general information about the board. This is much better than a manual alone for new users.
<center>
</center>Above are all the parts that came with the board. Included: Manuals and other documentation, the board, some Sata cables, IDE cables, USB, firewire, Audio extras, and a IO shield. The only thing that was missing from my box was the driver and software CD. This is a minor flaw for me, but for people that need it, it might be a major problem.
<B>The Board</B>:
<center>
</center>Here we see the board in its entirety. As you can see, the motherboard has Dual Bios technology which I'll get to later. You'll also notice that the board is colored... a bit too wacky for my tastes, but I don't care once it is in my system. I'm not one to really notice hardware once it is working. The board itself is pretty well organized, and looks nice and tightly packed.
<center>
</center>The above shows the CPU area. The extra large northbridge heatsink may block some large CPU heatsinks, but for most it should be a problem. The socket area is pretty clear other than that.
<center>
</center>Here is a close up of that Northbridge heatsink. I bet that is larger than most 486 CPU heatsinks. Times have surely changed.
<center>
</center>Here we have the memory and IDE area. The ATX power connector is just above the black floppy port, I guess that is a good enough location. You've got plenty of wires in that area anyway. You'll notice the two Sata connectors to the left as well. The southbridge is also right next to that.
<center>
</center>You get a total of 5 PCI and 1 AGP slot. The AGP slot is not the first slot on a case though, it is the second. There is one less PCI slot than normal. I don't know anyone that uses more than 3 PCI slots anyway.
<center>
</center>Here is a nice shot of the color coded Fpanel. Sometimes the colors don't match up, and sometimes the power connector is three pins instead of two. It always happens that way. Regardless, it is a nice touch.
<center>
</center>Here we see the ports of the board. You'll notice that the layout is not standard, hence the given IO Shield.
<center>
</center>And here are the extra things included. USB and Firewire and some Audio outputs. Good stuff.