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DFI LanParty Pro875 (Canterwood) Motherboard Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Introduction
When the LanParty series of motherboards launched in early April 2003 one of the first boards to be made available was the Intel i875P (Canterwood) enabled Pro875. The i875P chipset was targeted at the high-end market consisting mostly of workstations though it quickly became clear that the i875P was also a perfect gaming and enthusiast platform.
From a feature standpoint the i865PE (Springdale) and i875P (Canterwood) are pretty much the same chipset, the Northbridge chips are speed tested at the factory, (much like current processors), to decide what they will be. Chips testing faster will become part of the i875P chipset whereas others will not. The faster chips also get a little something extra called PAT. Here is a snip from the Pro875 manual explaining how PAT works:
Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT)
PAT mode is supported only when the system uses DDR400 with 800Mhz FSB CPU. PAT performs data transactions directly from the CPU to the system memory, bypassing the normal path of operation. This reduces the MCH timing therefore providing improved system performance.
Since the two Northbridges are so similar some companies like Abit and Asus have released BIOS patches that enabled PAT like performance boosts to the slower i865PE. Of course Intel wasn't very happy about this so we can probably expect this form of overclocking will be disabled in the future.
PAT mode is supported only when the system uses DDR400 with 800Mhz FSB CPU. PAT performs data transactions directly from the CPU to the system memory, bypassing the normal path of operation. This reduces the MCH timing therefore providing improved system performance.
Since the two Northbridges are so similar some companies like Abit and Asus have released BIOS patches that enabled PAT like performance boosts to the slower i865PE. Of course Intel wasn't very happy about this so we can probably expect this form of overclocking will be disabled in the future.
Before we get started here is some info on the i875P (Canterwood) chipset
800-/533-MHz System Bus
Intel Hyper-Threading Technology Support
Intel Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT)
478-pin Processor Package Compatibility
Intel Hub Architecture
Dual-Channel DDR 400/333 SDRAM Memory with ECC Support
AGP8X Interface
Integrated Hi-Speed USB 2.0
Dual Independent Serial ATA Controllers
Integrated Intel RAID Technology
Ultra ATA/100
AC '97 Controller
Intel Communication Streaming Architecture (GigaLan Port)
800-/533-MHz System Bus
Intel Hyper-Threading Technology Support
Intel Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT)
478-pin Processor Package Compatibility
Intel Hub Architecture
Dual-Channel DDR 400/333 SDRAM Memory with ECC Support
AGP8X Interface
Integrated Hi-Speed USB 2.0
Dual Independent Serial ATA Controllers
Integrated Intel RAID Technology
Ultra ATA/100
AC '97 Controller
Intel Communication Streaming Architecture (GigaLan Port)
As you can see the board features a black PCB with some very bright orange expansion and memory slots. One of the key features that separates the LanParty series from everything else is that these slots are UV sensitive and glow under the black light.
Be sure to check the conclusion page for some glamour pics under the black light.
