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Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H Motherboard Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Monday, October 30, 2006
Introduction
We don't see many motherboard makers re-release their products unless they have good reason to. This is usually due to the relatively short launch windows dictated by the marketing department and any delays in the schedule affect the bottom line. Though you have to wonder what happens after a product has been launched? In the case of the Foxconn 975X series we have seen the initial motherboard launch earlier this year which was a very good board with a good layout and sexy red PCB. Normally this would be the end however over the summer Intel announced their new Core 2 Duo processor which has been taking the enthusiast community by storm and what better way to re-promote your line than to enhance an already good product and release it into the marketplace.
Several companies have done similar things over the years, DFI comes to mind with the B edition of their early LanParty line and more recently by releasing 3 versions of the nForce4 SLI-DR. Two of them being targeted directly at the enthusiast and overclocking crowd.
Well we can add Foxconn to our list of known contenders (as I'm sure there are more) and welcome the Foxconn 975X7AB to the Ninjalane Labs. For those of you that caught our review of the 975X7AA you will notice many similarities between this board and the previous edition. Actually if you didn't know what you were looking for you might consider them to be the same motherboard.
As previously indicated for this review we will be looking at an Intel based motherboard from Foxconn called the 975X7AB. This is a 975X Express based motherboard featuring support for all current Socket T (775) processors (including the Core 2 Duo) and dual graphics support using ATI Crossfire.
For those of you that do not know the 975X chipset is categorized as a performance desktop chipset by Intel and happens to be the current top of the line. The other popular Intel chipset is the mainstream 965 which is very similar to the 975X but does not support ATI Crossfire, which generally speaking makes it less cool.
