OC3D were given the opportunity to have a look at the Foxconn BlackOps motherboard and put it through its paces.

[IMG]http://www.overclock3d.net/gfx/articles/2008/09/19160448235s.jpg[/IMG]

Check out the review here

It seems as slick as I thought it might have been. U`d really need to want one, and perhaps be a non-asus-fanboi, to go out and purchase it. The price is very high imo, and they do throw in a very very good package to help ease the wallet-pain.

Bios looks nice. Like the sound of the dual bios thing - now if u happened to completely screw the one bios via an update or something, can u flush it by booting to the other one ? Or flash it from the other one ? - now that`d be something special.

I`m curious about the fan mount on the nb. It blows down into the box... and the air goes where ? Down the pipe ? Out screw holes ?

I dunno tho, if ur hell-bent on the package as a whole and don`t want to pay £146 for a mobo that no1 in the western world has reviewed yet (even tho it`s been out for weeks and every1 is avoiding them like the plague - even out in Australia now :p), then sink the extra £110.

Excellent review PV, tis a great package either way.

Hi Rast, and thanks for the feedback.

The package as you say is immense, and certainly makes the product as a whole stand out from the rest. I mean who else includes trim-pots ready for voltage modification and and a dry ice attachment for a NB cooling block lol. They (Foxconn) actively encourage users to clock the nuts off the thing.

Pricing is extremely high for both the UK and AUS, but prices are considerably more sedate in the US. So if you really wanted one as part of the ultimate bench rig then you can certainly save some money that way (customs/import duties may apply to UK though).

The fan attachment blows directly onto the cooling channels in the bottom of the block and the warm air escapes the best it can - screw holes or blow-back through the fan itself. The fan doesn't actually cover the whole of the block due to the fan shroud being square and the block being rectangular. Admittedly it's not perfect solution, but it's better than a purely passive approach

Thanks again for the comments and I'm glad you enjoyed the review :)

Bios looks nice. Like the sound of the dual bios thing - now if u happened to completely screw the one bios via an update or something, can u flush it by booting to the other one ? Or flash it from the other one ? - now that`d be something special.

Gigabyte have had the dual bios thing for few years now, with Asus also recently adding this feature to their boards.

Great review as always PV.

Key thing - can u manage the one bios from the other ?

One Bios backs up the other so if one Bios becomes corrupt, you can still use the 2nd Bios which will flash the corrupt Bios.

I'm not sure whether you can utilise the 2nd bios with the foxconn board but with gigabyte and asus, the 2nd Bios was there for bios recovery only.

Nice review pv, some cracking shots in there.
Ive been watching this board over on benchtec, very impressive results!

Nice review PV, great to see that Q6600 at that fsb... what batch is she? you wouldnt mind posting up the bios setting would you? :)

Nice review, overpriced, but very nice bundle. Its nice to see foxconn trying to break into the retail area. I've dealt with there business platform and OEM boards for a considerable ammount of years and I must say for stability and reliability its no wonder there the largest manufacturer of motherboards. I think its a bit fool hardy though to go straight for the top end boards, would of been nice to see some middle of the road boards or even a price competitive LGA1366 board may have got there rep up a bit. Nice to see a maybe a nice future motherboard contender thrown into the mix, extra competition is good for our wallets :D ... lets hope theres more to come from foxconn

looks nice, i've always had a thing for foxconns :p, its good to see them competing with the heavyweights in the OCing world, even if the price is a tad frightening