FOXCONN BlackOps X48 Motherboard
Introduction
Published: 17th October 2008 | Source: Foxconn | Price: £255.01 |
Introduction 
Foxconn is the trade name of the Taiwan based firm Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (Ltd.). Foxconn are one of, if not the largest motherboard manufacturers in the world. Traditionally Foxconn has been known as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to both Dell and Hewlett Packard; however in recent times we have seen the company move from relative obscurity to full-blown enthusiast hardware manufacturer in a short space of time.
Foxconn made their first move into the enthusiast market with the release of their Foxconn Mars motherboard. After managing to get some DFI motherboard engineers to defect over to Foxconn, and some smart marketing, the company has seen a significant progression into the enthusiast market. However, the Foxconn P35 Mars was just the beginning. Foxconn had a swathe of motherboards in development - namely the 790i Dreadnought, P45 Avenger and the 780a Destroyer. One of those motherboards that was rapidly gaining notoriety for all the right reasons was the Foxconn BlackOps.
Foxconn enlisted the help of the self-confessed 'overclocking evangelist' Peter 'Shamino' Tan to oversee the development of these overclocking behemoth motherboards, and to outlay the ideology behind Quantum Force. The Quantum Force series is the high-performance, enthusiast range that centres around value for money as well as focusing on user feedback. The site features Beta BIOS downloads, and tutorials on how to get the most out of the motherboards. Anyways, enough of the chit-chat, let's begin the review of the Foxconn BlackOps motherboard by taking a look at its specifications.
Specifications
The specifications were unashamedly copied directly from the Foxconn BlackOps product page.
Processor: Supports Intel® Core™2 Quad, Core™2 Extreme, Core™2 Duo, Pentium® Dual-Core, Pentium® Dual-Core and 45nm processors, Socket T (LGA775)
Chipset: Intel® X48 + ICH9R Chipset
Front Side Bus: 2000(oc**)1600/1333/1066/800 MHz.
Memory: Dual channel DDR3 1600/1333/1066800/667 x 4 DIMMs, Max. 8GB
VGA on Die: Discreted
Expansion Slots: 3* PCIe2.0 x16, 3* PCI
IDE: 1* ATA 133
Serial ATA(SATA)/RAID: 6* SATAII + 2* eSATA w / RAID 0, 1, 5, 10; Intel® Matrix storage technology and Intel® Rapid Recover Technology
Audio: SONAR audio card, Realtek® ALC885, 7.1 channel Audio
LAN: Dual Gigabit LAN by Broadcom™ PCIe and PCI LAN chip
IEEE1394: 2*1394a
Back Panel I/O Ports:
1 x PS/2 keyboard port
1 x PS/2 mouse port
1 x SONAR card with 6 audio jacks,CD-in and Front audio integrated
1 x S/PDIF Coaxial out port
1 x S/PDIF Fiber out port
1 x IEEE1394a port
2 x eSATA ports
6 x USB 2.0 ports
2 x RJ45 LAN port
1 x PS/2 mouse port
1 x SONAR card with 6 audio jacks,CD-in and Front audio integrated
1 x S/PDIF Coaxial out port
1 x S/PDIF Fiber out port
1 x IEEE1394a port
2 x eSATA ports
6 x USB 2.0 ports
2 x RJ45 LAN port
Internal I/O Connectors:
1 x ATX 24-pin power connector
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 x 4-pin CPU fan connector
2 x 3-pin System/NB fan connectors
2 x 3-pin fan power connectors
1 x Floppy connector
1 x IrDA header
1 x COM header
3 x USB 2.0 connectors support additional 6 ports
3 x Onboard On/Off/CMOS reset buttons
6 x Serial ATAII connectors
1 x Front panel connector
1 x On-board power_LED
1 x ATA133 IDE connector
1 x IEEE1394a header
1 x Buzzer
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 x 4-pin CPU fan connector
2 x 3-pin System/NB fan connectors
2 x 3-pin fan power connectors
1 x Floppy connector
1 x IrDA header
1 x COM header
3 x USB 2.0 connectors support additional 6 ports
3 x Onboard On/Off/CMOS reset buttons
6 x Serial ATAII connectors
1 x Front panel connector
1 x On-board power_LED
1 x ATA133 IDE connector
1 x IEEE1394a header
1 x Buzzer
BIOS Features: 8MB flash EEPROM w/ LAN boot PnP, ACPI, WfM, DMI 2.0
Support CD: Drivers, Adobe Reader, Norton
Standards/Manageability: PCI 2.3, USB2.0, DMI 2.5
Special Features:
** Achieved by overclocking
* Quantum Force segment, based on Intel® X48 chipset
* Supports latest Intel® 45nm processors
* 3* PCIe x16 Gen2.0 with ATI CrossFireX™ support
* Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz support
* 4in1 Quantum Cooler
* 8 phase Digital PWM
* Quantum BIOS
* SONAR Audio – 7.1 channel HDA daughter card with 106db SNR
* Quantum Flow and Quantum Lap unique accessories
* 100% SOLID Capacitor design and Ferrite Choke
* Quantum Force segment, based on Intel® X48 chipset
* Supports latest Intel® 45nm processors
* 3* PCIe x16 Gen2.0 with ATI CrossFireX™ support
* Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz support
* 4in1 Quantum Cooler
* 8 phase Digital PWM
* Quantum BIOS
* SONAR Audio – 7.1 channel HDA daughter card with 106db SNR
* Quantum Flow and Quantum Lap unique accessories
* 100% SOLID Capacitor design and Ferrite Choke
Form Factor: ATX (12" x 9.6")
Let's head over the page to see how the Foxconn BlackOps should arrive at your door...
Most Recent Comments
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
Quote
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
QuoteQuote:
|
Originally Posted by name='Rastalovich'
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.
|
Great review as always PV.Quote
Key thing - can u manage the one bios from the other ?Quote
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.Quote
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.Quote
CSS Valid
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
Excellent review PV, tis a great package either way.Quote