W1zzard
06-05-2005, 04:35 PM
[pagE=Introduction & Features]
Introduction
Intel's i925XE chipset is the first Intel chipset to support 1066 MHz FSB.
While those new CPUs are still expensive, prices are going to drop considerably in the future.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/i925xe.jpg
Calvin Lim, Sales Director of Albatron Taiwan: "After the success of our i865PE based workstation level boards, we wanted to build a fully-featured, next generation, DDR2-based workstation board with focus on stability of operation in mind, while still staying competitive in price. The PX925XE Pro-R is not really geared towards overclocking - but for 24 hour round-the-clock-operation, like a server board."
Features
<table border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" class="resulttable">
<tr>
<th colspan="2">Albatron PX925XE Pro-R</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Processor</th>
<td>Intel Pentium 4 LGA775</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>FSB</th>
<td>533 MHz / 800 MHz / 1066 MHz </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Chipset</th>
<td>Intel 925XE/ICH6R </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Memory</th>
<td>4x 240 Pin DDR2, up to 4 GB </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>BIOS</th>
<td>AwardBios</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Slots</th>
<td>1x PCI-E x16<br />
2x PCI-E x1<br />
3x PCI</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>HDD Connectivity</th>
<td>1x ATA-100, 3x ATA-133<br />
4x SATA 150</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Networking</th>
<td>10/100/1000 Mbps - Broadcom BCM5789<br />
10/100 Mbps - VIA VT6105</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Ports</th>
<td>8x USB 2.0 (4 on Back Panel)<br />
2x Serial, 1x Parallel</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Audio</th>
<td>7.1 Realtek HD Audio, <br />
optional S/PDIF </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Form Factor</th>
<td>ATX 305 x 245mm</td>
</tr>
</table>
Specifications from Albatron
Feature
Intel PentiumŪ 4 Processor (Prescott)
Socket 775 with FSB 800/1066 MHz
4 DDRII 400/533 Memory Sockets ( Dual Channel)
1*PCI Express x 16, 2*PCI Express, 3*PCI Slots
8 Channel HD Audio,
Broadcom Gbits Ethernet LAN(PCI-Express LAN) & VIA 10/100 Ethernet LAN
4 Serial ATA150 Channels, Serial ATA RAID 0,1
IDE RAID 0,1,0+1/ATA133
8 USB 2.0/1.1 Ports (4 ports by optional cable)
Processor
Socket 775 Intel PentiumŪ 4 Processor (Prescott)
FSB
800/1066 MHz
Chipset
North Bridge : Intel 925XE
South Bridge : Intel ICH6R
IDE RAID Chip: ITE IT8212F
LAN Chip : Broadcom BCM5789 1Gbits /VIA VT6105 10/100 Ethernet LAN
HD Audio Codec : Realtek ALC880
I/O Chip: Winbond Smart I/O W83627THF
Memory
4 * DDRII Sockets:
DDRII 533/400 NON-ECC DDRII SDRAM up to 4GB
Expansion Slots
1 x PCI Express x 16
2 x PCI Express x 1
3 x PCI slots (PCI 2.3 compliant)
IDE / SATA Connectors
1* ATA100 Channel, up to 2 ATA 100 IDE devices
2* ATA133 Channels, up to 4 ATA 133 IDE devices
Onboard I/O Connectors
1 x Floppy Connector
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 header (4 ports by optional cable)
1 x CD_IN header
1 x S/PDIF in/out header (S/PDIF in/out cable optional)
1 x CPU fan header ( 1 fan rotation detection function )
2 x System fan headers ( 2 fan rotation detection function )
2 x 5 pin system panel header (Intel spec)
1 x 3 pin Power LED header
1 x Front audio header (Intel spec)
1 x IrDA header
1 x Case Open detection header
I/O via Back Panel
PS/2 keyboard/mouse, 4 x USB(2.0/1.1), 2 x RJ45 , 2 x Com(serial), 1 x Parallel, 1xLine-in/Line-out(Speaker Out)/MIC/SUR_CEN/SUR/R:WOF,L:CEN
Power
24-pin ATX power connector, 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
BIOS Feature
4Mb Flash EEPROM
Award BIOS with ACPI, DMI2.0, PnP, WfM2.0, Green Suspend to RAM (S3), Suspend to Disk (S4) Wake on keyboard/mouse, Wake on LAN/RTC Timer
Hardware Monitoring
3 FAN sensors, CPU/System voltages and temperature monitoring
Special Feature
Zero Jumper Design
Adjustable CPU frequency by 1 MHz increment, Adjustable Vcore , VAGP , VMemory for overclocking
Watch Dog Timer (auto-reset system when it can not handle overclock configurations)
Certifications
FCC, CE, BSMI
Form Factor
ATX (244mm x 305mm)
[pagE=Packaging]
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package1.jpg)
The motherboard comes in a gold colored package - bling bling.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package2.jpg)
On the backside is a picture of the motherboard where the most important features are listed.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package3.jpg)
When you open the package, everything that is included pops right into your face.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package4.jpg)
Under the cables and manuals you find the motherboard.
Contents
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/contents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/contents.jpg)
You will receive:
Motherboard
Users Manual, DIY Installation Guide, CPU Installation Guide, ITE RAID Manual
3x IDE Cable, 1x Floppy Cable, 1x SATA Cable, 1x SATA Power Adapter
IO Bracket
Driver CD
[pagE=Board Layout]
Board Layout
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/board_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/board.jpg)
Click here (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/board_fullsize.jpg) for a 3000x2500 high-res shot of the board (3 MB download).
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/cpuarea_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/cpuarea.jpg)
There is plenty of space around the LGA775 CPU socket. Even one of the huge new CPU coolers will fit fine.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/io_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/io.jpg)
PS/2 Keyboard, PS/2 Mouse, LPT, two COM ports, Audio, Dual Ethernet, four USB Ports. On the backside panel the most important connectors are included in a layout matching the ATX specification.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/dimm_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/dimm.jpg)
The motherboard's memory slots have been color coded for easy dual-channel configuration.
Connectors
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/atx_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/atx.jpg)
While the 24-pin ATX power connector is very conveniently placed, the ATX12V connector could be placed in a better location.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/pata_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/pata.jpg)
You will find three parallel ATA ports on this motherboard, for a total of six IDE devices. One orange port, provided by the chipset and two yellow ones which are provided by an ITE 8212F RAID controller chip.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/headers_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/headers.jpg)
The color scheme of the Reset/Power/LED connectors helps finding the right pins when installing the board the first time.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/sata_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/sata.jpg)
Four Intel ICH6R powered SATA 150 MB/s ports can be found on the board.
Slots
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/slots_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/slots.jpg)
When using a video card with a two slot cooler, you will probably lose access to the PCI-E x1 slots, it would have made more sense if one PCI and PCI-E slots were swapped.
[page=Layout continued]
Cooling
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/nb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/nb.jpg)
The northbridge is only passively cooled. This is great for people, who want to reduce their computer's sound level. The lack of an active northbridge cooler, will be the limiting factor once you start overclocking and get into the 300 FSB region. During our overclocking tests the northbridge reached temperatures of 90°C+.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/sb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/sb.jpg)
Cooling on the southbridge is passive, not much heat is generated here.
Chips
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/cv115_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/cv115.jpg)
Albatron uses a CV155-4 clock generator from IDT on the PX925XE.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/it8212f_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/it8212f.jpg)
The two IDE RAID ports are powered by ITE's 8212F RAID controller chip.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/w83627_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/w83627.jpg)
Hardware monitoring is provided by a Winbond W83627THF.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/lan1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/lan1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/lan2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/lan2.jpg)
For networking, Albatron chose a Broadcom LAN chip with Gigabit Ethernet support. The second port, with 100 MBit, is powered by VIA. Both chips are fine, but do certainly not have the quality of an Intel networking solution, but also not the price.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/alc880_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/alc880.jpg)
The Realtek ALC880 High-Definition Audio Chip is responsible for sound.
[pagE=BIOS]
BIOS
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_main_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_main.jpg)
Albatron uses a Phoenix AwardBios. On the Main Page, you can change your date/time settings, the HDDs and select the Floppy type.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_advanced_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_advanced.jpg)
Advanced lets you change the order in which drives are tried at bootup, also it houses several suboptions for overclocking.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_advfeatures_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_advfeatures.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_cpufeature_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_cpufeature.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_pnp_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_pnp.jpg)
Advanced BIOS lets you change general BIOS settings, you can also enable/disable several CPU features here. Unfortunately there is no setting for EIST and C1E.
Memory Timings
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_advchipset_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_advchipset.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_dramtiming_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_dramtiming.jpg)
In Advanced Chipset Features you find options to change your memory timings settings between Manual, and By SPD.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_cas_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_cas.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_tras_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_tras.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_trcd_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_trcd.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_trp_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_trp.jpg)
You can change CAS Latency (tCL), Active-to-Precharge Delay (tRAS), Rad-to-Cas Delay (tRCD), and RAS Precharge Time (tRP), which are all settings the i925XE chipset offers internally. An option to disable PAT is not in the BIOS, it is always enabled, when the memory configuration supports it.
Overclocking
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_freq_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_freq.jpg)
One cool feature is "Afterburner Mode". It will dynamically change the CPU frequency based on CPU load. Albatron should work a bit on the help text on the right tho.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_fsb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_fsb.jpg)
The FSB is selectable between 200 and 550 MHz. I think a selection of 100 to 350 FSB would have made more sense.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_nbstrap_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_nbstrap.jpg)
The options in System Memory Speed let you select the memory divider. 400 for example means 1:1 on a 800PSB CPU. However, when running 220 FSB at the "400" setting for example, your memory is running at 440 MHz. On POST the BIOS displays the correct value.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_pcie_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_pcie.jpg)
PCI-Express bus frequencies can be selected from 100 to 150 MHz.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_ddr_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_ddr.jpg)
You can raise your DDR2 voltage by up to 0.4 Volts, which should be enough for most users. I would have preferred absolute values instead of the relative +0.xx options.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_nb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_nb.jpg)
Same for the Northbridge Voltage which can be raised up to 0.3V. 0.3V extra on the Northbridge sounds like a lot to me, when it has only a passive heatsink.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_vcore_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_vcore.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_vcoremin_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_vcoremin.jpg)
CPU Core Voltage can be selected from 0.8375 (very nice for underclockers!) up to 1.9V (crazy high!).
Integrated Peripherals
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_peripherals_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_peripherals.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_onchip_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_onchip.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_onboard_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_onboard.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_onboardio_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_onboardio.jpg)
Integrated Peripherals has options to change, how the SATA ports appear to the system and to enable/disable USB, Audio, LAN, Floppy and configure the Serial Port.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_power_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_power.jpg)
Nothing special is to be found under Power Management.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_hwmonitor_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_hwmonitor.jpg)
The Hardware Monitoring page shows the essential temperatures, fan speeds and voltages. More monitored voltages would have been nice.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_defaults_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_defaults.jpg)
One nice feature is, that you can copy your BIOS settings from CMOS into the BIOS ROM. The setting in ROM is not erased when a CMOS reset is performed, or when the battery is removed.
[pagE=Dr.Speed Software]
Dr.Speed Software
Albatron's overclocking and monitoring utility is called Dr.Speed.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_easy_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_easy.jpg)
In "Easy" Mode you can get a quick glance at VCore, CPU Temperature, CPU Fan speed and change the FSB Frequency.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_oc_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_oc.jpg)
When you click on "Advanced" you can select from several panels. The first is Overclocking.
Here you can see detailed info on the motherboard's clocks and change them. Voltage change is also possible.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_auto_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_auto.jpg)
A really nice feature is an automatic overclocking detection test. It increases the FSB step by step while some plane models are rendered in another window. While it is a good idea, it needs much more work. No way a plane rendering test can stress the CPU enough. However, this test gives a pretty good ballpark figure on what the maximum frequency is, your CPU can run at, fine tuning will be neccessary.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_monitor_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_monitor.jpg)
The hardware monitoring section of Dr.Speed is pretty standard, you can see the same sensors as in the BIOS, alarms can be configured if needed.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_sysinfo_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_sysinfo.jpg)
Panel #3 shows you some general information about your system. Nothing special, but might come in handy when you need to give someone your system configuration for troubleshooting.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_fan_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_fan.jpg)
A feature I missed in the BIOS, is to control fan speed based on temperature. Here you can do it. Unfortunately only the CPU fan speed can be changed, the other fan outputs on the board are always running at 100%.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_alarms_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_alarms.jpg)
Here you can configure threshold levels for the monitoring alarms.
Overall I must say I like the visual design of Dr.Speed very much. The CPU Max. FSB detection functionality is a great new idea, which I haven't seen anywhere else yet, although it needs some work.
[page=Performance: Test systems]
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "PX925XE"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium 4 3.0F (S775; 2MB; Prescott)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">Albatron PX925XE PRO-R, Bios 1.12a</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC2-5400 EB 4-2-2-8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X800 Non-Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 4350 is 15x290 FSB, Mem Ratio 1:1 (=290 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "AA8XE"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium 4 3.0F (S775; 2MB; Prescott)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE, Bios 1.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC2-5400 EB 4-2-2-8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X800 Non-Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 4500 is 15x300 FSB, Mem Ratio 1:1 (=300 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "P4 2.4C"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium 4 2.4C (S478; 512KB; Northwood)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ABIT IC7, Bios 2.8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 256MB Generic PC3200 2.5-3-3-6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X800 XT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Antec TrueControl 550W</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 3400 is 15x283 FSB, Mem Ratio 2:3 (=188 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "Athlon64 3800+"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">AMD Athlon64 3800+ (S939; 512KB; Venice)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">DFI Lanparty nForce4 SLI-D</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">TwinMOS Twister PC3200 Pro (TCCD)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">2x Pine XFX 6800 GT SLI @ 450/1200</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">2x 74GB WD Raptor RAID 0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">OCZ ADJ 520W</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Forceware 76.44</td>
</tr>
</table>
[page=Performance: Sandra & Everest]
SiSoftware Sandra
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/sandraint.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/sandrafloat.gif
Raw CPU performance is the same between both i925XE boards (within margin of error).
Lavalys Everest
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/everestread.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/everestwrite.gif
While the Abit board has the better read performance, the Albatron board is faster when it comes to writes.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/everestlatency.gif
It is interesting, that the P4 at 2400 MHz has better latency - PAT was enabled on all Intel Systems.
The integrated memory controller of the Athlon64 leads the pack without doubt.
[pagE=Performance: SuperPi]
SuperPi
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/superpi1m.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/superpi32m.gif
In SuperPi's calculation tests the Albatron board is a bit faster than the board from ABIT, but not much.
[page=Performance: PCMark04 & 3DMark01]
PCMark 2004
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/pcmark2004.gif
In PCMark both i925 boards show the same performance. The Athlon64 is very weak here.
3DMark 2001
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/3dmark2001.gif
Here we see the ABIT board take a slight advantage. The Athlon64 dominates this benchmark.
[page=Performance: CineBench & Kribibench]
CineBench
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/cinebench.gif
There is no performance difference between both boards. Intel systems are clearly at an advantage here, because of their HyperThreading Technology.
KribiBench
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/kribibench.gif
It's interesting to see, that the ABIT board is almost 10% faster in this software-only rendering benchmark.
[page=Performance: Comanche 4 & Quake 3]
Comanche 4
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/comanche4.gif
Again we see the Athlon64 lay waste to the Pentium4 when it comes to gaming.
Quake 3 Arena
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/quake3.gif
Same picture in Quake3 Arena, the Athlon64 platform is constantly ahead in games.
[page=Performance: Audio RMAA]
Rightmark Audio Analyzer
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/rmaa.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/loopback_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/loopback.jpg)
We used Rightmark Audio Analyzer together with a loop-back cable to analyze the quality of the on-board audio solution.
Summary
<table width="600" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB:</strong></td>
<td>+0.25, -0.31</td>
<td>Good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Noise level, dB (A):</strong></td>
<td>-85.2</td>
<td>Good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Dynamic range, dB (A):</strong></td>
<td>85.2</td>
<td>Good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>THD, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.0082</td>
<td>Very good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>IMD, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.021</td>
<td>Good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Stereo crosstalk, dB:</strong></td>
<td>-82.9</td>
<td>Very good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>IMD at 10 kHz, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.103</td>
<td>Average</td></tr>
</table>
General performance: Good
[hr]
I find these results are ok for a board in the PX925XE's price range. If you use the board in your office PC you will most probably not need sound anyways.
Frequency Response
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/fr.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Frequency range</strong></td>
<td><strong>Response</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">From 20 Hz to 20 kHz, dB</td>
<td>-1.66, +0.25</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">From 40 Hz to 15 kHz, dB</td>
<td>-0.31, +0.25</td>
</tr>
</table>
Noise Level
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/noise.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">RMS power, dB:</td>
<td>-82.4</td>
<td>-83.3</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">RMS power (A-weighted), dB:</td>
<td>-85.0</td>
<td>-85.2</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Peak level, dB FS:</td>
<td>-69.6</td>
<td>-68.9</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">DC offset, %:</td>
<td>-0.00</td>
<td>-0.00</td>
</tr>
</table>
Dynamic Range
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/dynamics.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Dynamic range, dB:</td>
<td>+83.4</td>
<td>+83.7</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Dynamic range (A-weighted), dB:</td>
<td>+85.2</td>
<td>+85.5</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">DC offset, %:</td>
<td>-0.00</td>
<td>-0.00</td>
</tr>
</table>
THD + Noise (at -3 dB FS)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/thd.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">THD, %:</td>
<td>0.0082</td>
<td>0.0089</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">THD + Noise, %:</td>
<td>0.0170</td>
<td>0.0174</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">THD + Noise (A-weighted), %:</td>
<td>0.0159</td>
<td>0.0165</td>
</tr>
</table>
Intermodulation distortion
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/imd.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise, %:</td>
<td>0.0223</td>
<td>0.0215</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise (A-weighted), %:</td>
<td>0.0184</td>
<td>0.0181</td>
</tr>
</table>
Stereo crosstalk
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/cross.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>L <- R</strong></td>
<td><strong>L -> R</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Crosstalk at 100 Hz, dB:</td>
<td>-79</td>
<td>-82</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Crosstalk at 1 kHz, dB:</td>
<td>-82</td>
<td>-81</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Crosstalk at 10 kHz, dB:</td>
<td>-83</td>
<td>-67</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td align="left"> </td>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</table>
IMD (swept tones)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/imdswept.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise at 5 kHz, %:</td><td>0.0468</td><td>0.0464</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise at 10 kHz, %:</td><td>0.1708</td><td>0.1697</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise at 15 kHz, %:</td><td>0.2496</td><td>0.2502</td></tr>
</table>
[page=Performance: Audio Games]
Quake 3
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/q3asound.gif
Comanche 4
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/c4sound.gif
[page=Overclocking]
Overclocking
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/oc_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/oc.jpg)
In order to find out the overclocking potential of the Albatron PX925XE Pro-R, we put a Dangerden TDX waterblock on our CPU and set the multiplier to 14x using EIST. We also had to disable C1E via SysTool, because the BIOS does not offer such a function.
Maximum stable frequencies we could reach were in the 290-295 MHz FSB range. This is most probably caused by the passive cooling of the Chipset, which reached over 90°C during testing. If you are looking into some serious overclocking, you should consider replacing the chipset cooler with an active fan cooler.
Settings for reaching that overclock were: Multi: 14x, Memory: 1:1, VCore: 1.5875, VDDR +0.3V, Northbridge +0.3V.
A 45% overclock is not exactly bad for a board, which does not claim to be a top overclocking board. If you leave the multi at its default of 15x, you can still go from 3000 MHz to 4350 MHz. The lack of a memory divider smaller than 1:1 might become an issue, if you are running on cheap DDR2 memory which does not overclock well.
[page=Value & Conclusion]
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
With a street price of about $100 this board is one of the cheapest Pentium 4 motherboards. It's a great deal if you want to get running on the LGA775 platform, without spending too much money.
</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Competitive price
Completely passive cooled
Two network ports
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
Needs more overclocking options in BIOS
Not enough overclocking headroom for hardcore overclockers
No IEEE1394
No SLI
No support for Dual Core
</td></tr>
<tr><th>8.0</th>
<td>The Albatron PX925XE Pro-R is an excellent board for office use. It is very competetively priced, but still offers the features most users need. Gaming benchmarks show that performance is fine there too. Passive operation makes this board a good candidate for a media server PC.<br />
This board will also work fine if you are going to overclock a bit, extreme overclockers should probably check out other boards, which are more geared towards them, but will certainly come at a much higher price. Our testing shows that the PX925XE Pro-R will have no problems running a 1066 FSB CPU.<br />
The lack of SLI and Dual Core support (which is a chipset limitation) is a minor issue in my opinion, since both are targeted at the hardcore enthusiasts, who will probably buy a board more suited to overclocking.
</td></tr>
<tr><th></th><td></td></tr>
</table>
Introduction
Intel's i925XE chipset is the first Intel chipset to support 1066 MHz FSB.
While those new CPUs are still expensive, prices are going to drop considerably in the future.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/i925xe.jpg
Calvin Lim, Sales Director of Albatron Taiwan: "After the success of our i865PE based workstation level boards, we wanted to build a fully-featured, next generation, DDR2-based workstation board with focus on stability of operation in mind, while still staying competitive in price. The PX925XE Pro-R is not really geared towards overclocking - but for 24 hour round-the-clock-operation, like a server board."
Features
<table border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" class="resulttable">
<tr>
<th colspan="2">Albatron PX925XE Pro-R</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Processor</th>
<td>Intel Pentium 4 LGA775</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>FSB</th>
<td>533 MHz / 800 MHz / 1066 MHz </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Chipset</th>
<td>Intel 925XE/ICH6R </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Memory</th>
<td>4x 240 Pin DDR2, up to 4 GB </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>BIOS</th>
<td>AwardBios</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Slots</th>
<td>1x PCI-E x16<br />
2x PCI-E x1<br />
3x PCI</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>HDD Connectivity</th>
<td>1x ATA-100, 3x ATA-133<br />
4x SATA 150</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Networking</th>
<td>10/100/1000 Mbps - Broadcom BCM5789<br />
10/100 Mbps - VIA VT6105</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Ports</th>
<td>8x USB 2.0 (4 on Back Panel)<br />
2x Serial, 1x Parallel</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Audio</th>
<td>7.1 Realtek HD Audio, <br />
optional S/PDIF </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Form Factor</th>
<td>ATX 305 x 245mm</td>
</tr>
</table>
Specifications from Albatron
Feature
Intel PentiumŪ 4 Processor (Prescott)
Socket 775 with FSB 800/1066 MHz
4 DDRII 400/533 Memory Sockets ( Dual Channel)
1*PCI Express x 16, 2*PCI Express, 3*PCI Slots
8 Channel HD Audio,
Broadcom Gbits Ethernet LAN(PCI-Express LAN) & VIA 10/100 Ethernet LAN
4 Serial ATA150 Channels, Serial ATA RAID 0,1
IDE RAID 0,1,0+1/ATA133
8 USB 2.0/1.1 Ports (4 ports by optional cable)
Processor
Socket 775 Intel PentiumŪ 4 Processor (Prescott)
FSB
800/1066 MHz
Chipset
North Bridge : Intel 925XE
South Bridge : Intel ICH6R
IDE RAID Chip: ITE IT8212F
LAN Chip : Broadcom BCM5789 1Gbits /VIA VT6105 10/100 Ethernet LAN
HD Audio Codec : Realtek ALC880
I/O Chip: Winbond Smart I/O W83627THF
Memory
4 * DDRII Sockets:
DDRII 533/400 NON-ECC DDRII SDRAM up to 4GB
Expansion Slots
1 x PCI Express x 16
2 x PCI Express x 1
3 x PCI slots (PCI 2.3 compliant)
IDE / SATA Connectors
1* ATA100 Channel, up to 2 ATA 100 IDE devices
2* ATA133 Channels, up to 4 ATA 133 IDE devices
Onboard I/O Connectors
1 x Floppy Connector
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 header (4 ports by optional cable)
1 x CD_IN header
1 x S/PDIF in/out header (S/PDIF in/out cable optional)
1 x CPU fan header ( 1 fan rotation detection function )
2 x System fan headers ( 2 fan rotation detection function )
2 x 5 pin system panel header (Intel spec)
1 x 3 pin Power LED header
1 x Front audio header (Intel spec)
1 x IrDA header
1 x Case Open detection header
I/O via Back Panel
PS/2 keyboard/mouse, 4 x USB(2.0/1.1), 2 x RJ45 , 2 x Com(serial), 1 x Parallel, 1xLine-in/Line-out(Speaker Out)/MIC/SUR_CEN/SUR/R:WOF,L:CEN
Power
24-pin ATX power connector, 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
BIOS Feature
4Mb Flash EEPROM
Award BIOS with ACPI, DMI2.0, PnP, WfM2.0, Green Suspend to RAM (S3), Suspend to Disk (S4) Wake on keyboard/mouse, Wake on LAN/RTC Timer
Hardware Monitoring
3 FAN sensors, CPU/System voltages and temperature monitoring
Special Feature
Zero Jumper Design
Adjustable CPU frequency by 1 MHz increment, Adjustable Vcore , VAGP , VMemory for overclocking
Watch Dog Timer (auto-reset system when it can not handle overclock configurations)
Certifications
FCC, CE, BSMI
Form Factor
ATX (244mm x 305mm)
[pagE=Packaging]
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package1.jpg)
The motherboard comes in a gold colored package - bling bling.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package2.jpg)
On the backside is a picture of the motherboard where the most important features are listed.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package3.jpg)
When you open the package, everything that is included pops right into your face.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/package4.jpg)
Under the cables and manuals you find the motherboard.
Contents
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/contents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/contents.jpg)
You will receive:
Motherboard
Users Manual, DIY Installation Guide, CPU Installation Guide, ITE RAID Manual
3x IDE Cable, 1x Floppy Cable, 1x SATA Cable, 1x SATA Power Adapter
IO Bracket
Driver CD
[pagE=Board Layout]
Board Layout
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/board_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/board.jpg)
Click here (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/board_fullsize.jpg) for a 3000x2500 high-res shot of the board (3 MB download).
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/cpuarea_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/cpuarea.jpg)
There is plenty of space around the LGA775 CPU socket. Even one of the huge new CPU coolers will fit fine.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/io_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/io.jpg)
PS/2 Keyboard, PS/2 Mouse, LPT, two COM ports, Audio, Dual Ethernet, four USB Ports. On the backside panel the most important connectors are included in a layout matching the ATX specification.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/dimm_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/dimm.jpg)
The motherboard's memory slots have been color coded for easy dual-channel configuration.
Connectors
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/atx_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/atx.jpg)
While the 24-pin ATX power connector is very conveniently placed, the ATX12V connector could be placed in a better location.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/pata_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/pata.jpg)
You will find three parallel ATA ports on this motherboard, for a total of six IDE devices. One orange port, provided by the chipset and two yellow ones which are provided by an ITE 8212F RAID controller chip.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/headers_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/headers.jpg)
The color scheme of the Reset/Power/LED connectors helps finding the right pins when installing the board the first time.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/sata_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/sata.jpg)
Four Intel ICH6R powered SATA 150 MB/s ports can be found on the board.
Slots
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/slots_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/slots.jpg)
When using a video card with a two slot cooler, you will probably lose access to the PCI-E x1 slots, it would have made more sense if one PCI and PCI-E slots were swapped.
[page=Layout continued]
Cooling
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/nb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/nb.jpg)
The northbridge is only passively cooled. This is great for people, who want to reduce their computer's sound level. The lack of an active northbridge cooler, will be the limiting factor once you start overclocking and get into the 300 FSB region. During our overclocking tests the northbridge reached temperatures of 90°C+.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/sb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/sb.jpg)
Cooling on the southbridge is passive, not much heat is generated here.
Chips
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/cv115_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/cv115.jpg)
Albatron uses a CV155-4 clock generator from IDT on the PX925XE.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/it8212f_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/it8212f.jpg)
The two IDE RAID ports are powered by ITE's 8212F RAID controller chip.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/w83627_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/w83627.jpg)
Hardware monitoring is provided by a Winbond W83627THF.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/lan1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/lan1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/lan2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/lan2.jpg)
For networking, Albatron chose a Broadcom LAN chip with Gigabit Ethernet support. The second port, with 100 MBit, is powered by VIA. Both chips are fine, but do certainly not have the quality of an Intel networking solution, but also not the price.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/alc880_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/alc880.jpg)
The Realtek ALC880 High-Definition Audio Chip is responsible for sound.
[pagE=BIOS]
BIOS
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_main_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_main.jpg)
Albatron uses a Phoenix AwardBios. On the Main Page, you can change your date/time settings, the HDDs and select the Floppy type.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_advanced_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_advanced.jpg)
Advanced lets you change the order in which drives are tried at bootup, also it houses several suboptions for overclocking.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_advfeatures_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_advfeatures.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_cpufeature_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_cpufeature.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_pnp_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_pnp.jpg)
Advanced BIOS lets you change general BIOS settings, you can also enable/disable several CPU features here. Unfortunately there is no setting for EIST and C1E.
Memory Timings
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_advchipset_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_advchipset.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_dramtiming_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_dramtiming.jpg)
In Advanced Chipset Features you find options to change your memory timings settings between Manual, and By SPD.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_cas_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_cas.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_tras_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_tras.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_trcd_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_trcd.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_trp_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_trp.jpg)
You can change CAS Latency (tCL), Active-to-Precharge Delay (tRAS), Rad-to-Cas Delay (tRCD), and RAS Precharge Time (tRP), which are all settings the i925XE chipset offers internally. An option to disable PAT is not in the BIOS, it is always enabled, when the memory configuration supports it.
Overclocking
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_freq_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_freq.jpg)
One cool feature is "Afterburner Mode". It will dynamically change the CPU frequency based on CPU load. Albatron should work a bit on the help text on the right tho.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_fsb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_fsb.jpg)
The FSB is selectable between 200 and 550 MHz. I think a selection of 100 to 350 FSB would have made more sense.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_nbstrap_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_nbstrap.jpg)
The options in System Memory Speed let you select the memory divider. 400 for example means 1:1 on a 800PSB CPU. However, when running 220 FSB at the "400" setting for example, your memory is running at 440 MHz. On POST the BIOS displays the correct value.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_pcie_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_pcie.jpg)
PCI-Express bus frequencies can be selected from 100 to 150 MHz.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_ddr_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_ddr.jpg)
You can raise your DDR2 voltage by up to 0.4 Volts, which should be enough for most users. I would have preferred absolute values instead of the relative +0.xx options.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_nb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_nb.jpg)
Same for the Northbridge Voltage which can be raised up to 0.3V. 0.3V extra on the Northbridge sounds like a lot to me, when it has only a passive heatsink.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_vcore_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_vcore.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_vcoremin_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_vcoremin.jpg)
CPU Core Voltage can be selected from 0.8375 (very nice for underclockers!) up to 1.9V (crazy high!).
Integrated Peripherals
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_peripherals_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_peripherals.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_onchip_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_onchip.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_onboard_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_onboard.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_onboardio_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_onboardio.jpg)
Integrated Peripherals has options to change, how the SATA ports appear to the system and to enable/disable USB, Audio, LAN, Floppy and configure the Serial Port.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_power_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_power.jpg)
Nothing special is to be found under Power Management.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_hwmonitor_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_hwmonitor.jpg)
The Hardware Monitoring page shows the essential temperatures, fan speeds and voltages. More monitored voltages would have been nice.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_defaults_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/b_defaults.jpg)
One nice feature is, that you can copy your BIOS settings from CMOS into the BIOS ROM. The setting in ROM is not erased when a CMOS reset is performed, or when the battery is removed.
[pagE=Dr.Speed Software]
Dr.Speed Software
Albatron's overclocking and monitoring utility is called Dr.Speed.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_easy_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_easy.jpg)
In "Easy" Mode you can get a quick glance at VCore, CPU Temperature, CPU Fan speed and change the FSB Frequency.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_oc_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_oc.jpg)
When you click on "Advanced" you can select from several panels. The first is Overclocking.
Here you can see detailed info on the motherboard's clocks and change them. Voltage change is also possible.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_auto_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_auto.jpg)
A really nice feature is an automatic overclocking detection test. It increases the FSB step by step while some plane models are rendered in another window. While it is a good idea, it needs much more work. No way a plane rendering test can stress the CPU enough. However, this test gives a pretty good ballpark figure on what the maximum frequency is, your CPU can run at, fine tuning will be neccessary.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_monitor_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_monitor.jpg)
The hardware monitoring section of Dr.Speed is pretty standard, you can see the same sensors as in the BIOS, alarms can be configured if needed.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_sysinfo_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_sysinfo.jpg)
Panel #3 shows you some general information about your system. Nothing special, but might come in handy when you need to give someone your system configuration for troubleshooting.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_fan_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_fan.jpg)
A feature I missed in the BIOS, is to control fan speed based on temperature. Here you can do it. Unfortunately only the CPU fan speed can be changed, the other fan outputs on the board are always running at 100%.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_alarms_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/drspeed_alarms.jpg)
Here you can configure threshold levels for the monitoring alarms.
Overall I must say I like the visual design of Dr.Speed very much. The CPU Max. FSB detection functionality is a great new idea, which I haven't seen anywhere else yet, although it needs some work.
[page=Performance: Test systems]
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "PX925XE"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium 4 3.0F (S775; 2MB; Prescott)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">Albatron PX925XE PRO-R, Bios 1.12a</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC2-5400 EB 4-2-2-8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X800 Non-Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 4350 is 15x290 FSB, Mem Ratio 1:1 (=290 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "AA8XE"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium 4 3.0F (S775; 2MB; Prescott)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE, Bios 1.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 512MB OCZ PC2-5400 EB 4-2-2-8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X800 Non-Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">HEC Power475</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 4500 is 15x300 FSB, Mem Ratio 1:1 (=300 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "P4 2.4C"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">Intel Pentium 4 2.4C (S478; 512KB; Northwood)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">ABIT IC7, Bios 2.8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">2x 256MB Generic PC3200 2.5-3-3-6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">ATI X800 XT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Maxtor DiamondMax 160GB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Antec TrueControl 550W</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">OC 3400 is 15x283 FSB, Mem Ratio 2:3 (=188 MHz)</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable" width="450">
<tr align="center">
<th colspan="2" scope="row" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System "Athlon64 3800+"</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th width="100" scope="row">CPU:</th>
<td scope="row">AMD Athlon64 3800+ (S939; 512KB; Venice)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Motherboard:</th>
<td scope="row">DFI Lanparty nForce4 SLI-D</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Memory:</th>
<td scope="row">TwinMOS Twister PC3200 Pro (TCCD)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Video Card:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">2x Pine XFX 6800 GT SLI @ 450/1200</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Harddisk:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">2x 74GB WD Raptor RAID 0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Power Supply:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">OCZ ADJ 520W</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Software:</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Windows XP SP2, Forceware 76.44</td>
</tr>
</table>
[page=Performance: Sandra & Everest]
SiSoftware Sandra
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/sandraint.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/sandrafloat.gif
Raw CPU performance is the same between both i925XE boards (within margin of error).
Lavalys Everest
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/everestread.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/everestwrite.gif
While the Abit board has the better read performance, the Albatron board is faster when it comes to writes.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/everestlatency.gif
It is interesting, that the P4 at 2400 MHz has better latency - PAT was enabled on all Intel Systems.
The integrated memory controller of the Athlon64 leads the pack without doubt.
[pagE=Performance: SuperPi]
SuperPi
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/superpi1m.gif
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/superpi32m.gif
In SuperPi's calculation tests the Albatron board is a bit faster than the board from ABIT, but not much.
[page=Performance: PCMark04 & 3DMark01]
PCMark 2004
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/pcmark2004.gif
In PCMark both i925 boards show the same performance. The Athlon64 is very weak here.
3DMark 2001
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/3dmark2001.gif
Here we see the ABIT board take a slight advantage. The Athlon64 dominates this benchmark.
[page=Performance: CineBench & Kribibench]
CineBench
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/cinebench.gif
There is no performance difference between both boards. Intel systems are clearly at an advantage here, because of their HyperThreading Technology.
KribiBench
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/kribibench.gif
It's interesting to see, that the ABIT board is almost 10% faster in this software-only rendering benchmark.
[page=Performance: Comanche 4 & Quake 3]
Comanche 4
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/comanche4.gif
Again we see the Athlon64 lay waste to the Pentium4 when it comes to gaming.
Quake 3 Arena
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/quake3.gif
Same picture in Quake3 Arena, the Athlon64 platform is constantly ahead in games.
[page=Performance: Audio RMAA]
Rightmark Audio Analyzer
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/rmaa.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/loopback_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/loopback.jpg)
We used Rightmark Audio Analyzer together with a loop-back cable to analyze the quality of the on-board audio solution.
Summary
<table width="600" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB:</strong></td>
<td>+0.25, -0.31</td>
<td>Good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Noise level, dB (A):</strong></td>
<td>-85.2</td>
<td>Good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Dynamic range, dB (A):</strong></td>
<td>85.2</td>
<td>Good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>THD, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.0082</td>
<td>Very good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>IMD, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.021</td>
<td>Good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>Stereo crosstalk, dB:</strong></td>
<td>-82.9</td>
<td>Very good</td></tr>
<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="left"><strong>IMD at 10 kHz, %:</strong></td>
<td>0.103</td>
<td>Average</td></tr>
</table>
General performance: Good
[hr]
I find these results are ok for a board in the PX925XE's price range. If you use the board in your office PC you will most probably not need sound anyways.
Frequency Response
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/fr.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Frequency range</strong></td>
<td><strong>Response</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">From 20 Hz to 20 kHz, dB</td>
<td>-1.66, +0.25</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">From 40 Hz to 15 kHz, dB</td>
<td>-0.31, +0.25</td>
</tr>
</table>
Noise Level
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/noise.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">RMS power, dB:</td>
<td>-82.4</td>
<td>-83.3</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">RMS power (A-weighted), dB:</td>
<td>-85.0</td>
<td>-85.2</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Peak level, dB FS:</td>
<td>-69.6</td>
<td>-68.9</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">DC offset, %:</td>
<td>-0.00</td>
<td>-0.00</td>
</tr>
</table>
Dynamic Range
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/dynamics.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Dynamic range, dB:</td>
<td>+83.4</td>
<td>+83.7</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Dynamic range (A-weighted), dB:</td>
<td>+85.2</td>
<td>+85.5</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">DC offset, %:</td>
<td>-0.00</td>
<td>-0.00</td>
</tr>
</table>
THD + Noise (at -3 dB FS)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/thd.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">THD, %:</td>
<td>0.0082</td>
<td>0.0089</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">THD + Noise, %:</td>
<td>0.0170</td>
<td>0.0174</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">THD + Noise (A-weighted), %:</td>
<td>0.0159</td>
<td>0.0165</td>
</tr>
</table>
Intermodulation distortion
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/imd.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise, %:</td>
<td>0.0223</td>
<td>0.0215</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise (A-weighted), %:</td>
<td>0.0184</td>
<td>0.0181</td>
</tr>
</table>
Stereo crosstalk
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/cross.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>L <- R</strong></td>
<td><strong>L -> R</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Crosstalk at 100 Hz, dB:</td>
<td>-79</td>
<td>-82</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Crosstalk at 1 kHz, dB:</td>
<td>-82</td>
<td>-81</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">Crosstalk at 10 kHz, dB:</td>
<td>-83</td>
<td>-67</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td align="left"> </td>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</table>
IMD (swept tones)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/imdswept.png
<table width="400" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1">
<tr bgcolor=#C0C0C0 align="center">
<td align="left"><strong>Parameter</strong></td>
<td><strong>Left</strong></td>
<td><strong>Right</strong></td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise at 5 kHz, %:</td><td>0.0468</td><td>0.0464</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise at 10 kHz, %:</td><td>0.1708</td><td>0.1697</td></tr>
<tr align="center"><td align="left">IMD + Noise at 15 kHz, %:</td><td>0.2496</td><td>0.2502</td></tr>
</table>
[page=Performance: Audio Games]
Quake 3
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/q3asound.gif
Comanche 4
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/c4sound.gif
[page=Overclocking]
Overclocking
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/oc_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/PX925XE/images/oc.jpg)
In order to find out the overclocking potential of the Albatron PX925XE Pro-R, we put a Dangerden TDX waterblock on our CPU and set the multiplier to 14x using EIST. We also had to disable C1E via SysTool, because the BIOS does not offer such a function.
Maximum stable frequencies we could reach were in the 290-295 MHz FSB range. This is most probably caused by the passive cooling of the Chipset, which reached over 90°C during testing. If you are looking into some serious overclocking, you should consider replacing the chipset cooler with an active fan cooler.
Settings for reaching that overclock were: Multi: 14x, Memory: 1:1, VCore: 1.5875, VDDR +0.3V, Northbridge +0.3V.
A 45% overclock is not exactly bad for a board, which does not claim to be a top overclocking board. If you leave the multi at its default of 15x, you can still go from 3000 MHz to 4350 MHz. The lack of a memory divider smaller than 1:1 might become an issue, if you are running on cheap DDR2 memory which does not overclock well.
[page=Value & Conclusion]
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
With a street price of about $100 this board is one of the cheapest Pentium 4 motherboards. It's a great deal if you want to get running on the LGA775 platform, without spending too much money.
</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Competitive price
Completely passive cooled
Two network ports
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
Needs more overclocking options in BIOS
Not enough overclocking headroom for hardcore overclockers
No IEEE1394
No SLI
No support for Dual Core
</td></tr>
<tr><th>8.0</th>
<td>The Albatron PX925XE Pro-R is an excellent board for office use. It is very competetively priced, but still offers the features most users need. Gaming benchmarks show that performance is fine there too. Passive operation makes this board a good candidate for a media server PC.<br />
This board will also work fine if you are going to overclock a bit, extreme overclockers should probably check out other boards, which are more geared towards them, but will certainly come at a much higher price. Our testing shows that the PX925XE Pro-R will have no problems running a 1066 FSB CPU.<br />
The lack of SLI and Dual Core support (which is a chipset limitation) is a minor issue in my opinion, since both are targeted at the hardcore enthusiasts, who will probably buy a board more suited to overclocking.
</td></tr>
<tr><th></th><td></td></tr>
</table>