Foxconn P9657AA-8EKRS2H is
a Intel motherboard that uses Intel P965 chipset. As we know together this chipset is intended to be situated somewhere in between the 945P and 975X chipset in terms of features and performance. However it has a newer southbridge than either of them, which adds up to 6 native SATA-II ports in your motherboard. Intel has finally done away with the PATA interface though, so
the computer motherboard makers are left with using a third-party chip to allow the installation of an optical drive. Like most, Foxconn has gone with the JMicron JMB363, which also adds some extra SATA-II ports, e-SATA, and even basic software RAID functions.
With both the ICH8-R and JMicron JMB363 controller being used, the P9657AA supports an impressive 7 SATA drives; 6 directly from the ICH-8R and 1 e-SATA port on the rear panel. Note that to make use of the hot-swapping function, RAID drivers need to be installed. In legacy mode, both controllers are detected for a proper Windows XP installation. FireWire IEEE1394a is handled by the VIA VT6308P controller, which does not have the Windows XP SP2 driver issue, so it will work properly without need for hotfixes or special drivers that cost money.
Some flaws is, there are only 4 USB ports on the motherboard's rear panel (although having an e-SATA port kind of makes up for it, they could have done away with the COM port and added a bracket adapter for the very few who will ever use it). There is no digital audio input on the rear panel (there is an internal connector for a digital input adapter, but one is not included in the box), and output is handled by Optical S/PDIF instead of Coaxial.
The some technical data for Foxconn P9657AA-8EKRS2H motherboard are :
- Processor : Intel LGA775 processors
- Chipset : Intel P965 / ICH8R
- FSB : 533 / 800 / 1066 MHz
- Memory : 4 x DDR2 (533/677/800 MHz)
- Multiplier : Auto
- Form Factor : ATX (30.5cm x 24.4cm)
- AGP/PCI/PCIe x16/PCIe x4/PCIe x1 : 0/3/1/1/1
- USB/FireWire/Serial/Paralel : 4(6)/1(1)/1/1
- PATA/SATA/eSATA : 1/6/1
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