This is definitely one of the most exciting boards released in 1Q 2003. It has a neat set of features. In our local terms, we say that it's the most KIASU board ever producted. It has almost everything that you can think of - Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, RAID (SATA and IDE), External bracket for SATA devices, it makes connectivity to other devices easier than before. It also has 6 channel audio, 1394, Dual RAID, Dual Channel DDR400, Dual Power System (DPS), Hyper threading support (P4 3.06), Dual BIOS, SPDIF In/out, overclocking, AGP 8x, 1394 etc.

The DPS makes its way to a SiS based board. If you recall, the DPS allows backup or use together to form a 6 phase voltage regulator. Some boards only uses 2 phase while Gigabyte chose a 3 phase. We have known that some companies implemented 4 phase solutions before and now a 6 phase. DPS is indeed an innovative way to make systems more reliable.

In contrary to the 8INXP, the SINXP1394 seems to be a better performer in desktop applications and performs average in 3D benchmarks. This seems to be the case with BIOS and I think future BIOS should be able to tune it up.

Overclocking wise, this board has 1Mhz stepping and also an independent PCI/AGP setting if you wish to keep your FSB at 133(533) and just overclock your PCI and AGP bus. Voltage adjustments are also available for Vcore, DIMM.  We are able to o/c to 143Mhz fsb using a P4 1.8A SL63X with DPS. If not DPS is used, 139 is the max we can go.

Suggested Retail ~ USD 210.00

Discuss

Pros 好处:

• Overclocking features
• 6 Channel audio
• USB 2.0 
• 1394 thru external bracket
• Dual Channel DDR333/400
• SATA RAID 0/1+ ATA RAID 0/1/0+1
• DPS
• Exterior bracket for SATA ports

Cons 坏处:

• Voltage tweaking limited, only +0.1v
• CLR_CMOS has no jumpers for clearing CMOS
• Performance can be further tuned up
• Should have included 1394 ports on back panel

Ratings

Here are my ratings out of 10 stars.

Product Excellence and
Innovative Design