Foxconn 955X7AA-8EKRS2 is Foxconn's latest flagship 955X mainboard. Foxconn has abandoned its OEM kind of board design by introducing very DIY features on to this board. 955X7AA-8EKRS2 supports the Socket 775, 800/1066 FSB, Dual Core CPUs including the extreme edition processor. This board has 1 x PCI Express x16, 3 x PCI Express x1, 3 x PCI. By virtue of the ICH7 and the Sil 3114 chipset, it supports 1 x ATA/100 + 2 x ATA/133 (w/ RAID) + 4 x SATA/300 (w/ RAID) + 4 x SATA/150 (w/ RAID), Supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, and Intel Matrix Storage Technology (1+0 on 2 HDDs). It Supports IDE RAID 0, 1, and 1+0, Includes second SATA RAID controller (0, 1, and 1+0).

The board also supports Dual GbE using PCIe based Broadcom controller. There is 7.1ch HD audio using ALC880 codec and 3 x 1394 ports (3 via internal headers + rear cable/bracket assembly 1 x 1394b + 1 x 1394a 4-pin + 1 x 1394a 6-pin). So far not many manufacturers supports 1394b, Foxconn included it on board, ready to be used.

In the performance department, we tested it against the Gigabyte 955X board using the Intel 820D with Windows XP 64 bits. Both boards performs equally well. In fact in most of the tests, the difference is too negligible. Considering that the Foxconn board runs at 200.00MHz exactly, the performance could improve a bit more.

The board comes with some overclocking features including adjustable bus speeds, adjustable memory timing
adjustable voltages (may be Vcore only) and adjustable ratios (depends on CPU). As the multiplier is locked, we are unable to lower the multiplier. We only managed to overclock the FSB up to 220MHz only.

The package looks sleek and comes with rounded cables and a quick install guide too. Something ought a mention is Foxconn has this SuperRecovery function built into the BIOS. This is achieved by storing BIOS CMOS, partition table in a hidden partition of the hard disk.

Overall, Foxconn has improved on its design by delivering a board that suits not only the end user, but for the professional video editor. It  could well be used as a multimedia centre as it comes with Dual GbE and multiple SATA ports. The USB 2.0 and 1394a/b would be useful for video editing. It is definitely a board of choice if you are hunting for a 955X board even for the Dual or Extreme cpus.
 

Pricing

Discuss

Pros

• 1394b
• 8 SATA RAID ports
• IDE RAID 0/1
• Dual GbE

Cons

• No Multiplier control
• No Wi-Fi
• Overclocking range too limited

Ratings

Here are my ratings out of 10 stars.