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Foxconn P35A and ECS P35T-A: two novelties on a new chipsetAuthor: Aleksandr MitrofanovDate: 13/08/2007
As we are coming closer to the "back-to-school" season, we can see that motherboards based on the P965 chipset are being gradually expelled by products based on Intel P35. In particular, in the nearest future we'll see middle-end product offerings with basic expansion options in the retail. It's just these motherboards most of modern home-based computers are assembled of. Today, we are introducing two motherboards having similar specifications: Foxconn P35A and ECS P35T-A. Both the products offer two PCI Express x16 slots onboard, support 12 USB2.0 ports, integrated HDA audio, and a Gigabit LAN controller. Besides, the boards offer an additional RAID controller that supports one ParallelATA and one SerialATA II lines. The design of both boards provide for installation of a Firewire controller but it is not unsoldered. The major distinction between these boards is in the south bridge used: the Foxconn product uses ICH9 (i.e. 4 SerialATA II lines), and the ECS - ICH9R (6 SerialATA II lines with RAID features).
Specifications
 Foxconn P35A
 ECS P35T-A
Retail boxes
  Package bundle
Both the motherboards are aimed at the same user category, they are similar in price but radically differ in the abundance of the package bundle. In particular, the ECS package contents is a standard of minimalism and saving: one PATA cable, one SerialATA cable, a cap
a user's manual, a brief instructions guide, and a CD.
Therefore, it is a good idea that the user buy a bunch of cables, adapters and plates with ports right in the shop. Buyers of the Foxconn motherboard should also purchase additional items, but fewer in amount. In the box, the user of P35A will find cables for ParallelATA devices, a cable for the HDD, as well as a pair of SerialATA cables with the required power supply adapters.
Then, the board comes bundled with a detailed enough user's manual, a brief guide, and a CD with drivers and utilities.
 But that is not all - there are additional items. In particular, there is a remarkable plate for an additional Firewire port, two USB2.0 and one SerialATA ports! There is also a SLI-bridge which can link two NVIDIA video cards.
We note it straight off that officially NVIDIA video cards do not operate in the SLI mode and on Intel chipsets. However, enthusiasts can look for modified drivers in the Internet and anyway start up a system like that. Besides, some of AMD video cards also offer similar connectors (we saw cards like that at the recent Computex expo), but we are not sure if they are compatible to this bridge.
Layout and Features
Externally, both the motherboards can be referred to as belonging to the same class.
To cool the power supply module and the chipset, the boards use radiators, without fans. However, the radiators on the Foxconn motherboard are larger in dimensions, so provide better cooling efficiency.
 
Each motherboard has four 240-pin DIMM slots for DDR2 memory modules, with the overall supported memory capacity being up to 8 GB.
 
Note that the Foxconn motherboard uses a red LED: it lights up once voltage is applied (or when the system is in the stand-by mode). Once the system starts up, the LED goes out.
Both the boards use two PCI Express x16 slots each.
 
However, because of the chipset's limitations, the full-featured 16 bus lanes are allocated to the first slot only. For the second slot, only 4 lanes are left. In the end, if the user intends to use the Crossfire, it will run in the slowest mode (16+4).
Also, each of these boards uses three PCI and one PCI Express x1 slots.
As we already noted, Foxconn P35A uses the south bridge ICH9, whereas ECS P35T-A - ICH9R. In the end, the Foxconn board supports 4 SerialATA II links, and ECS - 6 links.
 
Besides, the boards use the additional ParallelATA/SerialATA controller JMB361 made by JMicron. This chip provides support for one ParallelATA line (support for this protocol is missing in the south bridges Intel ICH8R and ICH9R) and one SerialATA II line. On both the motherboards, the additional SATA line is brought over to the rear panel.
 
In the end, the user can plug in as many as 7 hard disks (5 SATA + 2 PATA) to the Foxconn board, whereas 9 hards (7 SATA + 2 PATA) to the ECS product. Then, ICH9 and ICH9R support 12 USB2.0 ports. On the Foxconn board, 4 ports are located on the rear panel, with 8 more plugged in with headers (the board comes bundled with a header for two ports). On the ECS board, the ports configuration is somehow different: 6 on the rear panel, with six more being additional (no headers are in the package bundle).
The Intel High Definition Audio subsystem in both the boards is almost identical; the differences are only about the codecs being used: the Foxconn board uses an ALC888 chip, whereas on P35T-A the ALC883 codec. Both the boards support the SP-DIF output, but on the Foxconn board it has been brought over to the rear panel.
  Now a few words on the network: both the motherboards support high-speed conneciton. The Foxconn board uses a Gigabit LAN RTL 8111B controller, whereas on the ECS - Intel 82566DC.   The boards' rear panels are of the following configuration:  
It should be noted that the Foxconn motherboard uses both a LPT port and two COM ports (the latter is implemented with a plate; missing in the bundle), on the ECS there is only one COM port, with the LPT port plugged in via a plate (missing in the bundle).
Among the additional features, of note is the special FoxOne chip on the Foxconn motherboard. As you already know, the FoxOne chip is meant for executing such tasks like dynamic overclocking, system monitoring, power management, and control of the fans' rotational speeds. It also closely interacts with the the FoxOne utility that allows the user to control the mentioned features from within Windows.  The board also uses the (Power) and (Reset) buttons:  Now on to the BIOS settings.
BIOS
The BIOS of both the motherboards is based on the AMI BIOS version.  
The section in charge of memory operation settings looks like this:  
The next important parameter that affects the performance is setting the memory operating frequency.
  The ECS board offers only two values: 667 MHz and 800 MHz. The capability of the Foxconn motherboard is much higher due to the Strap selection feature (dubbed as the "Fox Ratio Select" feature by the engineers):  Both the motherboards support all Intel's modern technologies:   Now look at the system monitoring section.
 
Both the motherboards display the current temperatures for the CPU and the system, keep track of the current voltage levels and rotational speeds of the two fans. There is also the feature for adjusting the rotational speed of the CPU cooler depending on the CPU temperature.  
Also, the user of the Foxconn motherboard can keep track of the readings of the system monitoring from within Windows. For that, there is the FoxOne utility.
The utility Fox LiveUpdate meant to update the drivers, utilities and BIOS firmware works with the motherboard: 
Overclocking and stability
Before we move on to overclocking, let's look at the power converters. The PWM of the Foxconn board uses a 4-phase power scheme, in which there are four 331 mkF and eleven 561 mkF capacitors. The power supply module of the ECS board uses a 4-phase power scheme, in which there are four 1800 mkF, four 680 mkF, and two 560 mkF capacitors.  
All the PWM power components on the motherboards are closed with radiators, which improves the cooling efficiency and stability in overclocking.
Now on to the overclocking features.  
Note that the overclocking features on the Foxconn motherboard have been made much better; the BIOS contains information on the current values on the CPU, memory, and the north bridge. Besides, the adjustment ranges are wider, the adjustment increment, with more features. The feature for raising voltage on the memory is implemented in a very special way: the values of the standard range can be raised by the rate 1.28 or 1.13. Therefore, the maximum possible Vmem is 3V!
Now let's look at the practical results of overclocking. The maximum stable FSB speed in the Foxconn board is 500 MHz; that for the ECS board - 375 MHz.
 
Of note is the fact that Foxconn P35A allows adjusting the CPU multiplier, which lets us determine the board's overclocking capability. ECS P35T-A cannot adjust the multiplier, and the real limit of stable FSB speed remains unclear (the overclocking is restricted by the capability of the specific specimen of the tested CPU).
Performance
While determining the starting FSB speed, Foxconn P35A overstates it by 1 MHz, whereas ECS P35T-A states it at a high precision.
 
In our test setup, we used the following hardware:
Let's first take a look at the results of synthetic benchmarks.
Now on to the gaming benchmarks.
         Final Words
Both the motherboards offer similar specifications and are aimed at the same user category. Both the products offer two PCI Express x16 slots onboard, support 12 USB2.0 ports, integrated HDA audio, and a Gigabit LAN controller. Besides, the boards offer an additional RAID controller that supports one ParallelATA and one SerialATA II lines.
In fact, we should accentuate two points. In particular, ECS P35T-A offers two SerialATA II lines more and allows arranging a RAID array. On the other hand, Foxconn P35A looks more attractive to the computer enthusiasts: the overclocking tools are powerful and well-worked, and the overclocking capability is comparable to more expensive boards. Besides, the board offers an additional FoxOne chip onboard which works with the Windows utility of the same name. We should also mention the fine points like the power-on and reset buttons.
But to make the final conclusion we should know the retail price. Unfortunately, none of the boards in question has arrived at retail shops. Nevertheless, we should note the pretty scanty package bundle of ECS versus the rich enough for the Foxconn board.   Foxconn P35A and ECS P35T-A Conclusion
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