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Biostar P4TDK (i845E) Mainboard


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Once you cast a glance at this board, you will see that this is a budget solution with minimal requirements for functionality. 

Accessories: 

  • Package of a standard design; 
  • Documentation: brief user manual in English and Spanish; 
  • Cables: 1 ATA66/100/133 and FDD; 
  • 2 CDs containing: 
    • drivers; 
    • electronic user guides for a number of company's boards; 
    • system monitoring utility; 
    • DirectX 8. 
    • Adobe Acrobat Reader; 
    • Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader; 
    • Norton Antivirus 2002; 
    • Norton Personal Firewall 2002; 
    • Norton Ghost. 

The layout is ordinary except the fact that IDE and FDD connectors are not easy to reach. Besides, the audio-ins are and some other connectors are located along the left side of the board, and when a video card is installed it's difficult to handle the memory modules. It can be difficult to reach some jumpers when the board is already installed. Their functions are shown on the textolite. 

The 2-channel switching voltage regulator incorporates 8 capacitors of 3300 uF and 2 of 2200 uF. 

The following controllers are integrated: 

  • audio controller based on the chipset's capabilities and C-Media CMI9738 AC'97 codec supporting 4.1 audio systems and having a connector for front audio inputs; 

There is a special protection on the back for the textolite from massive processor coolers. 




Non-unsoldered connectors: an interface of the FlashCard Reader controller with connectors, IEEE 1394 bus controller with connectors, network controller and RJ45 connector. 

The system monitoring is supported by the Winbond W83627HF-AW chip. What is controlled: 

  • processor voltage, AGP bus, +3.3, +5 and +-12 V, VBAT and +5 V Standby; 
  • speed of 2 fans; 
  • temperatures of the processor (a built-in sensor) . 

There are 2 connectors for adjustable connection of fans. 

Brief characteristics of the board: memory slots - 4 DDR SDRAM; expansion slots - AGP/ 6 PCI/ CNR; I/O ports - 2 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 6 USB 2.0; dimensions - 305x245 mm. 

Adjustment can be carried out with: 
 

jumpers and switches Jumper to clear up the CMOS  
Jumper for starting up computer from a PS/2 keyboard  
Switches for starting up the system from a USB keyboard  
BIOS based on the Phoenix AwardBIOS 6.00PG Setup of memory timings + CAS Latency, Active To Precharge Delay, RAS to CAS Delay, RAS Precharge
Setup of memory frequency + Auto, DDR200, DDR266
Setup of AGP bus -  
Setup of PCI bus -  
Changeable scaler of AGP and PCI buses -  
Manual assignment of interrupts -  
Changeable FSB frequency + 100-200 MHz in 1MHz steps
Changeable CPU multiplier + x8-x50
Changeable core voltage + 1.25-2,0 V in 0.025V steps
Changeable memory voltage + 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8 V
Changeable chipset voltage -  
Changeable AGP bus voltage + 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 V

We used the BIOS of 18.10.2002 as the latest available version. 

The board can be a good choice for a user who doesn't expect much as its speed and functions are not brilliant. 

Test results: 


 

Dmitry Mayorov (destrax@ixbt.com
 



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