This mainboard is presently the top model in the Intel series of the manufacturer, so it is bundled according to its high status and possesses corresponding functionality. I would like to note that the manufacturer laid stress on the functionality of the mainboard instead of on "bells and whistles": Eight Serial ATA connectors – this is quite "capital" even nowadays.

The PCB layout is ordinary – inconvenient location of connectors along the left edge, FDD and PATA connectors are behind the AGP slot, the audio connector is in front of the PCI-E 1x slots. Access to the jumper is not hampered, when the mainboard is in a case, its description is provided on the PCB. The 4-phase switching voltage regulator of the processor incorporates two 1500 uF capacitors, four 1000 uF capacitors, and nine 560 uF capacitors. The PCB also contains voltage regulators for the PCI-E x16 bus (4x1000 uF) and for memory (6x1000 uF).

The PCB layout provides space for a COM port connector, which is left empty. Mainboard dimensions – 305x245 mm ("wide" ATX, nine-screw mount, all mainboard edges are firmly fixed). The ITE IT8712F-A chip is used to monitor:

• CPU and memory voltage, +3.3 and +12 V
• RPM of 2 fans
• CPU temperature (by the embedded CPU sensor)
• board temperature (by the on-board sensor)

Onboard ports, sockets, and connectors

• CPU socket (Socket 775)
• 6 x DDR 2 SDRAM DIMM (differ by color, grouped by three)
• 1 x PCI-E x16 (with a latch)
• 3 x PCI-E x1
• 2 x PCI (32bit, 33MHz)
• Power connectors: standard EPS 12 V (24 pins) and 4-pin connector for 12 V
• 1 x FDD
• 1 x IDE (Parallel ATA) – in the chipset
• 8 x SATA ( Serial ATA ), four of them are in the chipset, the other four are due to an additional connector
• U - Plus DPS connector
• 4 connectors for brackets with additional USB (2.0) ports
• 2 connectors for the bracket with additional FireWire ports
• 1 x CD/DVD audio connector
• 1 x standard IrDA connector
• Header for the bracket with additional Audio-Outs
• 4 x fan connectors (3 of them are with RPM control, the fourth can be used by the fan on the northbridge heatsink)

Back panel (left to right, blockwise)

• PS/2 mouse and keyboard
• 1 x LPT, 1 x COM, Coaxial S/PDIF-In/Out
• 2 x USB and 1 x RJ-45 (Gigabit Ethernet)
• 2 x USB and 1 x RJ-45 (Gigabit Ethernet)
• 3 x Audio (Mic-In, Line-In, Front)
• 3 x Audio (Center/Sub, Rear, Side)

Package Contents

• Standard design package, two boxes with handles
• Documentation (in English):
  • User's guide
  • SATA RAID setup guide
  • Poster with short instructions how to install and setup the mainboard

• Cables:
  • ATA 66/100/133 (blue, with company logo)
  • FDD (blue, with company logo)
  • 4 SerialATA cables
  • SATA power converter

• U-Plus DPS
• WiFi 802.11b/g card with antenna
• Rear panel bracket with 2 x USB and 2 x FireWire
• Rear panel bracket with 2 x USB
• Rear panel bracket
• 2 CDs with software:
• mainboard drivers
• drivers for the 802.11b/g expansion board
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Norton Internet Security 2004
• Gigabyte @BIOS
• Gigabyte C.O.M
• Gigabyte DMIView
• Gigabyte EasyTune 5
• Gigabyte FaceWizard
• Gigabyte Windows Utility Manager
• Gigabyte IA Panel
• Gigabyte Management Tool
• DirectX 9.0

We would like to note that the bundle includes a WiFi card (state-of-the-art card supporting 802.11g). In the software bundle we can note the latest version of Norton Internet Security (personal firewall). This program is not cheap at all, and licensed software is more comfortable and secure to use...

Integrated Controllers

• Audio, based on HDA Realtek ALC 880 codec (7.1 ch Audio) with front Audio I/O jacks
• 2 x LAN controllers, one of them is based on the Broadcom BCM 5751 KFB chip supporting 10 Base-T /100 Base-TX /1000 Base-T. The other is based on Marvell 88 E 8001- LKJ supporting 10 Base-T /100 Base-TX/1000 Base-T
• FireWire based on Texas Instruments TSB 82 AA 2 and TSB 81 BA 3 supporting three FireWire -800 ports
• USB based on the Cypress CY 7 C 6564 D-LFC chip supporting three USB 2.0 ports
• SATA RAID based on the Silicon Image SiI 3114 CT 176 chip supporting RAID 0, 1 and 0+1 with four SATA connectors

The integrated audio quality was tested in 16bit, 44 kHz using the RightMark Audio Analyzer 5.1 test application and the Terratec DMX 6fire sound card:

General performance: Very good (details).

Proprietary technologies

• Gigabyte Dual BIOS (2 Flash EEPROM chips)

Settings

We used BIOS F2, the latest available BIOS version at the time of our tests.

Preliminary test results

We'll provide one of the diagrams from the future review. Gigabyte 8ANXP-D results are represented by the "i925X/DDR2-533" bar:

References

• Official Gigabyte web site
• Gigabyte (Russian site)
• The mainboard page on the official site
• The mainboard page on the Russian site
• Intel 925X chipset
• Benchmarks including this mainboard:
• Comparative tests of the four mainboards based on Intel 915/925 and analysis of the factors influencing the performance of these chipsets
• Other mainboards based on a similar design: N/A
• The mainboard is kindly provided by the manufacturer.