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The Intel 875P Chipset has proven to be quite
successful in terms of performance and features it offers. These high-end motherboards
have taken the Enthusiast market by storm and offer just about every feature
the hardcore PC Enthusiast craves. They are currently the preferred choice for
those looking for the latest technology as well as an extensive feature set. Soyo, as a respected manufacturer of high quality motherboards, has joined in
the Canterwood market with their current flagship motherboard, the Dragon 2
Platinum Edition. There are many Canterwood based motherboards to choose from
so Soyo designed the Dragon 2 to stand out from the rest by offering a variety
of unique features. Let's have a look...
Packaging & Bundle
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**click to enlarge** |
**click to enlarge** |
The
box itself is quite large, and with good reason! It is loaded with lots
of extra goodies typically found in these high-end boards. These
include: an excellent Sigma Box, which we will look at in detail a bit
later, SPDIF audio PCI extension, four Serial ATA cables, 3 IDE ribbon cables,
one floppy drive cable, I/O plate, user manual, driver CD, bonus software CD
and a nice looking case badge. We'll explain in a bit why they
generously provide so many drive cables. Ribbon cables are becoming a
thing of the past and with a high end board such as this, you'd expect some
nice round cables but they make up for it by providing lots of them.
Specifications
Chipset Type
Intel i875P
Chipset Description
Intel i875P (Canterwood ) / ICH5R chipset
Supports 800 and 533 MHz FSB
Form Factor
ATX
Memory Type
Dual DDR400/333
Memory Description
Four 184-pin DDR SDRAM 2.5V DIMM sockets
Support DUAL channel DDR 400/333 up to 4GB (ECC memory)
Expansion Slots
Five 32-bit Bus Mastering PCI slots (V2.2 compliant)
One AGP slot (support 4x/8x mode with 1.5v)
IDE Description
Serial ATA
Four channels Serial ATA ports
ICH5R integrates Serial ATA RAID 0 (2 channels)
Silicon Image Sil3112A Serial ATA RAID (0,1,0+1) (2 channels)
UltraDMA
Four independent channels for eight IDE devices(two for IDE-RAID)
Supports up to PIO Mode 5 and UDMA 66/100/133
Two PCI bus mastering ATA E-IDE ports
IEEE1394 Description
Three IEEE 1394 Firewire ports
Audio Description
On board CMI 8738 audio chip providing 6-channel audio
Supports optical and coaxial SPDIF outputs
IO Port Description
Two RS-232 serial ports (16550 UART compatible)
One parallel printer port (SPP/EPP/ECP mode)
One FDD port (Supports 3 mode, 1.2/1.44/2.88 MB FDD
On-board IrDA/FIR ports with optional cable for transceiver
8 * USB 2.0 ports (4*rear, 4*pin header)
3 * IEEE1394 ports (1* port, 2*pin header)
IO Connection Description
PS/2 Mini-DIN mouse & keyboard ports
Two USB ports
One D-Sub 25-pin female printer port
Two D-Sub 9-pin male serial ports
Two USB ports
0ne RJ45 connector
Audio I/O: LINE-Outx1 , LINE-Inx1, MIC JACK x1
BIOS Description
Award PCI BIOS with ACPI function
Supports multiple-boot from E-IE/SCSI/CD-ROM/FDD LS120/ZIP
2 Mb Flash ROM
Health Monitoring Description
On-board voltage monitors for +3.3V, +12V, VCORE, DIMM, AGP
CPU fan speed monitor
CPU temperature monitoring through flexible thermal sensor
Dimension Description
Four layers, 30.5 cm x 24.5 cm (12” x 9.05”)
ATX form factor
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