Foxconn launches Crossfire attack

FOXCONN is not a name that you'll hear too often in retail channels. But what if we tell you it is bigger than most of the names that you see on our front page, including MSI, Gigabyte, Abit, Epox and possible even Asus. Foxconn is one of the world's biggest PC component suppliers and for the last year or so it is trying hard to get into the retail market.

At Cebit earlier this year, it announced its entry to graphics business and just recently it finished the design of its Foxconn 975X7AA board. The board is based on Intel's latest 975X chipset and comes with a lot of features. Foxconn even designed its own chip and named it Fox One, as it wants to make an overclocking board that is at the same time easy to use. We tried it and, trust me, it cannot get much easier than that.

The board comes in a rather massive box packed with lot of cables and one of the first things that you notice is the ATI Crossfire dual graphic card support. Well, the board has two PCIe 16X slots and we tried it, it works well.

The motherboard supports up to DDR 2 800 memory. We would like to see support for DDR 2 1000 or DDR 2 1066 but we didn't have any luck with anything faster than 667MHz. Naturally, the faster memory modules will work but not at that speed. We could not choose any faster memory settings than the magical 667. Officially the chipset can cope with DDR 2 800, but we know that there are Asus 975 boards that can support even DDR 2 1066.

The board supports all dual and single-core Pentium socket 775 CPUs, has two PCIe 16X and two PCIe 1X slots, CNR slots and two PCI slots. It uses an active Foxconn-branded fan on the Northbridge and a heatsink on the Southbridge and they both do the job. You will also find five SATA ports, a rather strange number, and it will support SATA II drives. You will be able to connect two devices on a single IDE channel,plus the unavoidable floppy drive.

The back of the board hides two PS2 ports, parallel, SPDIF and optical audio connectors, Firewire, four USBs and two LAN connectors and analogue 5.1 connectors.

As Intel refused to send us any dual-core Pentium CPU samples and suggested we wait for Conroe, we had to ask our friends to lend us one and, luckily, the nice chaps at Kustompcs.co.uk helped us in our efforts. They sent us an Intel Pentium D 920 Sockel-775 BTX II boxed, 2x 2.80GHz, 200MHz FSB, 2x 2048kB cache and you can buy these babies here.

The Fox One tool is rather interesting. It will allow you to overclock your machine from Windows with the touch of a mouse button. It is really easy but we have to say that when you set your machine to auto overclocking you will have to start some intensive applications to actually see the overclock. In idle mode the CPU works at its stock speed while, once you start an application that needs more juice, it automatically overclocks your PC. It works really well. Fox One offers a few settings: Auto, Power Gaming, Data Mining, Office and Energy Saving. You can overclock through the bios as well.

Benchmarketing
We played with:

Intel Pentium D 920 Sockel-775, 2x 2.80GHz, 200MHz FSB, 2x 2048kB Corsair DDR 2 CM2X512-8500, 1066MHz 5.5.5.15 Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 400GB SATA NCQ hard drive
Silverstone Strider ST60F, 600W ATX 2.0 SATA

Sapphire Radeon X1800 XT 512 MB card ATI Catalyst 6.4 driver

We overclocked the CPU at 3.29 GHz just by overclocking FSB to 235 and our memory worked at 784 MHz that was the fastest memory timing that we could achieve. By default the CPU works at 2.8 GHz with 200 MHz FSB. We tested the Crossfire and a single X1800 XT card in a machine as for a change we didn't had the most expensive pieces of marchitecture. We decided to test a rather decently priced machine.

We decided to test this Crossfire capability on this board. We plugged a single or dual Sapphire X1800 XT 512 MB cards and tried to overclock, or to let the board do the overclocking for us.

First of all I want to say that the board was stabile during the overclocking and in Crossfire mode, I can really give my stamp of approval for this board as it works flawlessly stabile.

Doom 3	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	89.7	88.0	78.9	55.6
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	91.2	95.1	82.6	55.7
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	89.3	88.6	88.5	82.0
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	98.4	97.4	97.1	87.5
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	96.6	95.9	95.7	86.8
?	?	?	?	?
Doom 3 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	85.3	74.7	58.3	37.9
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	91.2	77.5	58.6	37.9
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	89.1	87.9	83.4	67.1
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	97.9	96.0	89.1	68.9
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	96.8	94.3	88.4	68.6
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	89.5	89.1	86.1	78.2
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	100.1	97.1	94.2	83.2
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	90.7	90.6	90.5	87.2
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	100.3	100.0	99.4	94.4
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	98.1	97.8	98.1	93.9
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 16X	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	87.1	84.6	80.3	66.6
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	95.0	92.1	86.4	68.7
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	90.2	89.6	87.5	82.6
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	99.0	98.4	95.4	89.5
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	97.2	96.7	94.0	87.3
?	?	?	?	?
Serious Sam 2	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	96.8	96.3	93.4	75.0
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	109.8	108.6	103.3	77.5
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	98.0	97.3	96.9	93.8
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	111.3	110.3	109.8	103.7
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	101.6	101.3	101.1	95.3
?	?	?	?	?
Serious Sam 2 + HDR	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	93.4	81.0	60.2	39.6
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	103.1	85.7	61.5	40.5
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	96.6	96.4	89.2	70.6
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	109.7	107.7	95.3	74.7
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	100.7	98.8	92.1	68.9
?	?	?	?	?
Serious Sam 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	95.1	89.1	74.8	49.7
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	106.5	96.4	77.4	50.8
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	96.7	95.1	92.5	74.2
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	109.3	108.8	101.7	78.2
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	100.6	99.9	93.5	72.5
?	?	?	?	?
Serious Sam 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X + HDR	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	74.2	55.2	35.1	20.4
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	76.9	56.2	35.8	20.8
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	93.5	84.6	62.4	37.2
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	104.7	91.6	95.5	38.3
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	95.7	85.7	60.5	35.4
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	3DMark 03	Game2	Game3	Nature
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	16885	138.0	100.1	110.8
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	17353	139.0	102.5	113.1
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	27495	239.7	180.2	190.2
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	28251	246.1	183.5	190.3
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	28154	245.2	183.3	190.4
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	CPU Score ?	CPU Test 1 ?	CPU Test 2
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	899	105.1	15.1	30.8
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	990	116.4	16.6	64.8
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	935	108.3	15.9	30.8
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	1093	120.7	17.6	30.8
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	1020	118.7	17.3	30.8
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Vertex Shader	Pixel Shader 2.0
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	4236.7	9282.5	60.5	200.6
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	4237.1	9285.3	60.9	203.3
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	8174.0	18342.2	102.8	342.7
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	8174.0	18345.9	109.8	342.8
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	8173.2	18341.7	109.7	342.8
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 06	3DMark 06	?	?
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	4442	?	?
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	4534	?	?
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	6510	?	?
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	6999	?	?
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	6901	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
SM2.0 Test	Score	GT1	GT2
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	1819	14.000	16.321
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	1828	14.055	16.405
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	2775	23.237	23.010
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	3041	25.341	25.345
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	2980	24.803	24.867
?	?	?	?	?
HDR/SM3.0 Test	Score	HDR1	HDR2
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	1836	17.896	18.821
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	1846	18.049	18.878
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	3160	33.589	29.620
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	3291	33.713	32.117
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	3271	33.750	31.699
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	Score	CPU1	CPU2
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	1535	0.492	0.766
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	1692	0.542	0.845
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	1536	0.492	0.768
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	1691	0.541	0.846
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	1661	0.530	0.830
?	?	?	?	?
PC Mark 2005	CPU	Memory	HDD	Total
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	4882	4047	5134	4960
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	5499	4586	5181	5401
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	4886	4156	5155	4894
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	5458	4664	5213	5302
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	5095	4255	4848	5040
?	?	?	?	?
Sandra 2005	CPU	Memory	Multimedia
Foxconn 975X7AA Sapphire X1800XT P920D 2.8 GHz	13262/10840	5226/5228	33549/38348
Foxconn 975X7AA X1800XT OC P 920D 3.29 GHz	14587/12122	5796/5795	37584/42960
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x Sapphire X1800XT Crossfire	12879/10851	5228/5226	33581/38370
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x X1800XT Crossfire OC 3.29GHz	14483/12162	5865/5864	37603/43004
Foxconn 975X7AA 2x ATI X1800XT Power Gaming	13725/11213	5410/5409	34708/39658

We tested the games and Doom 3 and as expected the highest overclocked Foxconn 975 board was the fastest one. It is rather interesting that power gaming option will gain you roughly seven frames in Crossfire mode. Foxconn 975 board with two cards and power gaming scores thirty frames faster than a single X1800 XT card in non overclocked board. Once you turn the FSAA on you can really see the difference.

Quake 4 really benefits the overclocking. You can get the whole 10 frames advantage and overclocked Crossfire X1800 XT scores more than fifty percent in Quake 4 FSAA and Aniso.

Serious Sam 2 always benefits from the overclocking. It gains the whole 10 frames when you overclock to 3.29 or use power gaming. This relly maters in Serious Sam 2 with HRD rendering as it makes the game a little bit more faster and more playable as the single card is on the limit here. Overclocked Crossfire can score ninety percent faster score than the non overclocked single card. Serious Sam 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X and Serious Sam 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X with HDR are heavily CPU limited at this case so no miraculous performances this time. Overclocked Crossfire will score up to 10 frames but at the lower resolutions not at higher.

The Foxconn 975X7AA with two X1800XT cards in Crossfire and Pentium D 920 CPU overclocked to 3.29GHz will score the best score in 3Dmark03. Power gaming will end up second with roughly 100 points left while the overclocked Pentium D 920 on a single Sapphire X1800 XT card scores some 500 marks faster than the default one. It is interesting that the overclocked CPU with two X1800 XT scores the most in CPU test and this should not have to do anything with graphic.

Our overclocked CPU in Foxconn 975AA board and two Sapphire Crossfire cards will score 7000 in 3Dmark06 and that is the top score while the power gaming will score just some 100 points less. Jet again CPU test runs faster on overclocked Crossfire system but I guess it is because of the overclock.

In PC mark05, we got the memory working up to rather modest 4664 score, a quite achievement as the non overclocked board scores 4047. We also increased the CPU score by some 600 points.

Sandra 2005 scores normally run this rather fast memory at 5226/5228 MB/s but once we overclocked the FSB to 235 MHz we manage to run the memory at rather better 5865/5864 MB/s. we increased the CPU score by 1000 points in Integer and 2000 points in FPU calculations.

In Short
We think that Foxconn did a good job with its high end board, it is packed with nice features, and it can run Crossfire and works very stabile. It is very easy to overclock the board.

The only thing that we really disliked is the lack of faster memory settings as we could not put the marvels Corsair DDR 2 CM2X512-8500, 1066MHz 5.5.5.15 in right use. The board has anything that you need but you might want to get wireless lan integrated for the price. We think that Foxconn did a great job but as there should be one more revison of this board to support Conroe we are sure that the big company can fix those few glitches and make Asus really run for its money.

We liked the auto overclocking as it is easy to use and gives you rather satisfactory results. We also liked the fact that the board will de clock to default speed if you don't need so much power.

We are sure that Foxconn is here to get better and to stay and give everyone else run for its money. ?

Reviewed and tested by Sanjin Rados and Fuad Abazovic