With the Intel G965 Express chipset, Intel is aiming directly at entry level/workstation users. Much has been said about its new GMA X3000 videocard, which is a bit of a surprise since there hasn't been much buzz about Intel videocards since the i740 way back. In any case, rumors had it that Intel put together a very scalable system that supported every graphical feature - big news in the integrated videocard world. As we have seen by the benchmark results, the integrated graphics handle 2D office oriented tasks as good as any other chipset for the most part. In some 3D games the updated driver versions have a definite impact, it's just that not all 3D games benefitted from the change. Since much of the capability of the GMA X3000 is based on drivers, and hence software, we can only surmise that CPU resources are being allocated which may explain the roller coaster effect of different driver versions.

Foxconn is probably the largest motherboard manufacturer on the market and you can bet it will jump on anything Intel releases pretty quickly. The G9657MA-8KS2H motherboard on paper looks like an excellent workstation board, and it is. The motherboard is pretty simple to work with and its small size allows it to be used at an HTPC. It's too bad Foxconn didn't allow for HDMI or component video output on the G9657MA-8KS2H.

On paper the Intel GMA X3000 videocard also looks mighty impressive, and for office type tasks like word processing, email or internet surfing, it is. For 3D games though, no matter how many features the onboard videocard supports or what future drivers can unlock, in reality performance will really be just borderline acceptable. As we can see from moving from driver 14.21 to 14.25 improved 3DMark benchmarks, however in real world gaming the newer Intel 14.25 driver actually registers a decrease in the frames per second category.

Mind you, if you were a die hard gamer, you'd get yourself a PCI Express x16 videocard anyway, the Foxconn G9657MA-8KS2H supports that so you can build yourself a pretty lean LAN gaming machine. Performance of the motherboard in non game related tasks is good, and certainly up to snuff compared to other Intel Core 2 Duo motherboards PCSTATS has tested.

If you want to play the latest 3D videogames, remember this general rule of thumb; onboard videocards are simply not good enough. If the intended purpose of your computer is primarily for office style tasks, the Foxconn G9657MA-8KS2H will not disappoint. Even when using just the onboard video.

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