Overclocking is alive and well! PCSTATS has all the details
you need to see at a glance to know which board is best. The chart we've
compiled below lists the highest overclocked Front Side Bus speeds we were able
to achieve while maintaining 100% stability.
The Foxconn
MARS motherboard lives up to the hype here, it comes in top spot in terms of
overclockability in the PCSTATS labs. It's able to run benchmarks at a sweet 535
MHz FSB, that's something that will be music to the ears of any
overclocker!
Overclockers are from MARS -
Resistance is Futile
It's certainly a great time to be a hardware enthusiast.
Breath that air, kick your PC and let out a good solid grunt.
"I am overclocker, hear me Roar!"
When it comes to my favourite hobby, there are just so
many options to pick from for making a killer fast PC. Overclocking isn't taboo
anymore with manufacturers of videocards and motherboards, and even Intel is OC
friendly these days.
In this review PCSTATS has tested the Intel P35 Express
based Foxconn MARS motherboard to see what it can do. It did
well. It helps to have Intel's red hot P35 Express chipset and full support for
all current and future Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad processors. Those 45nm CPUs are
going to be mainstream quicker than you think, so make sure whatever Intel
motherboard you buy now can support them.
In terms of integrated goodies, the Foxconn MARS has all
the usual networking and peripherals you would expect from a motherboard of
this class, we don't need to go over that again. Expansion comes care of two PCI
Express x1 slots, three 32 bit PCI slots and two PCI Express x16 slots which
will support dual videocards under ATI/AMD CrossFire (albeit in PCIe x16 / x4
mode).
Foxconn's MARS motherboard was a breeze to work with, I
particularly liked the physical power, reset and clear CMOS buttons. Enthusiasts
will find a very tweakable BIOS, and the Gladiator BIOS tools are a real time
saver. Be warned though, if you're new to the overclocking game don't go too
crazy with the voltage options, you can permanently damage your hardware!
I thought the Aegis Panel software that Foxconn includes
with the MARS motherboard would have some overclocking options, it doesn't.
Instead, the software is just another in a long line of boring system
monitoring tools. It would be great if Foxconn could program up a powerful
Windows desktop level tweaking utility. It think every enthusiast could
appreciate that.
As we saw in the benchmarks which were run in Windows
Vista Ultimate, the Foxconn MARS motherboard performed competitively. In each
benchmark the MARS kept up with other Intel P35 Express, X38 Express and nVIDIA
nForce 680i motherboards without problem. Where the Foxconn MARS motherboard
really shined was overclocking. With the motherboard completely stock cooled, I
was able to push the MARS up to a crazy 535 MHz FSB! It's the fastest
motherboard PCSTATS has tested thus far, and man talk about an adventure!
With a retail price of $187 CDN ($190 US, £92 GBP), the Intel P35 Express-based
enthusiast friendly Foxconn MARS motherboard is good value. It's fast, well
loaded for its class, yet doesn't cost a fortune. For the hardware enthusiast,
there are a ton of memory timing and voltage options to pick through, and oh and
let's not forget about the motherboard's excellent
overclocking abilities.
Find out about this and many other reviews by joining the
Weekly PCstats.com Newsletter today! Catch all of PCSTATS
latest reviews right here.
Related Articles
Here are a few other articles that you might enjoy as
well...
- Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R Intel P35 Express Motherboard
Review
- Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 Intel P35 Express Motherboard
Review
- Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Intel P31 Express Motherboard
Review
- MSI P6N Diamond nForce 680i Motherboard Review
- Biostar TP35D2-A7 P35 Express DDR2 Motherboard
Review
RSS Newsletter
