Epox: new motherboard with Conroe support based on 945P
A cost-effective solution for Intel's latest processors.
The veil has fallen off Epox’s latest motherboard, which supports Intel Core 2 processors. The Epox 5P945-GLI builds on the hugely popular Intel 945P chipset in the company of the ICH7 South Bridge. This is a very interesting solution, as Intel has stated that we can only successfully place our Conroe core processors in boards built around the 975X and 965 chipsets that will debut in the near future. In addition, the newcomer will, of course, support all LGA775 encapsulated CPUs with PSBs of 533 MHz, 800 MHz and 1066 MHz.
Like all 945P-based motherboards, the 5P945-GLI supports DDR2 memories at 400, 533, or 667 MHz. Users who care about DDR2-800 support will have to wait for the new Intel chipsets. Unfortunately, the amount of memory received is limited to 2 GB, as we can only find 2 240-pin memory slots on the PCB.
What’s good news for gaming-minded users: We can count on 2 PCI Express x16 connectors, but one can only handle 4 PCI Express lines, which may not provide enough bandwidth for today’s top cards. Thanks to the latest Catalyst driver, CrossFire support is also likely to be available on the 5P945-GLI.
The motherboard also has the following standard interfaces: 3 PCI slots, 1 PATA, 4 SATA interfaces, Realtek RTL8110SC Gigabit Ethernet, Realtek RTL8100C 10/100 Ethernet and Realtek ALC65x AC'97 audio controller.
